Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

[Nrthwnd]

^ Yikes! Nobody was hurt, right?

Hope they can recover and rebuild, etc.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

No one was hurt. They'll rebuild, no worries on that. These were very old buildings, and had the charm of the park from its first couple of decades, so that's a loss. They'll likely rebuild in their new style, which is fine but not the same. 

[sdcfan88]

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

[boldikus]

[sdcfan88]

34 minutes ago, boldikus said:

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.

[coasterbill]

Imagine telling parks and sports teams in the Midwest that they couldn’t open or hold events on days where a tornado watch might be issued. Imagine telling Disney to close when there’s a chance of a severe thunderstorm warning being issued that afternoon with radar indicated rotation in the forecast every single day all summer. 

Lol, get real.

[sdcfan88]

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".

[coasterbill]

I would love something to break into the Jets game I’m watching right now and put me out of my misery. There’s an F5 shitstorm in the middle of MetLife stadium right now and it’s called the New York Jets.

… anyway. I get it, storms are dangerous. If you want to talk about how these businesses like this need to invest in large storm shelters and comprehensive plans then I’m with you. Cedar Point putting up “storm safe” signs everywhere with little tornado icons on them when their plan is literally “I don’t know, everyone run in this bathroom I guess” that’s dumb but it’s entirely impractical to close Disney World 100 days a year and close every large venue in the Midwest any time there’s a chance of a tornado developing at some point that day.

[sdcfan88]

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.

[coasterbill]

If a park can reasonably do what Dollywood did and delay opening when the storm is only an hour or two away to save money on staffing for 2 hours when nobody would be there that’s entirely practical and parks already do that all the time.

Looking at Queue Times, the storm in Branson hit at 8pm, It was a busy day, Time Traveler got up to 80 minutes late that afternoon. They even reopened after the storm and still posted at 45 minutes.

They weren’t going to close the day and they shouldn’t be expected to.

[bert425]

and here I thought someone "explaining to me" that a coaster built on part of the SFFT Parking Lot is NOT a Parking Lot coaster would be the most exasperating interaction I've seen today on TPR.


Personal responsibility.

the 20K+ people who went  out to SDC can check the weather, and then it's their decision to go out or not. (or leave as a storm approaches)

it's just silliness to say that the Park shouldn't have opened because their customers are too dumb  to understand weather risk.

[coasterbill]

Imagine Orlando every day all summer…

“I’m sorry, this isn’t safe… there might be severe weather later. Please go back to your hotel where there also might be the same severe weather later”

[sdcfan88]

34 minutes ago, bert425 said:

it's just silliness to say that the Park shouldn't have opened because their customers are too dumb  to understand weather risk.

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."

[coasterbill]

You’re acting as if we’re saying that there is absolutely no risk of the worst-case-scenario happening here. We’re not, but you have to weight that risk with other factors and put it in perspective and I don’t believe that you’re doing that because it’s what you’re surrounded by at work.

In each of the last five years, US Tornado deaths have ranged from 9 to 76 per year. More than 38,000 people die every year in car crashes in America. You’re not suggesting that the park remove the parking lot to encourage other means of transportation though because you’re a storm chaser and not a DOT employee.

You can’t close Disney 100 or more days per year. You can’t close every park in the Midwest multiple times a week for storms that may-or-may-not materialize and even if they do, have a tiny footprint and you’d have to be ridiculously unlucky for it to matter.

Also, these are regional watches and warnings at regional parks so you’d just be sending people to other places or to their homes within the same warning zone by closing the park.

Perspective…

[sdcfan88]

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.

[coasterbill]

It is 100% not an exaggeration in Orlando. It’s probably actually low. Severe weather is possible almost every single day from at least mid June to mid September and tons of days outside of that.

For other parks, closing parks on days where the weather is guaranteed to be crappy to save money has been common practice for years anyway but nobody is going to close on a nice day with a chance of evening storms. It’s the summer…

Based on posted wait times, they were right for opening.

[tndank]

Also, a bit more perspective on Dollywood.  We had some severe weather here.  I'm talking trees down, back roads blocked because of damage, etc.  They have trouble staffing the park without many of their employees blocked at home because they live in rural areas.  In addition to opening later, they also warned staffing would be worse than normal and many things would be closed.

And I realize it's anecdotal, but I went to HHN in Orlando this year.  The day we went they were calling for severe weather and had Tornado watches in effect.  Even locals were talking about how it wasn't going to be typical Florida rain on this day.  It ended up raining for about 20 minutes around 5pm and that's it.  Place was empty until the rain passed. Crowds were back to normal by 8 or so.  I think it's fine they took a chance and opened.  People can make their own decisions.  

 

[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".

[KBrylczyk]

2 hours ago, sdcfan88 said:

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.

 

Thank god you're running after thunderstorms and not running a massive tourist destination.

 

1 hour ago, sdcfan88 said:

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.

 

You're now equating schools with entertainment options.  C'mon, man.

 

29 minutes ago, sdcfan88 said:

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".

 

And finally now you're insulting everyone on this board with your stupid little sign-off quotes.  Get bent.  You might have some idea of what weather can do since you claim to be a storm chaser, but there are also legitimate meteorologists on this board who would also tell you to take a hike.  Climb down off of your high horse and let people make their own decisions.  You're not their dad.

 

Edit - Furthermore, as an actual father myself, if my son told me they wanted to go ride coasters with the chance of a storm rolling through I'd tell them to keep an eye on things but to have a blast.  Do you have the slightest clue how small of a chance there is of a tornado sucking you into the sky?  I would hope you do, seeing as you're a storm chaser, right?  Holy crap.

[coasterbill]

44 minutes ago, sdcfan88 said:

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers".

Have you ever stopped to consider the idea that maybe the reason that almost nobody (here or anywhere else) agrees with you is that you’re wrong and not that you’re just smarter than the rest of the world?

Everything in life carries risk but you have a better chance of hitting the powerball than being killed by a tornado in most years.

[monotone]

20 people died in the duck boat incident like 2 years ago, apologies that the locals here give a shit about other people during storms now.

Yes everything carries risk but SDCs infrastructure is an absolute disaster and they need to fix it. It's my favorite park in the world but it's legitimately uncomfortable to visit on busy days. 

[coasterbill]

Enough of this insane conversation.

It’s spiraling out of control. Let’s drop it.

Edit: Not sure what part of “Let’s drop it” people don’t understand.

[Garet]

There's a lot of evidence suggesting that more severe and unpredictable weather is going to happen more and more often in the future from Global Warming so it just isn't feasible for parks to close on maybes and forecasts for severe weather. Not just the loss financially but people with last minute cancelled plans are more likely to hit up social media or try and get a quick buck with a sob story on local news that can cause bad PR if the parks get it wrong and close unnecessarily. I bet no media would cover it and there'd be no positive PR if they get it right because that won't get views.

Best case scenario is parks invest in shelters and increase employee training on severe weather training on how to get everyone off rides and queues into a safer area until a storm/tornado passes.

[jarmor]

Soooo. . . about that new coaster rumor. 

[Shavethewhales2]

21 hours ago, monotone said:

20 people died in the duck boat incident like 2 years ago, apologies that the locals here give a shit about other people during storms now.

Yes everything carries risk but SDCs infrastructure is an absolute disaster and they need to fix it. It's my favorite park in the world but it's legitimately uncomfortable to visit on busy days. 

I agree, but they are doing the best they can without spending over a hundred million dollars in one go. SDC has rebuilt several large sections of the park over the last five years with massive investments into the infrastructure and guest flow through. If the rumors are true, another large section will be redone for the 2023 season with FITH being replaced. Not to mention the area that will be redone soon due to the recent fire. There's also rumors about them rebuilding parts of midtown since those buildings are so old and the area is kind of awkward. 

So they are working on it, but unlike many parks the geography has always been extremely challenging and the park simply wasn't originally built with the intention of handling so many guests or even being a theme park per se. The parking lot used to be what is now the main square, for example. 

They still need to rebuild the entrance though, and that will be a massive challenge. Not only is it a huge area with a lot of big existing buildings, but they also have to avoid the cave and the existing cable car system, which pinches down the pathway area. 

 

Speaking of the apparent FITH replacement project, when I last visited a week ago, the site was compacted and it looks like most of the underground infrastructure they were burying earlier in the fall is complete? At least from what we can see. I hope that means they are getting closer to vertical construction once the park closes for the offseason in a couple weeks.