2019 Trip Reports

[missouripapa]

I’m glad to hear that crowds were reasonable. I’ll be there in the morning with a gaggle of granddaughters  for our twelfth trip of the season. As long as we get apple turnovers, ride rides, and dine in the mine, all is well in our worlx

[mg]

Was in the park today and had zero wait at all of the kids rides in the morning.

Only issue that we had was a lunch at Wagon Works Grill when the apple slices for my 2 kids meals were about 5 days past their best by date and were slimy. When I took them back to the counter all of the ladies seemed annoyed and tried to give me new bags that had the same date. I finally just asked for apple sauce instead. They didn't seem to care at all that the apples were bad... they took the bags that they offered and I declined right back in the bin on the service line.

[mhguy77]

Was in the park today and had zero wait at all of the kids rides in the morning.

Only issue that we had was a lunch at Wagon Works Grill when the apple slices for my 2 kids meals were about 5 days past their best by date and were slimy. When I took them back to the counter all of the ladies seemed annoyed and tried to give me new bags that had the same date. I finally just asked for apple sauce instead. They didn't seem to care at all that the apples were bad... they took the bags that they offered and I declined right back in the bin on the service line.

Actually this is serious and I may have spoken to someone about this.   Food safety is almost specifically centered around 2 groups, elderly and children as they suffer quicker in situations when things go wrong.  A overlooked date is one thing but not when you are serving those 2 groups.  SDC employees tossing them back into the "community" bin is really a bad move both for food safety and plain optics.  Not a good situation.

[Okiebenz]

We were up Friday thru Sunday.  The 10 year old wanted to go to WW.  The last mailer we got had a $10 coupon so him and his brother were going to do that.  Discovered it was for Sunday only.  More on that later.  We arrived at the City about 3:15 Friday.  Crowds were very light.  Wife just had toe surgery so was hobbling along so we got a disabled book.  While it appeared most of the rides were walk on anyway the pass made it much easier for her to get on instead of having to walk all the way thru the line, especially TT. 

Saturday we woke up at the Ozark Valley Inn and discovered it was only going to get into the low 70's with rain of and on.  Did not seem like a good day to go to WW.  I explained to the kid that he should wait until Sunday and only spend $20 for the 2 of them.  Temps looked like it would be warmer and did not look like rain till mid afternoon.  He insisted on going Saturday.  They had an online deal that was $25 so he spent $5x.  We dropped them off at 10am opening then headed up to the City.  Once again lines were fine but we took the disabled entrance.  The kids called at about 12:30 they were ready to leave WW.  Seemed like a big waste of money to me but it was his money and that is what he wanted to do.

Today we got up the City a little after opening and another very light crowd day.  Weather was perfect.  It sure would have been a much better day to go to WW as it started getting a little hot and the sun started peaking out.  One thing I noticed was on the train ride.  We rode it Saturday and they had one guy who I believe I had seen before but is somewhat new out robbing and there was a young girl out there also just sitting in a chair the whole time not really doing anything. I have never seen that before.  Today we rode the train and the there was another young girl that was supposed to be dressed up as a hobo at the depot (might have been a sub in robber maybe).  At the robbery, the girl that was out there the day before played the Ralphy lines.  It really seemed like they were just going thru the motions and there was hardly any reaction from the passengers on the train.  Maybe it is just the new folks but it seemed dry.  The girl also had a quite obvious cell phone in her pocket which I always thought was a big no no.

I forgot to mention I saw Brad Thomas walking around Saturday, which was Humana day.  Even with that going on it was not that busy for a Saturday

[sanddunerider]

We were up Friday thru Sunday.  The 10 year old wanted to go to WW.  The last mailer we got had a $10 coupon so him and his brother were going to do that.  Discovered it was for Sunday only.  More on that later.  We arrived at the City about 3:15 Friday.  Crowds were very light.  Wife just had toe surgery so was hobbling along so we got a disabled book.  While it appeared most of the rides were walk on anyway the pass made it much easier for her to get on instead of having to walk all the way thru the line, especially TT. 

Saturday we woke up at the Ozark Valley Inn and discovered it was only going to get into the low 70's with rain of and on.  Did not seem like a good day to go to WW.  I explained to the kid that he should wait until Sunday and only spend $20 for the 2 of them.  Temps looked like it would be warmer and did not look like rain till mid afternoon.  He insisted on going Saturday.  They had an online deal that was $25 so he spent $5x.  We dropped them off at 10am opening then headed up to the City.  Once again lines were fine but we took the disabled entrance.  The kids called at about 12:30 they were ready to leave WW.  Seemed like a big waste of money to me but it was his money and that is what he wanted to do.

Today we got up the City a little after opening and another very light crowd day.  Weather was perfect.  It sure would have been a much better day to go to WW as it started getting a little hot and the sun started peaking out.  One thing I noticed was on the train ride.  We rode it Saturday and they had one guy who I believe I had seen before but is somewhat new out robbing and there was a young girl out there also just sitting in a chair the whole time not really doing anything. I have never seen that before.  Today we rode the train and the there was another young girl that was supposed to be dressed up as a hobo at the depot (might have been a sub in robber maybe).  At the robbery, the girl that was out there the day before played the Ralphy lines.  It really seemed like they were just going thru the motions and there was hardly any reaction from the passengers on the train.  Maybe it is just the new folks but it seemed dry.  The girl also had a quite obvious cell phone in her pocket which I always thought was a big no no.

I forgot to mention I saw Brad Thomas walking around Saturday, which was Humana day.  Even with that going on it was not that busy for a Saturday

Sounds like a good weekend for you..  thats great.    Glad you picked some low attendence days to go.

[JustGoHogs]

Lovely bride and I made a spur of the moment trip yesterday.  Great decision!  Terrific performances during Southern Gospel Picnic and, for someone like me who loves those coasters, hardly any ride lines!  SGP really is the best time to go to the park to ride roller coasters.

[Obviousdramatic]

This might be sexist of me, sorry in advance, but it really bums me out to see a girl playing Ralpie/Alphie. I mean, its fine, but I dont care for it. Its weird for me I guess.

[Swoosh]

This might be sexist of me, sorry in advance, but it really bums me out to see a girl playing Ralpie/Alphie. I mean, its fine, but I dont care for it. Its weird for me I guess.

Nope.  I agree.  At least to a point.  Some of the jokes are gender-specific and don’t exactly work as well with a female in the cast.  Same thing with some of the spiel by the conductor while you’re in motion.  They just don’t work as well when Kathy is the conductor. 

Now I’m not saying that women shouldn’t be allowed to be in those roles, I just think the scripts need to be updated to allow for that versatility

[MCLFLN]

This might be sexist of me, sorry in advance, but it really bums me out to see a girl playing Ralpie/Alphie. I mean, its fine, but I dont care for it. Its weird for me I guess.

Nope.  I agree.  At least to a point.  Some of the jokes are gender-specific and don’t exactly work as well with a female in the cast.  Same thing with some of the spiel by the conductor while you’re in motion.  They just don’t work as well when Kathy is the conductor. 

Now I’m not saying that women shouldn’t be allowed to be in those roles, I just think the scripts need to be updated to allow for that versatility

I agree with you Swoosh

[sirwillow]

This might be sexist of me, sorry in advance, but it really bums me out to see a girl playing Ralpie/Alphie. I mean, its fine, but I dont care for it. Its weird for me I guess.

Nope.  I agree.  At least to a point.  Some of the jokes are gender-specific and don’t exactly work as well with a female in the cast.  Same thing with some of the spiel by the conductor while you’re in motion.  They just don’t work as well when Kathy is the conductor. 

Now I’m not saying that women shouldn’t be allowed to be in those roles, I just think the scripts need to be updated to allow for that versatility

I agree with you Swoosh

There actually are updates and changes to the scripts for when one of the robbers is a lady.  Even different names for the robber.  And adjustments for what is said and who says it.

But they don't do them.  :-(

And I'll just leave it at that.

[DianaGail]

Took the kids down with our extended family to celebrate the twins birthday. Short lines to begin the day, looooong lines to end the day. We gave up at 3 when a lot of rides were running 30-45 minute waits. We had been there since opening at 10 and the kids were tired anyway. The landscaping they have done on the new ride is great! 

For the first time in awhile, I actually have some issues with things I saw. The park was NOT clean today. Now, I fully realize that they didn’t close until 10 last night.  This really shouldn’t delay cleaning or cause then to pare down cleaning, but perhaps this is the cause. But there were overflowing trash cans everywhere, the sidewalks were sticky, and tables were not clean. This was at the beginning of the day. . Let’s talk about the slushee carts. They smell. It’s disgusting. The one in the expo is the worst. Icee syrup running down the sidewalk. So. Gross. Also, the regatta ships are in dire need of some work. The paint is chipping and there were chunks of it laying  next to the ships today. We are at the Mexican restaurant. We typically love it so much!  But today, it seemed everything but the meat was leftover from yesterday. The temperature of the food also left a lot to be desired. Most of the coasters had only one train running. This would be fine if attendance was low. But today was not a low attendance day. This has been a complaint of ours all summer. They simply haven’t been using enough to keep the lines down on all but one of our 7 summer trips down.  Also, filling rides out be super helpful. When there is a line, nothing should start half full.

None of these things are enough to keep us from going back at least 5 times this year.  Lol!!!  In fact, we will make at least one more trip this month. We got to ride almost every ride that the kids deemed important before we ate lunch. Lines, for most things, were decent. We didn’t see any shows, but there were people lined up by 1:00 for the 6:00 Booth Brothers show. The fresh cinnamon bread at 9:45 am was amazing!  One of the McCoy’s game my twins a hard time about it being their birthday. We got fresh strawberry cheesecake taffy on our way out. Overall it was a good day and we can’t wait for our first trip to pumpkin nights!!

[runner1960]

Me and my GF decided on a last minute holiday weekend trip. We arrived in Branson Friday afternoon and I had secured a room at Spinnaker Palace view. At the moment we booked we knew it would be hard to find a place on short notice. I like condos better than hotels and this place did not disappoint. We declined any presentation and there was no high pressure to attend it. One no and that was it. Beautiful resort with 3 outdoor pools and another indoor all with hot tubs.

Saturday we headed to the city about 9:00 and was parking in the upper lot 2 by 9:30. Ran into a slight drizzle at SOTH but no rain and cool temps with a overcast sky. We went straight to TT at about 9:45 and had maybe a 15 minute wait. Rode it back  to back then headed to OR. Or was a walk on. At that point I was wondering if there was even going to be a crowd at all. After OR we went to see the first saloon show at 11:30. It was my first time with this show and we enjoyed it. Spent some time at some of my favorite shops. Bought a couple of new pie plates at the pottery shop. Then over to Mountain outfitters where I drooled over a couple new knifes by the newest knifemaker. They have found another great addition to help Charles out there. I usually purchase 1 every year but was able to restrain myself. By this time it was close to 2 and we were going to take a midday break back at the resort. We hit FITH and headed to the exit.

When we were leaving I noticed how full the parking lots were but the park still seemed empty. I guess the crowd was all into the gospel music ? Not my bag of tea so I cannot report on any of that aspect.

We came back in about 6:30 and went with some friends to ride powderkeg and wildfire. Sat down and ate Calico potatoes and visited a bit. BTW both of those were walk ons also. We then decided to hit TT again after dark and it was about a 5 minute wait. First time I had ever ridden it after dark and loved it. Made a loop around in the darkness hit some shops and headed out about 9:30. Lost out on any cinnamon bread because midtown and all the craft shops closed at 8 PM. The park was pretty much dead after 8PM.

In all it was a beautiful cool weather trip and the city was shining. Everything was immaculate and clean for us. Did not do The Train, FM , AP,TNT or any of the kiddie stuff in GE or FL.

[History Buff]

We're headed that way tomorrow (Sunday).

[sirwillow]

I'll post this on the trip reports thread as well.

We were at the park yesterday.  It was disappointing to see how many crafters were missing this year- much lower numbers and many of the favorites aren't there this time.  Which meant the square felt much lighter in numbers.  I'm hoping that the PTB realize what a loss that is and fix what got broke this year that is keeping so many of them away.  This was honestly my wife and daughter's favorite time to visit with all the crafters, and I know they aren't alone.  Hopefully they work on bringing them back rather than ditching them.

The new "lumberjack" show was great.  We really enjoyed that one and hope to get back to it again.

Fire in the Hole- no music again,   And poor Ned Flanders hip was majorly out of socket.  Also the wheels in the back really felt flat spotted- even slid into the station at one point instead of rolled, which made for a bit of a rough ride in spots.

Percy's was closed for some reason, which was really odd considering they gave it a pretty good spread in the Pathfinder.  So we ended up eating at Wagon Works, where they had run out of the good fries.  Still a great burger though.

The Echo Hollow Show was great.

Pumpkin Nights is incredible.  We were only able to stay until about 7:30, so really didn't get to see it in the dark, but even at dusk it was really neat.  I'm really hoping that they not only continue this but expand it a bit.  If they do, I can see this eventually building into their number 2 time of year, behind Christmas.  There is so much potential with it, and even for a first year we really liked what they did and wish we could have stuck around.

photos are posted at https://sirwillow.smugmug.com/Amusement-Parks-Roller/Silver-Dollar-City/Sept-27-2019-Craft-Festival-Pumpkin-Nights-and-More/ including some construction photos (didn't ride the train, sorry) and I'll have the video from the day posted on Tuesday on the youtube channel.

[Jemmicat]

I went yesterday 9/27 from opening until about 5:30 (had a date so had to leave earlier than I would have otherwise).

As sirwillow said, there are far fewer crafts people and the ones that were there didn't interest me much. I realize now that I did not go towards time traveler at all so unsure what crafters were down there but the square and other areas did seem sparse. This kind of fits as on the show schedule on the app or website there is no mention of them even being there. I wasn't sure they would be when I went.

I mostly spent time bouncing between shows. The Paperdolls show was absolutely amazing. It was fairly sparse crowd for the 11Am show and the crowd picked up through the other 2 shows. They were not what I expected but I absolutely loved the show. They played song from Pink and others with different arrangements. I was amazed how many people were older in the crowd and stayed the whole show. I saw all 3 sets and could go back for more (and might... I think they leave Sunday)

I was in the lumberjack show and had to leave before it started as I got a phone call from London I needed to take. As I was on the phone the show let out after about 22 min which surprised me. I came back for another show later. I really did not enjoy it until the very end. It was very slow starting and the lack of ANY real dialogue did not help it in my opinion and I still have no clue what they were going for. But by the end I did enjoy it more. Can't say I would go back

The decorations were nice... I wish I could have stayed to see them lit up. It was starting to get crowded as I was leaving with traffic coming in clogging the road for my leaving from the motorcycle area.

As I said, the highlight for me was Paperdolls and I hope they make a return. I guess they used to have a show in town at the Dutton's theater and they were named Redhead Express then. Regardless, they were really good

As most people, change is tough. I miss the crafters and I did buy some of their wares every year. I also miss the crafts that came along with worldfest and other things... But I also saw how the crowd through this festival was younger than typical crafts festivals... and like it or not, that is the next generation of paying customers... if people don't come to the park, it doesn't stay open. And when your primary demographic ages out, you have to plan and move on...