Author Topic: Silver Dollar City "You have a great past/future ahead of you"  (Read 9414 times)

shavethewhales

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Re: Silver Dollar City "You have a great past/future ahead of you"
« Reply #15 on: August 31, 2017, 07:59:59 AM »
Isn't memory a wonderful and fickle thing?  I appreciate everyone romanticizing how great GG was.  Problem is that most of these memories are not true.  GG was old, broken down and limping along in its final years.  Most of the effects and all those wonderful things being mentioned were broken or long gone.  FL is a newer and much more coehesive replacement for GG.  All of those pluses you are mentioning can be accomplished with this newer model.  Those water firing targets were a hold out from a previous attraction and were not new to GG.  Newer models can be found at RB if you want.

Agree....the place was falling apart and was starting to be a terrible eyesore.  1/2 of the water cannons where broke 1/2 the foam cannons where broke and pretty much none of the water targets worked it's final year. 

The fountains where awesome but even they looked old and didn't always consistently work.  My kids who used to love that area didn't seem to miss it and they all pretty much have at least one ride they love in FL.  Thought is was a pretty good replacement.

That all being said....the GG (non-AC) play structure was a lot better than the new (AC) building.  It was so much more fun to explore then the new firehouse. 

We will probably have a generation who remembers GG fondly like the group on here who often bring up playing on the old Sawyers Landing and treehouse.

I liked the concept of GG a little better than Fireman's simply because it was more experience and play based overall vs. rides. I think the problem with decrying it for being broken down or un-maintained is that the blame for that is on the park, not the attraction itself. Too often these days we are seeing parks let attractions fall to crap so that their patrons are grateful when they get replaced, even if it's replaced with something is more focused on putting them in lines or having them spend more money.

The giant water cannons were unique and unlike anything I've seen anywhere else. Kids LOVED them. Honestly kids loved the whole GG complex, even when it was faded and worn. We always complained about how gaudy it looked, but the general concept was great and I know that a generation of kids grew up revering the place. That's one of SDC's problems, everything they build is usually so good that there is major kick-back when the time supposedly comes to replace it.  ;D

But in the end, GG was replaced mostly for insurance, safety, and logistical reasons. There's a lot less stairs in FL, it's a lot less easy to lose a kid, the balls are at least a little easier to control, maintenance is probably a little easier since most of it is individual rides that can be dealt with on an individual basis, etc... plus they can market it as ten attractions rather than just one.


Oh yeah, but back to the original topic/question: I think Time Traveler is just going to be another Wildfire. It's a big roller coaster themed to a wacky story of steampunk-inspired invention. It's also tucked away so that you can catch a glimpse of it from the park, but it's not impinging on much (other than Thunderation). I don't think HFEC is going away from the theme, I think it's just another part of the process of a newer generation re-interpreting the park. I'm still impressed with how they are tying a story into it and making it fit the park - as wild as the story may be. They don't have to do that anymore, they could just plop a roller coaster in with a generic name and empty station and 95% of the crowd wouldn't notice or care about that aspect.