Author Topic: Harvest Festival  (Read 6205 times)

dc_mpa

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Harvest Festival
« on: October 13, 2019, 10:41:41 PM »
Did anyone go this year and leave disappointed? We sure did this year. Never in my 36 years of attending the park have I walked out without a wonderful trip. This year my wife and I both were so disappointed in the lack of vendors and what we were told by employees and vendors about how the park management was treating everyone.

The harvest festival was always our favorite festival and as far as we’re concerned, they’ve ruined it with this pumpkin focus. I had deep respect for so many employees openly venting to me about their equal feelings of frustration and displeasure of the changes. I visited with a handful of vendors who told me that this year the park only gave them small windows of time to be allowed to setup. Some got 1 week, some got 3 weeks, some of the long standing vendors were not invited to come back at all.

We thought this trip was nothing more than another kids feast.

Sad, never did I think I’d ever leave that park displeased and today was complete disappointment. Even my wife said she doesn’t care if we ever return. Never thought I’d hear those words out of her mouth.


sanddunerider

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2019, 07:15:00 AM »
Did anyone go this year and leave disappointed? We sure did this year. Never in my 36 years of attending the park have I walked out without a wonderful trip. This year my wife and I both were so disappointed in the lack of vendors and what we were told by employees and vendors about how the park management was treating everyone.

The harvest festival was always our favorite festival and as far as we’re concerned, they’ve ruined it with this pumpkin focus. I had deep respect for so many employees openly venting to me about their equal feelings of frustration and displeasure of the changes. I visited with a handful of vendors who told me that this year the park only gave them small windows of time to be allowed to setup. Some got 1 week, some got 3 weeks, some of the long standing vendors were not invited to come back at all.

We thought this trip was nothing more than another kids feast.

Sad, never did I think I’d ever leave that park displeased and today was complete disappointment. Even my wife said she doesn’t care if we ever return. Never thought I’d hear those words out of her mouth.

That's a shame.  I posted earlier I am afraid that this will effect probably hundreds of people. Including myself
Those of us that have gone for YEARS!!! to see the "fall Festival" in all its glory, it was a favorite for many people.!
now the PTB is obvioulsy it fading it away.
.   
Pushing for the kids to do the Pumkin nights thing.. and to sell all those high mark up item to the kids.

I can only HOPE that the PTB get complaints from customers from all over the nation, near and far about the change, and in response they use some imagination and bring the vendors back. 
The vendors could easily be in the square and scattered out on the west side of park, while the Pumkin thing could be on the east side/ expo and the new area..
Will that happen?  I doubt it.  But I sure would like to see them advertise it and try it for 1 or 2 seasons, then check their attendence and dollar income numbers..

shavethewhales

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2019, 08:24:56 AM »
I've been told by a number of people that the crafters are PO'd at SDC. I don't know all the details, but they feel they have been actively pushed away by the park management.

The park is increasingly run by corporate thinking. It's part of what happens when you grow into an operation that involves thousands of workers, but no one likes it.

SDC has always been a tough park to run, so in some ways I feel for the management that has to figure it all out. As we've discussed in the attendance thread, one week they can be packed, and the next they might be worried how they'll keep the lights on. They do need to stop treating the employees and crafters like they are so dispensable though.

kbosch1

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2019, 08:55:17 AM »
Looking back in the forums at last year's attendance for comparable numbers but only seeing Sept 14-16, 2018 weekend for Fall Festival 2018.  It was opening weekend for 2018 Fall Festival

"9500 people today, sunday the 16th...
total opening fall festival weekend almost 23000"

Looking at this past weekend, if you include Friday's 7100, there was 53,727 in the park this weekend.  As long as those numbers continue with the Pumpkin Nights, I don't know what kind of traction negative letters will bring.  Attendance will be interesting to watch when comparing total numbers from past years.  I'm guessing that with the PN appealing to younger families, that middle-of-the-week attendance numbers will probably continue to be lower.

Playing devil's advocate here, we were there Friday and the numbers of young families with young kids is a good thing for SDC.  Bringing new blood into the park and new memories being made can't be a bad thing can it?  I'd be real interested to know the average age of season pass holders each year for the past 15 years.  Do you think the average has stayed the same or gone up?  I would venture that it has gone up and that isn't a trend that can be sustainable, IMO.

I was disappointed when I looked at the vendor list for the crafters this year too and missed quite a few that I always enjoyed seeing in the past, but for SDC to be viable they have to do things to appeal to this current generation.  I'm sure it's a tough position to be in for PTB to try to bring new and exciting things for younger fans, but to try and keep the old traditions for those of us that have been going for many years and enjoy the traditions of the past.

I'm with most in this forum, that I hope the traditions that we are used to (rides, shops, festivals, shows) are fought for and held close to the hearts that are involved in decision making.  And I am disappointed to hear of these stories from vendors about how they are being treated.  That CAN'T happen.

I struggle with change, but I know that for SDC to survive, it's inevitable; and either I accept it and continue to make new memories while remembering old ones or sit home, be angry and be left with only the old memories.

We were on the tram to the parking lot by 7:30, so we weren't in the PN area after dark.  We did walk through it twice after it opened.  After we returned to our condo we were discussing the day and we mentioned the missing vendors and cowboy themed demonstration/shows, the new areas and new cirque show.  But one thing we all mentioned was how we enjoyed the excitement on some of the kids faces as they were walking the paths and the number of families with young kids in attendance. 

Oh well, cheers to old memories and new things!  Looking forward to returning in a month for Christmas.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2019, 09:02:37 AM by kbosch1 »

dc_mpa

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2019, 09:00:32 AM »
It was an eye opener for me to see so many employees and vendors being public and open about the change. The entire park felt like it was a teenager feast. I said another kids feast earlier but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was more teenagers than young kids.

We will definitely be voicing our frustrations with a letter and a call. This is one trip that I’d honestly prefer to have my money back and forget I even went to the park. My wife is now voicing she’s afraid what it’s done to Christmas with that she’s talking of us not going to that now either. I don’t blame her, I’m thinking we’ll just stay home this year. I feel bad for the employees. They were always so chipper and happy, seemed like so many were exhausted. Anyone else notice this? We watched a interesting terse conversation between the blacksmith and the employee in the shop about package pickup and delivery.

We couldn’t figure out why we didn’t see much demonstrations or interactions yesterday. We’re wondering if it’s exhaustion or something behind the scenes with management. Lye soap was ran by a kid sitting on his cell phone all day looking down at his screen, blacksmith wasn’t working, pork rind guy had no samples and wouldn’t make flavored pork rinds, flour mill pushed a line of 30 away announcing they wouldn’t make any more cinnamon bread, stores pushing us out at 5:45 to close their doors. A cave guy talked with me for a good 20 minutes about how displeased employees are this year. Mentioned this spring how the park decided to open its doors but announced to employees that a handful of the staple shops wouldn’t open until May. He said “now if you’re going to open the park, then have everything open or discount the ticket price”. Good point, greed wouldn’t let that happen though!

A happy medium that would be a success plan in my opinion is having the pumpkin stuff where it’s at, and keeping all the vendors for the harvest festival. Instead of shutting down the place you keep it open and the vendors can be all be there and adults can go to the more open side of the park while all the kids are at the pumpkin walk.

kbosch1

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2019, 09:06:35 AM »
I wonder if the required longer days/nights for workers have anything to do with people being upset too.  With the younger workers back in school and the older workers remaining, these are some long days when they are having to stay until 8pm or longer when I believe they were out of the park by 6pm in Fall Festivals previously. 

pintrader

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2019, 12:30:19 PM »
Lye soap was ran by a kid sitting on his cell phone all day looking down at his screen, blacksmith wasn’t working, pork rind guy had no samples and wouldn’t make flavored pork rinds, flour mill pushed a line of 30 away announcing they wouldn’t make any more cinnamon bread, stores pushing us out at 5:45 to close their doors.


They have not served free samples of pork rinds for a while now.  I was told "The Health Department made them stop because of health concerns".

legoerosion

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2019, 01:13:57 PM »
We couldn’t figure out why we didn’t see much demonstrations or interactions yesterday. We’re wondering if it’s exhaustion or something behind the scenes with management. Lye soap was ran by a kid sitting on his cell phone all day looking down at his screen, blacksmith wasn’t working, pork rind guy had no samples and wouldn’t make flavored pork rinds, flour mill pushed a line of 30 away announcing they wouldn’t make any more cinnamon bread, stores pushing us out at 5:45 to close their doors.

The Lye soap kid is just straight up ignorance and doesn’t deserve a job at a public stand if he is on his phone, period. However, there’s always underlying factors for everything else. Maybe they ran out of supplies or were getting close to running out for the cinnamon bread. Maybe the shops were required to close down at 6 for low attendance or the pumpkin nights? We don’t know. The only thing to me that seems to be a major problem that should be brought up to management is the lye soap kid.

mg

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2019, 05:18:00 PM »
I think that there is also a lot of misunderstanding the festival times by many people. It's Craft Days and Pumpkin Nights. A lot of reviews that I have seen are disappointed that the craft booths are closed at night. Seems people expect to be able to come for just the evening and see both the crafts and the pumpkins.

We typically just go in the evening so the craft booths are all closed or closing. I didn't think much about our young kids being interested in the crafts, but we went down earlier on Sunday and our 4 year old was actually really interested in some of the crafts and how they were made. Our next trip we may spend more time looking at the crafts and talking to the people that made them.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2019, 05:25:18 PM by mg »

dc_mpa

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2019, 06:01:48 PM »
I believe someone nailed it. We are on the patron side of SDC becoming a corporation without the ability to roll their sleeves up and truly connect how they used to do. It’s a numbers game, even if they turn it into a mass produced commercialized affair with an old western town hidden underneath, and it delivers the almighty dollar thru attendance numbers and fattens wallets in a corporate office, it’s gotta be great. I truly believe they could bring in the 130+ crafters and do both events but suits see it differently.

I guess our days of SDC may be coming to and end if that’s the case. We’ll take our memories and spend our dollars elsewhere.

legoerosion

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2019, 09:39:17 AM »
I believe someone nailed it. We are on the patron side of SDC becoming a corporation without the ability to roll their sleeves up and truly connect how they used to do. It’s a numbers game, even if they turn it into a mass produced commercialized affair with an old western town hidden underneath, and it delivers the almighty dollar thru attendance numbers and fattens wallets in a corporate office, it’s gotta be great. I truly believe they could bring in the 130+ crafters and do both events but suits see it differently.

I guess our days of SDC may be coming to and end if that’s the case. We’ll take our memories and spend our dollars elsewhere.
Okay, but this is their first year doing the Craft DAYS and Pumpkin NIGHTS, as someone else said. That’s the reason why they pushed you out at 5:45. If you think that they’re going to do 130+ crafters for this during the first year of Pumpkin Nights, then I want whatever drug you have to make you think that. They’re not going to overload the day session if the night session is new and what they’re trying to push. There are things they still need to iron out.

cowboy

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2019, 12:03:43 PM »
From SDC Attractions: It probably felt that way because we changed our requirements for visiting craftsmen this year. New this season we allowed visiting artisans to participate even if they couldn’t stay for the duration of the festival. This essentially meant we had all new craftsmen in each week  - which is quite a departure from the last few years.

From a Facebook post today regarding Pumpkin Nights returning for 2020.

Jay

dc_mpa

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2019, 02:00:45 PM »
I believe someone nailed it. We are on the patron side of SDC becoming a corporation without the ability to roll their sleeves up and truly connect how they used to do. It’s a numbers game, even if they turn it into a mass produced commercialized affair with an old western town hidden underneath, and it delivers the almighty dollar thru attendance numbers and fattens wallets in a corporate office, it’s gotta be great. I truly believe they could bring in the 130+ crafters and do both events but suits see it differently.

I guess our days of SDC may be coming to and end if that’s the case. We’ll take our memories and spend our dollars elsewhere.


Okay, but this is their first year doing the Craft DAYS and Pumpkin NIGHTS, as someone else said. That’s the reason why they pushed you out at 5:45. If you think that they’re going to do 130+ crafters for this during the first year of Pumpkin Nights, then I want whatever drug you have to make you think that. They’re not going to overload the day session if the night session is new and what they’re trying to push. There are things they still need to iron out.

It would be an iced tea and please, help yourself to a glass.  It would be quite easy to host the vendors and have the pumpkin event and that would bring in more dollars.  Either way, hope it gets worked out, we'll sit on the sidelines and see if things change.  If not, like I said, we're glad to go elsewhere and take our 36 years of memories with us to another tradition. 

sirwillow

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2019, 05:03:58 PM »
This is one of those things where I hope the park realizes it's mistakes with the crafters, and realizes that this festival shouldn't be an either/ or.  It should be a both/ and.

I don't mind the cowboy festival part being gone.  I'll be honest, I don't think that brought in to many anymore.  But the crafters did.  This was one of our favorite times of year to visit.

I absolutely love the Pumpkin Nights, the decor, and all that has come with it.  I think that's a fantastic addition (though I wish they kept the out of theme music located over in the party area, and not throughout the park) and it's certainly drawing in the families, which they want.  It's fun, it's festive, it's friendly.  And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't start to pull in large crowds over the next couple of years.

But I really wish and hope that it doesn't come at the expense of the crafters, which in many ways is like the life blood of the park this time of year.  It doesn't need a transfusion, and I'm afraid that's what the PTB are trying to do.
This is a stick up!  Get it? Stick.... Nevermind, it's a train robbery.  I want everyone to get your hands up and act scared.

Joy

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Re: Harvest Festival
« Reply #14 on: October 17, 2019, 01:02:40 AM »
I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'm wondering if Dollywood is poaching some of the craftspeople...? I was surprised last year to find a craftsperson there at DW who was from Missouri, as I'd expect them to be at SDC since it is closer. So I wonder if DW is offering better money/opportunities. We have to remember that SDC and DW both focus on crafts for the fall, so there is going to be a limited number of people to invite and those people will have to decide which park offers better opportunities.