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.
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.