Dollywood’s newest attraction, Mystery Mine, opened it’s doors late March of 2007. The coaster, North America’s first “euro-fighter” is the largest capital investment to date for the park. I recently spent two days in the park, in which I had the opportunity to ride Mystery Mine numerous times.

Spoilers Ahead======

The ride begins with a sharp dip out of the station, which gives a good dose of whiplash as your head hits the headrest at the bottom of the drop. You then veer towards the left, making a unique outward-banked turn, going past hundreds of red eyes staring at you. Your mine car makes another turn before dipping below “the crusher”, giving another headbasher. You quickly turn left before halting at the vertical lift. They do a great job at building the suspense as you get the chance to see what’s ahead.

You begin the ascent up the lift hill. But that doesn’t last long as you crest the vertical lift, and make a quick dip (a smoother one, I might add), before heading towards the trestle. You barely brake before plunging over the first vertical drop. In my opinion, this was the best drop of the whole ride. Your car then maneuvers through the horse-shoe curve and through an upwards helix. You stall briefly at a block brake, which eats away at some of the speed before heading into another helix. You head back under the trestle and soar towards the next large lift. You stop again as you embrace what’s to come.

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I recently returned from a week-long trip in Florida. We decided to take a break from Disney for one day and travel over to Tampa to check out what Busch Gardens Africa had to offer.

As you approach the park, SheiKra, Kumba, and Montu rise high above the rest of the park, preparing you for what all you’re going to be conquering that day. As you enter the gates, SheiKra is out of sight, due to the massive trees around. But as you approach the Stanleyville section, SheiKra’s dark red track and blue supports become more prominent.

SheiKra is a show in itself, I could’ve easily stood on the plaza below and watched guests plunge vertically all day. It’s a scene. To add to that, Busch thought it would be great to get water involved, so everyone (except the riders) has a chance to get drenched. Now onto the actual ride.

You enter under the immelman in a queue that zig-zags near the station before heading up in a more enclosed queue. I knew I had been at Disney World to long when I thought, “this queue sucks.” Disney can get to you after a while. Since the crowds weren’t bad, we were fortunate enough to be able to pick our seat - the front seat. I sat on the very left edge. The train rolls out of the station, and onto the lift. The view is worth it alone, Tampa, and the surrounding area can be seen. But that doesn’t last for long, as you make a 180 to the holding brake - the most antagonizing part of the ride.

When I saw pictures and videos of SheiKra, I didn’t how far you were held. But you were, I had to put my feet on the rail in front of me (you won’t be able to do that much longer), so I was practically standing, looking straight down. What’s maybe 10 seconds feels like an hour.

The train plunges down, you feel like gravity has been lost, until you near the bottom of the drop, where the g’s come into play. The train soars through the immelman, which also provides great forces. You then enter the “turning carousel” element I think is what they call it. This leads up to the second drop. They give us a break by not holding us again, as you plunge vertically yet again but this time underground, then into an over-banked turn which then leads to the water element. Two funnels attached to the back of the train create two huge rooster tails of water, which slam down onto the onlookers below. Riders stay bone dry. The ride then circles back around to the brake run.

SheiKra is a powerful, unique ride that gives a smooth, intense experience. I highly recommend making the trip to Busch Gardens Africa to take a spin on it for yourself.

An announcement came today announcing that Nickelodeon will be arriving at The Park at Mall of America in Spring of 2008! The plans include an Avatar: The Last Airbender “looping” coaster. The big question - is this coaster the originally-planned Euro-Fighter? It seems to fit the theme, but something else could be on the way. We’ll have to wait and see.

With the announcement also came news of a drop tower addition to the park. It seems the owners of The Park at MOA are beginning to step in a more teen/adult direction, for the time being, which is fine by us.

Click here for the full story.

Is it a coaster?

This new Mack water coaster being installed at Seaworld San Antonio this year has brought up a new debate - Is it really a coaster? Being someone who needs some more credits on their list, I would count it. Why? Most log flumes or shoot-the-chutes do not have long portions of dry, coaster-like track. In my opinion, the ride cannot be compared that well to rides such as Splash Mountain or Dudley’s at Islands of Adventure. Or even Jurassic Park River Adventure for that matter.

It might not be 100% coaster, but it does have a decent coaster portion, and this might become a new, more well-known type of coaster that we come to know.

But if you still don’t count it as a credit, then I hope the other two Journey’s aren’t on your list either since they use a similar ride system.

…but is it the right one?

Six Flags recently announced it was removing two of its seventeen coasters - Flashback, a ride that has sat nearly abandoned for several years, and Pysclone, a wooden coaster that had a reputation for being on the uncomfortable side. Park officials stated that the move was done for additions that would appeal to a “wider audience”. These possible additions are thought to be a Wiggle’s World, Thomas the Tank Engine area, or a Johnny Rocket’s restaurant.

These would appeal to a wider audience, and hopefully will bring in a broader crowd that Six Flags is looking for, but will the debt-ridden company continue this trend until the inverse of what has happened in previous years occur? With these children’s areas being added to various parks, will the public become just as tired with these as they supposedly have with Magic Mountain’s coaster offering?

I always thought Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Flashback spot would serve as a prime location for a Gerstlauer spinning coaster, such as the ones that are being installed at Fiesta Texas and St. Louis this year. By doing this, you would cater to both families and thrill-seekers. I don’t dislike “kiddy areas”, but I think attractions should be randomly distributed through-out the park to prevent concentration. I don’t think one area should cater to specifically one group. One area would be great, but three or four children’s areas might become repetitive to the average family with teenagers or even adults.

Hopefully Six Flags has all age groups in mind when they plan out what they will be adding to their great line-up over the next few years. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.