I'm reading it. Unfortunately, I've only been going to the park since the mid '90s, so I don't have the kind of awesome memories that you have.
If I recall correctly, you can still get a real tintype made. I do know that back in '94, my family got one (it's laying around here somewhere).
We always get a kick out of the whole Hatfield/McCoy thing 'cause the last name of my aunt's family is Hatfield (and even funnier, they live on a street named McCoy!). In fact, they once got a free skillet bowl at Hatfield's Tater Patch because of their last name! LOL
One of my most vivid memories from SDC is from '97 (I THINK that's the right year) when we took my cousin from California down to SDC in November of that year. The park was pretty empty that day, and a bit chilly, so we found ourselves the only ones riding Lost River. My cousin was flirting with the guy operating the ride, and since we were the only ones on the ride, he let us go around as many times as we wanted.
We ended up riding 15 times in a row without getting out of our boat. After that, we headed to the train depot.
So, we were on the train, soaking wet, when out there at the farthest part of the track loop in the forest, the train broke down. It was at least an hour by the time we got "rescued" and taken back into the park. We've got pictures of all us girls, soaked to the bone, standing around with the conductor. You should see the look on my sister's face.
Well, needless to say, my sister ended up sick by the next morning... We've definitely learned to bring dry clothes with us on cooler days!
~ "Becky" Joy ~