Forsythia and dogwood in full bloom, picture perfect weather, friendly "citizens" and a beautiful opening day at SDC for 2012!!! Here is a brief trip report: Got to the park at 8:15am and parked right at stop 2, had a tram waiting for me that whisked me directly to the park entrance. Moderate sized crowds, no long waits at any rides. Park does look very good, cleaned, swept, painted, spruced up, and all ready to go! Construction underway at Echo Hollow stage, new location for Christmas Hollow in the old woodcarvers location is nice, much more room. Woodcarvers now located in OLD Christmas Hollow location, not yet open, it will be a few weeks. All your favorite entertainers on park, got to see Doc Gizmo, Pure Heart, and Sons of the Silver Dollar. BIG NEWS regarding the mystery ride for 2013. The site of the Old Robbers Shack was covered today by construction workers, much concrete down, many trees cut, big loading station apparently being built here. Down the hill toward the mule barn, many concrete pylons scattered on the hillside. They cleared alot of trees there too. Only mention by the conductor on the train is basic: "folks you'll notice alot of new construction along the tracks, a new attraction is coming next year, more about that later in the year." I made a whirlwind trip through the park as my time and money were restricted today, and was NOT able to make it to Branson to tour the tornado damage, but I asked several citizens how Branson looked and everyone was positive, upbeat, and said much has been cleaned up, but added it will take a while to get everything done. Out of the park and in my car by 12:30pm. Photos of everything on my Flickr site! Click on the photos to enlarge them, and to read the full captions. Hope to see you later in the season at SDC!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniordugan FOOTNOTE: Everything looked normal at Wilson's Farm, I could NOT tell how people will enter the new ride area. I guess that will come later. I assume they will move something or build beside the HiLow Towers or giant swing for the guests to access the new attraction. Oh by the way, the concrete pylons laid out on the hill toward the Mule Barn are only about 50 feet away from Hobo Junction! When the trees are full of leaves, it really won't matter. Hobo Junction is safe (for now) and the new ride...whatever it is...will fill up the entire space the trees have been removed from.
Admin Edit: Reformatted topic title to fit the format we started in 2010, stickyed so that this will be the official trip report thread. - Shavethewhales
