Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

[PKI Jizzman]

Especially when you're getting told tales in the dark 500ft underground in a cave with lanterns turned off!

24 minutes ago, bert425 said:

^ "Bald Knobbers" ???


creeeeepy

 

[CP_RULES]

There probably wasn't much of an advanced notice, but man, one train ops? That would be a complete no-go for me. I cannot stand one train operations even when the park is dead. It turns a station wait into a 10-15 minute wait very quickly. Add a busy park on top of it and you're basically paying to be herded around a small private area in the Ozark Mountains for the day, bonus a few minutes of fun. 

This pandemic has made life so much more complicated in so many ways. It is slowly teaching me to not worry about things out of my control. These operations are certainly unfortunate, but I am glad the park is still around to have unfortunate operations in the first place. Silver lining? 

[tinaalsgirl]

They got rid of the sock fountain? Damn. That was one of my favorite pieces of decor there.

[teacherkim]

5 hours ago, bert425 said:

^ "Bald Knobbers" ???


creeeeepy

Lol, the real Bald Knobbers were a post civil war vigilante group that roamed around the Ozarks. If you look them up on Wikipedia it references them as the theme to FITH but points out the ride and the stage show are historically inaccurate.

[bert425]

^ yah . . Zach sent me a link to the Wiki page to read up on em!

[Chiselphane]

14 hours ago, tinaalsgirl said:

They got rid of the sock fountain? Damn. That was one of my favorite pieces of decor there.

Yeah, that's been gone for a while now     

Another little thing:  The ghost trap hasn't worked in ages

[Shavethewhales2]

14 hours ago, tinaalsgirl said:

They got rid of the sock fountain? Damn. That was one of my favorite pieces of decor there.

Yeah, they actually got rid of it years ago when the area around Time Traveler was rebuilt, or maybe it was a year or two before that even... They also got rid of theming for the "shower" on the roof that appeared to pipe down to a water fountain across from the kettlecorn stand. 

 

17 hours ago, PKI Jizzman said:

Did you forget you log in a have to create another username? Just asking for authenticity sake since you joined today but I'm pretty confident there's been a shavethewhales around here a while! 

 

Lol, yeah. My old account was from back in like 2005 and I tried many times to get the password reset but I don't think I even have the email for it anymore. 

[PKI Jizzman]

11 minutes ago, Shavethewhales2 said:

Yeah, they actually got rid of it years ago when the area around Time Traveler was rebuilt, or maybe it was a year or two before that even... They also got rid of theming for the "shower" on the roof that appeared to pipe down to a water fountain across from the kettlecorn stand. 

 

Lol, yeah. My old account was from back in like 2005 and I tried many times to get the password reset but I don't think I even have the email for it anymore. 

Hah! Thanks for confirming and the info! 

[Jaykethekid]

Made a quick visit this evening to snag a few night rides. I didn’t originally plan on visiting, but the app listed every ride including Mystic River Falls as a zero minute wait. Considering I haven’t experienced that ride yet, I couldn’t pass up such a short wait. In short, it did not disappoint. It’s a gorgeous ride and is incredibly fun if you enjoy water rides. If you don’t… well, you better avoid the thing. I’ve never gotten more drenched on a water ride before. The rapids did a good job at soaking my lower half and the splashdown at the end sent a massive wall of water over the seat backs that ensured I didn’t have a single dry spot left on me. Head to toe, I was completely soaked. It also seemed to be operating very well today. Lots of boats on the circuit and it didn’t appear to shut down the whole time I was there. The fact that few people were riding probably helped. 
 

Everything else went well too. I was able to get all coasters + MRF within 45 minutes of being in the park. Yes, all coasters were running one train, but they were often waiting for people to ride, so there is absolutely no need for multi train ops. A little note, it would appear that Powder Keg only has one train now. I noticed from the brake run when going by the maintenance shed that there were no other trains in there. Though, I know that they often do maintenance work to prepare for the Christmas season, so the other train (or trains) may be off getting worked on. I imagine the situation is similar at other coasters. 

[prozach626]

On 10/18/2021 at 2:24 PM, PKI Jizzman said:

FITH was supremely creepy with very very little audio the whole ride. Extra extra creepy riding after our Lantern Tour where I learned more about the Bald Knobbers.

Hah. It's neat when you learn little historical things about local history from parks. We looked up the Bald Knobbers when we saw the references around town, everywhere.

The only part of Outlaw Run we found uncomfortable was the pothole at the bottom of the drop in the back of the train. My lower back disapproves. Other than that, 10/10, right there with non-wheel-seat Beast and Screamin' Eagle.

One train opps on Time Traveler were probably not fun. But, I'll be the douche one-upper by saying last year were waited for one-train ops and every-other-row operations. Kill me...

Did you take a back row ride on it? The drop I had out of the station during one of our rides was the most insane stomach tickling drop I'd ever experienced. It even surpassed flyer pretzel loops, which I hate... (They legit scare me)

[DavidB]

I have a couple questions for those familiar with the park.  I'm  in the St. Louis area, and a HORRIBLE pseudo-enthusiast who has never been to SDC.  I know...pretty ridiculous...  but here are my 2 main questions:

-The last few years as I've considered visiting multiple times, I've always wanted to come for the Christmas event.  All the lights and everything are in full swing from the start of the event, correct?  I'd hate to come for my first SDC Christmas experience and not have everything going because it's early/mid November.  I likely won't try this weekend because it looks like it will be too cold for all the coasters to run, but the first weekend warm enough, I'd like to take a crack at it.

-Which leads to my next question.  Is this the type of event that gets more and more crowded the closer it gets to Christmas?  This was the other reason I am thinking of going as soon as possible.

I'm really looking forward to experiencing this park for the first time, seeing the lights, eating as many different things as my stomach will allow, and riding these highly regarded coasters.  I am pretty averse to waiting in lines at this point, so will almost certainly get the Trailblazer pass.  Any insight from regulars on these questions would be greatly appreciated!

[Shavethewhales2]

They start putting up lights in June, lol. It's ready from day one, which has already past incidentally. Christmas is their biggest season, so they hit it hard. 

It shouldn't be too bad this weekend. They start shutting things at 40 degrees and a few rides can make it to 33 or 34 I think... There's always the mine and FITH, plus the shows, craftsmen, and the lights. There will be a bunch of American Coaster Enthusiasts at the park this weekend though, so maybe it is a good one to avoid, lol. 

Old Time Christmas is basically always crowded. The park will hit capacity every weekend unless the weather is really bad. Get there early, and try to get in a Friday or Monday if you are able. The good thing is that the crowd turns over throughout the day, so there's an early crowd that comes and does rides then leaves after the first tree lighting, and then another crowd that comes in as it is getting dark. Usually by the last hour of the night it gets surprisingly uncrowded though. 

[PKI Jizzman]

Hit the cinnamon bread as early as you can unless you want to wait 30+ minutes (we waited just outside of the door). We were excited for the food too, but do your best to see if the festival specific food is still available/in stock before you get in line. Twice we got in line, waited, only to be told the item was sold out. I'd say specifically avoid the Potato Patch by Time Traveler. Their skillet was mush, and did not seem fresh. We were so disappointed when we settled for that when the Pumpkin Tater Tumblers were sold out and what a waste of money. 

Try Outlaw Run in the front! The front car is so wide open, it's just incredible how freeing it is. 

American Plunge will soak you to the bone. 

[mwg]

4 minutes ago, PKI Jizzman said:

Hit the cinnamon bread as early as you can unless you want to wait 30+ minutes (we waited just outside of the door). We were excited for the food too, but do your best to see if the festival specific food is still available/in stock before you get in line. Twice we got in line, waited, only to be told the item was sold out. I'd say specifically avoid the Potato Patch by Time Traveler. Their skillet was mush, and did not seem fresh. We were so disappointed when we settled for that when the Pumpkin Tater Tumblers were sold out and what a waste of money. 

Try Outlaw Run in the front! The front car is so wide open, it's just incredible how freeing it is. 

American Plunge will soak you to the bone. 

They aren't doing as much festival specific foods for An Old Time Christmas and there is not Tasting Passport. This past Sunday, I was very impressed with how food lines were moving. We got in line at Wagon Works Grill just outside of the building and had our food within 10 minutes. Overall, the park seemed to be running very efficiently and had the best operations of year. 

Also, American Plunge and all other water rides are closed for the season.

[PKI Jizzman]

6 minutes ago, mwg said:

Also, American Plunge and all other water rides are closed for the season.

Awwwww. I loved how they were really trying to tempt people to ride Mystic Rivers with "It's 50* outside but the water is 52*!" a few weeks ago haha.

[teacherkim]

That ACE event happening this weekend that was mentioned earlier has almost 200 attendees and they all have tickets for Sat and Sun so that will bump up the crowd levels just a bit. On the other hand they will try really hard to run all the coasters to not disappoint the group.

[teacherkim]

Went to the ACE event this weekend and they tried, really tried to give the event attendees morning ert but since the temps were so low the only coaster they could run before 11 when the park opened to the public was FITH. Oh well, no one can control the weather and they soothed our tortured souls with hot chocolate and pastries. The only truly ridiculous food lines I saw were for hot chocolate, it only made it out of the 40's for a couple hours in mid afternoon and that was only to about 51, so it was a cold coaster riding day. TT and OR on one train ops Sat and Sun. We noticed that OR had a different train on Sun versus Sat so that would negate the idea that a train was down since they were taking turns with both of them, and as far as we could tell they had enough staff to run two. Not sure what that is all about. Lines for both of those topped an hour by sunset when the crowds had grown to see the lights. Thankfully, we were given some skip the line passes which we used exclusively on those two since everything else generally had wait times under 30 min.

But oh my God! The parade was hilarious. If any of you read Bert's SW trip report and the stoned carousel horses he encountered then I think you will appreciate that this guy must have been at the same party. 

[Shavethewhales2]

Aw, that's unfortunate. I was supposed to drive up as for the event, but I was just too wiped out and wasn't feeling up to it after a hard week. Looks like they did a lot of other fun stuff at some of the other places around Branson though. The Coaster Christmas event has grown to include stops at two of the mountain coaster places and the weird "snowflex" thing that is basically a glorified slip n' slide. Looked like fun though. Next year I'll be sure to come up on Friday. 

OR definitely had a train in pieces back in October, so good to hear that two trains are operational again. I feel like they have been slowly getting things back together after a lack of parts earlier this year. Not sure what the whole story is, but operations were certainly rough for most of this year and they were very hesitant to run more than one train on anything. 

Sucks that TT is back to one train though. What a pain. The newest and most popular coaster down to minimal operations. Really hope we can see three train ops return someday... if that third train really does still exist and hasn't been torn apart for parts. 

[teacherkim]

3 hours ago, Shavethewhales2 said:

Aw, that's unfortunate. I was supposed to drive up as for the event, but I was just too wiped out and wasn't feeling up to it after a hard week. Looks like they did a lot of other fun stuff at some of the other places around Branson though. The Coaster Christmas event has grown to include stops at two of the mountain coaster places and the weird "snowflex" thing that is basically a glorified slip n' slide. Looked like fun though. Next year I'll be sure to come up on Friday. 

OR definitely had a train in pieces back in October, so good to hear that two trains are operational again. I feel like they have been slowly getting things back together after a lack of parts earlier this year. Not sure what the whole story is, but operations were certainly rough for most of this year and they were very hesitant to run more than one train on anything. 

Sucks that TT is back to one train though. What a pain. The newest and most popular coaster down to minimal operations. Really hope we can see three train ops return someday... if that third train really does still exist and hasn't been torn apart for parts. 

Yeah, next year they are just making it a two day event. Runaway Mt Coaster had a cool lighting package but omg it was cold riding it Fri night! Also, since ert is always iffy at this event due to temps I was told they are "working" on trailblazers for the attendees instead of ert which would be really, really nice.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Fire today at the pork rind shop, park evacuating.

 

https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/local-news-local-news/officials-two-shops-are-on-fire-at-silver-dollar-city/

 

[quote]BRANSON, Mo.- According to the Southern Stone County Fire Protection District, a pork rind shop and woodcarving shop are on fire.

 

Fire crews are on their way, and evacuations are in progress. OzarksFirst crews say that the park is now closed.

 

A crew inside the park said that there were no reported injures moments after the fire. Fire crews are still putting out an active fire at this time.

 

This is a developing story.[/quote]

[Shavethewhales2]

It's a very large fire unfortunately. Someone posted a photo on the sdcfans forums. It looks like the pork rind stand was completely engulfed and it spread to the furniture crafting factory and store next to it. Sigh... another area to rebuild. These buildings partly dated back to when the stagecoach was the biggest attraction at the park. The north end of the building used to be the stagecoach depot. 

 

Edit: just saw a photo posted on the park's FB thread announcing the fire and closure for the day. It looks like all of those buildings have pretty much completely burned down. Nothing left to save. I bet they will bulldoze the remainder next week and we will have an empty space for 2022. They will have to completely start from scratch. These buildings were on the way out anyway due to drainage and age, but it sucks to see devastation it the park like that. Thank god it was contained. You can see part of the "historic" butterfield stage depot sign that is one of the only things left standing. 

[sdcfan88]

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

[ytterbiumanalyst]

"Ma, I ain't got no pork rinds no more. The dang Baldknobbers burned the stand down!"

[teacherkim]

Hmmm, we were there for Coaster Christmas the Sat before the fire. Back in 2018 about a week after we were at BGW for CoasterCon, Escape from Pompeii caught on fire. On the other hand I probably shouldn't be pointing out such patterns on a public forum 

[sdcfan88]

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