16
General Silver Dollar City Talk / TripAdvisor 2017
« on: April 03, 2017, 10:58:49 AM »
Anyone notice SDC was 21st in the World Amusement Park rankings this time around. Not US, but the World.
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17
Branson Talk / By The Way, Wonders of Wildlife...
« on: March 31, 2017, 08:38:33 AM »
Has finally announced a grand opening of Sept. 17th.
18
Random Talk / Your Travels outside of Branson for 2018 and beeeeeeyonddddd......
« on: March 17, 2017, 09:41:37 AM »
Let's here them. Where are you going and what are going to do?
My last reservation was made for our Summer Odyssey last night
7 days in DC to start things off. My Brother and his family will do the days in DC with us. We got a Congressional tour booked and our White House tour requests in. Our Mt. Vernon Cruise booked and so on.
After DC, they head home and we drive to Lewes, stopping at Six Flags America for a quick coaster credit visit (free with out Gold Passes)taking in Annapolis along the way, visit Dogfish Head Brewery and take the ferry across to Wildwood where we'll spend two nights at the Starlux at Morey's Pier. After a night and full day at Wildwood, we take the earliest Ferry to cross back over and head to Norfolk/Virginia Beach, we may stop along the way at Ocean City or Assateague National Seashore for a cursory glance and not doing them justice as we head for Nauticus in Norfork and a cruise of the Naval Yard for that afternoon. That evening will be spent at Virginia Beach.
We get up the next morning and head to Newport News after I visit the Waterfowling museum along the boardwalk in VB. We'll hit up Mariner's Museum and visit the remains of the USS Monitor. We'll eat lunch and then head to Yorktown for the Battlefield and the Museum for the remained of the afternoon. We'll end it by getting to our accommodations in Williamsburg for the next 4 nights. One day will be spent at Busch Gardens, another at Colonial Williamsburg in the Morning with a Water Country USA visit in the afternoon before returning to Colonial Williamsburg to see it in the evening for supper. One day I'll be fleshing out all there is at Jamestowne.
After Williamsburg we head out for Richmond early. There, we'll stop at the White House of the Confederacy and Museum and then Tredegar Iron Works. Once do with those and some lunch we'll head to Appomattox Courthouse and visit the surrender site and museum there. We'll end the day at Lynchburg VA. Next morning g we head to Monticello and spend 3 hours, I'm thinking I might splurge for the private tour to maximize our time. We'll then head to Gettysburg with a quick stop at Harpers Ferry and finish the afternoon and late afternoon there. Then we'll head to Hershey and the kids an I will hit the Preview Night at Hershey Park before spending the next day there. The wifewill take in some Spa stuff and/or visit some Amish Country stuff while the Kids and I play the day away. The next morning we're off to Valley Forge and then Philly for three days and 2 nights where we'll spend a late aternoon at Six flags Great America and I get to compare El Toro with Outlaw Run.
. The last day of the trip will be spent in Baltimore with a stop at Harve de Grace Decoy Museum before a late flight back to Memphis.
Whew, about two1/2 weeks, ambitious for sure but in a way I'm building upon last year's trip and testing out our limits to get feel for how long I can plan for Europe in 2018 or 2019. I get a feeling I'll wear out our companion passes for Southwest in 2018 doing lots of three and four day getaways.
My last reservation was made for our Summer Odyssey last night
7 days in DC to start things off. My Brother and his family will do the days in DC with us. We got a Congressional tour booked and our White House tour requests in. Our Mt. Vernon Cruise booked and so on.
After DC, they head home and we drive to Lewes, stopping at Six Flags America for a quick coaster credit visit (free with out Gold Passes)taking in Annapolis along the way, visit Dogfish Head Brewery and take the ferry across to Wildwood where we'll spend two nights at the Starlux at Morey's Pier. After a night and full day at Wildwood, we take the earliest Ferry to cross back over and head to Norfolk/Virginia Beach, we may stop along the way at Ocean City or Assateague National Seashore for a cursory glance and not doing them justice as we head for Nauticus in Norfork and a cruise of the Naval Yard for that afternoon. That evening will be spent at Virginia Beach.
We get up the next morning and head to Newport News after I visit the Waterfowling museum along the boardwalk in VB. We'll hit up Mariner's Museum and visit the remains of the USS Monitor. We'll eat lunch and then head to Yorktown for the Battlefield and the Museum for the remained of the afternoon. We'll end it by getting to our accommodations in Williamsburg for the next 4 nights. One day will be spent at Busch Gardens, another at Colonial Williamsburg in the Morning with a Water Country USA visit in the afternoon before returning to Colonial Williamsburg to see it in the evening for supper. One day I'll be fleshing out all there is at Jamestowne.
After Williamsburg we head out for Richmond early. There, we'll stop at the White House of the Confederacy and Museum and then Tredegar Iron Works. Once do with those and some lunch we'll head to Appomattox Courthouse and visit the surrender site and museum there. We'll end the day at Lynchburg VA. Next morning g we head to Monticello and spend 3 hours, I'm thinking I might splurge for the private tour to maximize our time. We'll then head to Gettysburg with a quick stop at Harpers Ferry and finish the afternoon and late afternoon there. Then we'll head to Hershey and the kids an I will hit the Preview Night at Hershey Park before spending the next day there. The wifewill take in some Spa stuff and/or visit some Amish Country stuff while the Kids and I play the day away. The next morning we're off to Valley Forge and then Philly for three days and 2 nights where we'll spend a late aternoon at Six flags Great America and I get to compare El Toro with Outlaw Run.
. The last day of the trip will be spent in Baltimore with a stop at Harve de Grace Decoy Museum before a late flight back to Memphis.Whew, about two1/2 weeks, ambitious for sure but in a way I'm building upon last year's trip and testing out our limits to get feel for how long I can plan for Europe in 2018 or 2019. I get a feeling I'll wear out our companion passes for Southwest in 2018 doing lots of three and four day getaways.
19
Random Talk / Interesting concept
« on: February 07, 2017, 08:49:25 AM »
Faux indoor drive in, kinda Disney Studios esque
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2017/02/07/indoor-trees-and-fake-stars-nashville-moviedrive.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2017/02/07/indoor-trees-and-fake-stars-nashville-moviedrive.html
20
Other Parks / Volcano Bay
« on: February 03, 2017, 11:41:28 PM »
Can't wait to get down there and visit when open
22
Random Talk / Southwest Air Companion Pass
« on: January 26, 2017, 11:33:17 AM »
So I've always dreamed of getting enough points in a year to pull one. Never did I think of pulling off two passes for nearly two years. This sounds like bragging but it's also info for those that may be a position to pull it off.
We had decided to stay put in our home for 15 years instead of building a new one. So there were renovations to be done, the kitchen alo.alone with the appliances ,flooring and cabin ates was going to be 30,000 grand plus there a few other things to buy. I have been reading the points guy for a while and eventually I decided to start acting on his advice.
Last fall we each got Starwood and Marriott Reward cards. Bought items to meet the spend requirements to get the bonus during black friday sales. Put it in the garage. The Points Guy said these would transfer to Southwest and count toward the Companion Pass. I had enough points on Southwest that if I transfered over my wife's bonus points to my account and then transfer them to Southwest I'd get that pass for this year. Then read to wait till the beginning of the new year to do it because if you achieve 110,000 points quickly in the new year, the pass would be the for all of 2017 AND 2018. So, even though my existing points wouldn't count after the new year for the pass, I decided to game the system and each of us get a Southwest Card and use it for the remaining purchases for the remodel to meet the bonus requirements. Then as we waited till after the 1st to get the southwest cards, Southwest ended the hotel card transfer deal for companion passes (our best western and choice points we already had would transfer as well before the first) I got pi**ed . Then re got a reprieve and they extended the deadline to March 31st. That was going to leave us both a little short but now Southwest offers huge sums of reward points for certain hotel when you book through them. So we booked our DC trip rooms via them, 21,000 points for 4 nights in DC on my card alone. We applied for the southwest Business cards and got them too and we are finishing up the reno on those, and we each are getting 50,000 more points. So by the end of March we both have a Southwest Companion Pass, one each for out kids, plus an insane amount of point between us all for what we had already budgeted our reno project for. We are going to flying on Southwest dime for quite some time.
While all of that was going on, we had also each got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card with 100,000 bonus points but we couldn'd use those toward the Companion Pass from the get go.
Needless to say, we are delaying our Euro trip to 2019 to enjoy flying all over the place I the states on Southwest the next two years. We'll put lots of hotels and stuff on the Sapphire card at 3x points and use those and Southwest to fly to and from Europe for free in 2019, usepoints earned on that trip to cover airfare to Asia either in 2020 or 2021 and it'll carry forward after that.
The easiest way for someone to do this is if they don't have a Southwest Card and needs something or some things the 5,000 dollar range, apply for both Southwest cards, hit the min spends to get the bonus points. And then book a hotel or two via Southwest for a summer vacation, pay the cards off and boom you have a companion pass where someone flies for free with you for two years just for buying stuff you were going to buy. The sooner you do it after Jan 1st the longer the pass is good for. You can nearly have one for two years. The points you got (over 110,000)will cover your tickets. At worst it's buy one get one free and your getting points at 3x if your using the southwest card for doing so.
We had decided to stay put in our home for 15 years instead of building a new one. So there were renovations to be done, the kitchen alo.alone with the appliances ,flooring and cabin ates was going to be 30,000 grand plus there a few other things to buy. I have been reading the points guy for a while and eventually I decided to start acting on his advice.
Last fall we each got Starwood and Marriott Reward cards. Bought items to meet the spend requirements to get the bonus during black friday sales. Put it in the garage. The Points Guy said these would transfer to Southwest and count toward the Companion Pass. I had enough points on Southwest that if I transfered over my wife's bonus points to my account and then transfer them to Southwest I'd get that pass for this year. Then read to wait till the beginning of the new year to do it because if you achieve 110,000 points quickly in the new year, the pass would be the for all of 2017 AND 2018. So, even though my existing points wouldn't count after the new year for the pass, I decided to game the system and each of us get a Southwest Card and use it for the remaining purchases for the remodel to meet the bonus requirements. Then as we waited till after the 1st to get the southwest cards, Southwest ended the hotel card transfer deal for companion passes (our best western and choice points we already had would transfer as well before the first) I got pi**ed . Then re got a reprieve and they extended the deadline to March 31st. That was going to leave us both a little short but now Southwest offers huge sums of reward points for certain hotel when you book through them. So we booked our DC trip rooms via them, 21,000 points for 4 nights in DC on my card alone. We applied for the southwest Business cards and got them too and we are finishing up the reno on those, and we each are getting 50,000 more points. So by the end of March we both have a Southwest Companion Pass, one each for out kids, plus an insane amount of point between us all for what we had already budgeted our reno project for. We are going to flying on Southwest dime for quite some time.
While all of that was going on, we had also each got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card with 100,000 bonus points but we couldn'd use those toward the Companion Pass from the get go.
Needless to say, we are delaying our Euro trip to 2019 to enjoy flying all over the place I the states on Southwest the next two years. We'll put lots of hotels and stuff on the Sapphire card at 3x points and use those and Southwest to fly to and from Europe for free in 2019, usepoints earned on that trip to cover airfare to Asia either in 2020 or 2021 and it'll carry forward after that.
The easiest way for someone to do this is if they don't have a Southwest Card and needs something or some things the 5,000 dollar range, apply for both Southwest cards, hit the min spends to get the bonus points. And then book a hotel or two via Southwest for a summer vacation, pay the cards off and boom you have a companion pass where someone flies for free with you for two years just for buying stuff you were going to buy. The sooner you do it after Jan 1st the longer the pass is good for. You can nearly have one for two years. The points you got (over 110,000)will cover your tickets. At worst it's buy one get one free and your getting points at 3x if your using the southwest card for doing so.
23
Other Parks / New HFE Concept possible for Orlando?
« on: January 18, 2017, 01:53:07 PM »
Artegon Mall is closing except for Bass Pro, Cinema, Ron Jon. Rumor is potential buy is Herschend. Their concept:
Dolly's Mt. Christmas Ski Resort and Lodge.
•3000 family suites with gas fireplaces.
Christmastown:
•Celebrate Christmas every day
•Indoor Ski Resort and Tubing Runs
•Ice Skating in Christmastown Square
•hourly snowfall
•Christmas themed snacks, hot chocolate, and adult beverages.
Mt. Christmas Hot Springs Swimmin' Hole
•Indoor Water Park
Ya think that wouldn't be a bad ideal for (cough, cough) the Celebration City property.
Would kill the no resort issue plus tie into OTC and be a year round attraction.
Dolly's Mt. Christmas Ski Resort and Lodge.
•3000 family suites with gas fireplaces.
Christmastown:
•Celebrate Christmas every day
•Indoor Ski Resort and Tubing Runs
•Ice Skating in Christmastown Square
•hourly snowfall
•Christmas themed snacks, hot chocolate, and adult beverages.
Mt. Christmas Hot Springs Swimmin' Hole
•Indoor Water Park
Ya think that wouldn't be a bad ideal for (cough, cough) the Celebration City property.
Would kill the no resort issue plus tie into OTC and be a year round attraction.
24
Other Parks / New Theme Park for Redneck Riviera
« on: November 04, 2016, 08:24:14 AM »
http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=328041
Was the old Blue Collar concept, this thing already has footers laid. Seems they went with the Zamperla volume discount package.
Was the old Blue Collar concept, this thing already has footers laid. Seems they went with the Zamperla volume discount package.
25
Branson Talk / Fritz's Adventure
« on: November 02, 2016, 11:46:01 AM »
Opens Nov. 19th
http://www.fritzsadventure.com/
http://www.fritzsadventure.com/
26
Random Talk / This looks neat
« on: September 29, 2016, 09:21:18 PM »
Found it while still doing lots of research for my planned European trip going to use this as a stop between Puy du Fou and Mont St. Michel. Considering this is the birthplace of Jules Verne, it has a bit of that feel:
http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr
http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr
27
Random Talk / Hey Shave, you see this?
« on: August 02, 2016, 03:10:57 PM »
Tornado Tower next to the BOK in T Town. May house a severe weather museum and or offices. First thing that came to mind. I think it's missing a polercoaster.
28
Branson Talk / Branson and Casinos
« on: June 03, 2016, 12:03:21 AM »
While it may not happen on the Missouri side,.a step.has been taken to see if Boone.Co. on the Arkansas side will.
http://talkbusiness.net/2016/06/three-casinos-get-attorney-generals-ok-for-arkansas-ballot-signature-gathering-begins/
http://talkbusiness.net/2016/06/three-casinos-get-attorney-generals-ok-for-arkansas-ballot-signature-gathering-begins/
29
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Congrats to SDC!
« on: May 23, 2016, 09:36:59 AM »
Just read the TripAdvisor Top 25 worldwide Attractions list for 2016. SDC makes #24!!!!!!! That's some uppity company. Dolly wood clocked in at #20. That is two HFE properties in top 25 wolrdwide.
30
General Silver Dollar City Talk / Congrats to SDC!
« on: May 23, 2016, 09:29:49 AM »
Just read the TripAdvisor Top 25 worldwide Attractions list for 2016. SDC makes #24!!!!!!! That's some uppity company. Dolly wood clocked in at #20. That is two HFE properties in top 25 wolrdwide.