Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

[Philrad71]

That Crazy Corn on the Cob looks very unique and interesting.

 

But having BBQ without beer...there is just something morally wrong about that.

 

It's like having pizza or wings without beer, for God's sake - it, it just shouldn't be!

I'm with you on that. Having grown up around here, I've come to terms that SDC will never serve alcohol. I'm honestly impressed that Branson has a winery and a distillery. Plus Springfield just opened its third brewery. For an area that actually still has dry towns, this is progress.

 

I agree that it IS definitely progress!

 

While I have no problem with the wholesome family approach of SDC and Dollywood, sooner or later someone is going to get into management that is going to realize the high profit margin that comes with serving alcohol in a theme park.

 

Now before the teetotalers all come with their axes swinging saying how it would kill the charm of the park and bring in the wrong type of crowds, I'll say up front that I know that alcohol can bring out the bad in a lot of people.

 

But pricing it to the point where some redneck alcoholic that downs an 18 pack of Busch Light every day is going to say, "Dang, I ain't payin' no $8 for a Bud Light, yo!", you've already eliminated a high percentage of those who are going to get drunk and ruin the family vibe. And chances are that if they are a falling down type of drunk, they're likely to just leave the park and go get drunk at their car in the parking lot or go to a bar and come back anyway.

 

Alcohol sales at parks has never been a problem at any other park that I have visited. Obviously if more and more parks are doing beer & wine with food festivals, they know what type of good revenue is coming in with it. They likely wouldn't do it otherwise.

[LukeFlynn]

I didn't realize Wildfire was originally supposed to be floorless. I wish more parks would order some classic B&M sitdowns.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

That Crazy Corn on the Cob looks very unique and interesting.

 

But having BBQ without beer...there is just something morally wrong about that.

 

It's like having pizza or wings without beer, for God's sake - it, it just shouldn't be!

I'm with you on that. Having grown up around here, I've come to terms that SDC will never serve alcohol. I'm honestly impressed that Branson has a winery and a distillery. Plus Springfield just opened its third brewery. For an area that actually still has dry towns, this is progress.

 

I agree that it IS definitely progress!

 

While I have no problem with the wholesome family approach of SDC and Dollywood, sooner or later someone is going to get into management that is going to realize the high profit margin that comes with serving alcohol in a theme park.

 

Now before the teetotalers all come with their axes swinging saying how it would kill the charm of the park and bring in the wrong type of crowds, I'll say up front that I know that alcohol can bring out the bad in a lot of people.

 

But pricing it to the point where some redneck alcoholic that downs an 18 pack of Busch Light every day is going to say, "Dang, I ain't payin' no $8 for a Bud Light, yo!", you've already eliminated a high percentage of those who are going to get drunk and ruin the family vibe. And chances are that if they are a falling down type of drunk, they're likely to just leave the park and go get drunk at their car in the parking lot or go to a bar and come back anyway.

 

Alcohol sales at parks has never been a problem at any other park that I have visited. Obviously if more and more parks are doing beer & wine with food festivals, they know what type of good revenue is coming in with it. They likely wouldn't do it otherwise.

If SDC would ever do it, and I do not anticipate that happening as long as the current generation of the Herschend family are still in charge, I think a food festival would be how they would introduce it. Beer and moonshine during Bluegrass & BBQ, cider during Harvest Festival, proper wassail and eggnog during Christmas. It could be done very classy. SDC for all its kitsch has always been a classy place. We're dreaming here, of course, but it's nice to dream.

[CaptainUnknown]

That Crazy Corn on the Cob looks very unique and interesting.

 

But having BBQ without beer...there is just something morally wrong about that.

 

It's like having pizza or wings without beer, for God's sake - it, it just shouldn't be!

I'm with you on that. Having grown up around here, I've come to terms that SDC will never serve alcohol. I'm honestly impressed that Branson has a winery and a distillery. Plus Springfield just opened its third brewery. For an area that actually still has dry towns, this is progress.

 

I agree that it IS definitely progress!

 

While I have no problem with the wholesome family approach of SDC and Dollywood, sooner or later someone is going to get into management that is going to realize the high profit margin that comes with serving alcohol in a theme park.

 

Now before the teetotalers all come with their axes swinging saying how it would kill the charm of the park and bring in the wrong type of crowds, I'll say up front that I know that alcohol can bring out the bad in a lot of people.

 

But pricing it to the point where some redneck alcoholic that downs an 18 pack of Busch Light every day is going to say, "Dang, I ain't payin' no $8 for a Bud Light, yo!", you've already eliminated a high percentage of those who are going to get drunk and ruin the family vibe. And chances are that if they are a falling down type of drunk, they're likely to just leave the park and go get drunk at their car in the parking lot or go to a bar and come back anyway.

 

Alcohol sales at parks has never been a problem at any other park that I have visited. Obviously if more and more parks are doing beer & wine with food festivals, they know what type of good revenue is coming in with it. They likely wouldn't do it otherwise.

If SDC would ever do it, and I do not anticipate that happening as long as the current generation of the Herschend family are still in charge, I think a food festival would be how they would introduce it. Beer and moonshine during Bluegrass & BBQ, cider during Harvest Festival, proper wassail and eggnog during Christmas. It could be done very classy. SDC for all its kitsch has always been a classy place. We're dreaming here, of course, but it's nice to dream.

 

There would also likely be beer jail.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Undoubtedly.

[prozach626]

Beers were $14 at Six Flags last weekend. With that kind of price, I saw plenty of people drinking, but no one got out of hand. Emily and I paid $90 for three beers each throughout the day, but it was well worth it. I'd rather pay a premium and have the option. I'd also rather pay a premium and not be surrounded by obnoxious drunks chugging $2 beers.

[Shavethewhales]

SDC and beer simply don't mix. It's not because beer is not awesome - I love a good beer break at most parks myself. SDC is what it is because it was built out of a certain value and belief system. I don't want to go into the weeds discussing it, but after all the history and vision of the park it would be a shame if it got so corporate that they threw it all away for a few concession sales. I don't think it will happen anytime in the foreseeable future though, even if all the Herschends clear out. 95% of the park's current patrons are familiar and sympathetic with the evangelical leanings of the park.

 

Also, I don't know what Kentucky's Bluegrass festivals are like, but SDC's Bluegrass festival is pretty religious in nature. A lot of the songs you hear are going to involve Jesus. That would be kind of weird to drink moonshine to.

[djcoastermark]

^ aw why not, jesus turned water into wine ?

[prozach626]

Also, I don't know what Kentucky's Bluegrass festivals are like, but SDC's Bluegrass festival is pretty religious in nature. A lot of the songs you hear are going to involve Jesus. That would be kind of weird to drink moonshine to.

No sir. You have it all wrong. I was raised Roman Catholic, so beer and Jesus go together like peas and carrots.

 

I hear you, though. It will probably never happen. Unfortunately, we've become to accustom to enjoying a few beers in the back half of our park days that it makes SDC so much less appealing to me.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Also, I don't know what Kentucky's Bluegrass festivals are like, but SDC's Bluegrass festival is pretty religious in nature. A lot of the songs you hear are going to involve Jesus. That would be kind of weird to drink moonshine to.

No sir. You have it all wrong. I was raised Roman Catholic, so beer and Jesus go together like peas and carrots.

[805Andrew]

I haven't been to Silver Dollar City (I hope to someday) but I'm guessing the day that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom parks start serving alcohol parkwide is the day that SDC (and its sister park Dollywood) consider selling alcohol during special events - meaning that Disneyland and Magic Kingdom will probably start serving alcohol first.

 

But pricing it to the point where some redneck alcoholic that downs an 18 pack of Busch Light every day is going to say, "Dang, I ain't payin' no $8 for a Bud Light, yo!", you've already eliminated a high percentage of those who are going to get drunk

 

You would think the steep beer price would deter people from getting crazy drunk but it doesn't. Whether its a $12 Bud Light at a stadium, or a $10 Coors Light at a concert, or an $8 Firestone Walker 805 at my local county fair, I noticed price doesn't stop people from spending and drinking one after another. The theme park vibe is a bit different then a concert or sporting event vibe, so I don't see people going crazy on $11 tall cans of Modelo at USH, but they are buying them. And a redneck alcoholic is going get alcohol anyway he can, whether its an 18 pack of beer for $9.99 at the grocery store or a tall plastic cup of beer for $12 at a theme park/stadium/venue because that's what's available for him.

[aeyrolet]

Look I like beer as much as the next guy, but as someone who frequents a park that serves beer, I could use some updates on your new coaster. I mean, currently you have one of the most mysterious 2018 attractions, and I've been told there is track hidden somewhere on the property. So, can I sees it plwweze.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I haven't seen any track yet. If it is on property, there are a ton of places they could hide it out of public view. SDC is a park with space like Kings Island. I'm planning to get some construction photos each time I go this year, since so much is happening. I'll be there this weekend, so if the track is in public view, I'll post it.

[Steely Dan]

No sir. You have it all wrong. I was raised Roman Catholic, so beer and Jesus go together like peas and carrots.

Indeed. The whole teetotalling christian thing is a cultural construct, not a religious one.

 

The drunkest people I ever saw as a kid were at our parish's annual St. Patrick's day party. Everyone would pile into church for mass at 11:00am, then the congregation would move over to the school gymnasium and drink the afternoon away in a shamrock and leprechaun filled kelly green fantasyland. Catholics have no shame about getting their drink on.

[Philrad71]

Beers were $14 at Six Flags last weekend. With that kind of price, I saw plenty of people drinking, but no one got out of hand. Emily and I paid $90 for three beers each throughout the day, but it was well worth it. I'd rather pay a premium and have the option. I'd also rather pay a premium and not be surrounded by obnoxious drunks chugging $2 beers.

 

Wow...$14 is getting up there, but hopefully that was for a 22oz Goose IPA or something similar?

[prozach626]

Yeah, they were the big plastic cups. Probably 20oz. With our free stays at Hyatt and us already having Season Passes, we joked about our 3 beer each $90 alcohol total being the largest bill of the entire trip.

[michaellynn4]

Yeah, they were the big plastic cups. Probably 20oz. With our free stays at Hyatt and us already having Season Passes, we joked about our 3 beer each $90 alcohol total being the largest bill of the entire trip.

 

Zach, I know you've probably talked about it in the past already, but how is it that you swung free Hyatt stays again?

[EnigmaWave]

So something neat I learned today is that any Cinnamon bread that is not sold an hour before closing is marked down 75 percent. This means I got mine for a whole $1.88. LOL

 

 

I've never had the cinny bread before so I decided to try this out. They said they only mark the bread down on evenings where the park is going to be closed the next day, so I ended up paying full price at 5:30p. for cold bread.

 

I can only assume that this means if you buy your bread first thing in the morning, you're actually eating yesterday's bread instead of fresh.

[prozach626]

Yeah, they were the big plastic cups. Probably 20oz. With our free stays at Hyatt and us already having Season Passes, we joked about our 3 beer each $90 alcohol total being the largest bill of the entire trip.

 

Zach, I know you've probably talked about it in the past already, but how is it that you swung free Hyatt stays again?

We have a Hyatt Visa card. It's the card we use the most. We pay for almost everything on the card and we pay it off at the end of every single month. We've never paid a dime of interest and we usually stay about 8-10 free nights per year, with plenty of points left over. I have no idea what the interest rates are, because we never put ourselves in a position to have Credit Card debt. I think we have a $75 annual fee. It took us three years to get to platinum status, which comes with perks like suite upgrades. We usually hold anywhere from 50,000 - 100,000+ points on our card at a time. You get double points for food/travel purchases.

 

Hyatt Place: 5,000 points/night

Hyatt Regency 7,000 points/night

Hyatt Grands are 10,000-20,000

Hyatt resorts 20,000 per night

 

The Hyatt places are like a nicer Holiday Inn. The regencies are really nice, with well stocked bars, better gyms, and nicer pools. The Grands are usually beach front, or destination locations, with all of the amenities. The resorts are just awesome. We also get one free night/year for the hell of it. They also recently added flights, cars, and other travels to their points plan. However, as you can imagine, it pays off the most to use it on their hotels and resorts. I think we tallied up two round trip non stop flights to Charlotte and it was going to take up about 40,000 points.

[Jaykethekid]

So something neat I learned today is that any Cinnamon bread that is not sold an hour before closing is marked down 75 percent. This means I got mine for a whole $1.88. LOL

 

 

I've never had the cinny bread before so I decided to try this out. They said they only mark the bread down on evenings where the park is going to be closed the next day, so I ended up paying full price at 5:30p. for cold bread.

 

I can only assume that this means if you buy your bread first thing in the morning, you're actually eating yesterday's bread instead of fresh.

When i visit for a couple days in a row, i usually have cinnamon for breakfast before the park actually opens. I can assure you that's not the case because every time i had the bread in the morning it was warm, fresh, cinnamon goodness.

[DILinator]

No sir. You have it all wrong. I was raised Roman Catholic, so beer and Jesus go together like peas and carrots.

Indeed. The whole teetotalling christian thing is a cultural construct, not a religious one.

 

^THIS!

 

As far as the hotels, I will second the Hyatt Place as a fantastic hotel, for a relatively affordable cost! I have been very impressed the couple of times I have stayed in one! Now I just need to get one of those cards prozach has, but not abuse it like I have tended to in the past!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Mercy Health Systems Co-Worker Appreciation Day

 

Yesterday was the company picnic for Mercy Health Systems, which is southwest Missouri's largest hospital and clinic organization. My wife works for them, so each year we get to participate in this event. It included 1 hour of ERT prior to park opening and 4 hours after closing, just for Mercy employees and their families.

 

The park was very busy today, as it always is on this day, and that was exacerbated by a number of bands and school groups attending as well as the Mercy group. Adding to all that was really good weather, sunny and 75 for a high. Despite all that, SDC's stellar operations kept ride times fairly low. Lost River reached an hour at one point, but the rest of the rides stayed consistently around 30 minutes or less. Powder Keg was closed most of the day, and Outlaw Run closed for a little while in the afternoon, but other than that, everything was up and running great.

 

The first thing I noticed was the new height measuring/Trailblazer Pass both in Wilson's Farm. I didn't go back in this area last week because Outlaw Run was down all day, so it may have been there at that time too. This booth is a great improvement, since previously the only place to buy Trailblazer was at the front of the park, and the only height measuring station was in the Grand Expo.

 

Roller Coaster 9 construction is moving along well, still mostly on the station. The shape is I think complete now, as they're starting to put on some siding. The interior of course has much work to do still, but we may see a completed exterior very soon. The trees have grown enough leaves now that it's more difficult to see the trackwork behind Echo Hollow. On the other hand, this means that the trees will obscure the coaster from the Echo Hollow audience. Since SDC has a policy of closing ride lines at park closing time and allowing everyone in line before that time to ride, this means at least early on we'll likely have the coaster still running when the show starts. So it's good to see there will be a tree barrier, which should help with the noise issue.

 

But on to the most important matter of them all. I RODE OUTLAW RUN IN THE DARK, BITCHES!!! If you haven't had the chance, it is amazing. The train was flying at night, after having had a long day of great weather to warm up. The sense of speed, already significant due to the wooded terrain layout, is amplified in the dark. The only opportunity for this type of ride is a couple weeks in late summer when the park runs Moonlight Madness and stays open until 10, 11, or midnight. That makes the ERT session that much more special.

 

Wildfire and Powder Keg are both great in the dark too. Yesterday we didn't have the opportunity for PK night rides, but the fire effect creates a great launch atmosphere that you just don't get during the day. It's the exact same effect, but at night the light from the pyro is much more noticeable. Wildfire, being the least concerned about terrain, is probably the least affected by darkness, but night rides on any coaster improve the atmosphere.

 

In all, it was a fantastic event, as it has been the last few years. Silver Dollar City and Mercy worked hard to put this on, and it paid off in great fun for Mercy employees. I already can't wait for next year!

The kids had about as much fun being splashed here as they did actually riding AP. The one on the left in pink is not mine; I'll claim the other three.

This thing can make quite a splash if the boat is heavy enough.

They are not kidding about this.

This is what that sign is referring to.

Back to Outlaw Run just before sunset.

Behold, Outlaw Run's plaza at night.

Heading west in the dark!

This is a very rare and very special opportunity.

There was a DJ in the square leading a dance party.

Y-M-C-A!

That's the end of a very long and very fun day. Thanks to Silver Dollar City and Mercy Health Systems for putting on a great event!

There is now a second height measuring and Trailblazer Pass booth in Wilson's Farm.

They keep track of the wait times here. Behold the magnificence of SDC's operations.

Roller Coaster 9 has made a lot of progress just in a week. That loft section on the roof is new, and they have some siding in place now too.

If you zoom in really close on this picture, you can see some wooden siding.

This should give you an idea of the crowd level today.

Fairly busy, but manageable.

The door effect was working! I hadn't seen that in years!

[CaptainUnknown]

trees will obscure the coaster from the Echo Hollow audience...we'll likely have the coaster still running when the show starts. So it's good to see there will be a tree barrier, which should help with the noise issue.

 

Unless this thing has the B&M Roar or Intamin Impulse Scream, noise will not be an issue at all. Up through 2015, Valleyfair's Wild Thing had an enormously loud MCBR, and it caused the nearby ampitheatre to pretty much shut down because acts didn't want to play over it. So in 2016, a new ampitheatre was built and a "muffler" of sorts was added to the MCBR. The show in the ampitheatre was a stunt show. So there was some worry in the Valleyfair forum about how the MCBR would affect the safety of the performers. The adrenaline+music+muffler=no problem for performers or audience during the show.

[Shavethewhales]

Great shots as always! Amazing how the station continues to change shape, just when we think we have it figured out.

 

I still think noise will be a problem for EH. They don't do stunt performances in the hollow, it's all singing. The performers used to complain about Thunderation... Even if the coaster runs quiet, the screams will be annoying enough for that kind of music and theater. I'm still assuming that the long term plan is to simply build a new amphitheater somewhere else. Been a lot of rumors through the years about building a new one in conjunction with a new entrance. Who knows when they will finally get around to that though, and I'm sure they will take their sweet time building that too.

[michaellynn4]

Yeah, they were the big plastic cups. Probably 20oz. With our free stays at Hyatt and us already having Season Passes, we joked about our 3 beer each $90 alcohol total being the largest bill of the entire trip.

 

Zach, I know you've probably talked about it in the past already, but how is it that you swung free Hyatt stays again?

We have a Hyatt Visa card. It's the card we use the most. We pay for almost everything on the card and we pay it off at the end of every single month. We've never paid a dime of interest and we usually stay about 8-10 free nights per year, with plenty of points left over. I have no idea what the interest rates are, because we never put ourselves in a position to have Credit Card debt. I think we have a $75 annual fee. It took us three years to get to platinum status, which comes with perks like suite upgrades. We usually hold anywhere from 50,000 - 100,000+ points on our card at a time. You get double points for food/travel purchases.

 

Hyatt Place: 5,000 points/night

Hyatt Regency 7,000 points/night

Hyatt Grands are 10,000-20,000

Hyatt resorts 20,000 per night

 

The Hyatt places are like a nicer Holiday Inn. The regencies are really nice, with well stocked bars, better gyms, and nicer pools. The Grands are usually beach front, or destination locations, with all of the amenities. The resorts are just awesome. We also get one free night/year for the hell of it. They also recently added flights, cars, and other travels to their points plan. However, as you can imagine, it pays off the most to use it on their hotels and resorts. I think we tallied up two round trip non stop flights to Charlotte and it was going to take up about 40,000 points.

 

Thanks, Zach, that's great advice. I really need to look into more brand-specific credit card reward systems rather than just my basic cash rewards card.