What rituals or withdraws do you have when you leave the park?
When we hit them big ol' doors we always say, " bye City, see ya in afew months." Plus, the days actions always play over & over in my head for afew hours. I'm always kinda bummed out when we leave, just like when i was a kid. :( We are usually pretty quiet on the way to the car, probably from being exhausted. I always ask everyone what their favorite moment of the day was. Sometimes i throw a pretend fit like a little kid & whine & say, " nooo, i dont wanna go!"
I always feel deeply saddened when I leave. Like a semi close relative passed sad. We to as a family are quiet when we leave. If we are goin home that night, my kid is usually a snoozing shortly after we leave. If we are staying at the wilderness he gets a second burst of energy and I cant contain him :). As for rituals, we scour every inch on the hospitality house, they always have something fun and new to look at!
I always go SLOOOOWWW through the HH and turnstiles....
Not really looking for anything to buy,
but I know that is the last stop before going back into the real world!!
At Christmas, we always stop under the wisteria trellis and look back at the tree one last time. Once we hit the turnstyles past Ozark Marketplace I always turn an extra one for my Grandmother "Gigi" in memory of her. I do that every time.
If its not a day that ends with GAC Nights, I "accidentally" get separated from my family in the Ozark Marketplace and wander every inch of the place and when my mom/friends (whoever I'm with) finally finds me, they pretty much have to drag me to the car.
If it IS a GAC Nights day, I'm always the last person to leave Echo Hollow because I talk to the performers, and when I finally leave there, I walk about as fast as a turtle with 3 broken legs to get to the front of the park.
If we leave town early the next morning I wear my sunglasses the whole way because they cover half of my face and nobody can tell that I'm about to cry. I feel like I'm leaving home and I automatically feel homesick as soon as we pull out of the hotel parking lot.
If we aren't leaving the next day, everywhere we go around Branson or Springfield, I'm sneaky about it, but I intentionally look for stuff from SDC like brochures and I pick them up to look at them during the 3 hour car ride for when we do leave town. The secret pocket in my suitcase if full of old brochures and pages torn out of Missouri Travel Guides that I picked up at rest areas.
We buy a bag of taffy before leaving (and on warm days a frozen lemonade) to enjoy those on the way home. It doesn't completely take away the blues but it helps.
we always stop at Hannah's ice cream factory on the way out.
Quote from: Duelist on February 24, 2012, 10:30:59 PM
We buy a bag of taffy before leaving (and on warm days a frozen lemonade) to enjoy those on the way home. It doesn't completely take away the blues but it helps.
I do the same! I have to have some taffy, or candy before I leave. It helps feed the empty feeling during the drive South on Highway 65. ;D
We always buy a bag of assorted taffy before we leave. We learned the hard way to not buy during the day cuz they're gone by the time we leave. Its hard making a whole bag of taffy last from one visit to the next. It's even harder between December and March!!
Leave SDC? Who? Me? Sorry, I NEVER left since my first visit in 1970. (Well, it's a state of mind, isn't it?) Physically, yup, I've walked through those turnstyles at the Ozark Marketplace many times, but my mind often takes me back to this special place we all love so much. :)
Silver Dollar City is my "happy place" that I mentally project to anytime that I am having a bad day. ;D
Quote from: Ozark BBQ on March 08, 2012, 11:05:00 PM
Quote from: Duelist on February 24, 2012, 10:30:59 PM
We buy a bag of taffy before leaving (and on warm days a frozen lemonade) to enjoy those on the way home. It doesn't completely take away the blues but it helps.
I do the same! I have to have some taffy, or candy before I leave. It helps feed the empty feeling during the drive South on Highway 65. ;D
Similar here: I buy a bag (or 2 or 3) of peanut brittle on the way out. When I was younger it would be either a rock candy stick or a jawbreaker. (I tell myself my tastes have matured. Hahaha.)
We too, always make our rounds around the HH and then the Ozark Mountain Marketplace. Usually always have to drag the kiddos out of each one because we tell them ahead of time that these two places will be where they can get their souvenirs, and of course they always think that they are allowed to bring the entire south end of the park home with us, so we usually end up spending an hour or so trying to pry them out of the stores and through the turnstiles. Then depending, on if we are leaving and heading home or not, we either head back to Branson and hit the Tracks or Mini golf, or if headed home( since we live just across the state line in Kansas from Joplin) we either hit the McDonalds in Lakeview, oops I mean Branson West and head out that way, or jump on 65 and head up to Lamberts and have supper there and then head for the house. Either way the kiddos are most normally asleep as we make the two hour trip home and it is quiet time for the wife and myself.
Quote from: Junior on March 09, 2012, 07:03:05 AM
Leave SDC? Who? Me? Sorry, I NEVER left since my first visit in 1970. (Well, it's a state of mind, isn't it?) Physically, yup, I've walked through those turnstyles at the Ozark Marketplace many times, but my mind often takes me back to this special place we all love so much. :)
LOVE IT!!!
We always turn the "smellavision" on as we walk past Delilah's Bakery (and if not too crowded, we often stop for a carryout cinnamon roll), grab a Sasparilla to drink at home, and find ourselves lingering in HH.
We do the bakery smell as well!
We always stop and chat at the Cedar Creek Dulcimer shop. They recognize us every time now.
We usually take the Ozark Mountain High Road out to 65; the beautiful scenery helps a bit. The departure really sinks in when we hit Ozark and all the steep hills on the highway are behind us.
Crud: I'm almost tearing up just thinking about it.
Are we pathetic or what? :-\ :-[ :'(
My wife has to grab my arm and pull me away from the dulcimer shop every time. She's got to the point where she walks away and leaves me after awhile. ;D
I bought a kit at the Dulcimer shop in the OM several years ago. My dad and I put it together. My dad passed away about 5 years ago. Every time I leave SDC, I stop at the Dulcimer shop and play a song in his memory.
Thats bittersweet Parsons. When I go I stop and visit the turkey legs in memory of my mommy. We always ate thos together....She passed away two years ago this month
Grab a bag of taffy, a cup of frozen lemonade for the trip home, run through Grandfather's Mansion one more time, buy a few ten Souix City Sarsaparillas, try to find 3 dry one dollar bills for the Dippin' Dot's vending machine, eat that on the tram, then leave heavy hearted with a massive yearning to return in the morning.
an heavy stomached it sounds like emma!!!
Quote from: rubedugans on May 02, 2012, 08:44:11 PM
an heavy stomached it sounds like emma!!!
ha, new to this site so I am as excited to type as I am to explore the park as if it were the first time, re-reading sounds like it is all at once, heh heh, nope, dippin' dot's only on tram and lem sippin about an hour later, the rest comes later to savor. :D
Saying that I usually stay for a week in Branson, I get really emotionally attached to SDC, and I hate to leave after that last visit for the summer. My 4 cousins and my sister typically get a lemon chill on our way out, due to extreme heat. Getting on those trams and heading back to the parking lot keeps me depressed for the next hour or so too. However, on those "normal" days in Branson in the middle of the week on our trips, I just think about going back in the next day or two! Haha. ;)
I think the worst leaving happens to me during the holiday-Christmas time. Not that other times are not, but I think not arriving until later in the day, and the cp;d makes us stay not quite as long as we normally would. That coupled with the idea that we probably won't be back for several months makes it tough to go!
Quote from: rubedugans on May 10, 2012, 07:37:43 PM
I think the worst leaving happens to me during the holiday-Christmas time. Not that other times are not, but I think not arriving until later in the day, and the cp;d makes us stay not quite as long as we normally would. That coupled with the idea that we probably won't be back for several months makes it tough to go!
I couldn't agree more, Rube.
Quote from: Duelist on May 10, 2012, 08:28:36 PM
Quote from: rubedugans on May 10, 2012, 07:37:43 PM
I think the worst leaving happens to me during the holiday-Christmas time. Not that other times are not, but I think not arriving until later in the day, and the cp;d makes us stay not quite as long as we normally would. That coupled with the idea that we probably won't be back for several months makes it tough to go!
I couldn't agree more, Rube.
Agreed!! OTC is the hardest to leave....
I was hoping to attend the Old Time Christmas festival for the first time in over a decade. However, I am not so certain now that you guys mention how hard it is to leave! :P
Quote from: Ozark BBQ on May 11, 2012, 11:21:58 AM
I was hoping to attend the Old Time Christmas festival for the first time in over a decade. However, I am not so certain now that you guys mention how hard it is to leave! :P
In my mind, the experience is very much worth the bit of pain at the end!
Saturday, I realized that the worst time for me when leaving is the big double doors and the turnstiles on the outside of the OM. Those clicks as the bars turn simply spear my heart.
Pal,! funny you said that!
i too have noticed that when the bars "click" behind you... It's like you are being locked out until the next time :'(..
I hadnt thought of that until you mentioned it!
It's always hard to leave at the end of the day. For the past several years we have been going to OTC for the last week, so we close the park down at the end of the year. And I will not leave until I hear the last playing of the tree.
It's really neat how so many of us do the same things and feel the same way as we are leaving the park. We are all connected by our love of SDC.
How cool would it be to have an over-night lock in, just for us SDCFans!?!
Quote from: tiffanylynnt on May 15, 2012, 03:25:06 PM
How cool would it be to have an over-night lock in, just for us SDCFans!?!
Count me in!!
You think we could make smores over the forge at the knife shop...or would they taste funny?
I think they would taste funny, Rube! But, we just need to pull out those grills they use for roasting marshmallows during OTC. :)
We have talked about this before, and I said I would claim what is now the Apple Butter Shop to sleep in for the night-top floor/ loft.
Now there's a idea! They could convert the top floor into a mini bed, and breakfast for VIP guest to stay in. Similar to the room at the top of Cinderella's Castle at Disney World. :P