Messages

271

Dollywood Discussion / Re: Dollywood 2019

« on: August 06, 2018, 10:51:30 PM »

Well with that being said, SDC has been officially ranked as the 4th best U.S. theme park. We could now be seeing a lot of additional investment over the next few years on the same scope that we have been currently seeing at Dollywood over the past decade. (who was ranked in at #6, surprisingly enough)

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2018/06/22/usa-today-poll-rates-silver-dollar-city-among-top-5-amusement-parks/715901002/

As much as I love SDC, count me among those that considers the list to not be officially anything that means much.  Top 20 parks picked by their "experts", and then narrowed down.  Not even referring the questionable tastes of a couple of the starting experts, to put SFMM at number 1- when it has almost nothing but coasters anymore, and to not have a Disney or Universal park in there...

I'm not knocking any of those parks, but at least 2 of them I might not have even considered for the top 30.   And there are other fairly glaring omissions of parks that I would have put well above several of these.

SDC would possibly crack my top 10, but it wouldn't be very high up.  And I love SDC.

272

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: August 06, 2018, 05:03:50 PM »

^ Ironic about the ones posted right above in light of what I'm doing next week.  But that's a surprise for my channel still.  shhhh

Here's the latest videos from what we have been doing though!
Ozark Empire Fair last week, where we had a blast.  It's been much much to long since we've been to a fair!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeTOenI8RVQ

Oh, and if you're interested, here's the entire combine demolition derby. Unleash your inner redneck.  hehe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgjg_62aJjc

And part 2 of our trip to Israel, with Qumran, Ein Gedi, Masada, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and first looks in Jerusalem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCVuZ6QdxvU

273

Branson Talk / Re: Ride The Ducks Boat Capsizes in Storm

« on: August 04, 2018, 08:51:02 AM »

I wonder if the Ripley's Believe it or Not locations are going to survive?  I haven't heard anyone talk about that.  Could the lawyers go after that whole business?  Sell off there collection of stuff?

If they're smart they'll have it set up as a separate division so that it would only be that division that takes the hint. but that doesn't mean that's how it's set up.

274

SDC Memories/ Park History / Re: Gaslight Square

« on: August 02, 2018, 09:38:32 PM »

While I might not be out there dancing, I love seeing all the people that are out there having a good time.  The square can get pretty packed with people enjoying the music, so it's obviously pretty popular.  It's only for 2 weeks a year, where they emphasize the "night time party" mode of the park, so it doesn't bother me at all.  Let them have their fun.

I just don't want to sound like one of those grumpy old people yelling, "get off my lawn you pesky kids."  I figure if I get to that point it's time to quit going to parks. :-P

275

Branson Talk / Re: Classic Motor Inn 2018 - Call K.D. @ 417 334 6991

« on: August 02, 2018, 02:12:18 PM »

Thanks for the updates.  while I haven't taken advantage yet of the offer, it's nice to know it's there.

276

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 31, 2018, 10:35:58 PM »

We were out at the Ozark Empire Fair today for my daughter's bday.  Plan on going back tomorrow to catch the rides since it's free ride band day (thanks Price Cutter!)  Wade Shows has a great looking carnival there, and pleased with all there was to do.  It's been a long time since we've been to a fair (first time in Missouri) and had a great time.

Hoping I'll get the video from it all edited and posted by this weekend.

277

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: The Hobos of Hobo Junction Have Been Found!

« on: July 25, 2018, 03:46:12 PM »

Just to let you know, those photos are not current, and the hobos haven't been there in quite a while.  :-)

That's a bummer.

I found you on YouTube a couple weeks ago and have been watching a lot of your videos, by the way. I love your channel.

Thanks!  I'm always open to feedback, both good and bad.  But love hearing when other enjoy the videos.  :-)

278

Branson Talk / Re: Ride The Ducks Boat Capsizes in Storm

« on: July 23, 2018, 12:33:30 PM »

With the roof on it, the life jackets probably wouldn't have helped, sadly. They just would have trapped anyone wearing one against the roof when it was sinking.

I did notice though that when they raised it, it looked like the roof had split open.  I wonder if that might be a possible solution for the future in cases like this, where the roof could be hinged with releases where if it starts to sink it could open to allow people to get out.

279

Branson Talk / Re: Ride The Ducks Boat Capsizes in Storm

« on: July 21, 2018, 06:11:31 PM »

Well, for those of us that were wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe somehow they didn't know the storm was coming, hadn't looked at radar, and got caught by the nice weather when they went out on the water...

CNN and Wall Street Journal had an interview with the surviving adult in the family of 11. She says they were told a storm was coming, and they actually changed the route to go to the water first in an attempt to beat the storm.  Still a lot of investigating to do, and we're still in the early stages where a lot of misinformation can come out.  But that would not be a good thing.

280

Branson Talk / Re: Ride The Ducks Boat Capsizes in Storm

« on: July 21, 2018, 12:14:55 PM »

All I can say is that I arrived at the IMAX at 6:15 with clear, sunny skies.  My hubs commented that there was cloud cover to the north over Springfield when we were talking about hoping it would rain.  At 6:33 I got a weather text alert on my phone and was surprised to see it. At 6:48 we were looking at a radar that showed a heavy line of storms moving in. I believe at 7:03 the boat sunk.  It happened that fast! It's a tragic, tragic event that breaks my heart thinking of the pain families are dealing with.

There are a lot of people who don't realize how fast it moved in.  Not only that, but the strong winds, which were the real problem, were 11 miles ahead of the storm, and those don't show up on radar. Brandon Beck of KY3 posted the radar photos of it.  I know it caught us by surprise at home- sky looked mostly clear when we were getting hammered by the winds.

Just sad and tragic in so many ways.  The loss in that one family is unimaginable. I'm sure it will be investigated, examined, and analyzed thoroughly, and lots of people will point fingers and put blame without knowing the details and circumstances.  But I know a lot of people are hurting, and that should be remembered first and foremost right now.

281

Branson Talk / Re: Ride The Ducks Boat Capsizes in Storm

« on: July 20, 2018, 02:35:32 PM »

Such a horrible, sad moment.

The "captain" survived, but the driver didn't.  That was Bob Williams, who is well known around Branson, as well as being a local minister.  Well loved guy that I've heard wonderful things about.

There was a storm watch posted, and severe thunderstorm warnings went up about 40 minutes before it happened, but it's likely that the 2 ducks that were on the water had left base to start their trip before that.  No clue if the warnings were relayed to them when on the road or not, but based on them both being on the water I have a feeling they weren't.

I know when it hit our place, it went from a beautiful, gorgeous day to incredibly fierce winds almost instantly.  If they didn't know before hand, then it would have caught them completely by surprise on the water.  It tore down branches and trees around us, and you can see in the videos how harsh it was on the water.

I'm afraid that even if everyone in it put on life jackets it wouldn't have helped.  As others have pointed out, the flaps were all down and sealed, which only left the back door open and no other way out when it went down.  And it looks like once it started to capsize it went down pretty quick.  :-(

I know reddit is ablaze with all of those who know better than everyone else.  And had a couple out of line comments on my video I did that I had to delete.  Hurting for everyone that is affected by it.

282

Random Talk / Re: The Newbies Thread

« on: July 17, 2018, 09:32:52 AM »

Hi I'm Kimber and my friend, dianagail, told me about this site! I probably won't post too much but I love SDC! I loved introducing my youngest to all the new rides and can't wait to take him to White Water in a few weeks!

Awesome.  Welcome Kimber.

283

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 17, 2018, 09:24:12 AM »

And to get back on topic...  :-)

here's the first video I've put together from Israel, showing the light festival they had in Jerusalem.  Quite neat to walk around the old city and see the light projections and other things, and to experience it with thousands of other people from all sorts of cultures. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLv9nKYiZ6A

I'll be getting more videos posted of our time there in the coming weeks, along with digging through the 5000+ photos my wife and I took.  lol

284

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 17, 2018, 09:11:22 AM »

^ LOL  Thanks History. :-)

Nice edits and changes to your posts Swoosh.

I stand by what I said earlier, but not my tone and attitude.  I apologize for responding in the manner that I did.  I was out of line in how I put a few of those things, and for that I'm sorry.

As far as your changes in your posts from stations to control panels, while there are a small handful of rides that have an enclosed operators booth, even still the vast majority of them are open air and outdoors, and out with the ride attendants.  Very few have AC, and it still wouldn't cover the vast majority of the workers nor any of the guests.

I'm happy to hear they added a lot of landscaping.  They needed it.  There were a couple of places that were nice, but much of the park was in need of it.  Good that they addressed that.

RE: my comment about not seeing things that are right in front of you- I phrased that very poorly. It was not meant rudely, but it sure sounded like it.  Sorry.  What I meant was that when you have worked at a job, you will see, note, and observe things that other people who have not worked that will not.  As teachers you and I can walk into someone's classroom and probably within about 5 minutes- even without the students there- I'll have a good idea of if that teacher is organized, has good classroom management, and how they relate to their students just by things I observe around the classroom, their desk and their lesson plans.  Things that a student, parent, or other adult would never notice, but because of our experiences we do. 

The same is true at a park. There are going to be things right in front of you that, if you've never worked at a park, you won't notice.  Even if you've visited hundreds of parks, been on a thousand coasters and heard from a bunch of workers.  If you've never done it, you just won't notice certain things.  That's not a slam, just simple fact.  But I expressed that very badly.

285

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 16, 2018, 10:22:08 PM »

Video evidence from last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfWWawSF0o&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnMNhlH12HA&t

Having "cover" over a station means nothing when that cover is a metal roof or clear plastic that turns the station into a furnace (e.g. Mamba), has no actual protection from the sun (boomerang), or overcrowds a station with no air circulation (Patriot), or in the case of practically every single flat has no cover or protection at all.  And as I show in that video that not only did almost none of them have fans, but the one station that did (Patriot), they didn't work.

And air conditioning?  Outside of their enclosed wipeout, where do you find that myth?  Seriously, now you're just completely making things up.

and I noticed it because as guests we were overheating in their boiling hot stations- where it was cooler to stand outside of them than in them, and because I sympathized and understood what the employees were enduring.

Are there areas of cooling shade?  Sure, there are some. There are also plenty with none.  Outside of the non working fans at Patriot we found one (1) misting fan over in the China theme area, and no others.  No other places where anything was being done to provide a way to move air to help cool guests.  And outside of a few areas with shade trees, or going inside of stores, no places for guest to cool off at all.

And then you say their landscaping is better than SDC?      I don't even need to say more at that point.  You've pretty much shown how little credibility you have with that statement.