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How on earth can a drone show be in theme?

No, you download the app and link your passes there. Your BAF passes will also be there as well.

Wait.  We got physical copies of our season passes and BAF tickets.  They were in the mail.  Are they not available for folks who are picking them up?  What about folks who don't have those silly handtoys?

I was under the impression that there was always a mult-month waitlist for some of the furniture, but maybe I'm wrong.

I got the same info once when I asked at the shop.

Not every decision must make a profit (though such is the debased business model these days).  There is such a thing as prestige and pride in a job well done, but these considerations have no place anymore, it seems.

The real question is if they can rebuild anything like what was there before with the antique factory equipment. My guess is no, but the park surprises us sometimes so who knows what they'll come up with eventually.

CAN they?  Of course, they CAN.  WILL they?  Probably not. 

Why would that make the train less enjoyable?

Conceptually, it's a ride in "d'woods."  Coasters are noisy, ugly, and distracting.

The Riverside Playhouse would be removed as well and the new Mystery Mine type coaster will go over the train tracks into that area.

They are apparently bound and determined to make even the train ride less enjoyable.

Announcing FiTH removal better come with a lot of focus on a new ride and big explanation on why it can't be saved.  Going to be a PR challenge.  Not sure if there is another ride in the park that will be more missed by the general public SDC regulars.

You are assuming that the PTB care what we think.  They obviously do not.  We are not their target audience.  The general public and SDC regulars are two different groups, and the former is by far the larger and therefore the one of interest to them.

Putting the station where the Saloon is would require putting the boarding on the second floor; difficult to do and be ADA compliant.  As for re-grading the right-of-way to bring the track to street level there:  ain't gonna happen.  Far too much dirt moving.  The engines have pretty much all they can do to manage the grade already in place.  Trying to put the station there at street level would require grades more appropriate for Outlaw Run   

Interesting follow-up:  I got a link to an online survey today.  Went through it in detail, reporting what was good and what wasn't.  I tried to submit but was not allowed to because I didn't answer a question which wasn't there (had to do with recommending food to others, which is probably part of a string of questions if you answered YES to buying food, but we didn't so I answered NO).

This is the second series of surveys I have been asked to submit online which would not let me do so because of a flaw in the programming.  I am getting the impression that HFE isn't really interested.  OK, fine.  But don't bother sending a survey if it can't be used.  It doesn't improve the appearance.  And don't ask a question unless you can stand all the possible answers.

OK, here's a quick report on today.  We got to the park about 11:45; it was raining and chilly.  Rode the bus from Stop 2.  They were out of ECVs with canopies, alas!

Crowd was, as you might expect, light.  Went directly to the Opera House after a brief pilgrimage to the Fence around the burned area.  Festivities aside, the area is mournful.

Nobody at the Opera House.  We learned from a passerby that Dickens was off the schedule.  There was no signage; the show was still in the Pathfinder.  Now, I can understand that the paper has to be printed in advance, but the lack of signage was inexcusable.  Not everybody has their silly App--or a phone to put it on.  The cancellation (for the rest of the year--too many performers ill) should have been posted not only on the Opera House but also at the entrance, at the HH, and on the streets.  Strike One.

So we made a dash for the Red-Gold Hall and Home for Christmas.  Got good seats, though they did us no favors.  We expected a down-home (as the title suggests), old-fashioned (ya know?  OLD TIME Christmas?) show.  What we got was mostly ear-splitting rock concert intermixed with a modicum of contemporary, non-denominational church pageant.  My wife, my son, and I all came out with splitting headaches and dashed expectations.  Maybe we were foolish to expect something having some connection to the theme, the era, the region.  I know, I know:  "Broadway."  But Broadway is not--or, at least, was not when I was doing Broadway shows--all blaring noise and hammering drums and hard-rock guitar.  Broadway knows (or, at least, knew) how to be soft and gentle, how to modulate to create mood, and how to employ its performers.  Those poor folks were screaming to be heard above the overly-amplified instruments, and the strain on their voices was obvious to someone who knows voice.  I had looked forward to an entertaining alternative to the low-rent IWL, but what I got was High School Musical for the Deaf.  Strike Two.

Well, my son wanted to shop for some blown glass ornaments, and he found three that he liked but allowed himself to purchase only two.  He came home with beautiful, hand-crafted pieces that will become family heirlooms.  Stand-up double.

On to the thing hard to mess up:  the train.  Had a great time mixing it up with the clowns--eh, conductors--on the platform.  The train was on time, and we got to ride the old cars (Bonus!).  Some of the lights were out at Grandpa's place, but the sound was crystal clear (and not deafening!).  (In fact, some 2% or 3% of the lights around the city were out, but I guess we can't fault them for not fixing them at this point.)  The soundtrack on the train was also very clear, and the ride went off without a hitch.  It was amusing to see a handful of pumpkins down the hill to the left at Grandpa's place ;-)  A clean slide into third, driving in the batter on second.

Buy 4 o'clock, the rain was gone, the sun was shining, and the crowd was mushrooming.  We skipped out cleanly and quickly and hit the road before the the wall-to-wall events of the parade and tree igniting, neither of interest.  A quick, no-waiting ride on a tram to Lot 2, and a smooth escape up the hill.  Definitely batting the man on third home.

So we'll call the day 3 - 2 in our favor (it's darned hard to totally wreck a day at SDC, after all!).  I don't know what the future of Home for Christmas is, but it is not likely at all that we will see it again if it returns.  They can't please everybody, and most of the people there cheered, so I guess they hit their target audience.  It's just a shame to see so much talent misused to do it.  We try to see Dickens with its new score next year.  We are thankful to all our friends there--we had a quick chat with Terry and another with our photographer friend--including the train crew.

We have made the first payment on our 2022 Season Passes.  May the New Year bring many opportunities to make Memories Worth Repeating!

I don't remember ever going after Christmas to the city.  After the official day of Christmas is over my Xmas spirit kind of dwindles.  Common sense would say that crowds would die down a lot but apparently that is not the case.

I am happy to to be able to maintain my Christmas spirit throughout the Christmastide (i.e. the Twelve Days of Christmas--until Twelfth-night, Jan 5).  We usually go between Christmas Day and New Years Day, both to try to avoid the insane crowd levels and also because our schedules just don't permit going before then.

This year, we're going this Wednesday, the 29th.  No real choice in the matter, and it's a great way to keep the joy bubbling on the front burner.

Merry (3rd Day of) Christmas, Y'all!

A decent read

https://www.ustornadoes.com/2013/01/21/largest-winter-tornado-outbreaks-in-the-united-states/

A remarkably good example of what is dreadfully wrong with the discussion of the environment today.  "[L]argest" in what sense?  Over the course of history?  We have no idea what the largest outbreak of tornadoes in the US was.  Our records stretch back little over a century out of all the myriads of years.  A myopic view of history and a hugely over-developed sense of scientific accomplishment poison any possible conclusions drawn.

You are far more likely to be injured or killed from the crowd panic than from the tornado, even if there is one.  My first response would be to get out of the way and let the thundering herd pass.  Then I would leisurely head to the exit IF necessary.

FWIW, I have been outside in several tornadoes with the attendant hail and lightning and heavy rains, watched them pass nearby or overhead, helped clean up the mess afterward, and contributed to those who lost so much.  But I refuse to let myself be killed by panicking crowds or get herded into "shelters" that are anything but.   

We've gotten so that we avoid staying in Branson unless forced to by circumstances.  There are locally-owned places all over the place when you get away from town.

The furniture shop *could* be restored.  the statements about "nobody know how to handle that equipment" are simple rationalization.  I can think of three people off the top of my head who could manage it.  That kind of knowledge has not yet been lost.  It is not common in urban areas, naturally, but overhead pulley-driven shops are not extinct.  I would bet a pass to the city that the folks there are more than capable of putting it back into operation.

The question is will.  Given the indifference for the past evident in our culture these days, I can certainly foresee a lack of will.