121
Branson Talk / Re: Missouri Mountain Moonshine?
« on: April 19, 2016, 07:16:03 PM »
I will second the recommendation on the hillbilly lemonade. It goes down far too smoothly though.
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122
Branson Talk / Re: Missouri Mountain Moonshine?
« on: April 18, 2016, 07:52:25 PM »
Unsure what you mean about family friendly... do they have smoking? no. Do they have alcohol at the tables? Yes.
I mean, I would take our 9 and 12 year olds there to eat no problem. It isn't a bar if that is what you are really asking
I mean, I would take our 9 and 12 year olds there to eat no problem. It isn't a bar if that is what you are really asking
123
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2016 Trip Reviews
« on: April 18, 2016, 01:38:28 PM »
We were at SDC from just after the opening on Saturday until the night show and then back at opening Sunday until 3:30 when we left to drive home.
As many have said, there are some obvious improvements. A lot of the wooden railings by the Leather shop and in that area have been replaced. The flooded mine looks much brighter and doesn’t look like a ride near its EOL.
The one thing that we noticed last year and more so this year is that there has been a major push to de-clutter the shops. The shops that were not addressed last year seemed to have caught up this year. The leather shop’s inventory was greatly reduced. As was the glass shop, the mill, the blacksmith shop (I swear they raised the floor in the back section to eliminate a step) and more. It makes it MUCH easier to get around. The only place where I think it really was not in the best interest of the shop was the glass shop. Whereas the individual artists used to have a lot of their pieces shown, they all were relegated to a single display case. And overall there just weren’t as many pieces for sale. We enjoyed seeing the pieces but only bought a couple things from there as our house is not really the kind where we could have nice glass pieces sitting out (4 dogs and 2 kids will do that). But I did enjoy seeing their work displayed. I am one always pushing to look at things from manufacturing/industrial engineering standpoint and this de-cluttering (also known as LEAN or perhaps even 5S to the engineering geeks) really has helped with traffic flow through the shops. I do hope it is equating to larger sales as well since the shops can be more focused.
Overall the crowds were OK on Saturday morning and mostly ok in the afternoon. The weather was not what we expected which I think kept crowds down. We did attempt to go to the Train and Flooded Mine on Saturday afternoon but they were both jam packed. We missed Cirque Zuma Zuma Saturday even though we were there 30 minutes early.
We did stay for the night show which we’ve only done a handful of times in the last few years… To say we were all disappointed was an understatement. The show was all over the place and that isn’t a good thing. I mean, a few songs then bring out dogs and then more songs and throw in some slightly related comedy. It was the most disjointed mess I’ve ever sat through… They insisted on breaking the singers into “groups” to give them some sort of cute name but it was mostly stupid. One of the girls was having pitch problems which didn’t help it any. They used to have way too many singers but they cut it down now to 7 and then some other guy who did NOT fit in to this mess. All the singers I believe were new except 2. I am 44 and admit that I don’t listen to a lot of newer music, but there were many of the songs that I had never heard of. It was all just kind of painful. Even though I love dogs, we probably won’t see that show again. Also interesting to note that there was no intermission. The show went straight through.
Also for the first time ever, we did not have good food experiences when we branched out from our norms… We tried the pulled pork sandwiches from the fried bread stand. The pork wasn’t that great and really not much quantity. And for some reason we did not get season pass discounts at that stand. I did not understand his reasoning. Doubt we try that again. We also got a smoked sausage from the rib house. We had these before and liked them a lot. These were just a generic smoked sausage and not the peppery one they used to have. It was described by those having it as a big hotdog. Nothing at all distinguished it from anything else. Those were lunch… we tried the jerk chicken nachos and the greek calzone for dinner to same effect. Calzone was flavorless and was probably sitting around awhile. The chicken on the nachos was good but not warm. The cheese was shredded and not melted on top. And the nachos were nothing to write home about… A big bust all around. We ate at the rib house on Sunday and stuck with an old standby. Kind of disappointed as we have always raved about how good the food at SDC is.
As many have said, there are some obvious improvements. A lot of the wooden railings by the Leather shop and in that area have been replaced. The flooded mine looks much brighter and doesn’t look like a ride near its EOL.
The one thing that we noticed last year and more so this year is that there has been a major push to de-clutter the shops. The shops that were not addressed last year seemed to have caught up this year. The leather shop’s inventory was greatly reduced. As was the glass shop, the mill, the blacksmith shop (I swear they raised the floor in the back section to eliminate a step) and more. It makes it MUCH easier to get around. The only place where I think it really was not in the best interest of the shop was the glass shop. Whereas the individual artists used to have a lot of their pieces shown, they all were relegated to a single display case. And overall there just weren’t as many pieces for sale. We enjoyed seeing the pieces but only bought a couple things from there as our house is not really the kind where we could have nice glass pieces sitting out (4 dogs and 2 kids will do that). But I did enjoy seeing their work displayed. I am one always pushing to look at things from manufacturing/industrial engineering standpoint and this de-cluttering (also known as LEAN or perhaps even 5S to the engineering geeks) really has helped with traffic flow through the shops. I do hope it is equating to larger sales as well since the shops can be more focused.
Overall the crowds were OK on Saturday morning and mostly ok in the afternoon. The weather was not what we expected which I think kept crowds down. We did attempt to go to the Train and Flooded Mine on Saturday afternoon but they were both jam packed. We missed Cirque Zuma Zuma Saturday even though we were there 30 minutes early.
We did stay for the night show which we’ve only done a handful of times in the last few years… To say we were all disappointed was an understatement. The show was all over the place and that isn’t a good thing. I mean, a few songs then bring out dogs and then more songs and throw in some slightly related comedy. It was the most disjointed mess I’ve ever sat through… They insisted on breaking the singers into “groups” to give them some sort of cute name but it was mostly stupid. One of the girls was having pitch problems which didn’t help it any. They used to have way too many singers but they cut it down now to 7 and then some other guy who did NOT fit in to this mess. All the singers I believe were new except 2. I am 44 and admit that I don’t listen to a lot of newer music, but there were many of the songs that I had never heard of. It was all just kind of painful. Even though I love dogs, we probably won’t see that show again. Also interesting to note that there was no intermission. The show went straight through.
Also for the first time ever, we did not have good food experiences when we branched out from our norms… We tried the pulled pork sandwiches from the fried bread stand. The pork wasn’t that great and really not much quantity. And for some reason we did not get season pass discounts at that stand. I did not understand his reasoning. Doubt we try that again. We also got a smoked sausage from the rib house. We had these before and liked them a lot. These were just a generic smoked sausage and not the peppery one they used to have. It was described by those having it as a big hotdog. Nothing at all distinguished it from anything else. Those were lunch… we tried the jerk chicken nachos and the greek calzone for dinner to same effect. Calzone was flavorless and was probably sitting around awhile. The chicken on the nachos was good but not warm. The cheese was shredded and not melted on top. And the nachos were nothing to write home about… A big bust all around. We ate at the rib house on Sunday and stuck with an old standby. Kind of disappointed as we have always raved about how good the food at SDC is.
124
Branson Talk / Re: Missouri Mountain Moonshine?
« on: April 15, 2016, 03:51:13 PM »
Been a few times. It is laid out strangely. But their moonshine is good. They have full sampling bar on left side and restaurant/Bar to the right. And if you want to buy moonshine bottles you do that near the entrance on the left. The stuff on the menu looks good but we haven't had it. We have had several of the cocktail mixtures in the bar area and they are good drinks. The caramel moonshine is REALLY good.
125
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2016 Trip Reviews
« on: March 28, 2016, 12:23:47 PM »
I honestly they don't believe they would have an industrial/manufacturing engineer on staff... No real need most of the time. But they could contract out some work to look at those types things if they cared. Perhaps they don't even know how to look at traffic flow in this manner
I will say that they have gotten better at staggering shows starting and stopping so it is not just one big clusterphuck. It still isn't great, but at least there often isn't a show letting out from say the opera house right as they are starting to fill the saloon show. At least they now time it so that the line for the saloon is mostly empty when the opera shows get let out. These are small things that make huge difference
I will say that they have gotten better at staggering shows starting and stopping so it is not just one big clusterphuck. It still isn't great, but at least there often isn't a show letting out from say the opera house right as they are starting to fill the saloon show. At least they now time it so that the line for the saloon is mostly empty when the opera shows get let out. These are small things that make huge difference
126
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2016 Trip Reviews
« on: March 27, 2016, 07:33:30 PM »
I've said this before, SDC needs to look at people flow from an industrial engineering standpoint. Civil engineers use similar calculations for how many cars you can fit on a highway at a time. There is a way to calculate and plan. It is obvious that none of this sort of planning is being done. I mean, the classic area that everyone complains about at the Lumber Jack restaurant... There are x number of people passing through that area every few minutes. And the width is Y. to pass the minimum number of people through you need a a width of x + Y + some value... I mean, there is a formula I am sure. It is not being looked at that way.
Best I can tell it is all about dollars and how many people they can pack in the square footage of the park. That is $60 a pop versus much less spent on food. They have lost sight of the goal.
God forbid there is ever an emergency of any serious proportion on days where there are 18K or more people. There will be more injuries as there is just no room for people to go safely and quickly.
I do hope everything I am hearing is not going to be how it bodes for the year. We got our girls season passes for the first time and if it is so crowded that they can't enjoy it, that is going to suck.
We went shopping in downtown Branson Friday instead of going to SDC... Sounds like we made the right choice. We packed our cup just in case but looks like we lucked out.
Best I can tell it is all about dollars and how many people they can pack in the square footage of the park. That is $60 a pop versus much less spent on food. They have lost sight of the goal.
God forbid there is ever an emergency of any serious proportion on days where there are 18K or more people. There will be more injuries as there is just no room for people to go safely and quickly.
I do hope everything I am hearing is not going to be how it bodes for the year. We got our girls season passes for the first time and if it is so crowded that they can't enjoy it, that is going to suck.
We went shopping in downtown Branson Friday instead of going to SDC... Sounds like we made the right choice. We packed our cup just in case but looks like we lucked out.
127
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2016 Trip Reviews
« on: March 23, 2016, 08:06:10 AM »
Does anyone know what they are estimating for the crowd for Friday 3/25? We are heading to Springfield tomorrow for job interview and staying all weekend. Was thinking of going to SDC Friday but if it is crazy busy we probably will stay away
128
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Looking forward to 2016
« on: March 10, 2016, 08:09:13 AM »
Is there a list somewhere that shows all of the corporate outings? I have added the ones listed on the SDC site as well as the Freeman Family Day shown here to my calendar so we know not to go during those times.
I made a mistake years ago scheduling our vacation during the Car Show weekend... My daughter was little and it took us 2 hours to get from Celebration City to Queen Anne hotel. They were shutting down the road for the car cruise. I wasn't sure we were even going to make it to the hotel. At one point, I could see it but it took us another half hour to get there. Couldn't park the car in lots as they were packed with people waiting for the cruise. It was horrible...
I made a mistake years ago scheduling our vacation during the Car Show weekend... My daughter was little and it took us 2 hours to get from Celebration City to Queen Anne hotel. They were shutting down the road for the car cruise. I wasn't sure we were even going to make it to the hotel. At one point, I could see it but it took us another half hour to get there. Couldn't park the car in lots as they were packed with people waiting for the cruise. It was horrible...
129
Construction/Rumors / Re: The General Complaints Thread
« on: March 09, 2016, 02:33:13 PM »
Jay retired it seems about 3 years ago
130
Construction/Rumors / Re: The General Complaints Thread
« on: March 08, 2016, 12:49:33 PM »
The thing I miss the most is the ORIGINAL shows that they had when I was a kid. Things like Timothy Turnbuckle and The Hatfield Haint. Shows that showcased the talent that was there in the late 70's and 80's. Wayne Milnes, Jana Henleben, Terry Sanders, Jay McFerron. Terry is the only one left... But I imagine they could do those shows again. They have moved on to canned shows brought in and lost the magic that comes from doing their own shows.
131
Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2016 Project(s) and Park Developments
« on: January 15, 2016, 12:49:43 PM »
The thing is that they are looking at the traffic flow wrong. They should be using an industrial engineer or someone like that to analyze max flow through an area and then plan things accordingly. And by "things" i mean walkways, stores, showtimes, etc. they have been doing better at not scheduling shows near each other to start when another is letting out but there is still room for improvement.
Of course none of these changes can take into account the selfish people who think the world revolves around them... The ones who say go through the turnstiles and stop. Or the ones completely blocking huge sections of walkway forcing everyone else to funnel around them. You can't fix stupid... Believe me, I've tried. I have been known to pick people up and move them when they do this... It is funny when you see their face when a smaller girl picks them up
What is needed in many areas is a traffic monitor. Someone on site that works to keep traffic moving when they see certain areas back up. They had something like this a couple years ago in the hospitality house. They had 2 lanes and one of the cave guides was making sure traffic kept moving in and out of SDC. This would help immensely in other areas. I do believe some people are just so oblivious to their surroundings that they don't realize they are causing huge traffic flow problems. Someone to gently urge them to keep moving would do wonders
Of course none of these changes can take into account the selfish people who think the world revolves around them... The ones who say go through the turnstiles and stop. Or the ones completely blocking huge sections of walkway forcing everyone else to funnel around them. You can't fix stupid... Believe me, I've tried. I have been known to pick people up and move them when they do this... It is funny when you see their face when a smaller girl picks them up
What is needed in many areas is a traffic monitor. Someone on site that works to keep traffic moving when they see certain areas back up. They had something like this a couple years ago in the hospitality house. They had 2 lanes and one of the cave guides was making sure traffic kept moving in and out of SDC. This would help immensely in other areas. I do believe some people are just so oblivious to their surroundings that they don't realize they are causing huge traffic flow problems. Someone to gently urge them to keep moving would do wonders
132
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Attendance 2015
« on: December 14, 2015, 12:00:39 PM »
We had a problem on Dec. 6 when leaving where we got on the tram and they stopped at stop 3 first.... then didn't go to stop 2. 2 people had gotten on at stop 3 so we had to go all the way back up front to let them off as there is no turn around. They said they were going to drop them off and leave... instead, they waited for more people to get on and THEN went to stop 3 again before we got to 2. It took us 30 minutes to actually get to our car. We should have gotten off and walked... But they didn't want us getting off either.
First time that ever happened. And was a real PITA as we were leaving the area after getting to our car. Pushed our home arrival later than we wanted.
First time that ever happened. And was a real PITA as we were leaving the area after getting to our car. Pushed our home arrival later than we wanted.
133
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2015 Trip Reviews
« on: December 07, 2015, 08:18:27 AM »
We went Friday and Sunday... I try not to touch Saturdays there any more as the crowds have been just too much every time I have done it this year. Perhaps I am just picking bad weekends for us to go. Friday was more crowded than I expected as was Sunday. We usually pick those days specifically for them being quieter. But the weather this weekend was just too nice and everyone was out.
I am pretty sure I saw the Christmas parade last year, but maybe not. It used to be so long. We were in the General Store and went out at 6:12PM and it had nearly all passed the Gazebo. It used to be much larger and longer. I couldn't believe how different it was.
Also, at least on Friday's show of It's a wonderful life that we saw, the "George" character was not the same as last year. The whole cast seemed understaffed. WHile the person playing George was fine enough, he seemed to be sleepwalking through the lines. No emphasis where there should be. Lines that had the place laughing last year were flat because they were just spoken and not punctuated. We had actually made my girlfriend's 9 and 11 year old daughters watch the movie after Thanksgiving. Both do not like black and white movies... but said the movie was way better than the production. I was kind of disappointed.
Also there was a huge police presence on Friday and then Sunday too. By huge I mean 4+ county officers. I have never seen that at SDC. Unsure if it had to do with the shootings last week or if it was because of crowd size. It was a little disconcerting and sad though.
I am pretty sure I saw the Christmas parade last year, but maybe not. It used to be so long. We were in the General Store and went out at 6:12PM and it had nearly all passed the Gazebo. It used to be much larger and longer. I couldn't believe how different it was.
Also, at least on Friday's show of It's a wonderful life that we saw, the "George" character was not the same as last year. The whole cast seemed understaffed. WHile the person playing George was fine enough, he seemed to be sleepwalking through the lines. No emphasis where there should be. Lines that had the place laughing last year were flat because they were just spoken and not punctuated. We had actually made my girlfriend's 9 and 11 year old daughters watch the movie after Thanksgiving. Both do not like black and white movies... but said the movie was way better than the production. I was kind of disappointed.
Also there was a huge police presence on Friday and then Sunday too. By huge I mean 4+ county officers. I have never seen that at SDC. Unsure if it had to do with the shootings last week or if it was because of crowd size. It was a little disconcerting and sad though.
134
SDC Memories/ Park History / Re: Letting you in on a secret
« on: October 08, 2015, 02:48:28 PM »
will do... thanks. Looking at the old pictures brings back so many memories. My daughter and I got to know Banjo Jack and Todd who played Dusty and Shannon from the saloon show a lot in the early 2000's... So many memories
135
SDC Memories/ Park History / Re: Letting you in on a secret
« on: October 08, 2015, 12:19:14 PM »
I do not work for SDC and never have, but I've been coming down there since the early 70's with my parents. I applied for membership in the group as I love to see all the old pictures. I have not been approved, though... any ideas how I can make that happen?