Messages

286

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 16, 2018, 09:08:55 PM »

I guess I must be going to a different WOF than you guys because I cannot think of these barren open places you speak of.  Spinning Dragons and? I’m not sure how well traveled you two are but WOF is much more forested than most parks

Try the ride queues and stations.  I show quite a few of them- and point out the lack of cooling and how hot they are- in the videos I shot there last year.

But then you aren't looking at it through the eyes of an employee, so it can be easy to miss what is right in front of  you.  :-)

287

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 16, 2018, 09:29:18 AM »

Went to Worlds of Fun today, it was too dayum hot to take a picture. This place rivals Six Flags America for some spots void of shade, the lack of fans in the queue, zero misters working anywhere. The dispatch times sometime borderlined 10 minutes, no foolin'. Prowler was going out at a min of six minutes a train. It made very short lines a bit of a wait for front and  back seats.  We were at SFA last year on a similar day in the 90s and didn't get as drained as we did today. It'll be another 10 ears before I'm back

That was pretty much my main complaint when we were there last year- the complete lack of shade, misters, and fans in many places, including and especially the coaster stations.  The slow dispatches may have simply been the employees trying not to get heat stroke.  Those kinds of work conditions are ridiculous and inexcusable today.

288

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2018 Trip Reports

« on: July 16, 2018, 09:26:06 AM »

We had a great time last Tuesday.  Crowds were light so little to no wait for most things. No music still on Flooded Mine or Fire in the Hole, but most of the other sounds were working at least.  it was a lot of fun to bring the whole family from California and Maryland to experience the park.

biggest beef- one man robber show because of how they do breaks now.

You can see the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL9h7OOZYtg

289

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: SDC ringtones

« on: July 15, 2018, 08:29:42 PM »

I have an SDC/FITH mix ringtone in .mp3 format. Send me your email so that I can return it as an attachment.

I'll send you mine!  I used to have it in mp3, but I can't find it.  Possibly, it's on my old nano somewhere.

thank you to KBCraig for it!!

I actually looked on my old phones, checking those, but apparently I had it on a microsd memory card, and no clue where that would be now, so my originals are probably gone for good.  But grateful for the replacement file.  :-)

290

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: SDC ringtones

« on: July 12, 2018, 12:42:56 PM »

Here's to necro'ing a really old post!  LOL

I was looking for some background music for a video and remembered these old ringtones.  I used to have them on one of my phones.  But I've since changed phones, and sadly the links to the downloads no longer work.  Does anyone by chance know a place where these might be downloaded?  Or have copies of them they are willing to share?

291

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Train robbery

« on: July 07, 2018, 09:57:58 AM »

To be honest I do not know who you are talking about. But, I had not rode the train in a few years so that is on me. My main concern was the lack of emotion or acting or whatever you want to call it. The skit was just boring and the cast looked and sounded like they were just rushing through it. If this is the best that can be done I would just say end it also. They basically got blank stares from the crowd.  Or, maybe develop a new skit that is fresh. This one has been running for 40 years probably ?

The problem with a "new script" is that it's actually been tried a number of times and run into two issues- it's a lot harder to write a script for it that's actually funny, and there was a huge demand from guests to bring back the old one.  I've actually seen a "new" version that was pretty funny, but a large percentage of the train wasn't happy with it simply because it was different.

Also, what many think is a 40 year old script is actually bits and pieces that have been cobbled together over the years.  A line would be spontaneously used, get some laughs, so they'd try it again.  if it still got laughs, it would continue to be used.  There are actually a couple of lines that were created and added to the show while I worked there.  So really it's a compilation of various ad libs, changes, and bits that were tried out and worked.  Several are actually from gags the robbers tried on the conductors and they worked so well they've just stayed in the show (the missed day of the week started out that way)

292

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Ride wait time App.

« on: July 06, 2018, 09:22:54 AM »

I've noticed that the wait times on it are horribly inaccurate or often times not available.  I don't even both with that anymore except to see if a ride is open or closed.  That's about as accurate as it gets.

Even showtimes aren't necessarily accurate either.  last time I was there the app didn't have the saloon show listed at all, under any name.  I thought at first they didn't have it that day- until we walked by and people were lining up to get in to the show.

293

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Train robbery

« on: July 04, 2018, 08:50:53 AM »

The main issue is the park is in a very RED part of the nation but the company’s headquarters is in a very BLUE city. 

Except that it's the PARK leaders making those decisions, not HQ.  They're local decisions, made by people who should know better, on their own.  Can't blame the national office for what the locals are doing and deciding.  It's been an internal park struggle and fight for a long time now.  We fought over the guns and things they wanted to do when I was there- and all of it was coming from certain managers and leaders at the park.

When you work there and people complained, who did they complain to and/or how were you made aware of their complaints?  This is ridiculous.

Guests can make comments, suggestions, compliments or complaints through the guest relations office, email, phone calls or the company Facebook page.  If they were specific to a ride/ attraction/ show or to employees they were passed to the supervisors, then to the leads, and often to the employees. That included both compliments and complaints.  My lead was great about sharing some of the comments the train got, both good and bad.  I don't believe all of the leads do that though.

294

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 04, 2018, 08:45:46 AM »

Well I’m glad you had a good time and got home safe.  The Middle East is one of the last places I would personally want to go to.  It’s not safe and will probably never really be safe to visit.

Don't believe the media hype about Israel.  We were safer there than where we live in the US.  Outside of Gaza, which is a little tiny area in one corner, there were no issues with security, safety, etc.  And we were right on the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan for parts of the trip.  Went to several places where all sorts of nationalities and religious faiths were mingling with no problems at all.  All of them-Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, repeatedly asking us to please tell the world that what they are seeing on TV isn't true about what it's like in Israel.

I've been to a lot of countries, and it's the safest I've ever felt.

295

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 03, 2018, 01:51:10 PM »

Mission trip or just a vacation?

25th anniversary vacation trip given to us by family members.   

Wow, what a gift!  Hope you enjoyed every minute of it!

You bet we did!  Best part is the ones who gave us the trip arrive later today with their kids for a week visiting with us, so we get to return some of the favor and give gifts from the trip (and maybe bore them with hours of photos and videos!  LOL)

296

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Train robbery

« on: July 03, 2018, 01:48:51 PM »

I wonder though if the removal of the guns isn't political based, but based on people's entitlement?

It's a thought, but I think it's likely kind of a mix of the two and really comes down to people who don't like guns.  They don't want their kids to play with them.  They don't want to see them used.  Guns are dangerous so don't be near them. Or just plain anti-gun.

I know when I worked there we would sometimes see the complaints, and usually they were along the lines of, "I can't believe you use real guns or ones that make us think they are real."  Like many things they've removed, it's people being oversensitive and offended over things so the park removes them, even if they're a very small number For example, the line about why is ma smiling?  Because that man next to her isn't our pa.  We'd get 2 or 3 complaints a year, out of a couple of million guests.  But that was enough to remove it.

297

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

« on: July 02, 2018, 10:51:03 PM »

Let's just say that they were in the park in 2016. Evidently, you have seen them elsewhere since then. I hope they haven't been mistreated.

They are in good hands, and being treated well.  Actually better than they were at the time you saw them.  Can't really give out any more specific info than that. 

298

Random Talk / Re: Your Travels Thread (2018)

« on: July 02, 2018, 10:47:46 PM »

Mission trip or just a vacation?

25th anniversary vacation trip given to us by family members.   

299

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Train robbery

« on: July 02, 2018, 10:47:01 PM »

I might be in the minority but I think it is time to end the robbery all together.  It's not needed anymore as the 504 is poweful enough to do the loop without stopping to build up steam to finish the climb (the real reason there was a robbery to begin with at the old location). 

I just cannot stand when a certain individual is out there or acts as conductor.  I can't name names but you all know who I am talking about.

None of the engines have needed to stop to build up steam for many years.  Really the only one that did was the Davenport and it hasn't been used in a long time.  The engines regularly complete the loop without pause when there is bad weather or other reasons to skip the show.

As for removing the robbery altogether, my vote is no, but I would like to see it return to it's roots a bit.  Bring back the bits that were removed because of the hypersensitivity to being PC and make a couple of changes in personnel, and let the robbers have some freedom.  But I don't know that any of that will happen.

There are some that have suspected certain people in leadership positions would like to see the robbery go away and have been working on that in a gradual process, and sadly I can't argue with that view.  The current state compared to even a few years ago lends credibility to that.

300

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Train robbery

« on: July 02, 2018, 11:35:33 AM »

The rifle the conductor is using now is basically a pop gun that shoots what is essentially caps, and it misfires a lot.  Even when it does fire you can barely hear it.  It's a sad replacement of the shotgun they used to use.

And yes, it sure looks like they've replaced the robbers guns with wood props that they never pull out of the holsters.  Sad.

Nothing really nice to say about any of that.