SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City & Celebration City Discussion => Construction/Rumors => Topic started by: mhguy77 on June 14, 2010, 08:29:53 AM
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I have always wondered where the parks boundary's actually are.
Seems like a lot of the level ground is gone, maybe more behind the Wilson's farm area?
Where are the property lines of SDC?
Any thoughts of expansion or its challenges?
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The company has well over 2000 acres...most of it was purchased to "buffer" the park from outside development. Level land is a problem. Building back behind Wilson's Farm between the rail road tracks is an option...but for those who love the train, it would be a negative thing because it would mean sacrificing the woods. On one side, development is limited because of the parking lots...on another side, limit is due to Indian Pt. Road and Highway 76. If they built on the "Table Rock Lake side" where the church and homestead are...then more of the park would be exposed to existing development, homes and so on, along the lake. It's a tough call all the way around. Here is a question I have to ask others to answer for me...was not/is not the land that Stonebridge is on company owned or was company owned at one point? Seems like I remember somebody saying that most of the land between SDC and Shepherd of the Hills along old Highway 76 was owned by SDC or Shep. Hills? That allegedly going back to the late 60s and 70s when it was purchased to buffer from outside development.
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Stonebridge land was owned by SDC, but sold in the early 90s to Cooper Communities. Much of the land between Shepherd of the Hills is owned by SDC, the highroad area was sold to the state, again back in the early 90s. If they wanted to they could build on the parking lot behind the old Watterboggan. They can also build on the current M&C (maintenance) area that is located behind Lake Silver and Geyser Gulch, this wouldn't interfere with the train much, but some. Connecting Wildfire and Powderkeg is a good option too.
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I don't know that they would want to expand the current property too much, but to build some of the other amenities that would make the place into a resort.
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I don't really think that expanding the property is really nessesary. There are some big chunks of land (take that piece of land beside the Grand expo for example) that SDC doesn't even use. Plus theyv'e wiped out way too many trees to make that stupid highway and parking lot as it is. As easy as it is to navigate to SDC now, I wish they would have just kept that simple little rode the way it was.
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Progress is necessary, but I do miss the trees too.
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I hope the company uses its head when expanding. The reason Disney bought thousands of acres in Florida is because he did not like the development that went on around the California park...cheap roadside attractions that brought down the quality of what it was he was trying to do. I know land purchasing has been important for SDC in years past, and the reason tracts of land are not developed is to buffer SDC from developed areas...Really, for decades the area between Indian Pt. Road and Shepherd of the Hills was not developed intentionally along Highway 76 as a buffer...to make you feel as if you were going back in time. It pains me to think of the location of the Grand Exposition because the rides are viewable from the roadway...especially in winter months...oh, I have a very hard time with that, and I think at times Miss Mary is watching from her resting place in the Shepherd of the Hills Cemetery and begins to spin in her grave. Not trying to be mean here, but even though she believed in making a good business and a profit, I think she would have had a hard time with GE being located where it is because it is not buffered as well as say the Main Street area.
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It pains me to think of the location of the Grand Exposition because the rides are viewable from the roadway...especially in winter months...
I agree with you Junior! I felt sick when I first saw the GE from the road. Since then I have accepted it. However, I hope the GE will be the last time they make this mistake. :'(
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Surely they are going to use the old Waterboggan site for something, so I am confident they have that spot open at least.
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I felt sick when I first saw the GE from the road.
I talked with one of the designers several years back and that is the way they wanted it. They felt if you could see the rides it would help draw you in. I am a fan of seeing Thunderation, it's not in your face and you have to almost be peeking to find it.
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I felt sick when I first saw the GE from the road.
I talked with one of the designers several years back and that is the way they wanted it. They felt if you could see the rides it would help draw you in. I am a fan of seeing Thunderation, it's not in your face and you have to almost be peeking to find it.
Well that bummed me out... I guess I should be happy they didn't make it completely visible. I sure hope ideas like these will stop. IMO silver dollar city needs to focus more on being a theme park not an amusement park. I would hate for SDC to basically lose their theme like WOF did.
As Junior would say: "Not in Mary's time!"
(
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If expansion does take place, I would like to see another train track crossing, either like the one at the Pottery shop, or like the one at the tin type shop, or like the corkscrew path...many options would be available, well aside from the whole downhill thing that would make it difficult to expand unless it was filled to make it somewhat level.
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After much thought, I believe there is plenty of room for expansion to the southwest part of the park. Specifically south of Wildfire, extending all the way south to the parking lot. Sure, there is steep terrain there, but if they build say a rollercoaster there, the terrain would work to their advantage.
They could even build something south of the Homestead, for those purist out there, and build something closer to the parking lots. As long as they keep up a nice tree buffer, the new area would still be mostly hidden from view on the parking lot side.
Exhibit A:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozarkbbq/5815353977/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozarkbbq/5815353977/)
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^I've always mulled over that area too, but you can't talk about that area without bringing up the subject of the cave formations underneath and the local endangered bat populations that enter and exit the cave system from that area every night. That's the primary reason they haven't gone in that direction, I'm sure. I've always wondered if there was a way to expand down there in some way though, though I doubt they can add a coaster over there.
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That area that you're talking about, just south of the Apple Butter place, was the original consideration for the location of the Opera House. They even had it staked out.
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It's also interesting to note that the park has specifically laid out plans in the past for expansion off of the GE area and Wilson's Barnyard with the HUSS Frisbee concept from 2007 and the 'Bull' wooden coaster from this year respectively. The waterboggin area is obviously in some kind of consideration for expansion as well.
My expected game plan for the park right now is that they'll go ahead and add that wooden coaster off of Wilson's Barnyard, then come back to the waterboggin plot and add some kind of variant of the Adventure Mountain concept, assuming that has stood the test of time at DW, which I think it has. They'll probably go into the backlot after that and use up all the easy space with whatever before dealing with the issues of expansion in other areas.
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I know everyone is super anxious about having a wooden rollercoaster built, but has there been any official evidence that the park is heading in that direction besides the survey?
I would love a “woody” to come in! ;D However, who knows what Silver Dollar City’s next project is, or where it will be?
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The problem is that these projects can change in an instant. Sometimes, even after they've been announced, they don't happen or are pushed back. A good example is River Blast, which was planned to be built in one year, but ended up taking two for budget reasons. That, of course, pushed back other projects the park had planned. Some of those projects may never happen. I would say that if a coaster's being planned for next year, we should hear something soon since they do take a while to build.
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I don't really like the new parking lot/road situation either, just seems like a big mess now!
As for expansion, I have thought ever since they have had the property where "celebration city" is that a good idea would be to have both "trams" and those sky things, I can't think of the names of them, but my husband always knows, he used to work on the one in NYC that went from Staten Island to Manhattan, they have them in WOF and at OKC Zoo, you know the ride things you get on to go from one side of the park to the other up in the air, the small park ones generally hold 4 to 6 people each. Any way, I always thought that CC would of done better business IF they did a few things differently.
1. Offer REAL discounts when buying the ALL city pass. When I added it up you saved nothing compared to buying all seperately, I think if you were already buying the SDC pass at least till CC got off the ground they should of given a good discount on the season pass for CC as well!
2. Since they were advertising it as being the "night life/night time" park it should of been open WAAAAAAAAAY later, at least till midnight! Maybe even 1 am on weekends, but at least midnight.
3. FREE transport between the parks. IE Since SDC was supposed to be the day time park, they should of started offering the shuttles OR the sky tram (I think that's what they are called) from one parking lot to the other. That way you would spend the "day" at SDC and the "night" at CC. Then transport back to SDC parking lot so often so you could go home as well.
4. CC didn't have enough shows, or food selections. But, just doing the first three I think would of gotten the park off the ground enough for it to of built up enough to get some money under it's belt to develop shows and food more.
All that being said, do 3 and 4 above and just use it as the expansion for SDC.
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I barely trusted the green and red roller coaster because when you stood there watching it, the part where it was like a funnel, where it was all those turns right after the other, you could see part of the track come off the ground.
The rest of the rides were pretty good. I agree that they could have had more shows, and better discounts. I only went to CC twice. Once with my family, and once with my church, because we didn't get much of a discount.
I really liked the diner! I loved the theming and the burgers were good! But that was the only restaurant I did like, even though there weren't that many.
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CC was fun, but I wouldn't want the ^ roller coaster at the park either. I never rode that one, it appeared very rickedy. I believe it was the Jack Rabbit (though if you check Wikepedia-the link is wrong.)
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Well all wooden (the wild cat I think it was called) are a little rickety. They can't be as smooth as the metal ones, it's just impossible. I grew up going on the wooden ones though so I guess it never bothered me much. We only had one coaster at the park in my home town (Wichita, Kansas) and it was wooden. lol
I did like the diner I think too, I'm not sure, I just know it was the one that you had to go through to get to the coaster, and some of the other rides. That also was a bad design move, cause I had a double stroller that we couldn't get through those doors but that was the only way of getting to that coaster and some of the kid rides! Any way we liked the baked potatoes they had in there with the BBQ. Hmm, no I guess that wasn't the diner. I'm not sure. lol There just wasn't much to choose from though. However, I only went twice as well. I thought it stunk that they didn't give any discount what-so-ever for having a SDC season pass already.
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The Last Chance Diner was themed great. It looked like this:
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/IMG_1956.jpg)
It reminded me a lot of Johnny Rockets, or Ed Debevic's
The "theater" looking building that led to the Ozark Wildcat (OzCat) also had a diner in it, but sold more than the burgers and fries. They also had hot dogs, chili, and some other items.
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/IMG_1967.jpg)
Photo from the interior of this one:
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/IMG_1974.jpg)
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another great set of pics!
I had forgotten how nice it all looked when open.
thanks rube.
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CC was fun, but I wouldn't want the ^ roller coaster at the park either. I never rode that one, it appeared very rickedy. I believe it was the Jack Rabbit (though if you check Wikepedia-the link is wrong.)
The Jack Rabbit was the black one. I remember that because my sister made me ride it and it gave me the worst headache and I had it all day. She kept wanting me to ride it with her again and again and again...
I don't remember what the green and red one was called. I think it was Thunder Bolt, but when I clicked on it on Wikipedia it came up with Viking Voyage at a park in Georgia.
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^The black and grey coaster was the Jack Rabbit, it is now Viking Voyage at Wild Adventures. The Red and Turquoise coaster was the Thunderbolt, still on site.
Getting back to the topic at hand, it seems likely the next big expansion of the park will be in 2013 rather than next year. Any more thoughts on which direction they'll go in? I'm still betting they'll squeeze it in off the barnyard area somehow, but I don't know how yet. It would require either an expensive bridge another railroad crossing, and the terrain is certainly tricky... Would make for an awesome terrain wooden coaster though.
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Ahh thunderbolt...that was it!
I too see the area expanding behind the farm. I hope there is a way to keep the area behind the church how it is (Yes I know there is a barn and school now, but at least the hills (for the most part) are how they have always been. No one would want to look out the picture window to see a coaster.
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I completely agree that I wouldn’t want a rollercoaster just outside the window of the church. However, they could build an attraction south of the church in that wooded area that parallels the parking lot, and front entrance.
As long as they keep a tree buffer on all sides it would be fine.
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rube, i donr=t see them tearing out that area, church,school,homestead.. That area is what SDC is really "from".. too much history..
I think with the farm area, and the WB area and i still wonder about the area North of WF-AP going to PK, behind the waterfall.
There is pleny of area to expand into. Lots of room for new coasters or plume rides.
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It was the second one you posted Rub that I ate at. We got the baked potatoes with BBQ brisket on them. They were really good. We really had a lot of fun at CC. I wish they had made better choices so it could of stayed open longer, my family really looked forward to seeing it grow.
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We have been talking a lot lately in other threads about the area behind The Giant Swing, and that there might be a coaster of some kind built in that area. Last week, when Steve posted the "Bing" arial view of SDC, I took a look at that area. I am not seeing how there is really much space back there, especially with the train tracks. Anyone wanna elaborate on ideas of how that would work? I mean, after all, that is our favorite passtime on these boards! ;D
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Cut down a few trees, level some walking paths, move or implement into the new ride the old train robbers shack, and, you got it! ( I admit, being an old school guy, I hate to see anything done around the old robbers shack...but the big swing is already there, and you can see the modern track support legs, chain link fences with barbed wire on top at the rollercoasters while riding the train...so theme is blown there, they just cannot help it. Time marches on.)
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that felt a lil blasphamas (sp) to read..... :-\ but you are right time does move on dispite what we "want"
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Didn't they relocate the robbery s
hack a few years ago? They could do that again if needed.
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Didn't they relocate the robbery s
hack a few years ago? They could do that again if needed.
They did, yes. But if they move it back any farther it’s going to be a block from the Train Station. :P
I still think they should put in a coaster south of the Homestead. The large area of trees just to the west of the parking lot would provide all sorts of cover to hide a coaster.
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I still think they should put in a coaster south of the Homestead. The large area of trees just to the west of the parking lot would provide all sorts of cover to hide a coaster.
I would love for them to do a hanging coaster Big Bad Wolf kind of thing.
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yes it would over there too.. BUT why not incorporate the WB area again? What are they saving that for? ???
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Sandunerider: "What are they saving that for?" The return of Rube Dugan's Diving Bell! (Yeah, I know, in my dreams. Ha!)
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junior i know i have said this before but i would love too see the diving bell come back. just like you said in your dreams well mine too.
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junior i know i have said this before but i would love too see the diving bell come back. just like you said in your dreams well mine too.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere (here most likely) that the Diving Bell is the most remembered and most asked for a return of all the past attractions at SDC. Someone please listen to us!
I've heard all the ride capacity, guests per hour blah blah blah arguments, but come on. Any ride will handle more guests than a blank space. ie WB area.
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Cut down a few trees, level some walking paths, move or implement into the new ride the old train robbers shack, and, you got it! ( I admit, being an old school guy, I hate to see anything done around the old robbers shack...but the big swing is already there, and you can see the modern track support legs, chain link fences with barbed wire on top at the rollercoasters while riding the train...so theme is blown there, they just cannot help it. Time marches on.)
When the citizen working the Giant Swing told me about the new coaster that was planned he said he was sad because they'd be losing their break room. I asked him where that was and he said the old robbers shack. Don't know if that means it will be relocated or just inaccessable because of the ride. With it being Shad and Molly's cabin I can't see it being removed.
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Interesting that a couple of operators have mentioned a coaster coming next year, and that the TGS area has been mentioned so many times. I don't usually put all that much stock in what employees say, because rumors do get passed around among them that may or may not be based on fact, but SDC and DW employees have always been surprisingly accurate with their knowledge of coming attractions. We've found out about Wild Eagle, Barnstormer, TGS, River Blast, and probably loads of other attractions that I don't remember just from asking ride attendants.
Like I've said before, there's a nice ravine down from the old robbers shack that would fit a terrain wooden coaster very nicely. It would be odd to wind a path around there, but with enough dirt moving and a tunnel over the train tracks it could be done. Perhaps the station would be where the shack is, and the tracks would cross over the train.
I still see them using the WB area for something that is more suitable to flat land rather than the wooden coaster that we will hopefully get soon. An Adventure mountain type attraction would fit in well there (themed appropriately somehow - perhaps a tree top logging sort of thing?) or just more shops and soft attractions.