2011 Trip Reviews

[mhguy77]

(and whoever said stay to the right in that line was correct in our experience also).

The man on the outside had a cart with his register on it and he didn't have to walk back and forth inside the little shack. 
Goes to show you how saving a couple steps can collectively save LOTS of time and make a line move that much quicker.
I would say it ran 1.5-2 to 1 ( if you know what I mean).
Stay to the right

[QueenMum]

Made it to SDC yesterday. So glad we watched the weather and chose Sunday over Saturday. It was lovely!

Got there about 2, parked right next to a tram pick-up, and off we went. Stopped to get a strawberry smoothie and take a potty stop in the main building only to find that concession stand is now gone and all new clothing displays set up. This was the only place to get one of those wonderful strawberry smoothies btw.

Our 2.5 dd had "choo choo train" on the brain, so we went straight there. My smoothie-craving dh got in line to see if he could get a drink at the stations' concession stand, but the line moved insanely slow. I felt bad for the two guys running it - two windows, two guys, and ONE register. Finally got a drink and the train arrived. The ride was great. The actors are fresh and ready for a new season. Is the redhead Irish? I detected an accent being fought off.

After the train, we crossed over to HDH where we rode the carousel twice. Line was short and operator was friendly. DD is only 34", so she couldn't ride the LS, and I wouldn't set her loose in the treehouse just yet. We spent a great deal of time in the sand area. She loved it and it was a nice shady area for parents to chill. The only thing I don't like about HDH is that I miss it being a nice little pit of wildlife. Seems like the park is turning into lots of tree tops... I miss the breaks in buildings and attractions.

The smoothie search continued. This took us around the park... twice. No strawberry smoothies, only one guy with the strawberry ice stuff. Poor dh was bummed, but we got two mug fulls and headed to the GE.

The frogs. The bugs. Oh my! DD really enjoyed them this time (hasn't been on them since last fall). The operators were all friendly and lines were short.

On the way out I had to get some taffy since I read so much about it on here. It's pretty good and I'm sitting here munching on some now. I bought some Wildfire taffy since I love hot stuff and ya'll said it would burn a hole in your mouth... Well, four pieces down and it was warm at best. I think some of ya just have wienie taste buds. 

It's nice to see the park spruced up for another season. I found the employees all very pleasant and refreshed. Can't wait for everything to get in full swing!

[History Buff]

Though this is a different thread, every piece of Wildfire is not flaming hot.  Hopefully, you'll get to a hot one.

[Copper]

For a strawberry smoothie try the Berries and Cream stand located in front of the Silver Dollar Saloon.  Last season they had both strawberry and peach smoothies; I would think they would still have them.

[sanddunerider]

"wienie taste buds"?  Man i have to meet you some time queenmum.  I dont even touch those things let alone eat them!!  ok that being said.
*My sunday afternoon visit... Several items have been hit on so i will bumpr over them or maybe repeat them.  Also in my defense I am not as informed on the parks as many of you are, so just work with me.
*got there about 1:00, Checked the HH 1st of all, I do like the concessions stand gone. And of course replaced with more product for the consumers
*Murals do look good, and are easier to see.
*I did like the fresh look, new mulch,fresh paint, everything clean, trees blooming. And yes it is a fact the SDC asphalt has it own smell!!  loved it!
*As we headed toward cardiac hill I was a little disappointed to find the leather shop and knife shop closed until 4-7. I know they would not be "performing". but did expect them open.. oh well
*Coasters and AP were all running, had some lines. but i was just looking around enjoying being there!
*Somebody mentioned something about the area behind the falls between WF and PK.  nothing going on there. Looks unharmed.
* NOW i am have puter problems  will finish in another post.... stay tuned

[sanddunerider]

PART TWO>
* walked over past RB and listened to the science teacher, that whole area looked good, down through the riverfront, new signs, paint.  looked real good!
*geyser gulch was BUSY, No threat of that area being ignored by the little ones, I posted a pic earlier.
*walked up past WB, noticed the fence as mentioned earlier, But saw no other signs of "production".
*went over by HDH and the train. Only thing i questioned was they moved the smoking section over by the woodcarvers building, I would have thought the smoking section would have been in view of the HDH entrance. (To watch for kids coming out). I did post pics of HDH under 2011 projects.
*wifey and i decided we were hungry so we headed for Jacks sandwhich shop for a philly sandwhich. WRONG!!!! jacks is strictly a cold meat restaraunt now. NO hot food there. the philly is down on waterfront now. oh well. cold ham and cheese it was! good flavor, but not what i was tuned in for.. but didn't want to back track.
*got my months supply of taffy of course.
*Overall good first day for us. lots of new stuff to see. ready to go back next month and spend some real time there.
Oh yea! forgot our tram died at stop #3 and they had to get us another one to deliver us to our cars!

[sanddunerider]

oh, forgot a funny one!  I was outside of the taffy house, and this family of 4 walked by son about 5 or6 probably, and a toddler in a stroller.  Mom and dad were "discussing" where something was.?  he said over there,  she said no.  they were waving hand all directions.

Ok check this oout, they had 2 open bags of kettle corn, 3 or 4 SDC bags of goodies they bought somewhere.. Ok now we are between HH and taffy shop. right.  SO I ASKED them, what are you folks looking for? READY?   they were looking for             MARVEL CAVE!!!!

I laughed as gentle as i could and explained they needed to turn around and walk about 100 feet!!!!  OH MAN!!

[marolinesdad]

I don't think anyone else pointed this out but if they have I am sorry..   They have redone the floor in Mollys Mill.   It looks great.  I have a pic but do not have access to put it up right now.

[sanddunerider]

Question for the one of you "masters" of SDC>..

I was walking past the FL exit, and looked back toward the lake,ride area and it looked different.?  did they paint that area? change the sign?  what?  I looked at it a couple of time and could not figure ou what looked difeerent.. AND NO i did not take a pic. that would have been too easy.

[sanddunerider]

Ooops!  I meant to say Flooded Mine.   FM  not FL.!

[StaceySue]

We headed out to SDC this morning. It was cold! We bundled up a little, but we didn't bring coats and gloves--just sweatshirts and jeans. There was no wait for a tram; we got on at Stop 2. By the time we got to the square, it was about 9:15. We looked around a little, and we watched the flag-raising. There was only ONE veteran! There weren't too many people there at opening!

We went straight for the coasters, but it was too cold for them to start up. We hadn't thought of that! Plan thwarted! We walked on to Fire-in-the-Hole instead. When we came out, the line was out of the queue! It was one of the few rides open.

We walked over to Half Dollar Holler. My girls each stuffed a bear. It was fun and warm! We took the little one through the tree house, but she is still a little young to enjoy it. The carousel wasn't open yet, so we left. (She was also too short for the kiddie swings.)

We mainly poked around the shops here and there. We stopped by the Homestead, and they were about to eat. They'd made ham and potatoes casserole. Some coasters had opened up, but the lines were long. We're ride snobs, so we didn't wait for anything. That's why we show up at opening!  We did squeeze in a carousel ride.

We decided to leave, and it was pretty busy. Ticket lines were long.

Since we go all of the time, it's not a big deal to leave if it gets too busy for us, but I would not want to be there right now if this was my only time to visit. There are few shows. The saloon show isn't even going on. Some shops are also not open. We knew this going in, but I don't know if everyone does. Again, we are SDC snobs! We'll check things out tomorrow morning.

[sanddunerider]

hopefully warmer for you tomorrow and no rain..  good luck on the coasters!

[StaceySue]

hopefully warmer for you tomorrow and no rain..  good luck on the coasters!

Well, we didn't go in today until 2:00 p.m., and then it was 44 degrees.  It did warm up this afternoon, and the last hour we spent there was exceptionally pleasant.  We snuck in a ride on Wildfire around 4:00.  The line was out of the building when we arrived, but it was a quick wait later.  They were running two trains, and although we had to snake around the queue, we were on the last seat in under 10 minutes.  PowderKeg was pretty packed the one time we checked.  We rode Flooded Mine with no wait. 

Maybe I was in a bad mood today, but I had an "unmagical" lunch experience.  I decided to get one of those bloomin' onions.  I was behind one other party in line, and these two guys were standing over to the side.  One was in wheelchair.  The first lady in line was ordering lots of things, so it took a little bit.  Ok, whatever.  Then this guy to the side jumps ahead of me and says "What do they have?"  At first I thought he just wanted a better look at the menu.  Then he went up to the counter to order.  I decided to let it go; I'm in my happy place, right?  Besides, maybe he was in line, but got off to the side or something.  He ordered food, and it was for the guy in the wheelchair.  Then he wanted a bag for the food, so someone had to track one down.  Then he paid with a meal ticket.  They finally decided to ring it up later.

So, I get up there to order my onion, and they said "You do know it will be 10 minutes." It had already been awhile, and I figured the rest of my family had already got food and were eating, so I said to nevermind.  I was being impatient, I know, but I could've had the thing by the time they got to me if I could've told them to start it.

So I went to the skillet place not to far away by the Lumber Camp.  I thought I would just get a Philly sandwich.  There was no one in line ahead of me.  The "cook" took my order right away and was friendly.  The guy at the cash register didn't acknowledge me at all.   A few moments later, he greeted a coworker.  I thought he said "hello" to me, and I answered, but he wasn't talking to me.  The coworker ended up ringing up the sandwich.  I handed her my Visa, and the cash register guy asked for my ID.  I'm glad you're looking at my ID, but that was the only thing he said to me--lol.  In the time it took to get a sandwich with no line, I could've had the stupid onion.

Maybe I just wasn't in the SDC spirit the last couple of days, and most of you know I seldom complain about the park.  Maybe I just need a break.  It just seemed that people weren't very nice.  The exception was the Build a Bear place.  Those ladies in there were really sweet.  Ok, enough of my ramblings for now.

[sanddunerider]

stacey,  tough couple of days..  sorry for you.  BUT........

step back,
close your eyes,
deep breaths,
smell the fresh asphalt?,
hear the train whistle in the background?,
Smell the kettle Korn?,
Hear the friendly voices?..

Your next trip will be better.. You know it will..!!!

[SDC#1fan]

Well I finally got to get to SDC yesterday and although it was kinda chilly we had a great time.

The Day started off kinda ruff because of one minor detail no one has yet to mention or i have failed to read yet. We parked right next to the second tram stop down the hill right after 1 (i think #4) and it is now closed so we had to walk quite a ways to #1 to get on a tram. Once on a tram i did notice something else new that i haven't seen mentioned yet the trams have new seats! In the back 2 cars they replaced the 4 across white molded seats with metal bench seats.

Once inside the park we headed to Wildfire to see if the 7 yo was tall enough to ride this year (he was crying because he didn't want to even though he loves riding powderkeg!) Lucky for him hes still to short. The line was long so we headed to PK which had about an hour wait so we went to FITH and rode that which was fun but the guy yelling "Fire in the hole!!!" didn't work

After that we walked up to the HDH and while its nice they put something new in they made one Huge mistake it is way way to small. Even on this slow day there were way to many parents and not enough places for strollers and everone to sit. On busy days it is going to be a nightmare! I did go through the tree house and it had its good and bad parts. One really bad part is it has a really steep ramp in it and i slipped trying to get up it. One really good part is the rope maze/bounce area was really fun!

We then headed over to FM and rode that (my favorite ride) then it was off to TNT which we rode front facing only but it was still good. after that is was around :30 so we headed  out and back to the car. All in all it was a good trip. I took quite a few photos and am working on getting them  up on a flickr acct.