While working for SDC....

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

How do you get to work on time? Do you use the public entrance? Cuz if you did what do you do on really busy days? Is there a top secret back entrance?

[Saaam!]

I'm sure there's a back entrance made especially for staff. Most parks have one.

[Joy]

There's an employee entrance to "back stage" over by the restrooms behind the ticket counters. I see a lot of employees coming out of there fully dressed for work when I'm there early on a day.

[Gilligan]

I dont know about a back entrance, but hubs and I got there super early one day and had to wait in the handicapped lot up front for an hour before the park opened (we misread the opening time).  Not to fear, we took a nap!  But, I'd say at least l/3 of the parking lot was being used by employees.  I'm assuming they were disabled employees.

[DianaGail]

When we were there over Christmas, some of the entertainers got stuck in traffic, delaying and cancelling shows.  They do have special employee lots (at least one, probably more).  I see them shuttle employees to and from those lots.

[tiffanylynnt]

I've been in through the back entrance of Red Gold!!!
It was for Show Choir 

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

Ive known about the employee lots. Which I love. Great idea. But the mystery still stands for me! Do they use the public entrance or the top secret entrance???!!!

[Swoosh]

They enter either between Brown's and the Funnel Cake stand OR back by the restrooms near Red Gold

[Junior]

When I worked at SDC there were three parking lots. "A" lot next to the head shed (administration building-where ticket booths are) "B" lot, below "A" lot, down the hill, and "C" lot, also known as "Shads." Part of the old "C" lot is now the GE area of the park. The nursing station in GE is the remnant of an old, pre-SDC cabin that apparently Shad and Mollie Heller lived in at one time. "Shads" cabin served as a security office and timeclock station when I worked there. Now there is parking behind the Maintenance and Operation building behind Lake Silver, behind Red Gold Hall at GE, and the old "A" and "B" lots, although I would say not a whole lot of "regular" employees park in that area. Plus, there is what I guess I would call the new "C" lot which is across Highway 76 right at the Indian Point/Hwy 76 intersection. That is my take on the employee parking situation as I know it. A current citizen will have to chime in for a better answer. There is an employee entrance by the ticket booths, another by Brown's Candy, one in GE at Red/Gold Hall, and another at the Maintenance and Operation location behind Lake Silver adjacent to the old Waterboggin/kids play area. Frankly, there are probably a couple more employee entrances that have been added since I worked there. The park is always changing and growing!
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As to how do employees make it to work on time...well, leave early just like everyone else does when they go to work. I lived for a couple of years on Mount Branson in a trailer park. Where Candlestick Inn is/was. I left home about 7am, traveled through Hollister, past College of the Ozarks, down across Table Rock Dam, past the SDC campgrounds, and got onto Highway 76 at the Hwy 265 junction. Then, west to SDC and "C" lot...the old "C" lot. I usually got to the parking lot about 7:45am. It was a scenic, and usually a relaxing drive...unless I got stuck behind someone driving too slowly in a camper. I punched in at the timeclock about 7:50am, sprinted to the employee cafeteria for a breakfast which was ate on the walk/run down to the diving bell, and I usually made it to my location about 8am. Of course, I moved much faster back then at age 18 then I do now. I probably would have to give myself an additional fifteen minutes to get to work/get to the cafeteria, and then to the job site today!

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

So does everyone start early before park opens? Or are shifts available? And if there is a shift available and you are the evening shift and traffic is horrendous and backed up to God knows where,,,,,,,then what?

[misskim]

I would think that much like myself when I have to get to work, an employee would need to take traffic into account in order to get to work on time. Living in Branson, you would have a feel for how busy it is and how much time you need most of the time.

I know that there have been days when SDC has been surprised by attendance and therefore traffic. I'm sure they have some kind of policy in these situations -- either alerting incoming employees that they may need to leave earlier or asking employees already there to stay a little later. Probably a similiar policy for days when they change opening time due to projected attendance.

I'm wondering if it's possible/probable that most employees live either so they can come in off 265 or from Branson West/Kimberling City so that they are avoiding the worst of the traffic. With the new 2 lanes, if employees park in the lot at the intersection of 76/Indian Point and get shuttled to the park, they could really avoid most of the traffic mess.

[Swoosh]

So does everyone start early before park opens? Or are shifts available? And if there is a shift available and you are the evening shift and traffic is horrendous and backed up to God knows where,,,,,,,then what?

Depends on the park hours for that day.  Most of the time the shifts are Open-Close (for workers on stage).  BOH workers are in different shifts.  For insteance, you have those that work overnight power washing everything and so on.

[Gilligan]

Danny Eakin uses the visitor entrance.  He's walked in behind me twice.

[Swoosh]

^If they're coming from the Administration building that only makes sense (the Administration building is above the ticket booths)

[Junior]

Yes, they work shifts at SDC. There is someone on the park doing something 24 hours a day. If you are not scheduled to come in at opening, you come in later in the day. Locals know their way around. They know when the music shows begin and end traffic will be heavy on the main roads, so they take side roads. They know on Saturday to leave extra early because traffic is heaviest. I knew every side road and alternative route there was when I lived in Branson. I left in plenty of time to get to work on time. SDC employees come from all over the area. I knew some who drove in from Springfield. I knew some who lived in Forsyth. Some lived in Branson, Reeds Spring, Crane, just all over the area. When you live somewhere, you learn all the roads and alternate routes, you plan on leaving early enough to make it to work, school, or church on time...just like anywhere else. Branson is a factory town...the factories are tourism related. The locals know how to get from one place to another without too much hassle. It ain't that hard to do so, really.