Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

... why not just factor the unit cost of the card into the price of the season pass? ... I’d much rather pay a few bucks extra and have a plastic card than a paper one. I mean, really. We’re talking probably a couple dollars difference.

Because that couple of dollars will scare off a good number of people who otherwise would have bought the season pass. If you live outside this area, you don't understand how economically depressed it really is.

 

Missouri and Arkansas both don't provide a whole lot of services and have low tax rates. The people who move here generally like that and are choosing that situation. Those of us who grew up here may or may not favour it and may or may not have the means to be self-sufficient. The area is growing, and our median income is rising, but that's largely due to an influx of migrants from wealthier states such as California rather than an increase in wealth among those native to the Ozarks.

 

Budget to a point, plenty of high end tourist folks as well. Add up the Springfield and Northwest Arkansas MSA and you have a local market of well over 1 million. Both areas are growing. The St. Louis Fed Reserve branch calls Northwest Arkansas their Gold Coast of the district.

Being a budget destination doesn't necessarily mean that everyone who comes is poor. When you evaluate the Branson attractions, they are largely focused on value for money. There really aren't a whole lot of luxury attractions that would cater to high end tourists. So in this respect, the high end tourists are still focused on the budget aspect; they may just go to a few more attractions. Contrast this with, for example, Miami Beach, which does a lot to attract high end tourists. They're just different.

[legoerosion]

SDCfans has given us a few updates on Time Traveler!

 

The trains are currently on a slow boat from Germany.. they might be expecting testing around Christmas time or a little bit earlier!

 

Also.. SDC seems to be teasing something to do with Time Traveler in the next 3 days.. any thoughts?

 

Will add links when I can, currently out of town as I write this.

[SharkTums]

^Isn't it pretty assumed they will unveil the trains at IAAPA?

 

Especially with this Media Advisory: 11 – 11:30 a.m.: Mack Rides / Silver Dollar City / Herschend Family Entertainment, Booth 2269

[thedazza]

^Isn't it pretty assumed they will unveil the trains at IAAPA?

 

Especially with this Media Advisory: 11 – 11:30 a.m.: Mack Rides / Silver Dollar City / Herschend Family Entertainment, Booth 2269

 

Yes they will.

 

• Mack Rides will show off the ride vehicle for Silver Dollar City’s new Time Traveller, a complete-circuit spinning roller coaster.

[sdcfan88]

Here are my photos from the ACE Coaster Christmas event at SDC yesterday. For SDC/Time Traveler it was a mini recap of the media announcement followed by another construction site tour.

 

FULL ALBUM HERE:

 

 

[thrillseeker4552]

Nice photos! This thing looks awesome.

 

Will this run two or three trains? I assume two since I see two transfer areas, but it's hard to tell if one of them is "deeper."

[WOFanatic]

Nice photos! This thing looks awesome.

 

Will this run two or three trains? I assume two since I see two transfer areas, but it's hard to tell if one of them is "deeper."

It will run 3!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Very nice photos. I'm getting more excited about this. 3 trains will be fantastic, since this likely will have fewer passengers per train like Powder Keg does.

[sdcfan88]

Thanks all! Yes Brad himself said there will be 3 trains on this coaster.

 

In other news I just saw this on the MACK Rides FB Page. Looks like we got one of the Time Traveler cars in transit.

[ElvisLuv]

... why not just factor the unit cost of the card into the price of the season pass? ... I’d much rather pay a few bucks extra and have a plastic card than a paper one. I mean, really. We’re talking probably a couple dollars difference.

Because that couple of dollars will scare off a good number of people who otherwise would have bought the season pass. If you live outside this area, you don't understand how economically depressed it really is.

 

Missouri and Arkansas both don't provide a whole lot of services and have low tax rates. The people who move here generally like that and are choosing that situation. Those of us who grew up here may or may not favour it and may or may not have the means to be self-sufficient. The area is growing, and our median income is rising, but that's largely due to an influx of migrants from wealthier states such as California rather than an increase in wealth among those native to the Ozarks.

 

Budget to a point, plenty of high end tourist folks as well. Add up the Springfield and Northwest Arkansas MSA and you have a local market of well over 1 million. Both areas are growing. The St. Louis Fed Reserve branch calls Northwest Arkansas their Gold Coast of the district.

Being a budget destination doesn't necessarily mean that everyone who comes is poor. When you evaluate the Branson attractions, they are largely focused on value for money. There really aren't a whole lot of luxury attractions that would cater to high end tourists. So in this respect, the high end tourists are still focused on the budget aspect; they may just go to a few more attractions. Contrast this with, for example, Miami Beach, which does a lot to attract high end tourists. They're just different.

 

They move here because it provides a greater bang for their buck and there's plenty of opportunity to make a good living. You may be speaking for Springfield but you're not close to Northwest Arkansas. NWA is a baby Dallas Metroplex.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I'm not sure how any of that contradicts what I wrote. There's an economic divide here. You have a lot of very poor people and a lot of middle class. If you're a working class person with only a high school education, it's tough. It's not hard to find a job, but it is hard to find a good paying job. If you're working per hour, $15 is high here. Good luck trying to find $20. And you're going to be stuck there with no real chance at advancement.

 

You seem to be seeing the Ozarks from an outsider's perspective. People who move here are already ahead. Those opportunities are going to be there for them because they have the money and education to make it happen. You come from a blue collar family or a farm family, it's going to be tough for you. This isn't an area that creates opportunities. It has opportunities for those who already are ahead.

 

When setting your price, you've got to take the economy into consideration. SDC still has a large contingent of bobbie socks families who are there for crafts and gospel music. They don't want to alienate those people, who often are very price sensitive. When you're buying 10 season passes, you have to be. That's the reason season passes are less than most parks. It's the reason parkong is free. It's the reason you can bring your own food into the park. Yes, they're wanting to attract the new money here, but they have to keep their core audience too.

[ElvisLuv]

I'm not sure how any of that contradicts what I wrote. There's an economic divide here. You have a lot of very poor people and a lot of middle class. If you're a working class person with only a high school education, it's tough. It's not hard to find a job, but it is hard to find a good paying job. If you're working per hour, $15 is high here. Good luck trying to find $20. And you're going to be stuck there with no real chance at advancement.

 

You seem to be seeing the Ozarks from an outsider's perspective. People who move here are already ahead. Those opportunities are going to be there for them because they have the money and education to make it happen. You come from a blue collar family or a farm family, it's going to be tough for you. This isn't an area that creates opportunities. It has opportunities for those who already are ahead.

 

When setting your price, you've got to take the economy into consideration. SDC still has a large contingent of bobbie socks families who are there for crafts and gospel music. They don't want to alienate those people, who often are very price sensitive. When you're buying 10 season passes, you have to be. That's the reason season passes are less than most parks. It's the reason parkong is free. It's the reason you can bring your own food into the park. Yes, they're wanting to attract the new money here, but they have to keep their core audience too.

 

I live in Fayetteville.

 

I own land adjacent to Buffalo National River that didn't "get" water till a decade ago. I understand the economics well. I know how much the land in Newton Co. Arkansas can sell for. And... most importantly I know real honest to goodNess moonshiners that sell it in gallon milk jugs that act as poor as they can only to go out west and drop 10k on an Elk hunt when they aren't poaching the local herd. Plenty of methheads too.

 

But,...the fact of the matter is that the Ozarks are sparsely populated out side of the the MSAs.

 

REGIONAL RANKINGS

 

BEST CITIES TO LAUNCH A CAREER

 

Realtor.com in mid-2017 created a list of the 10 Best Cities to Launch a Career. Northwest Arkansas joined far larger middle America regions on the list, including Dallas, Kansas City and Nashville. Among the places listed, only Kansas City had a lower median home price.

 

BEST AFFORDABLE PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put Northwest Arkansas at No. 1 in its May 2016 ranking of the 20 Best Affordable Places to Live.

 

BEST IN THE U.S.

 

Lonely Planet, the world's largest publisher of travel-related books and guides, in February 2016 ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 7 in its list of "Best in the U.S."

 

BEST CITIES FOR WHITE-COLLAR JOB GROWTH

 

Forbes and NewGeography.com ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 3 among the nation's medium-sized cities for white-collar job growth in July 2016. The region ranked 16th among all U.S. metropolitan statistical areas.

 

BEST MIDSIZE CITIES FOR JOBS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 2 on its list of Best Midsize Cities for Jobs in May 2016. All the midsize cities had 150,000 to 450,000 nonfarm jobs in their metropolitan area.

 

BEST-PERFORMING CITIES

 

The Milken Institute, which published a new report in December 2016, put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area's economy at No. 30 among 200 large metropolitan areas. The region was especially strong in job and wage growth.

 

BEST PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (Northwest Arkansas) Metropolitan Statistical Area at No. 5 on its 2017 list of Best Places to Live. Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 3 in 2016.

 

BEST PLACES FOR MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES IN 2016

 

Only San Jose in California ranked ahead of Northwest Arkansas when it came to creating a climate for minority-owned businesses. Northwest Arkansas was No. 2 nationally, according to Fast Company and Nerdwallet.

 

BEST PLACES TO RETIRE

 

Money Magazine in 2015 lists Northwest Arkansas as one of 25 Best Places to Retire. Northwest Arkansas offers a wealth of year-round outdoor outlets.

 

BEST SUBURB TO PURCHASE A HOME

 

According to Realtor Magazine's June 2015 issue, Centerton in Northwest Arkansas was ranked by online publication Niche at No. 3 for best places in the nation to purchase a home with an average home price of $133,400. Niche recently ranked America's suburbs, factoring in home values, property taxes, housing costs, and age of new homebuyers.

 

FAMILY FRIENDLINESS

 

Researchers at Chapman University's Center for Demographics and Policy in California determined in a report that Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 1 in the nation in family friendliness. The report, called Building Cities for People and made public in January 2016, measured metropolitan areas in such categories as commute times, housing costs, income and migration.

 

FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY THROUGH 2021

 

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area (Northwest Arkansas) economy, according to a report by IHS Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report showed the region's economic growth rate will rank No. 5 nationally through 2021. Only four U.S. regions — two in Utah and two in Florida — are expected to see their economies grow at a faster rate. The 3.9 percent annual growth rate predicted for Northwest Arkansas will push the region’s economy past $30 billion. The report is available here, and Page 36 shows the expectation regarding Northwest Arkansas' future growth.

 

MOST ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2016

 

Northwest Arkansas is No. 7 among 18 regions that will see the most economic growth in 2016, according to research by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June 2015.

 

BEST PLACES FOR BUSINESS AND CAREERS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 24 in its list of Best Places for Business and Careers in 2016. Criteria included labor supply, quality of life, college attainment, crime statistics, local college quality, and cultural and recreational opportunities. In the ranking, Northwest Arkansas was ahead of larger metropolitan areas, including San Jose, Orlando, Nashville and Minneapolis/St.Paul. Ranked No. 11 in job growth, Northwest Arkansas finished ahead of cities such as Denver, Dallas and Atlanta in that category.

 

CITY RANKINGS

 

BELLA VISTA

 

The city on the northern end of the Northwest Arkansas region was selected as one of the nation's 25 Best Places to Retire in 2017 by Forbes. The affordability of housing was a significant factor in the ranking.

 

BENTONVILLE

 

NerdWallet put Bentonville at No. 9 on its list of Best Small Cities for Families, publishing the list in October 2017. The online publication ranked cities with populations between 25,000 and 75,000 residents. Bentonville was the only Top 10 city that isn't a suburb to one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

 

National Geographic in May 2017 selected Bentonville as one of America's 20 Best Mountain Bike Towns. Mountain bike trails at Slaughter Pen in Bentonville, Lake Atalanta in Rogers and Mount Kessler in Fayetteville were mentioned as part of the recognition on National Geographic's website.

 

Thrillist in May 2016 put Bentonville in its list of "25 Best Small U.S. Cities to spend the weekend." Thrillist is a website focused on food, drink and travel.

 

Outside Magazine in March 2016 ranked Bentonville on its list of "28 Best Trips of 2016," noting the region's growing interest in and places for mountain biking.

 

Yahoo! Travel in June 2015 has identified Bentonville as one of 10 Newest Hipster Neighborhoods. According to Yahoo! Travel, great things are happening in some relatively unknown neighborhoods across the U.S. The opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 21c Museum Hotel, Scott Family Amazeum and the recent Bentonville Film Festival attended by many of Hollywood's royalty, has identified Bentonville as a hub for art and culture.

 

FAYETTEVILLE

 

Money magazine put Fayetteville and three other Northwest Arkansas cities in the Top 70 in its September 2017 ranking of Best Places to Live. Fayetteville led the way at No. 43, but Rogers (No. 45), Springdale (No. 58) and Siloam Springs (No. 68) were each ranked, too. The ranking was for cities with 10,000 to 100,000 residents.

 

The University of Arkansas System, which has the flagship University of Arkansas located in Fayetteville, was ranked at No. 65 in a list of the world's 100 top utility patent producing universities. The list was published in June 2015 by the National Academy of Investors.

 

Ranked by Southern Living at No. 11 in its list of The South’s Best College Towns, Fayetteville was cited for “a slew of music venues and bars” but also noted that Dickson Street is the “town’s life force on the weekends” and connects the University of Arkansas to “the revitalized downtown, where streets are blocked off on Saturdays for the 60-stall Fayetteville Farmers’ Market.”

 

Fayetteville was identified by Flipkey as one of Six Amazing Small Cities for a Family Vacation in November 2016. The other five were Chapel Hill, N.C.; Columbia, Mo.; Rockville, Md.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.

 

Men's Journal identified Fayetteville as one of the Fittest Places to Live in America in 2015.

 

SPRINGDALE

 

WalletHub ranked Springdale as the nation's 17th on a list of the Fastest-Growing Cities in America among 515 cities evaluated in 2017. It sits at No. 6 among small cities. The ranking is based on 15 metrics and it gave the greatest weight to population growth, working-age population growth, and college-educated population growth over seven years.

 

Springdale sits at No. 45 on a list of America's 50 Best Cities to Live as ranked by 24/7 Wall St. The website evaluated 590 cities with populations over 65,000 residents. Data was collected in nine categories, including crime, health, housing and infrastructure

 

 

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:

 

Travelocity recently released its new Beer Tourism Index, and Fayetteville, Arkansas (and our friends in the surrounding Northwest Arkansas area), hopped up onto the top-20 list in the large-metro category.

[Kevin Long]

wow that got geopolitical and in-depth regional economic policy and stuff really quickly - all I asked about was paper or cardboard season passes.....

 

Interesting

 

Kevin

[ElvisLuv]

wow that got geopolitical and in-depth regional economic policy and stuff really quickly - all I asked about was paper or cardboard season passes.....

 

Interesting

 

Kevin

 

You should see the most modest HQ of a Major retailer you'll ever see in Bentonville. That's about to change though, Walmart is about to drop multiple billions on a whole new campus.

 

I don't understand why they don't go for plastic. But really, neither are needed if they just allowed us to show them via an app like I do for my Six Flags passes. Which brings me to those, I hate that I have to go to activate them. I live 5 hours from any SF park, yet have purchased gold passes twice in the past 5 years to milk the free admission and parking to any park aspect of it. We picked them up last Oct in SFSTL for this year. We didn't go to the Halloween stuff this year cause we covered it last season.

 

Back to SDC, Dollywood will give the rest of the year(Christmas) for 2018 passes yet SDC will not. SDC doesn't hurt for crowds at Christmas. Maybe there's something to that. Maybe Dollywood actually needs the nudge for their Christmas season as opposed to SDC. I think it comes down to max capacity and having two years worth of pass holders making it even more crowded than it already is. Case in point, I only get SDC passes every three years or so but will visit at least 4 time. When I do get Passes , I use every availible bring a friend. They'd get my this Christmas and next if they did what Dolly does . Maybe the park is just too small for that while Dolly has more room.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

wow that got geopolitical and in-depth regional economic policy and stuff really quickly - all I asked about was paper or cardboard season passes.....

 

Interesting

 

Kevin

You're welcome! Providing way more information than is strictly necessary is my speciality.

 

How about those Time Traveler cars at IAAPA?

[sdcfan88]

Seeing it in the physical and not as a CGI rendering I am much more optimistic on the theming and stylization of this ride. I just hope the rest of the station building is done on this level of detail. I am impressed nonetheless.

 

 

Short reveal video from the TPR FB page:

[The Great Zo]

Those are absolute works of art. Even aside from that, Mack's modern seats and restraints are very comfortable.

[prozach626]

I'm not sure how any of that contradicts what I wrote. There's an economic divide here. You have a lot of very poor people and a lot of middle class. If you're a working class person with only a high school education, it's tough. It's not hard to find a job, but it is hard to find a good paying job. If you're working per hour, $15 is high here. Good luck trying to find $20. And you're going to be stuck there with no real chance at advancement.

 

You seem to be seeing the Ozarks from an outsider's perspective. People who move here are already ahead. Those opportunities are going to be there for them because they have the money and education to make it happen. You come from a blue collar family or a farm family, it's going to be tough for you. This isn't an area that creates opportunities. It has opportunities for those who already are ahead.

 

When setting your price, you've got to take the economy into consideration. SDC still has a large contingent of bobbie socks families who are there for crafts and gospel music. They don't want to alienate those people, who often are very price sensitive. When you're buying 10 season passes, you have to be. That's the reason season passes are less than most parks. It's the reason parkong is free. It's the reason you can bring your own food into the park. Yes, they're wanting to attract the new money here, but they have to keep their core audience too.

 

I live in Fayetteville.

 

I own land adjacent to Buffalo National River that didn't "get" water till a decade ago. I understand the economics well. I know how much the land in Newton Co. Arkansas can sell for. And... most importantly I know real honest to goodNess moonshiners that sell it in gallon milk jugs that act as poor as they can only to go out west and drop 10k on an Elk hunt when they aren't poaching the local herd. Plenty of methheads too.

 

But,...the fact of the matter is that the Ozarks are sparsely populated out side of the the MSAs.

 

REGIONAL RANKINGS

 

BEST CITIES TO LAUNCH A CAREER

 

Realtor.com in mid-2017 created a list of the 10 Best Cities to Launch a Career. Northwest Arkansas joined far larger middle America regions on the list, including Dallas, Kansas City and Nashville. Among the places listed, only Kansas City had a lower median home price.

 

BEST AFFORDABLE PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put Northwest Arkansas at No. 1 in its May 2016 ranking of the 20 Best Affordable Places to Live.

 

BEST IN THE U.S.

 

Lonely Planet, the world's largest publisher of travel-related books and guides, in February 2016 ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 7 in its list of "Best in the U.S."

 

BEST CITIES FOR WHITE-COLLAR JOB GROWTH

 

Forbes and NewGeography.com ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 3 among the nation's medium-sized cities for white-collar job growth in July 2016. The region ranked 16th among all U.S. metropolitan statistical areas.

 

BEST MIDSIZE CITIES FOR JOBS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 2 on its list of Best Midsize Cities for Jobs in May 2016. All the midsize cities had 150,000 to 450,000 nonfarm jobs in their metropolitan area.

 

BEST-PERFORMING CITIES

 

The Milken Institute, which published a new report in December 2016, put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area's economy at No. 30 among 200 large metropolitan areas. The region was especially strong in job and wage growth.

 

BEST PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (Northwest Arkansas) Metropolitan Statistical Area at No. 5 on its 2017 list of Best Places to Live. Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 3 in 2016.

 

BEST PLACES FOR MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES IN 2016

 

Only San Jose in California ranked ahead of Northwest Arkansas when it came to creating a climate for minority-owned businesses. Northwest Arkansas was No. 2 nationally, according to Fast Company and Nerdwallet.

 

BEST PLACES TO RETIRE

 

Money Magazine in 2015 lists Northwest Arkansas as one of 25 Best Places to Retire. Northwest Arkansas offers a wealth of year-round outdoor outlets.

 

BEST SUBURB TO PURCHASE A HOME

 

According to Realtor Magazine's June 2015 issue, Centerton in Northwest Arkansas was ranked by online publication Niche at No. 3 for best places in the nation to purchase a home with an average home price of $133,400. Niche recently ranked America's suburbs, factoring in home values, property taxes, housing costs, and age of new homebuyers.

 

FAMILY FRIENDLINESS

 

Researchers at Chapman University's Center for Demographics and Policy in California determined in a report that Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 1 in the nation in family friendliness. The report, called Building Cities for People and made public in January 2016, measured metropolitan areas in such categories as commute times, housing costs, income and migration.

 

FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY THROUGH 2021

 

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area (Northwest Arkansas) economy, according to a report by IHS Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report showed the region's economic growth rate will rank No. 5 nationally through 2021. Only four U.S. regions — two in Utah and two in Florida — are expected to see their economies grow at a faster rate. The 3.9 percent annual growth rate predicted for Northwest Arkansas will push the region’s economy past $30 billion. The report is available here, and Page 36 shows the expectation regarding Northwest Arkansas' future growth.

 

MOST ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2016

 

Northwest Arkansas is No. 7 among 18 regions that will see the most economic growth in 2016, according to research by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June 2015.

 

BEST PLACES FOR BUSINESS AND CAREERS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 24 in its list of Best Places for Business and Careers in 2016. Criteria included labor supply, quality of life, college attainment, crime statistics, local college quality, and cultural and recreational opportunities. In the ranking, Northwest Arkansas was ahead of larger metropolitan areas, including San Jose, Orlando, Nashville and Minneapolis/St.Paul. Ranked No. 11 in job growth, Northwest Arkansas finished ahead of cities such as Denver, Dallas and Atlanta in that category.

 

CITY RANKINGS

 

BELLA VISTA

 

The city on the northern end of the Northwest Arkansas region was selected as one of the nation's 25 Best Places to Retire in 2017 by Forbes. The affordability of housing was a significant factor in the ranking.

 

BENTONVILLE

 

NerdWallet put Bentonville at No. 9 on its list of Best Small Cities for Families, publishing the list in October 2017. The online publication ranked cities with populations between 25,000 and 75,000 residents. Bentonville was the only Top 10 city that isn't a suburb to one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

 

National Geographic in May 2017 selected Bentonville as one of America's 20 Best Mountain Bike Towns. Mountain bike trails at Slaughter Pen in Bentonville, Lake Atalanta in Rogers and Mount Kessler in Fayetteville were mentioned as part of the recognition on National Geographic's website.

 

Thrillist in May 2016 put Bentonville in its list of "25 Best Small U.S. Cities to spend the weekend." Thrillist is a website focused on food, drink and travel.

 

Outside Magazine in March 2016 ranked Bentonville on its list of "28 Best Trips of 2016," noting the region's growing interest in and places for mountain biking.

 

Yahoo! Travel in June 2015 has identified Bentonville as one of 10 Newest Hipster Neighborhoods. According to Yahoo! Travel, great things are happening in some relatively unknown neighborhoods across the U.S. The opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 21c Museum Hotel, Scott Family Amazeum and the recent Bentonville Film Festival attended by many of Hollywood's royalty, has identified Bentonville as a hub for art and culture.

 

FAYETTEVILLE

 

Money magazine put Fayetteville and three other Northwest Arkansas cities in the Top 70 in its September 2017 ranking of Best Places to Live. Fayetteville led the way at No. 43, but Rogers (No. 45), Springdale (No. 58) and Siloam Springs (No. 68) were each ranked, too. The ranking was for cities with 10,000 to 100,000 residents.

 

The University of Arkansas System, which has the flagship University of Arkansas located in Fayetteville, was ranked at No. 65 in a list of the world's 100 top utility patent producing universities. The list was published in June 2015 by the National Academy of Investors.

 

Ranked by Southern Living at No. 11 in its list of The South’s Best College Towns, Fayetteville was cited for “a slew of music venues and bars” but also noted that Dickson Street is the “town’s life force on the weekends” and connects the University of Arkansas to “the revitalized downtown, where streets are blocked off on Saturdays for the 60-stall Fayetteville Farmers’ Market.”

 

Fayetteville was identified by Flipkey as one of Six Amazing Small Cities for a Family Vacation in November 2016. The other five were Chapel Hill, N.C.; Columbia, Mo.; Rockville, Md.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.

 

Men's Journal identified Fayetteville as one of the Fittest Places to Live in America in 2015.

 

SPRINGDALE

 

WalletHub ranked Springdale as the nation's 17th on a list of the Fastest-Growing Cities in America among 515 cities evaluated in 2017. It sits at No. 6 among small cities. The ranking is based on 15 metrics and it gave the greatest weight to population growth, working-age population growth, and college-educated population growth over seven years.

 

Springdale sits at No. 45 on a list of America's 50 Best Cities to Live as ranked by 24/7 Wall St. The website evaluated 590 cities with populations over 65,000 residents. Data was collected in nine categories, including crime, health, housing and infrastructure

 

 

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:

 

Travelocity recently released its new Beer Tourism Index, and Fayetteville, Arkansas (and our friends in the surrounding Northwest Arkansas area), hopped up onto the top-20 list in the large-metro category.

If you're going to use that much time and energy on 'almost' pointless internet conversation, you should just make a TR... More people will read it. At the very least, how about some cliff notes?

[legoerosion]

That car is sexy as hell god damn...

[ElvisLuv]

I'm not sure how any of that contradicts what I wrote. There's an economic divide here. You have a lot of very poor people and a lot of middle class. If you're a working class person with only a high school education, it's tough. It's not hard to find a job, but it is hard to find a good paying job. If you're working per hour, $15 is high here. Good luck trying to find $20. And you're going to be stuck there with no real chance at advancement.

 

You seem to be seeing the Ozarks from an outsider's perspective. People who move here are already ahead. Those opportunities are going to be there for them because they have the money and education to make it happen. You come from a blue collar family or a farm family, it's going to be tough for you. This isn't an area that creates opportunities. It has opportunities for those who already are ahead.

 

When setting your price, you've got to take the economy into consideration. SDC still has a large contingent of bobbie socks families who are there for crafts and gospel music. They don't want to alienate those people, who often are very price sensitive. When you're buying 10 season passes, you have to be. That's the reason season passes are less than most parks. It's the reason parkong is free. It's the reason you can bring your own food into the park. Yes, they're wanting to attract the new money here, but they have to keep their core audience too.

 

I live in Fayetteville.

 

I own land adjacent to Buffalo National River that didn't "get" water till a decade ago. I understand the economics well. I know how much the land in Newton Co. Arkansas can sell for. And... most importantly I know real honest to goodNess moonshiners that sell it in gallon milk jugs that act as poor as they can only to go out west and drop 10k on an Elk hunt when they aren't poaching the local herd. Plenty of methheads too.

 

But,...the fact of the matter is that the Ozarks are sparsely populated out side of the the MSAs.

 

REGIONAL RANKINGS

 

BEST CITIES TO LAUNCH A CAREER

 

Realtor.com in mid-2017 created a list of the 10 Best Cities to Launch a Career. Northwest Arkansas joined far larger middle America regions on the list, including Dallas, Kansas City and Nashville. Among the places listed, only Kansas City had a lower median home price.

 

BEST AFFORDABLE PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put Northwest Arkansas at No. 1 in its May 2016 ranking of the 20 Best Affordable Places to Live.

 

BEST IN THE U.S.

 

Lonely Planet, the world's largest publisher of travel-related books and guides, in February 2016 ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 7 in its list of "Best in the U.S."

 

BEST CITIES FOR WHITE-COLLAR JOB GROWTH

 

Forbes and NewGeography.com ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 3 among the nation's medium-sized cities for white-collar job growth in July 2016. The region ranked 16th among all U.S. metropolitan statistical areas.

 

BEST MIDSIZE CITIES FOR JOBS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 2 on its list of Best Midsize Cities for Jobs in May 2016. All the midsize cities had 150,000 to 450,000 nonfarm jobs in their metropolitan area.

 

BEST-PERFORMING CITIES

 

The Milken Institute, which published a new report in December 2016, put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area's economy at No. 30 among 200 large metropolitan areas. The region was especially strong in job and wage growth.

 

BEST PLACES TO LIVE

 

U.S. News & World Report put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (Northwest Arkansas) Metropolitan Statistical Area at No. 5 on its 2017 list of Best Places to Live. Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 3 in 2016.

 

BEST PLACES FOR MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES IN 2016

 

Only San Jose in California ranked ahead of Northwest Arkansas when it came to creating a climate for minority-owned businesses. Northwest Arkansas was No. 2 nationally, according to Fast Company and Nerdwallet.

 

BEST PLACES TO RETIRE

 

Money Magazine in 2015 lists Northwest Arkansas as one of 25 Best Places to Retire. Northwest Arkansas offers a wealth of year-round outdoor outlets.

 

BEST SUBURB TO PURCHASE A HOME

 

According to Realtor Magazine's June 2015 issue, Centerton in Northwest Arkansas was ranked by online publication Niche at No. 3 for best places in the nation to purchase a home with an average home price of $133,400. Niche recently ranked America's suburbs, factoring in home values, property taxes, housing costs, and age of new homebuyers.

 

FAMILY FRIENDLINESS

 

Researchers at Chapman University's Center for Demographics and Policy in California determined in a report that Northwest Arkansas ranked No. 1 in the nation in family friendliness. The report, called Building Cities for People and made public in January 2016, measured metropolitan areas in such categories as commute times, housing costs, income and migration.

 

FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY THROUGH 2021

 

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area (Northwest Arkansas) economy, according to a report by IHS Global Insight for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report showed the region's economic growth rate will rank No. 5 nationally through 2021. Only four U.S. regions — two in Utah and two in Florida — are expected to see their economies grow at a faster rate. The 3.9 percent annual growth rate predicted for Northwest Arkansas will push the region’s economy past $30 billion. The report is available here, and Page 36 shows the expectation regarding Northwest Arkansas' future growth.

 

MOST ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2016

 

Northwest Arkansas is No. 7 among 18 regions that will see the most economic growth in 2016, according to research by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June 2015.

 

BEST PLACES FOR BUSINESS AND CAREERS

 

Forbes ranked Northwest Arkansas at No. 24 in its list of Best Places for Business and Careers in 2016. Criteria included labor supply, quality of life, college attainment, crime statistics, local college quality, and cultural and recreational opportunities. In the ranking, Northwest Arkansas was ahead of larger metropolitan areas, including San Jose, Orlando, Nashville and Minneapolis/St.Paul. Ranked No. 11 in job growth, Northwest Arkansas finished ahead of cities such as Denver, Dallas and Atlanta in that category.

 

CITY RANKINGS

 

BELLA VISTA

 

The city on the northern end of the Northwest Arkansas region was selected as one of the nation's 25 Best Places to Retire in 2017 by Forbes. The affordability of housing was a significant factor in the ranking.

 

BENTONVILLE

 

NerdWallet put Bentonville at No. 9 on its list of Best Small Cities for Families, publishing the list in October 2017. The online publication ranked cities with populations between 25,000 and 75,000 residents. Bentonville was the only Top 10 city that isn't a suburb to one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

 

National Geographic in May 2017 selected Bentonville as one of America's 20 Best Mountain Bike Towns. Mountain bike trails at Slaughter Pen in Bentonville, Lake Atalanta in Rogers and Mount Kessler in Fayetteville were mentioned as part of the recognition on National Geographic's website.

 

Thrillist in May 2016 put Bentonville in its list of "25 Best Small U.S. Cities to spend the weekend." Thrillist is a website focused on food, drink and travel.

 

Outside Magazine in March 2016 ranked Bentonville on its list of "28 Best Trips of 2016," noting the region's growing interest in and places for mountain biking.

 

Yahoo! Travel in June 2015 has identified Bentonville as one of 10 Newest Hipster Neighborhoods. According to Yahoo! Travel, great things are happening in some relatively unknown neighborhoods across the U.S. The opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 21c Museum Hotel, Scott Family Amazeum and the recent Bentonville Film Festival attended by many of Hollywood's royalty, has identified Bentonville as a hub for art and culture.

 

FAYETTEVILLE

 

Money magazine put Fayetteville and three other Northwest Arkansas cities in the Top 70 in its September 2017 ranking of Best Places to Live. Fayetteville led the way at No. 43, but Rogers (No. 45), Springdale (No. 58) and Siloam Springs (No. 68) were each ranked, too. The ranking was for cities with 10,000 to 100,000 residents.

 

The University of Arkansas System, which has the flagship University of Arkansas located in Fayetteville, was ranked at No. 65 in a list of the world's 100 top utility patent producing universities. The list was published in June 2015 by the National Academy of Investors.

 

Ranked by Southern Living at No. 11 in its list of The South’s Best College Towns, Fayetteville was cited for “a slew of music venues and bars” but also noted that Dickson Street is the “town’s life force on the weekends” and connects the University of Arkansas to “the revitalized downtown, where streets are blocked off on Saturdays for the 60-stall Fayetteville Farmers’ Market.”

 

Fayetteville was identified by Flipkey as one of Six Amazing Small Cities for a Family Vacation in November 2016. The other five were Chapel Hill, N.C.; Columbia, Mo.; Rockville, Md.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.

 

Men's Journal identified Fayetteville as one of the Fittest Places to Live in America in 2015.

 

SPRINGDALE

 

WalletHub ranked Springdale as the nation's 17th on a list of the Fastest-Growing Cities in America among 515 cities evaluated in 2017. It sits at No. 6 among small cities. The ranking is based on 15 metrics and it gave the greatest weight to population growth, working-age population growth, and college-educated population growth over seven years.

 

Springdale sits at No. 45 on a list of America's 50 Best Cities to Live as ranked by 24/7 Wall St. The website evaluated 590 cities with populations over 65,000 residents. Data was collected in nine categories, including crime, health, housing and infrastructure

 

 

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:

 

Travelocity recently released its new Beer Tourism Index, and Fayetteville, Arkansas (and our friends in the surrounding Northwest Arkansas area), hopped up onto the top-20 list in the large-metro category.

If you're going to use that much time and energy on 'almost' pointless internet conversation, you should just make a TR... More people will read it. At the very least, how about some cliff notes?

 

That took about two minutes tops. Most was a quick copy and paste from a factsheet from the CoC.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

That car is sexy as hell god damn...

I know right? SDC is really outdoing themselves, and their last coaster was Outlaw Run!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Old Time Christmas 2017 starring Christmas in Midtown!

 

I have Fridays off, and no one else in my family does. Usually I have projects or something on my "day off," but this week with nothing too urgent I spent the day at Silver Dollar City. I can never get the family to watch shows--I know, they're weird--so today that's what I wanted to do.

 

The park opened at 1:00, and as we lined up in the square, some of the A Dickens' Christmas Carol cast came out for some caroling. At rope drop I went straight to Wildfire. My oldest daughter doesn't like big coasters, and my son is about an inch too short, so I don't get very many opportunities to ride it. Those of you who are underwhelmed by B&M loopers, come out here and ride this one. It's short, but packs a punch. It actually ramps up the intensity toward the end. The corkscrew and final helix are probably the best part of the ride.

 

'Twas the hour before rope drop and all through the square

Not a stand was stirring

They all were quite bare

The wassail guy was talking

And the tacos were walking

In hope that cinnamon bread soon would be there.

'Twas Christmas in Midtown by light of the moon

And Christmas Dinner at 3 in the afternoon.

'Tis rope drop, now dash away, dash away all!

 

Time for the first show of the day. I made my way over to Red Gold Heritage Hall for It's a Wonderful Life. It's a wonderful production (sorry, couldn't resist), with some great choreography, stunning visual effects, and two songs stolen from my all-time favourite musical, Spamalot. Sorry, Hamilton, love you too, but you're just a cast recording to me right now. Lower your ticket prices and maybe we could be more.

 

This may seem a bit racially insensitive, but Branson actually requires that white people pretend to be from other continents. Take it up with the city.

It's okay, we're all totally in high school. Definitely. Don't worry about why we're here.

Mr. Potter shows us a dystopian future where women are forced by their boss to dance for a dime.

"I'm all alone, all by myself."

"Always look on the bright side of life."

Hey, look everybody, it's the results of the current tax bill!

See, we all do like George after all.

And Clarence gets his wings!

Thanks, Clarence!

 

As soon as Clarence got his wings (if that's a spoiler to you, not sorry--you should really have seen the movie years ago), I booked it over to the Opera House for the clumsily named A Dickens' Christmas Carol. I lucked out and even though I was near the end of the line, there was an open seat in the middle just a few rows back.

 

The show was also very good. Loved the Jacob Marley effect and the Ghost of Christmas Past's entrance. Great special effects, great singing and choreography also. Both shows felt like a one act Broadway play (though I will admit to never having seen Broadway on Broadway, just the traveling shows that come to the performing arts centers at Missouri State and occasionally UMKC or Washington University).

 

"You're a mean one, Mr. Scrooge."

The ghost of Jacob Marley!

The Ghost of Christmas Past is...Hagrid!

"I had no idea Tim Cratchet was sick! I swear!"

"Ding, dong, the Scrooge is dead!"

 

It was time to head up to the square for wassail, tree lighting, and a parade!

 

 

Tree lighting!

A local high school band led off the parade.

 

And now the main event--Christmas in Midtown!

 

And now, the moment you've been waiting for!

And you thought cinnamon bread couldn't look any better.

There are a lot of lights in the rest of the park, just...not as many.

Outlaw Run is really dark at night. Really, really dark.

Short lines for every ride tonight. 10 minutes for Giant Barn Swing.

 

Now, I know there are a few coaster enthusiasts on here who are disappointed this wasn't an update on Time Traveler progress. Well, this event is too awesome to worry about some silly coaster. You'll just have to wait until next time for those photos.

 

All right, fine. One construction photo.

[Nrthwnd]

Awesome Show & Lights Report, Andrew! Wow. So many lights. As far as I could see,

it "out-Osborned" the old Osborne setup at Hollywood Studios!

 

And the parade had a lot of neat effects, like the lit up toy soldiers.

 

You covered it all, and then some, LOL. Thanks for all the great photos Andrew (so many to choose from).

 

Merry Jingle!

[PKI Jizzman]

Parades are just a roadblock keeping me from getting to the ride I want to visit, but those toy soldier outfits are badass. Thanks for the pictures of Holiday SDC!

[Vonni]

In your defense, there really isn't anything to update on TT at the moment lol