Figured I'd start the SDC 2026 Season Trip Report thread.
Who's going to opening day on Friday?
Me and three grandchildren, 5,11,11. Going to start with Thunderation!
Happy Opening Day, everyone!
For those wondering the OG Fire In The Hole structure is still with us along with the adjacent cemetery as they did announce the latter is set to be moved to the new area.
Also while this was covered last year the view walking up to the Waterfall and AP sure is different now with the trees wiped clean.
Visited on 4/13 -- I thought it was a nice sized crowd for a Monday in April. Just a few school groups, not like what you see on Thursdays and Fridays this time of year. The All That clogging show at the Opera House was very similar to last year. The new Docksiders show at the Dockside Theater is similar to the previous Rivertown Ramblers show. 3 of the previous Rivertown Ramblers members are performing in this show. (If you didn't know, the Rivertown Ramblers have moved to the Showboat for 2026.) The music for the Docksiders show ranges from movie and Broadway musicals to gospel, disco, and more. It's supposed to be a trip (a Magical Mystery Tour) visiting different parts of SDC with songs to go with the themed areas. The Cajun Band show in Red Gold was good, but the volume kept increasing as the show went on. It was way too loud for the last 2 songs.
Had not ridden TNT for a couple of years so we rode this time since it's the last season. Roughest ride we have ever experienced on TNT.
Sorry, no construction reports.
As much as I would like to ride TNT, I just don't think my neck and back can take it anymore.
Yeah, I doubt they went to much effort to smooth out the bumps, whether it be wheels or track issues. By the end of the season, people will be less likely to complain about it leaving...
Which is tragic because there's coasters out there twice it's age still around being maintained by other parks
What manufacturer was SDC using for T-N-T since Arrow went out of business?
Quote from: Duelist on April 16, 2026, 10:15:45 AMWhat manufacturer was SDC using for T-N-T since Arrow went out of business?
S&S last I heard. RMC also has former Arrow employees.
^ Thanks! Just curious.
We were at the City this past weekend and heard an interesting bit of trivia. The Citizen in charge of loading/unloading the boats at the Flooded Mine told me that one of the current employees had his picture taken then a mask was created by a 3D printer for the face of the new "prisoner" with the jackhammer in the Mine. We thought that was pretty cool.
Went to Bluegrass and BBQ 5/8 - 5/11. Was well attended all days, especially with school trips every day but Sunday. Saturday ranked up there with Christmas weekends. The line for the 1 pm America concert on Saturday was backed up to Eva and Delilah's bakery by noon. Line didn't start moving until 12:30. Great crowd in Echo Hollow but it was so hot in the direct sun. The EMTs stayed busy with people fainting, etc. Many people left before the first hour was over. It was a 2 hour concert emceed by Mike Patrick and featured the National Anthem and another song by a veteran, the dancing saloon girls, Rivertown Ramblers, the Presleys, New South from Grand Country, Clay Cooper Country Express, the Haygoods, and a long speech in the first hour by the HR vice president of Herschend. The Haygoods closed out the concert and during one of their songs had a video playing behind them that went through the years they worked at SDC. Overall, it would have been a great experience except for the sun and the heat.
As usual Rhonda Vincent and the Rage packed out the shows in the Opera House. They will be back for 15 days during Christmas.
The bluegrass group scheduled for the Dockside on Thursday and Friday was a no show. Don't know what happened.
On Saturday our tram stalled out twice while waiting to be able to pull up for unloading. The traffic control for trams, cars, busses, etc. at the drop off was not good that day. And if you haven't ever had to park in the upper level of lot 3, it's a real hike from the lot 3 station at the end of the day.
Went again on 6/10 -- strange day. First stop was the lemonade wagon by the gazebo. The employee was leaning out the back window watching the street fight. It took us saying several sentences to get his attention. We handed him our Wildfire mug, and he told us it would be $4 for a refill. We told him it was less than that because of the date of the mug. He then told us this was his second day in MO, and his first day on the job. We asked him to look it up in the book. He flipped through a few pages and then told us that mugs before 2012 were no longer eligible for lower refill prices. By this time the line behind us was really getting long, so we asked for the mug back and we left. We got it refilled for 2.50 at the lemonade stand near Time Traveler. To be fair our mug no longer has a visible price on it. This experience made us wonder about new employee training.
Mystic River Falls was closed all day on a very hot and humid day. During early afternoon all of the rides in the fire district, Grand Exposition, and Wilson Farm were shut down as were Outlaw Run, Wildfire, and American Plunge. There was no bad weather or lightning, and some other rides continued to run. Eventually most of the closed rides reopened.
The actual Opera House entrance was being used instead of the side doors. The circus consists of 2 performers who jump rope, do tricks on a teeter-totter, and stack chairs. There has to be something better. Also saw the Wild West stunt/comedy show. There has to be something better.
You can see some of the construction while riding the train.
^ When we were there on Mother's Day almost all of the rides were down due to a Park-wide power surge. Eventually everything did come back up but I wonder if they are still having power issues?
Man, I can't wait for those mugs to be eventually phased out somehow. All it does is bring out the nasty in people. (From personal experience working, not saying you were).
Is the $1.50 that detrimental?
Quote from: legoerosion on June 13, 2026, 11:45:52 AMMan, I can't wait for those mugs to be eventually phased out somehow. All it does is bring out the nasty in people. (From personal experience working, not saying you were).
Is the $1.50 that detrimental?
No, I can afford the extra 1.50, and no, not nasty to him about it. I told him I understood about him being new on the job -- first day on the job and just his second day being in the state of MO. I was just wondering what type of training is given at SDC. If he had just arrived in MO the day before, when was he trained?
Summer Celebration
https://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2026/06/silver-dollar-city-summer-celebration.html
Quote from: biscuitcreek on June 13, 2026, 09:41:36 AMWe handed him our Wildfire mug, and he told us it would be $4 for a refill. We told him it was less than that because of the date of the mug. He then told us this was his second day in MO, and his first day on the job. We asked him to look it up in the book. He flipped through a few pages and then told us that mugs before 2012 were no longer eligible for lower refill prices. By this time the line behind us was really getting long, so we asked for the mug back and we left. We got it refilled for 2.50 at the lemonade stand near Time Traveler. To be fair our mug no longer has a visible price on it. This experience made us wonder about new employee training.
Currently up here today. Same thing happened with my 2005 PowderKeg mug with a young girl at Cokes and Floats. Wanted $4 for a refill. Politely told the person it's a grandfathered mug and it has an adjusted price based on the date and pricing printed on the cup. (Mine was visible asking $2.50) Said person says they never seen it before and they were apparently told nothing about Grandfathered mugs, they did fix it tho. Checked several other stalls and they were equally clueless about it. So they are omitting it from new hire training it appears.
Was at the park for the past three days, and the heat was absolutely brutal. On one hand, there were no lines anywhere, but on the other it was an endurance test just to walk around the park. By 5pm the parking lot was mostly empty. Branson itself was quieter than I have ever seen. It is back to school season on top of the unbearable heat, so not surprising.
I made it down to Hollister saturday evening to check out the brewery and the old english inn. It's a very neat area, but I can't believe they roll up the town at 9pm!
Quote from: legoerosion on June 13, 2026, 11:45:52 AMMan, I can't wait for those mugs to be eventually phased out somehow. All it does is bring out the nasty in people. (From personal experience working, not saying you were).
Is the $1.50 that detrimental?
For a large family, it might be. We have been to the City on very limited budgets, and the discount made a difference.
In any case, it's a matter of a contract. SDC made a contract with the purchaser, and they need to honor it.
We hit the City this past Saturday for the first time since before Covid. Nothing to do with Covid: serious health issues and loss of job have meant that we had neither time nor resources to do so.
Got there a little early and waited with very pleasant folks for the gates to open. Was glad to see that the security theater had been streamlined, but it is perfectly useless. It needs to go.
Went right through the turnstiles with our preprinted tickets: nicely done, SDC!
Breakfast at Molly's continues to be a wonderful way to start the day.
Caught the opening, and then checked out the craft booths before sitting for the Pickers first show. A great pleasure to hear them. We do miss Danny's larger-than-life personality, but the music is still the best at the City.
We made some purchases, including my son buying a few pieces at the glass blowers. We were surprised that this shp no longer does package pick-up, but we understand. Keeping the package there is a good substitute.
Caught a train ride before the lines got too long. The train is one must-do for us. It's been so long that we knew none of the folks working it. Although it remains important to me, the ride is becoming insipid. The scenery is getting totally spoiled by the continual construction of new coasters. Whole swaths of the area are denuded and downright ugly. As bad, the script suffers. I miss the train wreck. That they took it out because it might upset people after the derailment reflects the same problem that causes the security up front: an inability to separate fantasy from reality shared by far too many people.
We grabbed the very tail-end of the line at the saloon, being last the last ones allowed to enter. The show has held up well, and we saw a familiar face or two in the cast.
After a big Molly's breakfast, it was hard for our group to settle on a single venue for lunch, so we never did really have one, settling for an early dinner after leaving.
After riding FM--another must for us--we began backtracking, making final purchases--candy, taffy--and picking up packages from the glass blowers, we headed out the HH, but my older son decided at the last minute he wanted to do a cave tour. My wife was too tired to join, so he and I did it without her, while she camped out at Eva & Delilah's--surely as pleasant an atmosphere as there is! The tour went very well. We found out that Johnny--the guide--is a fellow ACW reenactor and knew many people we do. There was some concern that incoming weather would shut down the tour in mid-course or even right at the end, but it held off, allowing us to ride to the surface.
After that, we picked up the rest of our packages, my son made another purchase, and we headed out about 4 to go rescue our dog from the cabin at our resort :)
We ran across one delay at a shop caused by intermittent problems with the check-out system. The citizens there said that they had been having this problem, sometimes city-wide, lately. I wonder if it related to the power surge alluded to above. Anyway, as is the case with most citizens, they handled it with excellent customer service skills. And the waitress at Molly's had no problem dealing with our pre-'12 mugs.
All in all, it was a good visit, and we hope that our next one won't take as long as this one did. But the shine--which, for me, began in 1966--is wearing. Its not that there's not enough new stuff. Just the opposite: there's not enough old stuff.
Thanks, pallalin, for sharing your trip with us. Since it has been so long since your last visit, I am sure you noticed a lot of changes. I do agree that the ongoing construction takes away from the train ride. At least it is less noticeable during the night rides of the Christmas season.
My brother & I & a friend of his from Springfield, went to the park last Thursday & Friday. Got our dicounted tickets through Oreilly Auto Parts because i work for them here in KC. Also rented a ECV kart because i still have a bad hip. Those things are life savers.
We actually used free parking this time, that was kinda nice. First day we started the with CITY breakfast. Got to enjoy Terry Sanders as the Scarecrow after the park opened. Went straight to TNT for our final ride. It was fun as always, but it was really rough. It was the only time we rode it, in the 2 days we went. :( Then straight to OR. That was a blast like always. Went to FITH but it was closed. Rode AP, it seemed shorter than usual, but it was still fun. Went back to FITH & got on. But the song was not playing & some of the scenes were not saying the things they should be. My brother & his friend rode WF while i watched. Got hungry, so we tried one of the pretzel dogs. My brothers friend had a free food pass thing, so we used it all day. Went back to the motel to chill for a while. Went back around 6p & stayed until 9'ish. We just walked around looking at stuff. But they did ride OR in the dark. His friend did freak out riding it in the dark, it was hilarious. :)
Day 2, by the time we got my kart, we heard & saw that 60 bus loads of teens were showing up. Once the park opened, it really wasnt bad at all. Rode the FM, train, OR again. but did a lot of walking around & just enjoying the atmosphere. I got a pearl necklace from the Pearl Shack, for my wife. Got $26.00 worth of taffy from the taffy store, & got a name of our recently deceased cat, made out of copper wire from some folks on the square. Went back to the motel again because my brothers friend didnt sleep well the night before. Went back about the same time, but didnt stay very long. they were both very wore out. I am glad we went for 2 days, even though it seems like we didnt do very much.
We did meet Brandi, from the PR department i think,. & met the gal from the SDC Podcast, it was cool to meet them.
It was just fun being there, NO MATTER WHAT!! :) We do this trip every September. We invited a lot of people this year, but no one was up to going. My brother & i just enjoy being there. We dont get bothered by new up to date things, or things that done seem right. As i tell a lot of people these days about anything, "we're not in the 80s or 90s anymore, it's 2026, things change." I'm 61 & he is 63. We have been going to this park since we were about 10 years old. I remember punching tickets just to get to ride what you wanted. Just sitting & listening to the sounds of the rides & people screaming & laughing, makes us laugh. The hardest part was sitting in the smoking section by the old FITH.... THAT brought back a lot of memories, i was sad to see it go, but i understand, no matter the reason. I did get a little stuff in my neck just looking at the old building, but i guess we will just see what progress brings us.
We had a blast, like always!! We love SDC & will never let it go!! Have a good day Ya'll!! :)