I have noticed a drop off of activity since SDC closed for the season, which is perfectly understandable. We're all in the doldrums. But the forum here is supposed to help us get through it, and Top Tens are popular, so let's do a Top Ten Ways to While Away the Time till Opening Day!
10: Visit freshly paved parking lots on warm days to inbibe the smell.
9: Eat at a local Cracker Barrel.
8: Listen to Bluegrass tapes/CDs.
7: Wear Trading Pins to work.
6: Wear SDC sweatshirts out to play.
5: Grow a beard (gentlemen only, please!) and endlessly recite Ralphie Bolin's lines from the hold up.
4: Take a clothed shower while pretending to aim a water cannon at a passing river raft.
3: Look through all the picture albums from past visits.
2: Watch all the SDC vids on YouTube. Again.
And the Number 1 Way to While Away the Time till Opening Day:
Spend time on this Forum rereading favorite threads and chatting with other passionate/over-doing-it SDC Fans!
Now, you add some!
Watching the Beverly Hillbillies tape filmed at SDC
Watching home videos from SDC trips in the past
Webcams of Branson .... wishing I was there
Go to Magic Kingdom and spend all day riding the paddlewheel boat and running around Tom Sawyer Island. (seriously, we did the boat and the island on the same day, and it was the closest to being at SDC that I'd been since the last time I was actually at SDC)
If you live close enough, road trip to springfield eat at Lamberts and visit Bass Pro. While not Branson-esq, its always a must do for my fam on the way home.
Play homemade version of SDC Monopoly.
Look at the pathfinder and plan the most efficient path that stops at all of your must do stops.
I LOVE TOP TEN LISTS!!
So here's mine:
1) My friend said he wanted to see old piano recitals, so I grabbed the wrong tape on purpose (it was of SDC, of course!)
2) "Randomly" coming across the schedule I downloaded on my phone and asking Mom when we plan on going, at least 4 times a day.
3) Staring at my trading pin collection that is sitting on top of my TV stand.
4) Reading these forums every chance I get.
5) Watch RFDTV whenever I can get the TV to myself.
6) ^^Same with GAC and CMT for the music videos and make my own set list for GAC Nights in Echo Hollow.
7) Wearing cowboy boots.
8. Watching westerns.
9) Writing all my English papers/journals on different things about SDC. I don't think anybody in class will catch on how all of my topics are connected, except my best friend who listens to me talk about those things all the time. EX: Baldknobbers, Herschends, Marvel Cave, etc.
10) Rambling constantly so everybody within hearing distance know how much I need to go back before I explode, and it didn't help being in Springfield last weekend and seeing a bunch of SDC stuff everywhere I went.
Quote from: palallin on January 25, 2012, 09:35:17 AM
2: Watch all the SDC vids on YouTube. Again.
This. As well as looking through photos on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/silverdollarcity/pool/).
I live near a train and just now it hit its brakes and came to a screechin stop. I told my husband those dang bowlin brothers are up to no good!! :D
Open potato sack....insert head.
Hurting for the opening day? I can't do too much about that, but if you want to take a fond look back at the past at SDC, check out the thread titled "Whats Happening FLASHBACK 1983" under the park history heading on forums.
I listen to the bluegrass channel on DIRECTV 15 minutes before i go to work.
Call my brother & make fake plans for our 1st trip back. Sometimes we pretend that we have never been to SDC. Heck, we're already talking about going on opening day weekend.
Watch my YouTube, or any other videos of SDC.
Theres a stretch of hi-way on the way to my work that reminds me of heading to SDC.
Some songs on the radio remind me of old SDC commercials.
I also think of past memories....
Well, you all are welcome to your dreams of getting back to the City. Your creativity is always entertaining.
On the other hand, my daughter and her fiance came out to the park today to have a look at the Wilderness Church, considering it as a location for their upcoming wedding. As we drove up to it, yes, right up to it in her car, my daughter marveled, and I agree, at how peaceful the park was without the crowds.
Imagine, if you will, what it would be like to wander it's streets without the crowd hubbub, without the music playing in the background, without the whistle of the train, without the noise from the rides...all you hear are the sounds of nature...wind in the trees, sometimes birds on the limb, the occasional squirrel foraging for an acorn he buried last fall. That's the world of SDC that I enjoy. Of course, the peace is interrupted occasionally by the sounds of winter maintenance, but nevertheless, it's a wonderful time of the year.
My hubby and I talked about how once we step off the tram and make it to the turnstyles there is this magic curtain you pass and washes stress and worry and negitivity away. You walk on air the whole time you are there. Its nice.
I enjoyed Zephon's comments. I, too, remember the quiet times on park from my days long ago as an employee. Before rope drop, after park closure, night time when there were but a few work lights on the streets, off season walking on park to go pick up or return costumes, the rehearsal days when few were on park, clean up days when we would scrub, wash and shine everything for the coming year, and on park after the season ended to take care of the closure time tasks. I also drove my dad's old pick up across Main Street, down Hill Street, over to the train depot, taking care of end of the year jobs. Putting props in the bed of the truck, crisp air, the windows rolled down, chirping birds, squirrels and chipmunks scrambling out of my way. I wish that all my friends here at SDC Fans could experience the park when it is quiet like that. It's very nice. However, we all also enjoy those times when the park is open, running full throttle, as there is much excitement in the air, and happy families and kids going here and there, enjoying a day off or a vacation. creating their own memories worth repeating. :)
That sounds like a tag you would find on a candle or shirt. Very nicely written J.
OK, Zephon and Junior: now you've done it! Those images are wonderful!
I wonder if SDC would be willing to arrange off-season tours for just a very few passionate/over-doing it Fans?
Nah, I'm sure not. But I'd pay for it!
I pass the time by searching the websites of local resorts and hotels near SDC...looking for a new place to stay.
As for descriptions of the park when it is closed to the public as described by Zephon and Junior...I think palallin beat me to the punch- I'd be willing to pay to take a tour of the park on a closed day.
My wife and I walked out of a restaurant in EPCOT a few years ago after the park had been closed off for the evening fireworks show. We knew that there'd be a huge rush at the trams and busses, so we just wondered around the dark, roped off sections of the park until the crowd died down. It was so relaxing to just stroll in the quiet areas...it sure helped that we were also trying to walk off a huge meal.
I also check the branson webcams nitely, and it looks funny to only see 1 or 2 cars on 76, and thats after watching it for a minute or so.
You tube is a wonderful thing,
I have the beverly hillbillies on my DVR,
And ocunt me in on the off season tours, just let me know when!!
Several years ago I was in the park after closing waiting for a friend that was in a meeting ( he worked there)
It was more than odd to see the streets empty and the music and rides all off. Its a little Erie to be honest.
A place like SDC needs the people to give it life. Its a neat thing to explore while empty but really also a little horror film like.
Quote from: mhguy77 on January 26, 2012, 10:19:25 PM
Several years ago I was in the park after closing waiting for a friend that was in a meeting ( he worked there)
It was more than odd to see the streets empty and the music and rides all off. Its a little Erie to be honest.
A place like SDC needs the people to give it life. Its a neat thing to explore while empty but really also a little horror film like.
The Twilight Zone...
Quote from: Kentucky Optimist on January 26, 2012, 12:20:39 PM
As for descriptions of the park when it is closed to the public as described by Zephon and Junior...I think palallin beat me to the punch- I'd be willing to pay to take a tour of the park on a closed day.
Me three!!!!! ;D
I picked up a 1973 SDC brochure off eBay a couple of weeks ago. (How I pass the off season time in addition to a lot of the aforementioned ways.) Been meaning to get it posted but can't get the stupid scanner to work. AAR, on the back page it advertises a guided tour with a citizen. It doesn't specifically say but I'm assuming for an extra cost. Do they still do this? Do you remember this happening in your days Junior?
They used to offer what they called the "Boardwalk Review" or "Boardwalk Tour". Cute tour guides would take small groups out on park, pointing out various points of interest and relating interesting tidbits about the park. Those were discontinued in the late 70's or early 80's.
I have been in the park during OTC, when the crowds are very low, as in maybe 200-300 or so.
After Dark, lights off, very few people around.. The city gets very serene, and quiet.
as you all said almost a "Twilight zone" type of feeling..
Seemed very odd walking around seldom seeing anybody. Kid of nice for a change. For sure different fromt he daily hustle and bustle. ;D
Hi Everyone! I had to go an entire week without reading your comments. It was a loooong week - broke my knee at work and, FORTUNATELY, a dear elderly friend took me to her house to take care of me since the hubs was waaay out of town. UNFORTUNATELY, she doesn't have internet. God bless her anyway! I'm back home now, but immobile, so...reading your posts is helping me wile away the hours! So, keep posting everyone!
~ I heard a train in the distance while at my friends, and SDC was the first thing I thought about.
~ I showed her every pic of SDC on my computer.
~ After checking my email, I headed straight to the forum to see what everyone was posting.
Hmm..what am I going to do for the next 7 weeks?? Maybe I'll photoshop my pics, listen to my Fire In The Hole ringtone, and talk the husband into an opening week trip.
Hpe you are doing better, Gilligan! :)
wow!! bad deal!! Hope the healing all goes well.!
and good luck on the opening day trip!
Well, I don't have a top ten, but I do enjoy opening the freezer to see that we put a loaf of Eva And Delilahs raisin cinnamon bread in there. Then, I open the fridge to see my pancake mix AND funnel cake mix from the mill in there.... We are pacing ourselves. Oh the anticipation of trying to not consume it all prior to the 2012 season!!!!
I made my own potato chips today! They sorta tasted like the ones at SDC, but it just wasn't the same :(
mmm, home made chips.. sounds good.. ::)
I ued to make funnel cakes at the house, but just is not the same... :'(
The wife made succotash for dinner tonight. ;D
Quote from: MissinTheGreenTrams on January 25, 2012, 12:49:07 PM
Play homemade version of SDC Monopoly.
This is brilliant! Hmmmm....Hubby collects Monopoly....I love SDC (and a good craft project)....I know how I'm gonna spend the rest of the off season!
I did this last year. I used a crapton of SDC brochures lifted from Lamberts and made a collage in the middle square. Card stock replaced each individual square. Lots of fun to do. Man I cant wait for opening weekend.
Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Would rather be teaching at school, BUT did talk the husband into a Spring Break trip! I can't wait!!!