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I assume it's OK with the bosses that you're "leaking" these pics?

It's perfectly OK for those of us who are impatiently waiting for the season.

Copper needs to be the SDC blogger.  The new construction photos are terrific.

Sure would be nice to have a photo pass option, maybe charge a little extra.  It would be worth it to not have to pull out another ID.

The Flooded Mine was where I worried they would put the Ice House ride, but I was wrong.  There is an advertisement for ice visible in the area (Look up high.), and I thought it was a clue.  I had not seen the sign before the survey came out.

How about this for a new slogan:  "We're History!"

I'm remembering a fire in the Flooded Mine a few years ago.  Employees evacuated the ride manually and were commended for their efficiency.

Off the subject, but a great memory:

Did anyone ever ride the Sammy Lane Pirate Cruise on Lake Taneycomo?  It was where the Landing is now - downtown Branson.  On the old boat, I was privileged to be the little kid who took the wheel when suddenly the pirate boat came out of nowhere and chased us down.  They shot us with their cannon and made a hole in the middle of our boat from which water rushed in.  It was exciting for this little kid - way back when.  I remember I wet my pants on that one - even while sitting on the captain's lap.  That's probably why they shut down the operation.

Back in those days, everything was still tied to the Shepherd of the Hills theme.

Found this link - some really cool old photos of the cave:

http://www.hbw.addr.com/marvelcavepc.htm

Does anyone know if the Lantern Tours will be available open weekend?

What's with the new season passes?  Does anybody know?  Is there to be a new system in place?  The new passes are squared off and smaller.  I'll be out there next week, so I'll give it a trial run.

I have never been so lucky to get stuck on a ride or attraction at SDC. I think it would be fun to get out of the boats in the Flooded Mine.

But not in an actual fire scare, such as happened a few years ago.  Park employees were commended at the time for their excellent evacuation of the ride.

While on FM, my favorite part of the ride is still the queue.  With the line so short, most people don't stop to look at the scene on the right in which a bodyless head tells them to "Keep it movin'!"

OK, I concede on the new song/old song discussion.  I haven't been able to hear the themes on Flooded Mine or American Plunge at all lately, so had forgot the FM had a song and not just an instrumental version.  As for the shootout, so many people don't even bother to shoot.  The ride used to have scenes that riders would anticipate and flinch at.  We really thought the saw blade was going to cut our cart in half, and that the explosion would really flood us completely.  It was a dark ride well done, not just a carnival amusement.  That's what I miss, and the animatronics would make it even better (We don't shoot at the pirates in Disney parks.).

Here's another one:  the Ozarks has its own version of Bigfoot, named MOMO.  An attraction could be based on this, in which riders are on an expedition to prove it exists.  I'm thinking of something like the Maelstrom ride at Epcot, in which the ride stops half-way through, and then quickly reverses through scenes as if running away from the very thing we were looking for.  Could be cool.  I noticed the Magic Kingdom also has Expedition: Everest; SDC would have to make sure MOMO was something different than that, which is probably more extreme than they would like.

I had forgotten about Listen to the River, which is amazing considering the young age of the Opera House.  It was a great show.  Also, as much as I love the Dickens show at Christmas, I still liked the old Christmas shows.  I'd like to see those come back, maybe in the Riverfront Playhouse.  Those in-house productions always seemed to have more bang for the buck than the visiting groups.

Does anybody still read this strand?  Do you remember the old saloon shows, back before they sang "It's Raining Men"?

Yes, Carrie Nation delivered a good history lesson in her show, but I never saw it.  The big deal in the saloon was that they warned her, and later other villains, not to break the new St. Louis mirror behind the bar.  Through special lighting and a sliding panel, the mirror was inevitably broken anyway.

I also remember when the picture above the mirror was too risque and the lady's arm (In the picture) rotated to cover herself more appropriately for the family audience.

It was very long ago that you could have a real tintype portrait made - can you still do this? - and a typesetter would print authentic, personalized posters for you.

The best shows in Echo Hollow were The Dillards (The Darling Family from the Andy Griffith Show) and the Branson Brothers (recently re-formed with mostly new members in Branson), and the best comedian in the Hollow was Mercy Pervis the Third-and-a-Half, who even zip-lined from the mill at stage-right to the stage.

I have two memory books from SDC, one from 1978 and one from 1983, with some great photos of the park.  There's barely any mention of rides in either book, but there are small pictures of the diving bell.  The first pictures in the books are of the roving characters, including the Rainmaker and a Traveling Medicine Show.  Much was made of the Hatfield/McCoy feud, and Zeke Hatfield's forbidden attraction to Ellen McCoy.  Do you think those things are politically incorrect these days?  Are local residents afraid of the hillbilly label?  That's just sad.

Has anybody mentioned the undertaker?  He was a tall guy, dressed in black, and he walked around measuring people.  He never said anything and looked like the walking dead himself.

More memories:

The Riverfront Playhouse was actually a playhouse.  One show was called Hatfield's Haint, in which an elaborate multi-storied haunted house was the set.  It was hilarious when I was a teenager, and hokier than any saloon show or train robbery every hoped to be.  I wish they would build a new theater for this sort of thing.

It was replaced by a time machine show, in which an overacting "tourist" from the audience was "accidentally" transported back to the 1880s (which didn't make any sense to me since we were already in the 1880s just being in the City!).

Shad Heller did a show for at least a year that was a throwback to his vaudeville days.  He was the true icon of the City and even showed up on The Beverly Hillbillies in a recurring role.  Some of the scenes were shot on location on Main Street.

The Rainmaker was the best, and I too took a while to figure out there was a sprinker in the trees.  That was a simple, but really cool, effect.

Roaming characters are a simple addition.  The only time I see them these days is when they're pulling people out of the audience for an unentertaining competition of some sort.  I just keep walking, but they're shows used to be a major feature of the park.  The shows would just seem to happen at random, and they were worth stopping for.

People used to be allowed to try the blackpowder guns.  There was a target out beside the shop, and the shooters were guided by the experts.

They used to make candy, besides just peanut brittle and fudge, in the candy shop.  I remember seeing a video somewhere that showed them making candy canes, which would be really cool at Christmas.  This was before they were open for Christmas.

The first year of the Christmas festival, they brought in snow machines and kids could sled down the hill.  I think I remember this was somewhere around where the Giant Swing entrance is now.

They also did a light show on Lake Silver for Christmas.  There were flashing, "animated" lit-up characters and music.  This was before Geyser Gulch.

They used to decorate themed Christmas trees in the Marketplace at the exit.  This was the only place where a bit of the present day was allowed to penetrate the park.

When the park went Victorian and gaslights were introduced on Main Street, they were supposed to advance it a year, as mentioned by others here.  I was glad they reverted to the original theme.  I never saw a gaslighter lighting the gaslights, but I think someone did - kind of a Charles Dickensy thing.

They used to have stagecoach rides and carriage rides.