Thoughts from the park on Nov 7th

krash9924 · November 08, 2009, 06:50:22 PM

Just got back a great weekend at Silver Dollar City. Lots of really good and some bad...

The park was in great shape and most of the inside rides looked great. It looked like the shoot-out was in great shape. The park was packed. I haven't seen it this busy on opening weekend in a very long time. Even though two of the trains were down the Christmas train ride was still one of the highlights of the trip. The conductors here were very helpful and made a bad situation bearable.

A few bad things... Service at most of the quick service food stops was slow and very annoyed with people. (When did cell phones become common among staff? We saw quite a few cell phones on counters with what looked to be workers texting) I understand that the parks were crowded but this should affect how staff handles customers. Overall the park seemed to have been caught off guard by the crowds. Most places seem understaffed.

Overall a great trip and we did purchase passes again for next year. (Don't pass up the Pumpkin Whoppie at Eva and Delilah's bakery!)

shavethewhales · November 08, 2009, 07:34:10 PM

Thanks for the report!

The crowds never seem to come when SDC expects them, they've been caught off guard more than naught in the past few years.

It's too bad about the cell phones. That kind of thing is getting harder and harder to stamp out, but they pay them enough to expect better of them.

MSUBear42 · November 08, 2009, 10:02:50 PM

Shuttle driver told us 18000

marolinesdad · November 08, 2009, 10:14:33 PM

and they only expected 10,000

mbrownx4 · November 09, 2009, 05:42:59 AM

Yipes-18000. And I bet they enjoyed being there as compared to the 50000+ that waste their time at the chiefs games. Anyway, wow, that's a lot of people for opening weekend. We gotta quit telling people how good OTC is, this is getting out of hand

.

Joy · November 09, 2009, 08:05:44 AM

LOL and AMEN @ the Chiefs comment.

Joy

themeparkguy · November 09, 2009, 08:46:29 AM

Don't they have projections that tjey look back upon. I know the weather is a wildcard but you got to know that the opening weekend will be well attended.

marolinesdad · November 09, 2009, 10:50:01 AM

Remember every year in march when the park opens they never plan for the huge crowd then either.

History Buff · November 09, 2009, 09:08:59 PM

There's got to be something psychological about looking forward to Christmas in the current economic climate. So many just yearn for something positive.

themeparkguy · November 09, 2009, 10:05:34 PM

I am glad for the large crowds- just glad i'm not the one standing in a long line.

crsjrr · November 10, 2009, 07:56:47 AM

krash9924 posted that two of the trains were down. Why? Is there issues regarding the railroad? Wasn't one of the older locomotives going to be restored? How about some pics of all the locomotives lined up at the engine house?

SteamFreak · November 10, 2009, 09:54:18 AM

We've just had some bad luck having 2 engines break down in a row. Hopefully one of them will be fixed for the crowds this weekend. I don't know what if any restrictions are on taking pictures in M & C areas. But I'll find out.

U Smell Smoke · November 14, 2009, 09:56:03 AM

Just curious how many trains they'll have running today? Didn't know if they had the second train repaired or not.

SteamFreak · November 14, 2009, 10:04:47 AM

We'll be running two trains today, as we did last night.

U Smell Smoke · November 14, 2009, 10:12:26 AM

That's great news Steamfreak. I'm sure you guys will be very busy today.