So I've been somewhat surprised in past updates about how little progress there was from Sidewinder Safari. For an opening date of Summer 2020, I expected at least some construction by February, even if the coaster isn't a big one or one that will presumably take long to put up. Well during my visit on 3/8, I saw my first real construction, and it was a lot more than I expected! So let's dive right in!

Table of Contents

• Sidewinder Safari Construction
• General Updates

Sidewinder Safari Construction

The main portion of our update today concerns SS construction. Looking towards the site from the back of the park, you can see one major thing missing: the old elephant/Toyota riding station! In the month since I last went to SFDK, they tore the whole thing down. And good riddance, in hindsight it was an eyesore.

All gone!

As you can see, they changed the opening date to "late spring". Seems fairly reasonable if you remember that spring technically ends on June 20th. Seems maybe a little bit fast considering they haven't even gone vertical yet but it is a pretty small ride so maybe I'm just being too conservative about the timeline.

But let's take a closer look at the site!

And now looking the other way, you can see the walls up and consuming poor Odin's Snack Shack.

General Updates

Alright, now that we've looked at construction at Sidewinder Safari, let's take a peek at the rest of the park!

You know we always start with the closed list. The water rides, Harley Quinn, Tazmanian Devil and a couple kids rides were closed but this was out of date since I did see Cobra running.

The giraffes were out and enjoying a nice meal when I walked by

With such small crowds I was able to really hang out around the animal nursery and enjoy the cute animals

Tigers are funny, they're just massive scary cats! This one was grooming itself when I walked by.

Come on SFDK, open Pacific Rim 5D back up!

Let's talk about what's next for SFDK! So since the park has gotten coasters in 4/5 years, I'd expect some flat ride in 2021 but what locations are potentially next for a coaster? This is my first guess, taken of the former Pacific Rim motion theater.

It doesn't take up a ton of space on its own but when you combine it with the Tasmanian Devil site (which is a little redundant with Wonder Woman) it would free up a decent amount of space

Especially if you put Johnny Rocket's on the chopping block. That could free up a good amount of space to put a compact coaster (like maybe a Euroflighter or Infinity Coaster?)

My other best guess for what goes next is White Water Safari. These types of rides have been getting removed around the world and SFDK's takes up a lot of space that could fit a massive coaster and better balance out the park.

Okay, enough speculating and back to your regularly scheduled update. Kong was operating with one train today...

As was Medusa and even though it didn't have a sign, Joker. Luckily lines were short enough today that it never really was an issue.

I've never really noticed that there's a public dock on the other side of the lake

And that in a canoe, you can get pretty close to the park. Too bad there really aren't any angles of rides worth getting from the water

Some signage around the park with Flash's logo finally!

Still no tables, I'm starting to get worried! 😭

Also, still no Sidewinder Safari on the map, I wonder when it will be added. Maybe at open? Did SFMM add WCR to their maps in 2019 or did they just use their 2018 maps all year?

And let's end out the update with some ride pictures. Here's Medusa looking a little faded but pretty good!

Didn't get on Flash today but it was a little slow to open

Joker wasn't running quite as well as it has been my last few visits but it was still a lot of fun!

Had a short but great day at SFDK! I'll be back at the beginning of April to check in again on Sidewinder Safari's construction!