Messages

661

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Frisco Train Ride

« on: July 26, 2016, 11:15:14 AM »

When there was no Ma, though, the crowd was quite low.  A short show might be indicative of an anticipated crowd, rather than an actual crowd.  Would that be accurate?

Nope, it's based on either how many people are actually on the train, or the schedules they are running.  They won't go to the 20 minute schedule until they are leaving with a full train and have 50-75 people left behind that couldn't get on.  If they aren't leaving people behind, they will stay on the longer cycle of a train every 30 minutes and the long show.

If the crowd was quite low, then more than likely there was not a good candidate to be Ma on the train (there are certain things that need to be place for it).  If there's no candidate, they will skip ma.

If they are running on a 20 minute schedule there will be no ma.  This is usually because it's busy and they are trying to get in an extra train every hour (3 instead of 2).  However if things have happened during the day to put their time table off, they may run a 20 (no ma, short show) to "catch up" and get back on schedule.

This may have changed now, but on really hot days they might sometimes run 20's/ short shows just because it is so hot that people on the train are miserable and not enjoying the show, so they cut it short to "put them out of their misery."  There's no reason to do a long extended show with Ma if the passengers are not enjoying it and not into the show at all.

The last train of the day is ALWAYS a short, no ma show.

662

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Frisco Train Ride

« on: July 26, 2016, 01:11:49 AM »

They did have 2 robbers both days this weekend but it was a truncated script- ie No "Ma" in the script.

If there is no Ma, then they are on the short show.  If the train leaves every 30 minutes, then they are more than likely looking for Ma (unless there aren't any people on the train or another issue comes up).  If they are leaving every 20 minutes, then they will cut out the "Ma" portion of the robbery in order to shorten the show a little bit and get the train back quicker, so they can dispatch more often.

663

Construction/Rumors / Re: Your Attraction Ideas

« on: July 21, 2016, 12:41:49 PM »

It's beyond rough.  Great theme.  Horrible execution.

I agree with that bit i've been on an euro fighter that offered a good ride. Wonder how Adentureland's new euro rides.

Sir willow, sorry, i've seenn too many coasters get squeezed into tight spots, especially coaster without long trains.

With a vertical lift and custom layout a number of companies can fit something there. But, there are other locations that hanging on the tree much lower to harvest first.

I have as well, but that spot is a lot tighter than most of those tight spots, and not as big as some might think it is.  Along with the fact that the space around that tower really isn't available except on one side.  The other space around and underneath it is already occupied.  I also don't know that the tower could support the weight and motion of a coaster.  Combine all that with SDC's past showing they don't like to build on top of itself... and then there is the theater that they aren't going to want to enclose, but would be made pretty much useless if they put a coaster in there.

That's why I said it's far more likely that they would put a flat ride in there.

664

Construction/Rumors / Re: Your Attraction Ideas

« on: July 20, 2016, 05:07:45 PM »

I still think the Waterboggan area could be re purposed and the tower gutted and reused as a structure for a small footprint coaster like Mystery Mine to pass thru.

Don't know that's actually possible in that location.  You've got the train running right under it- and those tracks aren't going to be able to be moved because of how they line the train up to enter the station. And you've got the barn right next to the tower and tracks in the same place.  While there is a small clearing there, it would mean completely scrapping the whole barn to make anything work, and could cause a lot of conflicts with the train. Trying to go out at an angle to squeeze it in then runs you into Red Gold.  I think it's far more likely that they would use the small space for a flat ride then try to do the pretty much impossible and put a coaster in there.

665

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: An Old Time Christmas

« on: July 18, 2016, 10:08:35 PM »

It's been mid July for the last several years, so no surprise to me.  It's a lot of lights they have to put up, and the way they do it takes a good amount of time.

666

Construction/Rumors / Re: New Steam Engines Arriving at SDC

« on: July 18, 2016, 10:12:04 AM »

Still think the park needs a more authentic period roundhouse with turntable and  viewing area for patrons to see any work being done for as part of the working city aspect of SDC.

There are a lot of people that would agree with you.  But they'll never spend the money on it, especially on something that they don't see as bringing in any money.  There also isn't any other parks that have their round houses open for tourists (with a slight exception of Disney World which has an expensive private tour you can pay for), so I doubt it would ever be opened up like that.  I don't know that insurance would like that either.  Besides the round house is fairly quiet during the day since the engineers are on the train.

It's a neat idea, one that I think would be great if it would actually happen, but I'm not optimistic for it.

667

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Frisco Train Ride

« on: July 17, 2016, 09:23:24 PM »

^^Huh? They almost always have two trains running on busy days. One is loading while the other gets robbed and they usually have to stop by TGS to let the other get into the next block. People get really cranky when they don't have two running on even mildly busy days.

That's just sad that they're letting the train robbery slip. Probably just another thing they are letting deteriorate so they can justify getting rid of it entirely at some point.

Sorry, but you're mistaken on one point.  They NEVER have 2 trains running at any time except during Christmas.  Ever. They will shorten the length of the robbery show so they can send out a train every 20 minutes instead of 30, but they simply do not run 2 trains and haven't in many years.

As for letting the show slip to possibly get rid of it- that's something that some that work on the train have wondered about for a few years now.

I'd like to see them work on the sound system.  It's ear shattering!

Something that has been asked and pleaded about for several years.  At Christmas they actually bring out a whole entirely different sound system, different mics, speakers, etc.  Can't figure out why they won't allow that system to stay out there for the rest of the year.  It would be a big improvement.

There are other issues as well why it doesn't get improved on, and the mixers adjusted.  But yes, the people on the train would agree with you.

On the other hand, perhaps they are just short-staffed. Hard to say these days.

They are absolutely short staffed right now.  Not just at the train, but all over the park.  They did not have a good hiring year, for various reasons, and that's contributed.
But what they are doing right now is forcing a lunch rotation on the train.  Often what it means is that one of the robbers has to ride up to the depot and give the conductors a lunch break, meaning he misses two shows while at the depot, maybe 3, plus possible the shows while riding up and back (depends on the robber).  Then they rotate the robbers for a couple of shows as well to give them a lunch break. So the only times you're seeing both robbers is early or later in the day.  But in the middle that's when they are doing lunch breaks.  It's a horrible system and one we fought for years- either convincing them to let us bring in a third conductor or someone else at the depot, or often times finding other ways to work around making sure there were 2 robbers.  But that began to change a couple of seasons ago.

As for the show, what it is, and why it is... that's a long story. 

668

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: Photography questions

« on: July 17, 2016, 09:08:42 PM »

As long as you aren't trying to carry them on the coasters and take pictures during the ride, you're fine.  SDC has no photography restrictions that I'm aware of on park, except maybe making money off of their trademarks. it's got some great places to shoot photos.  Enjoy.

669

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: SDC's Character Meetups (a bit of a rant)

« on: July 17, 2016, 09:06:45 PM »

How about breakfast with Alfie and Ralphie Bolin? If done right, that could be a hoot!

Breakfast with a murderer and his imaginary brother?  Probably not.

To be fair, while SDC's Alphie Bolin might share a name with a certain person who liked Murder Rock, there are enough Bolins around that it's possible that SDC's Alphie is actually a cousin.  In any case, the kids (and most of the adults) don't know the history that Alphie is based on, only that he and his brother are real goofballs.

When I was there we tried to get some opportunities for Alphie and Ralphie to walk around the park and play with the guests during weather delays, but it was generally frowned on and pretty much quashed.  I had one time where I did it while waiting for my wife to get off of work during moonlight madness, and had a manager that wasn't real pleased.  Thought they really missed an opportunity there.

670

Construction/Rumors / Re: New Steam Engines Arriving at SDC

« on: July 17, 2016, 08:29:40 PM »

New to the forums here, but certainly not new to SDC.  Worked on the train itself for several years up until fairly recently, and probably robbed a few of you there.   

I did have to comment on a couple of things here:

3. A spare.  If they run 3 trains daily you'll need more than just 2. 
4. Obviously some reconfiguration will need to occur at the round house to house 5 engines.
5. Who says they'll all stay at SDC?  Some could go to Wild Adventures or Stone Mountain

First, these engines are pretty much duplicates of the engines that they already have at SDC. They are a rare, rather unique engine type.  They actually first started bidding and negotiating on these over 2 years ago when they weren't sure if they were going to get 76 up and running again or if they were going to do the massive overhaul and rebuild that they ended up doing. 

One of the three engines that they got (yes, there are actually 3) is no longer working and will be used exclusively for parts.  There is/was debate on another one of the engines as to whether they will use it for parts or or rebuild it to use in the park.  There is at least one engine they are committed to reworking a bit to be used in the park on at least a semi-regular basis.

I highly doubt that they would move any of them to another park for the simple reason that the only park in the world that runs these particular types of engines is SDC, and the guys that work there know these engines inside and out.

Last, as for the number of trains they run.  The ONLY time they run 2 trains is during Christmas.  Period.  There was a time in the long ago past that they would run 2 in summer, but that was in the days of the robber shack being where the Barn Swing is now.  The park is no longer willing (and I'm not sure that it's able) to provide the massive amount of extra staffing it would require to run 2 trains in the summer, nor are the crowds really worth it except for a couple of days a year.  Even running one train on a 20 minute schedule  you'll almost never wait more than one train to get a ride.

To add a second train would require adding at least one more conductor, one more engineer (and really it would need to be 2 of each for breaks) and at least one or two more robbers, who are already crowded in their shack between trains.  (and trust me, right now they don't have the staffing to even think about that, and haven't in a long time) This doesn't even think about needing to add microphone packs, chopping a short show down a couple of minutes more to make it fit the time schedules, added upkeep costs on the engines and cars, so forth. I won't even get into all of the safety procedures that would come up in summer, as there are some different procedures used at Christmas that you wouldn't be aware of unless you work on the train.

Plus there's the rather obvious fact that while they might have 5 engines (3 of which are ready to run) there are only 2 sets of passenger cars that can carry people.  One set being the new cars they started building in 2011 and just recently finished and one set of old cars.  The other old cars they replaced were all scrapped (notice at the wreck- that's one of them).

So the idea of three trains being on those tracks at the same time is, quite simply, never going to happen (unless the park is closed and the engineers are having some fun or doing safety/ maintenance checks)

Anyways, hope that helps give y'all a bit of info about what may or may not happen with those and changes it might make to the train.