First SDC Memory

[DocSpeleo]

I thought it would be cool to post my first memory of SDC and then you all can too!  I don't know if this has been done, I didn't see it anywhere.

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So being from the east coast I didn't get to SDC until June of 1988.
The first thing I remember was the crazy tram driver closing his eyes through the tunnel.  Okay, so from my vantage point it looked like both but I'm hoping he had one open!
Then in line for tickets my sister who had a short shirt on was given a ticket for exposing her belly button.  She still has that ticket nearly 20 years later and it is something we all laugh about when we see it in her scrapbook.  I just remember the feeling of being at "home" while on the park.  The people walking around in costume were great to watch and laugh at when they would do something for the guests.  (something I wish SDC would bring back - more characters)  I don't remember the rides from the first trip it was the people and the atmosphere mainly.

But when I did get home I played trolly driver on my grandpa's golf cart and had a pretend "lost river" near our pond and river.  lol  those were the days!

[Old Guy]

My first memory IS Silver Dollar City. My mother is carrying me across the swinging bridge in 62 or 63. On the far side where woodcarvers is now was the road, parked cars and picnic tables.

[sdcforever]

My first memories are:

--Being made a deputy.  (I still have the badge!)

--The Swinging Bridge.  (I jumped up and down over and over again!)

I was so young the first season we went as a family that all I wanted to do was show everyone my deputy badge and go to the swinging bridge! 

[Coaster]

Well I first went to the park when I was only a few months old. I don't remember anything (duh) but we have a lot of pictures. The first real things I remember are playing in Tom Sawyer's Landing back when it was in its high time. The tree house was awesome and I loved the balloons. For hours, I also played in the area that had the slides and it was a huge ball pit (it is now the wax station).

My favorite ride when I was little was LROTO which my family has called the "round boats" forever. I was really scared of the ride but once my parents finally got me on it I loved it.

[sdcforever]

^I forgot about the slides and the ball pit!  That is one of my first memories as well.  I loved that place!  I could play there for a very long time.  My parents had to drag me away from it! 

[OzarkBred]

Like Old Guy and sdcforever, my earliest SDC memory is of walking across the swinging bridge. This would have been 1970 or '71, so I was 3 or 4 years old. I believe the bridge was still the entrance to the park at that time.

A few years later, I remember feeling all grown up when I was allowed to go on Fire in the Hole with my older sister. I still nearly wet my pants, of course.

My most enduring memory of SDC is the tarry-woody scent that permeated the place. I think it's the smell of creosoted lumber, but I could be wrong. I loved that smell as a kid and still do. Whenever I smell it anywhere I instantly think of Silver Dollar City.

[betamike]

Most of my memories are of the olfactory kind.  The smell of the creosote, the musty smell of the Ozark Marketplace.  I think most of all though, I remembered the visual of that creepy projection they had as you entered the Flooded Mine where the miner talked to you.

[shavethewhales]

I too have vague memories of the Swinging Bridge when I was young - it must be extremely impressionable.

I also remember the Landing when it was in it's glory, with tunnels, ropes, bridges, slides, and all those little do-dads.

I remember the tree house best of all though, before it was fixed to be PC - they had these pop guns that pointed out the window and all these random little games and mirrors.

[OzarkBred]

I think most of all though, I remembered the visual of that creepy projection they had as you entered the Flooded Mine where the miner talked to you.

Oh, those busts with the projected talking heads on them? They were in dioramas that you could look in on while waiting in line. There was the mine warden and at least one prisoner, if memory serves. They were creepier than the "grim grinning ghosts" in Disney's Haunted Mansion by a long shot.

[betamike]

I feel bad that since I have been coming to SDC since my birth, that all the trips around that time are blended together in my mind.  I do remember though that in the Flooded Mine it used to be a tiny little drop just after they dispatched the ore boat (just under the control booth).  Am I crazy?!

[Coaster]

^I kind of remember there being something like that but it might've just been the boats dropping out of the station and into the real water channel.

[betamike]

I was thinking that too, but it is odd that they don't do that now.

[History Buff]

I don't think Flooded Mine ever had a drop.

[OzarkBred]

I don't think Flooded Mine ever had a drop.

The way I remember it, the boats rested on a conveyor belt for stability during loading and unloading. The boats dropped a tiny bit as they left the belt and floated on their own. It was a small jolt if there were just a few lightweight kids in the boat, or a larger drop if some tubby adults were onboard. Have they smoothed out the jolt since then?

[Coaster]

^American Plunge pretty much does the same thing.