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Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

p. 274: New Fire in the Hole announced for 2024!

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Does anybody know if they offer universal passes for SDC/Dollywood/Wild Adventures at all? The best that I saw is a season pass at Wild Adventures that does 50% off single day admission for SDC and Dollywood. Is that worth doing, or can I get better discounts doing something else?

 

I only live a few hours from Wild Adventures, and plan on doing road trips that will go to SDC and Dollywood this year.

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Nope, no universal pass. The parks for the most part run independently of each other. Buy the season pass for the park closest to you and get the 50% discount on the others.

 

The bathroom comment made me chuckle because my eldest son had a similar reaction when we first visited. "It doesnt smell terrible in here, how do they do it?"

That's great. Almost every time I'm in one of their bathrooms I see someone cleaning. That's how you do that.

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So they finally can't ignore it anymore, even the local news outlets are paying attention now. The construction site is huge.

 

http://springfieldnewsleader.mo.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=2457d7efe&fbclid=IwAR05LCbBo4MOeJYvtcehsMXx-6UreTVA273j8tbEPpOmo1EFIGnvkGjo-u8

 

It's going to be transformative just by the shear size of it. I'm just curious how much they'll have finished on the park-facing side by spring. They might be trying to get a lot done before the Christmas rush. SDC has had a knack for getting rides done well in advance of opening just because that is what works best for their scheduling.

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SDC did an awesome job teasing Time Traveler (even before they settled on a theme and a name). I would expect more of the same for this new ride. Its something that sets SDC apart from other parks.

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  • 1 month later...

So I'm going to SDC for the first time on Saturday April 6th. Does anyone have any idea what the crowds have historically been like in early April? Would the Trailblazer pass be worth it? Also, is there anything I shouldn't miss besides the Marvel Cave tour and Cinnamon Bread? Thanks in advance!

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Sweet! Glad you're visiting the Ozarks.

 

All Saturdays at SDC are busy, but you will be going on the Saturday of Young Christians Weekend, which has a bunch of Christian rock bands. Crowds are insane. Trailblazer Pass will be worth it.

 

Good to hear you're prioritising the cave and cinnamon bread. Great job. Also make sure you get a skillet at some point. They're all over the park and are really SDC's signature dish. There are several varieties, and they're all good.

 

The one downside to going that weekend is that there aren't the normal shows, as the Christian stuff takes over all the venues. Otherwise it should be a good time.

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Aw man, it sucks that your first experience at SDC is going to be on the absolute worst weekend for it. It will be an interesting and hopefully fun experience. Hopefully it will encourage you to come back on a non-crazy weekend to experience it for real.

 

YCW is always a mad house.The park will be at capacity with 12-17 year old church kids. Despite being church kids though, some of them can often get unruly. It's always a weekend I avoid. If you are into the music, there's that at least.

 

Get there an hour early before gates officially open so that you can get a trailblazer. They will sell out instantly as soon as they open the booth. The trailblazer will be your only hope of getting rides on much of anything. I imagine Time Traveler will have a 2-3 hour wait all day.

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So I'm going to SDC for the first time on Saturday April 6th. Does anyone have any idea what the crowds have historically been like in early April? Would the Trailblazer pass be worth it? Also, is there anything I shouldn't miss besides the Marvel Cave tour and Cinnamon Bread? Thanks in advance!

 

It's not a 'must see' but Grandfather's Mansion can be easy to miss for new visitors and there aren't a lot of walk through funhouses anymore so it might be worth it. However the crowds might negate that; GM is NOT FUN to be in with a ton of people in my opinion.

 

Another thing that seems to get missed is that the Swinging Bridge is often a less congested pathway to/from Time Traveler/Thunderation to the front and northwest of the park; the tradeoff is its a much narrower path so if you have cross traffic it can backfire.

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So this is a little late, but have you guys heard that the Rock aFire Bar in Kansas City is relocating to Branson for the Spring/Summer? It's an arcade bar featuring the original Rock aFire Explosion from Showbiz Pizza Place.

 

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(Link)

 

Here's what the show looks like

. I thought some of you guys would like to know and visit this place if you plan on going to SDC this summer
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I follow them on Facebook and I have a feeling it will be permanent.

They didn’t allow kids until the last week it was open in KC. It was strictly an adult arcade, Draftcade, up and down, all adult arcade bars. They were asked if they were coming back to KC and they wouldn’t comment. I think it’s a done deal.

I think It will do well in Branson, nostalgia.

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Happy Spring Break! It's a cold, windy, rainy day in the Ozarks, but it it's still a great day for Silver Dollar City.

 

With rain in the forecast, there weren't so much "crowds" as there were "a few dozen crazy people." We walked onto everything.

 

But first we walked into Hannah's Ice Cream Parlour.

 

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Now what kinda person just waltzes into an ice cream shop at quarter to 10 in the morning like they think they're a VIP?

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Someone who's bought a VIP refill cup!

 

We were the first ones to redeem ours for the season! Naturally that meant the system wasn't quite working either. Not too much trouble, and we get free refills all year now! I noticed the refills went up to $2 this year, so that's helpful.

 

Time Traveler and Thunderation were as good as ever, and then we took the long way round to Outlaw Run for a photo op. All these are taken from a public pathway through knotholes in the construction wall.

 

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What could be over here?

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The gold panning has been moved from near Tom and Huck's River Blast to between Riverfront Playhouse and White River Mercantile.

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This new bigger path is where the gold panning used to be.

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New location for Magic Box near Powder Keg. Love that mosswork.

 

After the rest of the coasters, some time in Half Dollar Holler, and the Flooded Mine, it was time for lunch.

 

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Ahhh...skillet.

 

The skillets come on plates this year. Much easier than the old bowls were, less spills over.

 

And where did we go for dessert?

 

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The cinnamon bread told us "Apres moi, la deluge" so we headed out. Great start to the season and I'm glad it wasn't a washout.

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^^^ Thanks!

 

^^ I don't know for sure. I've never seen them exclude anything from the after 3 (or after 5) promotions, but you'd probably be best off calling them.

 

^ Yeah, it's an enormous area. Obviously there's a new rapids ride, but beyond that it's anyone's guess. I plan to be peeking through the glory holes all year!

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I may be repeating some information mentioned by others, but I'll try to add my own perspective to some of it. I visited SDC from Wednesday through Friday and there was a lot to take in regarding changes for this season. Some changes were minor, but some, especially near the project 2020 construction area, were quite drastic. Here's some things i noticed

 

Flooded Mine received a lot of work over the off season. The lighting was updated and made the overall appearance of many of the scenes a lot more colorful. A lot of the major props were fixed and running including the saw blade which was spinning on all 3 days and actually moved forwards and backwards on Wednesday and Friday. Most of the audio was working including the ride's soundtrack. The only audio i noticed that wasn't working was in the final scene where the prisoners try and escape. It also appeared that many of the boats received a fresh coat of paint as well. Overall, Flooded Mine is in the best condition it has been for as long as i could remember. I really love how they're finally giving it some love!

 

As expected, the riverside section of the park is hardly recognizable. With the land clearing and the lack of leaves in the trees, it makes that area feel extremely bare and open. It's weird being able to see Outlaw Run's brake run from the Dockside Theater. They also remodeled and widened the path around that theater. Unfortunately, the stream that ran along the path as well as some of the aqua ducts were removed. Though, they did their best to make the remodeled path look like it's been there for a while as they used the same style of rock/brick fencing (don't know what to actually call it) found around the park. They also had some nice theming props in place, so it didn't look too bare. Further down towards Fireman's landing, they added a new waterfall / stream that feeds into a new Gold Panning area. They did a really good job making it fit in because i didn't know that waterfall was new until a friend of mine told me it was. It looked REALLY good.

 

On a smaller note, the park added an additional seat belt to Firefall. So now you have the OTSR, the seat belt that connects to the OTSR, and the new seat belt that goes around the waist. It seemed to really increase the dispatch times. It also seemed that Firefall was running a significantly tamer ride cycle. But who knows, it could've just been due to the weather.

 

Outlaw Run was down to one train as the other is still out for maintenance. Though the train that was running received new foam on both the seats and the restraints. It looked really nice!

 

According to a ride op at Time Traveler, the trains received new restraint cylinders which release and lower the restraints faster and more reliably. It also appeared that it made the ride marginally more large rider friendly as i didn't see a single walk of shame the whole time i was there. It also seemed to make the loading process much faster, as the crew didn't stack a single train. In fact, there was one ride where we dispatched before the other train hit the second launch. Hopefully they can get 3 trains to operate smoothly as that would make the throughput much higher than it is. Though, it wouldn't matter how fast they dispatch if they can't get people through the photo spot in the queue quickly. On thursday and friday, the line was backed out the entrance behind the photo spot. Since it was taking so long to get through the photos, they were dispatching half empty trains since there wouldn't be enough people past the photo spot to fill a train. I'll be honest, i kinda hope they do away with the photo spot or move it outside the queue somehow.

 

Fire In The Hole, while it smelled of fresh paint, i couldn't find any areas that looked like they were touched up. Many of the effects were broken and there was a lot of missing audio. It's kinda dissapointing that the ride is in such bad shape even though it's still extremely popular.

 

I also purchased the free refill tumbler and its really handy! You just show the employee your cup, fill it up, then you're on your way. It's a lot quicker than someparks that still require you to scan the cup. My only complaint is that there aren't any handles. It would've been nice if it came with a straw, though the entire park is now straw-less.

 

Overall, it was a nice few days at the City! Despite the weather being poor all 3 days, it was still a fun time!

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