Chiselphane

Makes me want to visit the park dressed as Spock and walk around with a puzzled expression

Nice! Now that's what I'm talking about out. Well long as BD is open on Thurs and its not supposed to rain, I'll be going! I really need that cred again. I only got 1 ride on BD last time despite being their 3/4 of a day that was dead (long story short......GP friends lol) and it was 60 degrees and cloudy/drizzly. Not best conditions for a wood coaster. It was fun not quite what I hoped for. Perhaps the conditions, overhype etc but ready to try again! I feel your pain. I dont like going to parks with my parents, they are "We already rode that, why do you want to go on it again?" types. TBH I dont visit parks with them very often but each time I do I'm reminded why I avoid it lol

Agreed. I can't believe how awful it is. Embarrassing almost. I will admit the gift shop is neat, I know how that sounds but it has a lot of stuff you dont see much of in a theme park, and my youngest son really likes toy cars and such.

Thanks Kim. We were thinking of going but guest behavior is pretty much putting a stop to that. I have local 'friends' who are cheering it as the park to go to 'where you don't have to wear a mask.' If they're stepping up enforcement I might reconsider.

This was our experience as well. No threat of loss on any ride, just minor shifting. With the benefit of hindsight I kind of wish SDC leaned into the whole mask thing more. They're pretty much uniquely situated to capitalize on it thematically. Have it be a 'train robber invasion' event, something along those lines. If you made a game of it, might get more willful compliance, etc.

Even a carnival-level bumper cars themed to F&F would have been better than party bus.

Wonderful to see them paying attention to the carousel!

It's also a great time to go because even if the park appears busy, generally the crowds are there for the Christmas lights and shows. "People there for the shows" kind of holds up year round for the park but it feels more pronounced to me for Old Time Christmas; we've been numerous times in November and most rides were walk-ons or one cycle. If you do go, make sure to get some wassail!

That's a shame, Canobie is wonderful at night. I guess technically less hours=less exposure but if you're already over 7 hours then what's a few more going to do

They were limiting the number of shoppers in some shops. I had to wait outside of the new Clara Belle's Cinnamon Bread because the inside was at capacity. I didn't see lines outside of any other shops, but did notice signs outside of shops indication that social distancing is being observed and they may limit the number of people inside of the shop at a time. That's good to hear, I hope they get more consistent about it as I didn't see that happen a single time throughout the entire day.

When someone asks you to stop doing something, maybe try stop doing it instead of doing it again. *shrug*

Fastpass/Trailblazer is not being offered at all, but they are honoring it if you've already purchased it beforehand. They did give out some one-shot paper fastpasses for some ride breakdowns, which someone graciously gifted to us as they were leaving that saved us a 90 minute posted wait on Powder Keg. There is reservation time verbiage on the site but same as you, there was nothing specified on our actual reservation confirmation, we just showed up at opening. My feeling is it's them giving themselves the option to set times if needed, possibly staggering entry. My other feeling is that that option is probably going to be needed fairly soon, that initial bunch up at rope drop is not ideal right now.

Our trip yesterday went pretty good. The park has adjusted to the new procedures in place mostly as well as they can; there a couple little rough spots to iron out but overall the day was fine and actually better than I expected. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures; Heat+hat+glasses+mask+heat+carrying all the bags+did I mention heat and I just got fed up with hauling the camera out so gave up on it pretty early. We got there an hour before opening and I have to admit some alarm bells started going off at the number of people there. I had thought numbers would be much lower considering season pass only + reservation only + the incredible amount of mask bitching, but lot 2 was hopping and they went to at least one other lot later in the day. One nice benefit of the reservation system is SDC had more than normal parking trams lined up since they knew what to expect, so the crowds moved very quickly. You mask up in the parking lot then get a very quick temp check, then they give you a wristband to show you've been checked, then you ride the tram to the gate. Park entry was normal, at least for me; I overheard a few nonspecific complaints later so not sure if they implemented something else. The one thing that was immediately apparent is lack of social distancing in walkways etc; there's signage etc but very few people were observing it. SDC's got a lot of bottlenecks and such so I get it's difficult, but most people weren't even making an attempt. I did see good mask discipline early on though, although this would change as the day went on. The thing that surprised me most was how many rides/attractions were open. As far as I can tell, the only things that were closed were Marvel Cave, Grandfather's Mansion, and that one that I always forget the name of by the barn swing/Outlaw Run, the lumberjack thing where you pull yourself up by a rope. To me, all are reasonable to expect to be closed in this situation; I suppose there *could* be a way to do very small group cave tours but probably easier overall just to suspend them. All the rides have social distancing markers in the queues; some are plain painted blue dots, others have stickers with wording on them. Some stickers started peeling off the ground later in the day in places so that's going to be a bit of a headache for them to maintain I think. Almost all the rides have at least one hand sanitizer station; some have one at the beginning and end of queue. And most rides, the queue attendant will give you some sanitizer from a bottle they have; I don't know if it's technically mandatory but it felt that way. *Side note: bring skin moisturizer! Our hands were pretty raw by the end of the day from all the sanitizer Most ride lines were reasonable. Many have the appearance of being longer than they are due to the distancing markers (although I'll return to this point in a bit) but on the other hand most rides have seating blocked out to increase distance so basically running at half capacity. And on the other other hand: no indoor shows were running, and not all the outdoor shows were running either; some live music here and there, and the SDC Citizens were still out and about (had a super brief chat with Terry Sanders, he was playing Colonel Parnell, and I may have shed a tiny little tear cause it was just so nice to see what feels like an old friend back doing what he loves), so none of those were soaking up guests from ride queues. As far as I can tell all the coasters except Time Traveler were running one train; one of the ops mentioned they had started Wildfire with two trains but quickly stopped for undisclosed reasons, and Wildfire did shut down completely a few hours before park close for mechanical issues. There were a lot of coaster issues today actually, I believe the only one that didn't shut down at any point for mechanicals is Thunderation. Eating was well done; clear line distancing markers and indoor places have removed a lot of tables to give more room. Outdoors is more of a fend-for-yourself-for-seating, which is kind of normal but some outdoor seating has been removed as well, just didnt feel to as much of a degree as indoor. Most places have plexiglass shields near the checkout with a small window at the bottom for when you pay. A constant emphasis on preferring non-cash payment; a small snag is some places, particularly snack booths, didnt feel quite ready for it as their charge machines cord weren't quite long enough to easily use them through the shield window. The indoor places all had a dedicated staff member for cleaning tables and chairs immediately after the guest party left. I didn't personally observe outdoor seating being cleaned but I wasnt particularly looking out for it, if that makes sense; we ate primarily indoors to escape the heat. Shopping... well if you know SDC shops then try imagining how you could even add the suggestion of social distancing. They basically did nothing at all on this front. Some shops had the plexiglass shield, and some distancing signage outside the store. I don't *blame* them, I honestly don't know what else they could do here short of policing how many people were in the store at a time but it stood out because of all the other work they've done in other areas. The one real flaw of the day is, well, people. The social distancing markers in all the lines were largely disregarded; we observed them and more than once the people behind us not only crowded right up but asked why we weren't doing the same. Explaining the situation was basically met with "Oh." Mask discipline started out well but you could almost chart the decline over the course of the day. A few people doing the "I'll constantly drink/eat so I dont have to wear it" thing, some people 'wearing' their masks by keeping the loops on their ears but having the mask under their chins, some flat out just taking them off, and every variation you can imagine. I get that it's hot but this was part of the deal of reopening. I noticed very little enforcement from SDC staff, ride ops were pretty stringent but anywhere else the only staff I personally observed even making an attempt were the police security. I personally only observed one person actively refusing compliance and when push came to shove, the staff did make them put their mask on, but she pulled it right back off after getting off the ride. *shrug* So overall a pretty good day albeit a hot one. Park doing a great job with a little room for improvement, which considering it was not only first day of operation but with a lot of new procedures to boot is reasonable. People doing an ok-ish job with a lot of room for improvement. Would I do it again? Yes, nothing was an immediate deal breaker. The one caveat is if we get a resurgence in cases I would absolutely NOT do it again; to repeat I don't blame SDC on this point but the overall general uncaring attitude of the guests is going to be problematic I fear.

I'm from the other side of the state and hypocrisy is just part of the culture here, but it's definitely more pronounced in the SW. Worth noting: Branson has a confederate flag and apparel store, whose owner's father is literally the national director of the KKK. As for SDC: I get the feeling reservations have been low as I've gotten a couple emails where the gist is 'spots still available'. But at the same time, I am actually trying to cancel two of our 5 spots for Saturday and have not been able to get through, they don't even put you on hold, just 'try again later'. Coupled with the FB comments it feels like they're getting swamped with this nonsense.

We are leaning towards going on the 13th since not only is it reservation only but season pass only. I'll be sure to report if we do.

I'm torn. I've been dying to go, we haven't had passes in the past few years so of course I pick the worst year to buy one. But I live in the SE corner of Missouri and people's behavior here doesn't give me much confidence. I just don't know.

...Uhhhhhhh What am I looking at? The top picture specifically. It's basically a non-round Ferris wheel. You can see someone sitting in one of the cars on the bottom, has a yellow back, that should help you orient how it works.

That HM shirt is incredibly awesome!

Whoever the first person to see one of those and say "You know what, I'm going to put that in my mouth" is a braver person than I'll ever be

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

I know it's super early but I have a question about the Not So Scary Halloween party. We'll be at Disney World Sept 8-13 (Tues-Sun). What I can't decide is if it's 'worth it' particularly since it seem to have mostly been very crowded last year; SH's posts from last year as an example. But that visit was in October itself; I'm cautiously hoping it being so early in Sept would help 'alleviate said crowds, what do you think? Common sense would suggest "well duh of course it'd be less busy" but research is giving me answers all over the place, sometimes different reports for the same day even (it was busy! it wasnt busy!). I'm not a Disney 'pro', this will be our first full trip, and probably last as the entire family so am trying to wring the best out of it and you guys are great at informed advice rather than just gut feeling stuff.

I get what you're saying, but if they're open for business then it's fair to evaluate what they are currently offering

I agree, I don't think it's going anywhere for a long time. Why do all the work of shortening it if they had plans to remove it

Then let them not ride it. More room and less wait for actual adults.

The implications of a magic-infused bee are interesting. You'd be lucky to remain the same shape after being stung.