sdcfan88

I see I'm just going in circles on here and people are still missing the point and cherry picking so I'm done arguing. I don't expect the general public or people on here to understand my perspective and the larger perspectives of meteorologists and emergency managers who fear the day such an event does happen that could have also been easily preventable because people were otherwise "inconvenienced". It will take a mass casualty event for people to finally realize it. Just like every other disaster in history. "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers".

You talk perspective but claiming a park should close for 100+ days a year is a blatant exaggeration. Please don't put words in my mouth as thats not what I was implying. However, in recent years schools in much of tornado alley and in both the mid south and mid west in the wake of the 2011 super outbreak have begun to cancel classes on major severe weather days, not just any day with storms. Places with large public gatherings like stadiums and theme parks should adopt this same measure when schools are doing so whether it be a delayed opening or cancellation. Its meant to avoid a mass congregation of people in a single space if something were to happen as it would likely cause a mass casualty event. And I will again commend Dollywood and other parks in the past for doing this.

The harsh reality is a lot of people are dumb or have the "It cant happen to me attitude." One problem that has been reiterated time and time again by meteorologists is that people are foolish waiting to hear sirens alone and/or claim they had little to no warning. Sirens are actually considered antiquated and obsolete by the meteorology community. People have lots of means for warnings nowadays with the prominence of mobile devices, GPS systems, and high speed internet. These storms were in the forecast for days by the Storm Prediction Center and Tornado Watches were put out hours before the main outbreak occurred. The actual tornado warning for the Stone/Taney/Christian county area was put out just after 7pm with a tornado confirmed to have touched down damaging homes in Branson West just after 7:30. "Every disaster movie begins with a scientist being ignored."

Dollywood had the common sense to delay their opening yesterday in the wake of the recent storms. https://www.facebook.com/dollywood/photos/a.240694897239/10160345845947240 Inconvenience yes? But its a sensible precaution to ensure the safety of staff and guests. If I were running a park I would do the same thing. Plus it would be a publicity nightmare if a park did continue with normal operations with prior knowledge of bad weather approaching the area and were hit. My point is more parks should follow this example.

Laugh it up all you want. My above statement stands. You people are probably the same ones that throw fits and whine when storm coverage breaks in over your precious "sports games".

How mature of you. You obviously don't get it. Im a media storm chaser and I've been involved with this for over a decade and I have seen first hand accounts of what these storms can do. (just ask the people of the nearby city of Joplin) Of course ignorance is bliss. If you were present during a direct hit on a stadium, theme park, or any large event with mass casualties then people like you will sing a different tune I assure you. Hindsight is always 20/20 and it always seems it takes something like that for people to actually act. Sadly that is what it will probably take and it will eventually happen.

So I am sure many are aware of the tornado outbreak last night. Well it turns out that there was indeed a tornado near the Branson area around 7:30. (near Branson West of all places) Fortunately it dissipated before moving further east towards SDC. I can only imagine what kind of disaster that would have been if it had sustained itself and hit SDC with Christmas time crowds present. It was estimated that there were 20K+ people on site. These storms were moving between 40-60 MPH so there would be little time to react and evacuate the park with those crowd numbers. I really think theme parks and stadiums need to close and completely cancel events on days where there's severe weather in the forecast. (even if SDC/Branson was on the western fringe of the outlook area) https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=PNSSGF&e=202112112042

Wait what for real!? Did the park get notified? Hopefully they trimmed it back since then. The parks are usually good about that sort of thing. Otherwise, that could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Because closing and gutting Bells from the fairgrounds wasn't enough, now the Skyride is in danger. Maybe they can just sell it back to the Bell family for their new park. https://www.tulsaskyride.org/

Took a couple pics of the fire aftermath up here at SDC.

Precisely this. The ONE ride I ever managed to get on it 2 years into it's existence I thought it was meh and to my surprise it rode horribly rough for a still new coaster and I thought how the park could have better benefited from a B&M Hyper in that spot with all the issues they have had. That was in 2018. Fast forward to 2021 and I still feel validated on my impressions. Naturally the ride closed for the day right after I got my first and only ride on it.

SDC got so focused on sharks, they forget about the threat of Bald Knobbers attacking. Its sad to see this, but it is horribly fitting considering Fire In The Hole is a short walk from where this happened. Maybe they will tie this event into the alleged new ride. lol

I think its safe to say RMC is an obvious no. Yeah there's Zamperla (which I don't really count) and Vekoma, but I wouldn't think they would get another one of the latter immediately after Dragonflier which would also go with my logic about why its not GCI with Thunderhead being right next door.

Well its certainly not Arrow lol and I highly doubt they would place another GCI coaster right next to Thunderhead so that leaves Gerstlauer and B&M. The survey a while back did talk about a B&M Hyper but thats kinda jarring to call something like that a "Family Attraction".