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Free parking is still abundant at SDC, but if you're the type that wants premium parking, be prepared to shell out a lot more. Prices for premium parking have been hiked several times this year, all the way up to $15. This is still a good $10 less than most parks charge for premium parking though, and free parking is still easily usable. As far as I can tell, there's actually no real advantage to paying the $15 for a spot slightly closer to the park, but I guess suckers keep paying for it, so the park is just capitalizing on it during the economic downer that has been this year.

Was the theme any different before the guns were added? It seemed like it may have been themed around a mill.

There definitely never was any sort of hill on the ride though - it's a water canal. 

Hey, the job pays well. 
SDC certainly has a lot of returning female citizens each year, so it can't be that bad.

http://www.sdcfans.com/gallery.php?g=12

These are from last week, but it's the most current stuff on the web right now.

Also, there's a shot in this gallery of the new road with the signs going up -> http://www.sdcfans.com/gallery.php?u=23

The language thing is always an issue, but look at Branson: there's no workers left in the area. SDC and CC both have to import people through some kind of special college foreign-exchange program - it's the only way they can fill the jobs. Sometimes you'll run into a person who hasn't mastered all dialects of english yet, but they're usually pretty well trained.

I'm pretty sure the theme song is still there, it was playing incessantly last I was there. 

They really didn't do much of a job of giving PK a story. I mean, there really is no story, the ride is simply themed around bat guano and it's explosive properties.

I'm pretty sure it's been gone for a long time now - it didn't sound like it was exactly the most intriguing thing in town. Branson Landing has a cool fountain show now anyway.

Ah, PK does have it's occasional problems, though luckily it's not as bad as some more famous coasters. The sensors seem to be a big issue for the ride - I've had to walk away from it on several occasions simply because it started misting and the sensors got wet. They're laser senors apparently, and if any sort of precipitation hits them, they read positive or something; so after each rain they actually have to walk the track and wipe off each sensor until it's clear enough to function properly - that's why it takes so long to re-open after a rain.

The waterboggin only uses one lift, so there must have been something wrong with the particular slide - maybe a branch fell in or something.

AP stops logs on the lift on purpose. If you notice, the lift is set up in several sections which operate independently so that one can stop while another runs. This way they can stack logs on the lift rather than have them going off the drop uncontrollably. There's usually an enthusiastic controller sitting on the booth who slaps hands with everybody - he controls the starting and stopping that you see.

This happened several months ago, and from what I gathered it was kind of a complicated issue. Basically Conductor Sam's job at SDC wasn't good enough for him and his families' needs, so he moved on. The new Mom's blog was then crafted as a part of SDC's intense focus on advertising to mom's, but of course we all really miss the old blog. It had a ton of interesting stuff, and it would be a really awesome place to check out this year with the big 09 project going on. 

^It's actually not much of a liability risk because you're strapped to this huge rope harness for the entirety of the experience. That's what kind of makes it pointless for me, it's just a lot of hanging around.

According to this post -> http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45336 on TPR, DW is getting a giant play set similar to what Stone Mountain got last year for it's 2009 attraction.

It's an interesting concept, but it doesn't strike me as something I would consider doing on a visit there. I mean, the Stone Mountain version of this looks really lame - you just hop around from object to object while hanging from a big rope. It's a creative idea all right, but I hope they round it off better for DW.

There will be a few added effects for DW at least - a waterfall and something called 'Fire Mountain'.

At least they aren't just adding thrill rides, I guess.

^Wow, it does look very rickety.  Pretty unsafe.

It's supposed to look rickety, the entire Landing was supposed to be hodged together by Tom Sawyer and his group of comrades, remember? It's just been awhile since they've updated the exterior. If they could just fix the support problem, they could open this thing up again in no time. As I understand it though, that can't be reasonably done, so surely it will come out this off-season.

The Corkscrew has to remain, as it provides wheelchair access to the lower portions of the park. That's why it's there in the first place as I understand. I'm pretty sure the water features have to remain in some form as well, otherwise there's going to be an empty creek running down past the dockside theatre.

It is getting weird how they're being so blunt about the construction, it's really unlike them. First they close off an entire beloved area without warning, then they start shutting down entire portions of the park for construction. I can see why so many people are getting pissed, but at least they aren't doing heavy work during the day.

So what extras does everyone think this project will bring? I've been hoping for some new dry play areas, and maybe even a new version of the ropes. There was some sort of swing contraption that was proposed to go along with TGS during it's early stages, I wonder if they'll bring it back?

God I hope they don't try to bring in more fairway games and try to bill them as extras though. With all the kids in the area I can see how much they would profit from a few games, but it would totally destroy the atmosphere. If they think up some original ideas like the Balloon Toss by TGS I'll be satisfied, but I still think the pig racing thing has to go.

I'm also excited to see what they'll think up for Andyisms, the theme of this area offers so much for that. I really liked what they did for TGS with the pots in the trees, the magic pipe, and the water can fountain.

I've heard of this elusive coin thing before, but I've never seen it passed out before, even when guests were turned down for the height requirement. I think they must have a really limited supply, you were really lucky!

Anyone have any of the original Silver Dollars that were passed out during SDC's early days?