2019 Trip Reports

woodgrain · June 27, 2019, 10:01:54 PM

Quote from: golfprowj on June 27, 2019, 01:18:11 PM
Visited SDC Monday- took my 3 year old daughter for the first time! Highlight of fatherhood to see her experience this great place. Took her on my favorite ride Flooded mine. Really hope they don't change that ride, to many great memories!

That's great, man. Glad you were able to take your kiddo. I've enjoyed introducing our little ones to a place I loved so much as a kid, even if every trip now involves me cramming in to the back seat of a Dalmatian at Fireman's Landing. Gets tricky trying to buckle in to some of those kid rides with your legs turned sideways!

Joy · June 30, 2019, 09:33:32 PM

Quote from: Swoosh on June 17, 2019, 12:41:46 PM
Home is not a place (that's how you know you are home) - ?

Did a quick google. That song seems to be "Home" from Wonderland: The Musical (2011).

I don't think I'll get the chance to see "Reuben's..." this year, but maybe next year, so hopefully some of these kinks get worked out by then.

So far, "Listen to the River" is still my all-time favorite SDC musical. God, I'd love to see them revive that one for a new generation.

I wonder if maybe they should've had Reuben be Tom Sawyer? I mean, like, Mark Twain's works published pre-1923 are public domain, so they could easily have used characters from Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn. In fact, it'd make a lot more sense to have the main characters be Tom and Huck and the pirate adventures just them playing; no "it was all a dream" stuff (god, that is one of the top worst tropes in writing, IMHO). In fact, although it's been a while since I've read the Tom and Huck novels, I recall that Tom and Friends played at being pirates on the Mississippi in.... Adv of Tom Sawyer, I believe.

It would tie the show more closely to Twain, Missouri, the 1800s, and other areas of the park like River Blast. Honestly, I really don't know why SDC doesn't have more Mark Twain-related stuff. I don't *think* there's a moratorium on Twain characters/stories/etc in theme parks... If there was, I doubt SDC would've been able to theme River Blast to Tom and Huck.

*sigh*

Y'know, maybe I should sit down and see if I can write a show to pitch to SDC. I mean, I am an English Major (Creative Writing track) who is obsessed with all things Mark Twain and SDC, soooo.... I feel like maybe I could write something good.

palallin · July 02, 2019, 10:14:21 AM

FWIW, Mark Twain is not the Ozarks, and the Ozarks are not Mark Twain.

HumphreyHawk · July 02, 2019, 10:58:52 AM

Quote from: palallin on July 02, 2019, 10:14:21 AM
FWIW, Mark Twain is not the Ozarks, and the Ozarks are not Mark Twain.

It's the Missouri tie in....SDC has already used Twain before. Plus 90% of the general public isn't going to go "Twain shouldn't be in the Ozarks"...lol

sirwillow · July 02, 2019, 12:36:29 PM

Personally I like the Reuben Branson tie in, since that is who founded Branson in real life. I think it's a totally appropriate reference...

History Buff · July 02, 2019, 01:07:50 PM

Quote from: sirwillow on July 02, 2019, 12:36:29 PM
Personally I like the Reuben Branson tie in, since that is who founded Branson in real life. I think it's a totally appropriate reference...

Then tell his story. Tell him his history. Tell him how he got to this point in his life. There's an adventure in there. But don't just recycle the old "let's go over here for a while, then here, then here, and back to where we started" storyline that could be presented at any park in the country. Make it about him, and make it good. I'd rather see that than the worst show I've ever seen at Silver Dollar City.

MidwestInfoGuide · July 02, 2019, 04:04:10 PM

I was promised a Pirate Show. I want the Pirate Show I was promised

runner1960 · July 02, 2019, 04:21:44 PM

Quote from: HumphreyHawk on July 02, 2019, 10:58:52 AM
Quote from: palallin on July 02, 2019, 10:14:21 AM
FWIW, Mark Twain is not the Ozarks, and the Ozarks are not Mark Twain.

It's the Missouri tie in....SDC has already used Twain before. Plus 90% of the general public isn't going to go "Twain shouldn't be in the Ozarks"...lol

I always thought it was strange how Mark Twains characters found their way to the ozarks. It is totally out of place. But, so is The Hatfields and McCoys. REtire them and build on the local history.

History Buff · July 02, 2019, 05:36:56 PM

Quote from: Runner1960 on July 02, 2019, 04:21:44 PM
Quote from: HumphreyHawk on July 02, 2019, 10:58:52 AM
Quote from: palallin on July 02, 2019, 10:14:21 AM
FWIW, Mark Twain is not the Ozarks, and the Ozarks are not Mark Twain.

It's the Missouri tie in....SDC has already used Twain before. Plus 90% of the general public isn't going to go "Twain shouldn't be in the Ozarks"...lol

I always thought it was strange how Mark Twains characters found their way to the ozarks. It is totally out of place. But, so is The Hatfields and McCoys. REtire them and build on the local history.

There is enough right here to build on: https://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/wrv/V1/N2/W61b.htm. It's not that hard to do a little research and make it special.

Joy · July 03, 2019, 11:28:53 AM

I think aside from the fact that Twain is from Missouri, SDC probably used those characters because the books were released in the timeframe that SDC is set in (1876 [TS] and 1885 [HF]), so Missourians would have been voraciously reading them, even in the Ozarks.

Also, the other two regional/state theme parks are either world-themed (WoF) or IP-themed (SF). SDC is the one with an 1880s Missouri theme, so Twain fits there best, even if he wasn't from the area.

palallin · July 03, 2019, 03:40:27 PM

The release dates are wildly misleading: the events depicted took place in the 1840s and '50s. The world he was describing was long gone by the 1880s even along the river (which was the whole point of his Life on the Mississippi). The politics, the economy, the history, the religion, the language, and the ethnicities of the two regions also differed, both in the '40s and in the '80s.

Certainly, 1880s Ozarkers would have been reading Twain's books, but they would have recognized that the times and places depicted differed from their own.

Duelist · July 04, 2019, 11:32:37 AM

^ Only true SDC fans would debate this! That's us!

MidwestInfoGuide · July 04, 2019, 08:55:37 PM

Quote from: Joy on July 03, 2019, 11:28:53 AM
I think aside from the fact that Twain is from Missouri, SDC probably used those characters because the books were released in the timeframe that SDC is set in (1876 [TS] and 1885 [HF]), so Missourians would have been voraciously reading them, even in the Ozarks.

Also, the other two regional/state theme parks are either world-themed (WoF) or IP-themed (SF). SDC is the one with an 1880s Missouri theme, so Twain fits there best, even if he wasn't from the area.

WOF is actually "book themed" - Around the World in 80 Days

bac · July 08, 2019, 02:03:06 PM

Theme Park Worldwide posted a great trip report VLOG from their June visit. They really liked the park. For those that don't know TPW, they have a large following and they don't like everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnm956g2Gzg

DianaGail · July 21, 2019, 07:21:20 AM

It was a beautiful, hot day at the city. We got there for rope drop. We waited in no lines except for river blast around 2 pm. We had my nieces with us and they wanted to ride the wave carousel. We now remember why we don't ride it often. It took them 10 minutes just to load the ride. They didn't all make it on the same rotation so we had to wait through it twice. Ugh.

Lots of progress on the rib house this trip. The Mexican restaurant is definitely one of our favorites. They rode every ride in the expo, Caleb on time traveler, all the kids rode thunderstorm twice. Hit up the saloon show and there were some new one liners and a new prop. Our visitors loved it! I didn't recognize any of the girls this time. Two runs through grandfathers mansion and a run through the taffy stop and we were done.

We will be back next weekend for moonlight madness. We will have our month-long foreign exchange student with us.