Theme parks are like any other big business, they reflect the times they are presently in. In the early '60's, SDC had more of a western theme, because during that time westerns were big...Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rifleman, and so on were all on TV getting huge ratings. In the later '60's, the theme was tweaked to Ozark mountain village. That's the way things continued until about the early to mid '90's. The arts and crafts were huge in the '70's and 80's, but by the mid '80's public interest in arts and crafts and the back to the land trend was fading. The Herschend Brothers retired, and left things to hand picked corporate successors. SDC polls visitors constantly, and will follow suggestions made by their visitors because they want the visitors to return again and again. The SDC of my childhood was different from the SDC I worked at, and SDC today reflects the modern trends and times we live in. No wonder Facebook logos and electronic clocks are popping up on park. These are things that serve the public today. That's want the young folk today respond to. The reason there have been big cutbacks in the Hatfield/McCoy stuff, street entertainment, line entertainment, and SDC employees as "citizens" is because of cost. When I was at the diving bell, it took two full time maintenance men, a lead man, a second lead, and eight to twelve people to play Junior. That is labor intensive. That costs money. Also, technology changed in that time. The company that supplied the computer controls for the diving bell went out of business about a year or two later, causing maintenance to have to search far and wide for replacement parts. There used to be attendants that entertained at the treehouse, Grandfather's Mansion, and line entertainers at each attraction. You don't see much of that anymore because it is a big cost. I remember the music shows of the 1970's in Branson. There were parking lot attendants, ushers, concessions, gift shop and ticket shop support personnel, as well as the stage crew and cast. Go to most shows today and there are few, if any parking lot attendants, few if any ushers, a couple of folks in the concession opposed to the six to eight in the concession during my day, only one guy working a cash register in the gift shop. They have cut back because of cost of operation. A theme park is essentially a shopping mall with rides and shows. The rides and shows pull the public in, the merchandise shops and restaurants and concessions make the money. Hey, at SDC you can pay to park, pay to go to the front of a ride line, pay for many services that didn't exisit or that were free in years past...cause making money is what it is all about. As much as you may hear me gripe about how things have changed from the old days, SDC does what it does in order to turn a profit and to bring in repeat and new business. Even though some of the old character of the park is now part of the romantic history of a bygone time, enough of the flavor of the place still exisits to make it a superior experience to many other theme parks. I am a season pass holder. Five generations of my family have visited SDC and we will go back. My complaints...and they are minor ones really...do not outweigh the fact that SDC is still an outstanding, great experience for families, and I encourage all to visit as much as possible and enjoy your day. Memories worth repeating, for sure! God bless and enjoy the new 2013 season!
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