Magic Springs

Day 6 would see us leaving Texas and heading through Arkansas and up into Missouri. I'd identified 3 parks to visit along the way.

Behind our hotel we had a rather sizeable waterpark but that wasn't part of our planned itinerary. Instead we were heading to Magic Springs and Crystal Falls, the only large park in the state. 

We got there in very good time so squeezed in a breakfast stop in the town of Hot Springs nearby. Uh-oh, the one coaster I needed was down again. 

When we got back a long but quick moving queue had appeared, which I joined for the group. Tal had purchased his ticket ahead of our arrival, a good way to save some cash. Thomas prefers to have an actual ticket as it makes a better souvenir than a sheet of A4. Christof and I are just disorganised. 

Magic Springs is another park that Christof and I had been to. It's a natural stop for anyone going from Texas to Missouri, in fact we met some other enthusiasts doing just that. We heard there was an ACE event happening in a few days time at Adventureland in Iowa. 

The park is home to a number of coasters, nothing new since our last trip but in 2008 the Skyloop had suffered a cable snap and was down, so for the revisit orbs that was all we needed. It's unfortunate that wasn't going to happen. 

Booooooooooooo!

I have ridden a few of these but they do seem to be suffering from reliability issues. In our last China trip every single one had been taken out of service. It is worth mentioning that this one was the first installation so perhaps expected to run into more issues than the rest, but why on days when I am visiting. 

This was the other attraction that was down and none of us were bothered about this at all! 

The park has a large open concert arena and a run of gigs through the Summer. I couldn't say I would know or want to see many of the listed acts. 

If you don't like the music of Maddie and Tae, Maddie will kill you with her laser equipped eyes. 

Subsequent research has revealed they sing country songs about fishing.

Aesthetically the park is very nice with good looking rides and some shade, but it was hotter today than yesterday which made us a little cranky; it's odd how extreme heat does that. The park was also playing some great 80s music, which is an easy way to get me and my generation onside. On the downside the park is built on the side of a mountain so expect ascents, especially if you need to ride the SLC as that is at the lowest point. 

Gauntlet is the SLC in question. The suspended looping coaster is one I rode non-stop for an hour on the last visit and whilst I had no intention of repeating it this time I did have a couple of goes on it. I liked it, I am not sure the others were as keen. 

Some could say they were warned as this was on the surrounding fence. 

More pictures posted for the only reason some of you may think I actually like this ride. I really do!

Arkansas wildlife, I hear the adult ones can grow to the length of a coach. 

The second coaster was a kiddy one which you could ride if you could fit. We all could but not all of us chose to ride.

Booooooooooooo!

The third coaster Big Bad John is an OK mine ride with the lift hill appearing at the end. It is nice to leave the station and drop straight into the ride. As will become a recurring theme on this trip it lacks any photo opportunities. 

We chose to do the antique car ride as an excuse to get close to the downed Skyloop just in case it opened.

Whilst queuing we saw the ride stop, the operator shouting at some one out of sight and then an engineer coming down to escort someone out. It turned out he had dropped his phone and left the car to look for it. A chance event that would introduce us to Scott The Great. 

This made me laugh, I'm not sure why. 

As we gathered outside the vintage cars, the engineer came back having handed the guys over  to security   We asked him about the Skyloop and how it was our second miss. As an apology he offered to let us up into the station where he talked to us about the maintenance challenges the ride had given the park. 

On this occasion it was a component in the lift that had failed and they were awaiting a part to be shipped over. There had been a delay due to it being difficult to describe to the German ride makers what was at fault. We did offer our Germans to help but that issue had been overcome. With the cables Scott told us that the squirrels here chew them which we found amusing. 

Scott was brilliant and couldn't have been nicer. He caught us later and said he had spoken to the bosses and we could get free entry on our next visit and he had even offered us a behind the scenes tour to say sorry for the ride not being open. An amazing offer but not one we could fit into our day. 

The park has a sizeable waterpark that separates the wooden coaster from the other rides. I don't recall the water park being so big on the last visit so I will guess this is where the investment has gone. 

Twister is the coaster which takes its name from the weather phenomenon not the ride layout, which is in fact an out and back coaster and a pretty good one at that. 

That looks like a pretty good lazy river. 

And another of those surf attractions like the one in Schlitterbahn 

And that was Magic Springs. I like the park but as a whole the group were not so impressed, I guess the combination of very strong heat, hills, and the must-do ride being down tipped it under the unfavourable benchmark. We did however love Scott and honoured his customer service by including the Scott into any ongoing Paper Scissor Stones competition. Scott would beat everything but he could only be used once. 

Probably upsetting the others, Gauntlet gets my coaster of the day.

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