Had a great little trip this weekend! Made the trip in exactly 3 hours and went straight to check in at Homestay. Dropped off the bags and went to Moon River for an excellent dinner with great service. Back to the room and straight to bed so the kids could be well rested for SDC.
Arrived at preferred parking about 8:15, had a few cars there but not many. Turnstiles were running smooth and quick. Walked through E&D and got Kolaches for the whole family (it is one of our favorite things anymore), cruised the square, checked in at the Apple Butter shop, and found a nice place to sit and watch opening ceremonies. The kids lined up to get their bags for the Easter Egg Hunt.
*With regard to the hunt* My kids loved it, they had a really good time. I would completely understand if they never wanted to do it again. Before the hunt began there was a large group of SDC employees (like office type employees it appeared) gathered around, and I got the feeling that the event was a concern. Parents were downright rude in the way the treated the street troupe with their comments about the hunt. One mom was literally yelling about it being for seven and under. Another complained that her child wasn’t old enough to know colors. Many, many complaints were heard about the event all day, all throughout the park. In my opinion, the only problem with the egg hunt was the parents. Parents were screaming at their kids to hurry, yelling directions at them about where eggs were, bellowing to the kids to win. My 3yo collected 9 eggs, my 5yo got 12. They were thrilled and having deputy Melvin count them and joke with them was prize enough. That being said, to the parents who it was important enough to yell at your kids to win a 5.00 prize, I am glad that it was that important to you. Yes, I saw a lot of empty bags, but that is not SDCs fault, that is more a result of those parents who couldn’t control themselves, the parent I saw grabbing every egg she came across and then later distributing them to her kids who had gone to hunt in other areas (yes she was grabbing every color and her kids weren’t even near her). SDC doesn’t owe anyone anything, they tried to have a fun event and not surprisingly a few people made it not as fun by not being grateful. I get the impression that the staff wasn’t having a lot of fun with the event either. *Moving on*
The youngest is still about 1.5” shy of TNT ride height so we did the GE coaster, elephants, tea cups, then split up for TNT and HDH. Regrouped and spilt again for FM and PK, gathered at FITH, and did FM again, then split for TNT and HDH (yes again). Then headed out, but not before making a couple small purchases at the OM. Lines at TNT were short and that group rode two and three times each time they were over there. My son loves HDH, but the slide is missed. I do have a small complaint here: they would never let someone too short get on a coaster, but they had no problem letting teenagers well above the height requirement and not accompanying a small child run through the treehouse. Seriously someone working down there needs to be vocal and not let them in, I assume that is why there is an employee stationed at the area leading towards the nets, PLEASE speak up and only let people who are helping little ones through get on that net area. All the new signs and touch-ups looked really nice. The new quilt shop is nice, maybe a little pricey but some good kits and quality fabrics and they have done a great job of displaying the completed items. Weather was nice and we made it off park before the rain moved in. I kept a close eye on the radar (which reminds me, last year I was able to use a guest wifi network in park and this year that seems to not be available, it was really nice for things like weather watching if my signal got weak at the bottom of the hill). I feel like I am forgetting something about the day…
