2016 Trip Reviews

[Dewayne]

I came out here at 5:00 on Tuesday to hear good music while riding a few rides and hear good music in the 2 night shows. Rode PK, Fith, WF, Tgs, bought a Sprite and blueberry float, and waited in line at the chain to go down to EH. Started sprinkling when it started but slowed down and stopped near the middle of the show. Pre show dogs, same songs, except for a few new ones. I wanted to hear the butterfly song, but they replaced it with another I never heard. Same 80s songs, then 50s but this time they brought out the giant beach balls, dogs again, allen asbury, then they did an acapella version of Kings of Lion - Use Somebody and One Direction - Best Song Ever. A few new comedy sketches too and the fireworks started immediately at the end. They lasted about 10 - 15 minutes but I didnt get to watch them much because I was having trouble with my gloves and a few other lights. The fireworks were great with a great finale. Once I was done, I got up to Main Street for the Street Dances which already started. Bought a pair of light up glasses and 1 extra pair. I really needed these badly. Got in the crowd and started doing the short version of dances like the Macarana, Time Warp, Hokey Pokey, Electric Slide, Cupid Shuffle, and of course the best of all, the Cha Cha Slide. Loved these 2 shows. Best part of going to SDC. Im doing the Street Dances more often. I just wish they could play The Isley Brothers - SHOUT! When it was done it was 9:50 and everybody was leaving. I went to see if TNT was still open, but it was closed already.

[Dewayne]

Wednesday I was thinking about going to WW, but I decided to come out here only to see the construction and ride LR. I rode TNT, Electro Spin, Accelerator, Lost River closed for mechanical issues when I got my stuff ready in a locker, rode the train, Lost River was open again (seemed like it was only closed 20 minutes) and I wasnt going to get out of the line for anything. When I got 8 feet from the seater guy, they closed for 15 minutes for mechanical issues. Maintenance never showed up and they just did test runs with the rafts. Rode WF and FM. Left at 2:00. When I got on the tram it started raining.

[Pudgy Jones]

My Wife, Daughter and I, along with my parents visited SDC on Sunday, July 24.

After 29 years of visiting the park, I finally had the privilege of meeting Jack and Sherry Herschend! It was quite the honor to meet them! My family was in the pottery shop when I noticed them walking around. They were so nice and down to earth, but to me it was like meeting celebrities. I pointed to my 21 month old daughter and told them I had been visiting the park since  I was her age and how it was a second home to me. Mrs. Herschend commented how nice it was to see 3 generations together and enjoying the park. Dad told them he had been visiting for 38 years, and Jack said it was humbling to hear how much we loved the park.

They were just walking around, shopping, like everyone else. Mrs. Herschend said that the pottery shop was her favorite of all the stores and loved the high quality craftsmanship in each piece.

I got to meet Pete Herschend a couple of years ago. He, too, was just walking around the park like any other tourist. I told him how great a privilege it was to meet him. He thanked me, then asked how I knew who he was! I said that I was a big fan of the Herschend family. It will always be one of my greatest SDC memories!!

[Gilligan]

When I met Pete (or should say I spoke to) at the 5K a few years ago, I was astounded at the rudeness.  Someone dropped a very pretty scarf on the stairs of the Gazebo.  I saw him coming down the stairs (actually didn't know it was him), so I tried to hand it to him and explain that it was dropped.  There was a band of women singing earlier and visitors were on stage to pick up prizes when names were called, so I assumed it belonged to one of them.  He asked what in the world I thought he was going to do with and said he didn't want it. It wouldn't have taken much to hand it to someone on stage or announce that it was dropped.   

[History Buff]

There is a certain amount of pomposity in Pete (perhaps due to his work in state government).  I've never met him, but I have been in the room with him speaking at educational events.  He can ramble more than Donald Trump, and he definitely has his opinions.

[KBCraig]

I've been away from the forum for a long time (when I retired, I wound up with less time to do the things I enjoy!).

It's good to hear that things are still going well at the park, but seeing "bag check" as part of the entrance procedure just crushed something in my spirit.

I regret not going one last time before moving to New Hampshire, and now I don't know when I would ever get a chance to go again, but that one thing is enough to make me not want to go -- and I don't even carry any bags.

[Duelist]

^ It's a different world we live in but I guess it boils down to "Better safe than sorry".  I would rather take a couple of minutes or so to go through a bag check than hear about a disaster happening at the park.

[mhguy77]

I would rather they check bags.  At 6 Flags they wand each person, when they start that we can get just fully excited

[Tmboote]

I would rather they check bags.  At 6 Flags they wand each person, when they start that we can get just fully excited

Cedar Point does that too, I'm not sure about other Cedar Fair parks.

[Swoosh]

Every Cedar Fair park is sanding this year. 

[Coaster]

We made a trip to the park on Sunday, 8/7. It was our first trip since late May. We didn't go down for any of the Moonlight Madness stuff, we really just wanted to head down there for a few hours of fun.

We left after church on Sunday and made it to the park about 2:45. It started raining on us on the way down there and when we got to the park it was still raining and actually getting harder. We decided to get in line for the 3:30 saloon show for some indoor entertainment. This is the first time we had seen the show this season and we all really enjoyed it. It had the classic SDC humor and the performers were all entertaining. We were hoping that after the saloon show the rain would have passed by but when we exited the saloon we saw that the rain was still coming steady. We quickly walked over to FITH to catch a ride before the rest of the saloon crowd did so as well. FITH will never get old.

All of the outdoor rides were closed due to lightning in the area. I learned an interesting bit of information while we were walking around. During a storm when all the rides are closed, you will know when the rides are open again once the train blows its whistle twice. I had never known this before but it was nice to know! Since everything was pretty much closed we just walked around the shops and gazed around. I actually find SDC very relaxing in the rain. A lot of people had left the park and it was nice to just walk around at a leisurely pace and enjoy the park for everything it has. I went in a lot of shops I hadn't been in for quite some time and I really just enjoyed the peaceful time.

Even though I do enjoy the leisure of just walking around and enjoying the shops, the long storm reinforces what I have been clamoring for for a long time. SDC NEEDS another indoor attraction. FITH and the FM are not enough. A highly themed people mover type indoor attraction or 3D ride (thinking Harry Potteresque) would be perfect and I really feel it is necessary at this point. I think SDC would get a great ROI because a lot of people left the park with the storm lasting 2+ hours. Keeping people in the park=more $$ being spent. This also got me thinking about how a on property resort would be great. People could just leave the park if there is rain and just come right back when the rain stops. Even though we live close enough to SDC to make a day trip, this is not the case for a lot of people. An on property resort with shopping and dining would be another step in the right direction for these rainy days.

The rain probably stopped around 5 and the rest of the rides opened along with it (with PK taking longer to open of course and Electrospin was also not open when we walked by). We got rides on WF, AP (how depressed this ride makes me), OR, and TNT. I tried to get a good look at the construction taking place around TNT but couldn't really tell much else had been done since the last update we had gotten. With the rain and it being a Sunday, I don't think much had been going on that day. All I can say from my own observation is that it is clear a TON of land is being cleared for this. It's going to look like WF did when it first opened if they don't make an effort to grow the area back. No trees or foliage will be in the area at all.

We used coupons we had gotten in the mail to try out the new Fry Bread Station for the first time. LOVED it. The bread is so good and they aren't stingy on the amount of pork they give. We will be going back for sure. We also love the apple butter funnel cake so of course we had to have that again. We started making our way towards the exit around 8. Would have loved to have stayed for the Echo Hollow show and fireworks but we had to go home since we had work on Monday. Hopefully we will be able to catch the show in September or October. The dance party on the square was starting as we were leaving the park. Carrie Underwood's "Good Girl" came on right before Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." I love MJ but when he is playing at SDC I know it's time for me to leave haha. It just doesn't work for me. I understand what SDC is trying to do with Moonlight Madness and it's fine with me as long as it doesn't permeate over into the rest of the SDC season. I prefer the bluegrass and gospel when I'm there. All in all we had a great afternoon and early evening at SDC!!

[sirwillow]

During a storm when all the rides are closed, you will know when the rides are open again once the train blows its whistle twice. I had never known this before but it was nice to know!

Guess I never thought of it that way, but it does sort of make sense.  The reason the train sounds it whistle is because it's getting ready to do a "test run" around the loop to make sure that everything is clear before it reopens. That can't happen until lightning is more than 10 miles away from the entire train loop, so yes, that would be a signal that the rest of the rides were at least in the process of reopening.  Many of them have to do test runs first as well, so there still might be a bit of a wait.

Additionally there are a couple of attractions that can open up before that- if lightning it more than 5 miles away.  The carousel at HDH is a good example of that.

In any case that's a good bit of advice to remember for the future.  Funny that after working there, and on the train no less, it had never occurred to me, even though it seems rather obvious now.  lol

[shavethewhales]

I took a quick midweek trip yesterday and Tuesday. The actual heat wasn't too bad, but as usual the humidity made things pretty rough. Crowds were pretty low and easy to deal with since it's mainly timeshare people from Oklahoma this time of year.

Everything was running really smoothly - quick operations on the coasters even when there was literally no line (I really appreciated this after the 10 minute dispatches at Magic Springs). Flooded Mine had a solid line, being one of the only rides that you can do as a multi-generation family inside in the air conditioning. Flooded Mine was actually in the best shape I've seen it in a long time. Nearly everything was working. There will always be some details not working at any given time since there are like a million moving parts, but it was doing really well this week.

Some of the Saloon show stars are apparently on vacation or working another show at the moment. The Charlie, Saloon Matron, and Mean Murphy characters were all played by different people. Still pretty good.

Weirdest thing that happened was when I sat next to a little boy who was riding by himself on Powderkeg. As soon as we launched, this massive string of the worst profanity started spewing from his mouth. He had to be around 6 years old? I wanted to track down his parents afterwards...

I also met up with the other Steve and we hit up a few things in Branson. Butterfly Palace was a lot smaller and hotter than I thought it would be, but it can be fun to do with the kids I guess. The new Mountain Coaster was a lot of fun. The journey up the hill lasts longer than the descent, but it's about what you'd expect if you ride without brakes. We also did the Vigilante zipline at Inspiration Tower, which was amazing. It's pretty pricey at $30 for the first go, but I think it's just about worth it.

Also, I ended up staying at Classic again. I was going to camp out on the point, but by the time I got down there the attendant was gone and it was going to be like $20 to camp (didn't have change to get to $16). With the crazy humidity, I made the right choice to spend $24 extra and get a bed, shower, and Olympics on TV at Classic.

[KBCraig]

^ It's a different world we live in but I guess it boils down to "Better safe than sorry".  I would rather take a couple of minutes or so to go through a bag check than hear about a disaster happening at the park.

It's not safe, it's just sorry. And it's not either/or, because the kabuki theater does nothing to enhance security.

I spent 23 years probing weak spots, and thinking how I would exploit weaknesses if I was a criminal. Administrators always ignored the real threats, preferring to put on a pretense at the front door instead of addressing the real weaknesses.

I haven't been to SDC in over ten years, but I guarantee that I could deliver a simulated "disaster-happening thing" into any part of the park that I wished within 24 hours of arriving in Branson. I'm not a criminal, and I'm not a genius -- I just have enough experience at thinking like criminals think, to not walk it through the front door.

And speaking of that, to cause real mayhem and panic, the front door is where a *real* bad guy would strike: it's the tightest concentration of people, families all bunched up together, everyone distracted by the bag check and ticket procedures... you get the idea.

It's just like the TSA: utterly useless, and always looking at the last attack instead of thinking about the next. Terrorists don't need to take over an airplane to terrorize. They don't even need tickets: the biggest concentration of unprotected people in any airport is the queue to pass the TSA checkpoint before even getting to the security screening site. The second biggest is the baggage pickup area, totally open to the public.

I'm sorry for my rant, it just rubs me the wrong way when people will voluntarily surrender their liberties in the name of safety.

Benjamin Franklin had some wise words about that.

[kbosch1]

Hello everyone.....first time long time!  I've been an occasional visitor of sdcfans for many years and have enjoyed reading about rumors, trip reviews, watching videos and the such.  My family and I absolutely love SDC.  We live in north-central Missouri (about 4 hrs from Branson) and visit Branson around 4-5 times/year.  In all of the visits to Branson (the past 10+ yrs) we’ve not gone to SDC on one trip and that was due to the short duration of our stay and weather.   I am a 45 yr old kid when it comes to the week leading up to our SDC trip…watching videos, checking this site, looking at the schedules online, etc.   I decided to take the plunge and create an account and write a trip review of this weekend’s trip to the “City”.
We arrived in Branson Friday afternoon and had plans to see Moses at Sight and Sound.  Incredible show and would recommend to anyone.  Our original plans were to go to SDC on Saturday and then Sunday checkout of our condo and do a little shopping before returning home.  After some agonizing and over-thinking (and after looking at forecasts – as it was supposed to rain all weekend) I decided Saturday morning to postpone SDC until Sunday and spend the day Saturday doing what we wanted around Branson and have some time for relaxing.  My wife and kids had raised eyebrows as they saw that the forecast for Saturday was that it was going to be clearing up and a great day and Sunday was showing higher chances of rain.  The local forecast showed that there was a chance Sunday morning and then there would be a window throughout the afternoon of no rain, so that’ why I went for it.  Boy was I glad I did that!!
We had planned to be at the chain drop but it was raining pretty good at 8:30 and so we decided to wait a little bit.  We left the condo at 9:30 and the rain had lightened up quite a bit into a heavy mist.  By the time we got into the parking lot at SDC it had all but stopped.  The tram was sitting at Stop 2 just waiting for passengers when we got out of the family bus (Suburban), and I thought to myself….”this may be a good sign!”  The tram ride was a little chilly (temp read 64 degrees in the Burb when we pulled up) but I thought that would be a good sign too along with the early rain for a low-crowd day.  We were dropped off, took the obligatory kids pic at the main SDC sign at the entrance and headed to the gate (10:08 am at this point).  The gate had no line and my wife, daughter and I got our season passes out and I got my BAF coupons out for my twin boys.  We walked in and decided to head straight for OR.  We were thrilled when we made the final corner to see that they SDC workers were just waiting for someone to board the coaster as there was nobody in line (this was about 10:30).  The ride was great and we decided to do the Barn Swing next (kids wanted to go immediately back to OR and do it again, but I’m realizing my age and the fact that doing some of these rides 2 times in a row equals not a good next hour or so – so Dad overrode them).  Again, walked into the gates of the Barn Swing and we were the only 5 on the ride.  FANTASTIC!!  We then went back to OR and did it again – this time there were a few others on the coaster when we rode but we still had no line.
After the 2nd OR spin, we decided to hit FITH.  Once again, no line and we got right on.  I swear, each time I ride this coaster I see something different.  I really wish it would go slower through the scenes to be able to see everything.  As usual, we loved it got a little splash at the end and decided to head to WildFire as PK was not operational as of that time.  We walked right up to WF and got on with...you guessed it, no wait.  Still love this ride to this day.  We all had a great ride and decided to see the new saloon show at 11:30 – yep that’s right…did all of that and it was only 11:15.  Saw the show and I think I’d have to say it was my favorite saloon show ever.  Great jokes and action and my 16 year old twins actually were belly laughing at the comedy when normally they’d give some comment about the lame jokes.  We exited the show and saw that PK was now running and decided to head up to it and ride.  We had to wait one ride to board this time (the nerve!!!) and we were off.  Great ride (that first 2.8 seconds gets me ever time!).  We then decided to head over to Lumbercamp Falls for a skillet and homemade potato chips (one son loves the tenderloins, so he grabbed one of those).  The skillets were incredible yesterday.  We normally are searching for the sausage, and yesterday there was so much we couldn’t eat all of them.  Best skillet I’ve had there for sure (one thing I noticed was that they got rid of the table with the different seasonings – bummer!).
We then took off for the Chris Stanley show at Boatworks Theater at 1:15.  It was a good show.  Had some good laughs and the little kids that were attending loved it.  He had some humor that only adults understood and we were glad we sat and watched.  After the show, it was time to head over to The Grand Exposition but not before doing a little looking for the new construction area.  We could only barely see it through the trees, but did get a glimpse of it.  We hit the Electrospin and the swings before heading over to Thunderation.  Crowds were starting to get a “little” bigger and so we had to wait one ride before boarding.  As we left the station I was able to get some good glimpses of the clearing going on for the new ride.  Excited for it to arrive!!  We all love Thunderation.  Simple ride, but it’s long and has some thrills.  After unloading we headed straight over to the train and waited about 10-15 minutes for it to return and board.  Ride was great, the robbery was good and the actors had some good interaction with kids.  We enjoyed it as normal.  After getting off the train we went to FM and I absolutely destroyed my family in the family shooting contest .  By this time it was about 4:00 and it was time for some snacks.  We stopped at the glass blowing demo (we always love this) on the way to Brown’s Candy Factory and funnel cakes.  We sat and watched a little of the blacksmith demo while eating dessert.  After dessert the kids had some friends they wanted to meet and ride PK and WF again. The wife and I decided to sit those out and did a little shopping in the square and then headed over to the Wilderness Church and the homestead.   We visited the elderly lady at the homestead (can’t remember her name for the life of me, but have seen her numerous times ) and wished her a happy 75th bday (she had her button on).  She gave us a personal tour of the homestead with some great history and facts.  After her tour we walked around a little more and found a bench to sit and enjoy the goings-on of the town square.  The kids finally showed up around 5:30 and we hit the Phoebe’s Taffy shop up front and got some goodies for the ride home.  We found our tram and were in the family bus for a park departure of 6pm and were back home at 9:50.  It was a great day – honestly I think it was our best visit ever due to the small crowd, food and shows we experienced.  I can’t wait to return for the National Harvest & Cowboy Festival in October and then a return for Christmas. 

Well, that’s it…..my first post and boy was it a long one – hopefully not too long.