Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

[Chiselphane]

17 hours ago, Rai Fox said:

Anyone ever do the upcharge lantern light tour?  https://www.silverdollarcity.com/Tickets/Ticket-Add-Ons/SDC-Lantern-Tour?

That sounds pretty tempting to me...

Also is the Trailblazer pass worth it here?  I have no idea what to expect for crowds there.

I've done the lantern tour and it was worth every penny.  You get into some parts of the cave that the regular tour doesn't go, there's actually remains of a cabin down one of the offshoots.   If you can maneuver it, try to be at the back of the tour group, i found it interesting to occasionally look back into complete darkness (especially if you can lag back just a step or two and shut your lantern off for a moment).

We haven't been in the cave for a long time, it was closed (along with Grandfather's Mansion) most if not all of last year.   And due to our schedule we haven't been back yet this year; watch it have to close again by the time we go in the fall. 

[Rai Fox]

Alright, got my ticket for it.  $15 for that seems more than worth it.

[prozach626]

On 7/28/2021 at 5:03 AM, ytterbiumanalyst said:

^ Snowflake get triggered by people talking to each other again? 

I really wish you guys would put ***TRIGGER WARNING*** before each COVID post, just for me. Joking... Or, maybe I'm not?...

Really though, the conversations really do touch a nerve with me. It's why I rarely open FB, anymore. When I open TPR, it's supposed to be my chill time.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

***TRIGGER WARNING FOR ZACH***

***THE FOLLOWING CONTENT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT IS NOT CHILL. READER DISCRETION ADVISED, BUT SPECIFICALLY ZACH IS ADVISED***

Yeah, I get that. It's super relevant specifically here more than anywhere else, since Taney County, where SDC is located, has one of the highest infection rates in the US. Definitely people should understand the situation if they're planning a trip here in the next few weeks.

[coasterbill]

Can we please not do this?

[mwg]

39 minutes ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

...Taney County, where SDC is located...

SDC is in Stone County. Branson is in Taney County.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Huh, sure is. Just barely over the line.

[WillsMominMO]

On 7/27/2021 at 1:16 PM, teacherkim said:

When you are there make sure to go through Marvel Cave, it's free and the entrance is in the big gift shop that you walk through at the start of the park. It is the whole reason the park exists and is really a cool cave.

My son and I took the 3:45 tour on Tuesday.  The tram derailed as we went around the curve at the bottom of the hill.  I'm sure the tour after us got the free tour back to the entrance that they warn you about.  Don't know how long it will take to fix.

[teacherkim]

1 hour ago, WillsMominMO said:

My son and I took the 3:45 tour on Tuesday.  The tram derailed as we went around the curve at the bottom of the hill.  I'm sure the tour after us got the free tour back to the entrance that they warn you about.  Don't know how long it will take to fix.

Oh that's a big whoops. Yikes!

[Chiselphane]

Yikes is right.  I love doing everything you possibly can in a park, but walking back up out of the cave is a hard pass.   I've done the cave carrying my 5 year old son (at the time) on my back and I swear out of the corner of my eye I saw the grim reaper, checking his watch.

[tinaalsgirl]

I almost had to do the "backwards" tour once. Storms started to roll through while we were down in the cave, but we managed to get to the cable car and up to the exit just before they closed it due to lightning, so the tour group behind me had to be put on reverse. I know I absolutely would never be able to make it up that giant structure in the Cathedral Room; I have a hard enough time as it is getting up the "Huff-and-Puff Staircase".

[sdcfan88]

On 3/17/2021 at 9:43 PM, ElvisLuv said:

Arvest is based in Northwest Arkansas and was started by a Walton of Walmart fame. It is a huge regional bank around here flush with capital and big time backing. 

 

This brings me to NWA and Silver Dollar City. Northwest Arkansas is on track to nearly double in size by 2045. That means around 1 million in population.  Nice to have one of the fastest growing  and  increasingly affluent regions in the country in your back yard so to speak. Springfield is also growing but it is not the juggernaut that NWA has become.

Not to Necropost but it was just recently announced on the latest census that Fayetteville is now the 2nd largest city in the state eclipsing the Fort Smith metro with just over 90k people. https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/local-news/new-census-data-shows-fayetteville-as-second-largest-city-in-arkansas/

[ElvisLuv]

4 hours ago, sdcfan88 said:

Not to Necropost but it was just recently announced on the latest census that Fayetteville is now the 2nd largest city in the state eclipsing the Fort Smith metro with just over 90k people. https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/local-news/new-census-data-shows-fayetteville-as-second-largest-city-in-arkansas/

NWA consist of the core 4 of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville along with Bella Vista and Siloam Springs. Other cities in the two county region like Farmington and Prarie Grove are growing as well. 

You can consider the Jonesboro/Paragould area a core SDC market as well but a lot of their growth is at the cost of the surrounding small, more rural communities.

 

The truth is that there's nearly two years more growth on these numbers for NWA. It has only excelerated since. 

[ElvisLuv]

Incidentally, I was at the park on Sunday(8-22). There had to be no more than 3k at the park all day. Outside of Time Traveler and Mystic River there were hardly any wait times unless you want the front and it was only two or three trains. All coasters ran and all day at that. It was hot and the air wasn't moving much. But we first rowed ever coaster twice except for Time Traveler , we gotblucky and was assigned first and a last row on our 4 overall rides. 

 

Covid Notes,  Less than 10% were masked. Hell, I doubt 5%. The Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas was ground zero for the Delta strain explosion. It has peaked but just now starting to fall a bit. Most all employee were but there were a few not. Mainly those that don't interact with guests or do so from a good distance.

[TEDodd]

4 hours ago, ElvisLuv said:

The Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas was ground zero for the Delta strain explosion.

I thought that was Florida. That's all the news ever talks about.

[CP_RULES]

Fayetteville is in Washington County which had a 21% growth, Benton County grew an even more impressive 28%! These are the two NWA counties that cover the communities mentioned above.

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/aug/22/overall-population-growth-in-northwest-arkansas/

With I-49 finally completing in the region they are definitely anticipating continued growth which certainly doesn't hurt SDC. I haven't had a chance to get on Outlaw Run or Time Traveler yet, here's to hoping the panini press hasn't mucked everything up and more investment is in the future. It wouldn't take much to pull me back!

[prozach626]

5 hours ago, TEDodd said:

I thought that was Florida. That's all the news ever talks about.

It's in the middle of the pack in deaths since the pandemic, but luckily none of this has been political.

[sdcfan88]

3 hours ago, CP_RULES said:

Fayetteville is in Washington County which had a 21% growth, Benton County grew an even more impressive 28%! These are the two NWA counties that cover the communities mentioned above.

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/aug/22/overall-population-growth-in-northwest-arkansas/

With I-49 finally completing in the region they are definitely anticipating continued growth which certainly doesn't hurt SDC. I haven't had a chance to get on Outlaw Run or Time Traveler yet, here's to hoping the panini press hasn't mucked everything up and more investment is in the future. It wouldn't take much to pull me back!

The small town of Cave Springs near XNA Airport grew by 175% or some crazy number as it went from roughly 1500 to 5200 people in the past 10 years as well. It will be great to see that final 5-10 miles of I-49 that will bypass Bella Vista and connect up by Anderson, MO.

What also really needs to happen is the 612 bypass being finished in Springdale as they have only built 3 miles of it then stopped near 112 by Elm Springs. It is supposed to connect to 412 just west of Tontitown, split off to XNA, pass thru Bethel Heights and then connect on the east side of Springdale just before Sonora.

[CP_RULES]

11 minutes ago, sdcfan88 said:

The small town of Cave Springs near XNA Airport grew by 175% or some crazy number as it went from roughly 1500 to 5200 people in the past 10 years as well. It will be great to see that final 5-10 miles of I-49 that will bypass Bella Vista and connect up by Anderson, MO.

What also really needs to happen is the 612 bypass being finished in Springdale as they have only built 3 miles of it then stopped near 112 by Elm Springs. It is supposed to connect to 412 just west of Tontitown, split off to XNA, pass thru Bethel Heights and then connect on the east side of Springdale just before Sonora.

While this has become a bit off topic, I am currently working the Springdale Northern Bypass (SNB - Hwy 612) section between Hwy 112 and Hwy 412 at my job. Progress in the civil engineering world is slow, especially with a poor funding source. Think of the completed SNB as the hyper SFStL will get... someday. 

[ElvisLuv]

21 hours ago, TEDodd said:

I thought that was Florida. That's all the news ever talks about.

Louisiana and then the whole Redneck Riviera and  Texas border regions then the rest of Florida and now the South. But yes, the first spot that lit up like Rudolph's nose was the  Table Rock/Bull Shoals/Norfork Lake regions of the Ozarks and it has spread out from there. There is a clear correlation to vacationing hot spots likely spread by asymptomatic breakthrough cases living life normally. It just happens it was to areas where folks are resistant to vaccines.

[sdcfan88]

Saw this today and I wouldn't mind seeing SDC getting another wooden coaster and built in this style. (the park really could use more wooden coasters to fit in with its theme IMO) A family dueling out and back coaster with lots of airtime hills using the terrain and flying thru the woods built by TGG or GCI would be wonderful. This and the GCI Titan Track show a lot of promise and would set it apart from Outlaw Run. It doesn't even have to be an extreme record breaker.

[AmyUD06]

Well, it would be a record breaker by being the first wooden racing (not dueling) coaster built in the US in the past 40 years....

[Vonni]

I still have the unlikely dream of Ozark Wildcat being rebuilt at SDC (with improved capacity, of course lol)

[sdcfan88]

New construction is now being reported behind Fireman's Landing. Walls are up for a likely project debuting in 2023. Probably the rumored replacement to Fire In The Hole as alluded to a few posts back.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Ooooh, it's happening! Very excited about this.

 

Do we have anything at least quasi-official about them turning the backstage area between FITH and Outlaw Run into a guest path and completing that loop? Been rumoured for years, and it makes so much sense, but wondering if we have anything more than wishes and reasons.