SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City

Magic Springs has apparently announced their intentions to close the Arkansas Twister roller coaster. https://screamscape.com/html/magic_springs.htm

Weirdly, they are also saying that they don't plan to demolish it, but are just going to abandon it in place. It is in kind of a weird off-shoot location of the park, but it's large enough people are going to notice it... This raises questions about whether or not the whole park is about to shut down. The water park makes a bit of money, but the rides park is a mess and hasn't been invested into for years now. It's all owned by a property REIT that, last I checked, mostly invested into ski resorts. I think they also own Frontier City?

This coaster should have been their star attraction, but they never seemed to maintain it well - although that goes for just about every ride in the park. Years ago I ventured over there specifically to ride it. I really liked the layout, but the cars just absolutely bounced around the track to the point I felt like I was actually in real danger. I think they had the last couple of cars blocked off because anyone riding in them would get whiplash, lol. The front seat was the only chance at a tolerable ride - luckily there was no line at all. I haven't been back since 2018 or so... I can't imagine it improved. Something tells me they didn't have a choice with this closure.

This topic has been moved to Wild Adventures Discussion.

https://www.sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=4459.0

https://www.hfecorp.com/whats-new/herschend-to-acquire-palace-entertainments-us-attractions-from-parques-reunidos/

HFEC just got a lot bigger. Now they will have Kennywood, Lake Compounce, and Dutch Wonderland.

I am stoked. I worry about them getting too big and corporate, but at the same time they have to grow to survive. This will make the chain a lot stronger, especially once they bring Kennywood and Lake Compounce up to the HFEC standard. As long as HFEC stays privately owned, they can still operate in a much better way than Six Flags by investing in things for the long term rather than worrying about quarter to quarter results.

I think the time has finally come. SDCFans needs a restart. Our forum software is very outdated and between it and our server we are seeing more and more issues and errors. We have already migrated the existing forum database once when we upgraded SMF versions. I think that led to some of the issues we are still experiencing.

I've been looking into various options and have been trying to decide what makes the most sense. Considering how people use the internet has changed dramatically since we started this site, it might make more sense to radically change our software to be more social media integrated and dynamic. Basic forums feel pretty dated at this point, but obviously I still like how they are more permanent and allow us to look back on conversations from a decade or more ago.

I've considered Flarum, XenForo, and MyBB as well as simply re-installing the latest version of simple machines. I think at this point the best option is probably Flarum. It's free, and the extensions would allow us to easily do everything I've been wanting to do for years with these forums. We could have photo galleries, login with your FB account, mentions, blog posts, and more.

Unfortunately it would essentially be a brand new site from the ground up. I would lock the old forums and have them available to browse on a new directory, such as sdcfans.com/forums/archive

I'm just curious how many people would still use the site if I go through the effort of restarting it. Like I said, the way people use the internet has changed dramatically since we started this site, and at this point it's hard getting people off of FB and twitter to even look at a news article. I'm grateful we still have a small active community here though, and as long as there are still a few people around I feel like it's worth it to keep things going.

Let me know what you think.

The RFD theatre is being torn down. Kinda sad since it was a huge theater with major TV capabilities. It was supposed to be Branson's version of the Grand Ole Opry.

No word on what might be replacing it that I've heard, but the old Honeysuckle inn property was boarded up this Christmas season and is close by. Would make a great property for a huge development. Naturally, being Branson, we'll probably get another dollar general and strip mall.

So I have been asking around about what the new "West End" development is that has a big new sign next to Steak n' Shake, and apparently it's an effort to develop the area where the giant water resort was going to go a few years ago. The largest attraction currently proposed is Ozark Nights, which is some sort of unique "night walk" through the woods. https://www.ozarknights.com/faqs/#elementor-tab-content-1382

It sounds... interesting. I'd try it out. Glad that they are clear cutting everything, but they did put in a big parking lot that is pretty garish on the landscape. I suppose someday the Ozark Mountain highway might eventually get completed through here anyway.

As of today I finally went back in and forwarded everything to the forums. The "old site" hasn't been updated in years. It was mostly just a home page with SDC social feeds, but since the recent twitter updates most of it wasn't working anyway.

Going back in to the site's code made me think of the good old days when I used this site to hone my programming skills. At one point it was sort of an encyclopedia of all the niche SDC knowledge, with detailed write ups of all the rides and lots of weird little history that I and others had compiled. I'll have to dig some of it out this summer.

For the foreseeable future, I'll just keep the forums going until they aren't useful anymore. I always thought we would eventually migrate to FB, but with the way major social media sites are going lately we might outlive them!

https://www.fox23.com/news/safari-joes-closes-making-way-paradise-beach-waterpark/MNE3XA6LDRFXXKFGHSE3AP42JI/

So Tulsa will finally have a decent water park at least. Sounds like these guys are ready to actually put some money into the place.

Safari Joe is an interesting character, but he seemed like a decent enough guy who has been through a lot. I'm grateful he kept this place going and cleaned it up from the Big Splash days. It's past time for some real investment in some new slides though.

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-altoona-adventureland-purchased-by-palace-entertainment/38583433#

Yet another independent small park gets gobbled up. This is possibly due in part to the raft disaster this summer. Lawsuits + insurance issues + operational questions would definitely lead a small outfit to see being bought out as a blessing all the sudden. Palace isn't my favorite operator. They have done some good work with Kennywood recently now that they are refurbishing rides, but they have also famously torn out some great classic rides and don't always have the best operations at their parks in the northeast.

Adventureland is a fantastic park with a great culture and atmosphere that stem directly from being a non-corporate park with local ownership. You simply don't get the same feeling walking into a park that's on the lower end of the food chain of a national company.

https://www.bransontrilakesnews.com/entertainment/article_60e20316-4d68-11ec-9685-d7086671bb28.html

Doesn't look like a large building addition from the outside, but the details sound good. Sometimes with the indoor parks though they build tiny versions of things and talk them up, so I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

https://www.wildadventures.com/Media-Room/New-Additions-2022

Lots of interesting stuff for 2022 at Wild Adventures. They are building a massive new animal enclosure with a variety of african animals and a new restaurant, plus they are expanding their event lineup a great deal, not to mention a bigger emphasis on concerts.

The Easter event sounds interesting... wonder if SDC can take any cues... didn't they try an egg hunt one year and have it go poorly?

https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/business/drop-it-like-it-s-snoop-hip-hop-legend-snoop-dogg-to-star-in-nft/article_0e7cdd30-80fa-533f-9110-b1c65da820e2.html

The NFT craze continues to get weirder, and now HFE has a tie to the crypto world. A Snoop Dogg/Globetrotters sitcom sounds great, but the NFT tie in is awful forced. NFT people keep trying to make them a thing... but they really don't need to be a thing.

Not sure if we'll be able to watch this thing or not yet. The article is still scant on details of how it's actually being released. The Vast website that is mentioned seems like a spam honeypot that you have to enter your info into in order to sign up for "giveaways". Assuming I found the correct site of course.

Herschend Entertainment Studios just picked up a major new hire: Sarah Maizes, a former executive at the Jim Henson Company. Seems like they are preparing to put more focus into this arm of the company. I saw that the 'Chuggington" series just got past a billion views on youtube and has over a million subscribers. I wonder how much revenue that really brings them though...

With this new hire they may be preparing to get into the bigger leagues with film and media production.

https://www.anbmedia.com/news/youre-hired/2021/10/herschend-hires-former-jim-henson-company-exec/

I'm being told there is now obvious construction activity going on near the train tracks. Apparently visible from Fireman's Landing and the train of course. More construction walls have gone up. To me it sounds like they are going forward with the next big replacement ride to renew the "legacy" attractions. The rumor has been that Fire in the Hole is the next in line for replacement and that it would be replaced with an entirely new indoor coaster or dark ride.

We'll see what happens, but obviously something has started and they typically take a full two years to develop these rides, so whatever has kicked off will most likely open in 2023.

Today SDC made a surprise announcement of a new broadway style show for Old Time Christmas: Home For Christmas. https://twitter.com/SDCAttractions/status/1437809559012315141

It looks interesting. I haven't been able to watch the full video with sound yet, but I'm just happy to see renewed investment into shows!

The story of the raft accident at adventureland keeps getting worse.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2021/07/09/adventureland-park-fatal-accident-2021-raging-river-ride-11-year-old-drowned-michael-jaramillo-david/7912842002/

It was tragic that an 11 year old boy died on this ride, especially after the ride already suffered a fatal accident years ago. I just don't understand how this ride can be that dangerous.

What makes it worse is that the park's response was lacking in every conceivable way. I am worried that the park will be so buried in lawsuits that the might not survive this. Not that they don't deserve to be sued.

There is a new show debuting in Dockside this year: Down by the Riverside, performed by the new Rivertown Ramblers troupe. It is described as a jazzy music show with a mix of old gospel songs and renditions of some more modern (well, 70's and 80's...) music.

It seems like a replacement for Cajun Connection that ties into the whole "rivertown" theme. A neat concept on paper, but we'll see if the actual show is decent. Sometimes these types of shows are pretty lackluster karaoke-esque displays, but SDC has a good track record of doing them OK.

I think it's interesting that they are putting together new troupes to replace their old stalwarts like the Sons of the Silver Dollar and Cajun Connection. Those groups had fans and followings that I'm not sure this kind of production is going to achieve. They definitely can't replace the Homestead Pickers, but the way things are going it wouldn't surprise me if they tried eventually.

https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-aquarium-sold-to-u-s-tourism-company-herschend-enterprises

Another big property purchase for HFEC. Solid property, though I imagine Vancouver has it's challenges to work in.

HFEC has become very ambitious once again. Still waiting for them to get ambitious in Branson though outside of new things added to SDC.

HFEC sent me a survey asking about my opinion on various guided tour concepts for the Branson area. Looking at city vs. lake vs. various historical areas with some hiking. Tours would be 2 hours and you would ride around in jeeps.

Seems like a lackluster concept to me. Branson is always clogged with traffic, so I'm not sure how a city tour would work. Even the side routes around the lake are often busy. Branson just isn't that interesting to warrant a tour.

Seems like such a minor attraction to add to HFEC's Branson line up anyway. Here they are still sitting on a massive parcel of prime real estate right off the strip and they are instead looking at jeep tours. Build a resort already.

Indian Ridge, the abandoned mega development next door to SDC, got profiled by a tick tock user and went viral. https://nypost.com/2021/04/01/abandoned-1-6-billion-missouri-resort-community-goes-viral/

It's surprising that this prime real estate is still vacant, but now you have to add the legal issues and the costs of demolition to the challenges of developing it. It's certainly prime real estate though, and the original plans would have been a game changer. Nothing big seems to make it in Branson except the landing, which nearly tanked as well.