2018 Trip Reports

[sirwillow]

The younger son was disappointed to see that the figures were lit throughout Grandma's Christmas story (and that it wasn't grandpa).  I can only guess them timer was not working right, and they didn't bother to fix it so late in the season.

Grandma?  Wonder what prompted that.  They must have had some grandpas call out and didn't have fill ins.

BTW, the lights are not on a timer.  There's 2 "grandpas" out there at a time- while one is telling the story the other is sitting in the shack listening on a monitor and keying the lights on and off as well as starting and stopping the music to go along with the granpa telling the story.  If it was a "grandma" telling the story (already unusual) it's possible that there was another sub in the cabin running the lights/ music and maybe rather than miss a cue decided to just leave them on.

[Swoosh]

Kathy was out there a few times this season doing the spiel.  The lights had some issues after a storm blew through and since some became inoperable they just left them on the remainder of the season... well the ones that still worked

[Tmboote]

When I rode the train on the 22nd, grandma did the story and the lights appeared to be working correctly.

[palallin]

Thanks for the info, guys!

It wasn't Kathy--she was at the depot; we didn't recognize this Grandma.

Interesting that the lights are manual!  That actually makes a great deal of sense.

[sanddunerider]

Kathy was out there a few times this season doing the spiel.  The lights had some issues after a storm blew through and since some became inoperable they just left them on the remainder of the season... well the ones that still worked

We were there sunday, and all of the lights were working then..

They had a lot of rain/moisture over the weekend, so water may have soaked into electical connection..

[biscuitcreek]

We went for a brief last fling on Sunday.  We drove down after church and got to the city about 3:30.  We were surprised but gratified to see spots available in Lot 2 (though we parked in 3 to avoid the crowding).  The temps hovered in the lower '40s and we got a few sprinkles but no real rain to speak of.

We saw a handful of middle-aged ladies go through the baggage check and have 7 small bottles of booze confiscated.  They took it in good enough humor that I suspect they had already been imbibing.   

We were sorry to see that the stores were essentially sold out of lye soap.  We stood in line a long time of Dickens and rode the train.  The younger son was disappointed to see that the figures were lit throughout Grandma's Christmas story (and that it wasn't grandpa).  I can only guess them timer was not working right, and they didn't bother to fix it so late in the season.

We left about 8:30 to avoid the late rush. 

The city was not really crowded, especially after the second parade.

I suppose the employees are forbidden to say "Merry Christmas" after the 25th?  Everyone said "Happy New Year," even in response to "Merry Christmas."  But, gosh! Sunday was only the 6th Day of Christmas!

There was a grandpa but most of the lights on the figures were not working correctly when we rode the train on 12/6. Some stayed lit the entire time, some never came on.

We bought lye soap in the Ozark Marketplace on the way out -- just happened to see it on a display table.

[sirwillow]

Very interesting reading.  We were there on the 22nd and it was a grandpa- one I knew well in fact- and all the lights worked just fine.  I was very pleased since I was video taping it.  I honestly didn't have a clue they were using grandmas this year as anything more than an emergency measure.

The lights not turning on and off during the show is concerning, as that's run by a person and a light board during it.  That really makes me wonder what was going on with the person in the shack who was supposed to be doing that part.  Especially since it seems it was happening on much more than a rare occasion.

Really makes me wonder.  But almost everyone I knew and worked with on the train is gone now, and the ones that are left...  Still close with a couple engineers, but even there has been a bunch of turnover in the last year to year and a half.

[palallin]

We bought lye soap in the Ozark Marketplace on the way out -- just happened to see it on a display table.

Alas, none left by the end of the month.

[palallin]

But almost everyone I knew and worked with on the train is gone now, and the ones that are left...  Still close with a couple engineers, but even there has been a bunch of turnover in the last year to year and a half.

Very true, and I miss them.  Some of the newer ones are very good--like Chris and Kathy--but many of the older ones, like Rick and Ben, had become good friends.

[U Smell Smoke]

When we rode the train on the Sunday before Christmas we had a grandpa; however, his microphone quit working so we didn't get to hear his story. Very disappointing after waiting in a long line.

[ThemeParkFan]

Just finished a two day visit for Moonlight Madness.

The good:
-I'm stunned that I still am able to find new details each time I visit
-I was impressed by the coaster operations! Not that operations have ever been bad, but they've never wowed me. The last two days, guests and ops were on the ball, trains were being sent out quickly, Powder Keg was calling out for Single Riders, everything was running two trains (albeit TT opened with one today, assuming a mechanical issue), and no stacking. Why more parks can't do that more often is beyond me.
-The Apple Dumpling stand was open! I don't think I've ever seen it open in Summer before.
-The Pickers and most of the entertainment
-Powder Keg was running better for me this visit than it has in YEARS.
-The fireworks show was great! As was the entirety of the Echo Hollow show, actually, a nice change from the last one I saw several years ago.
-Moonlight Madness hours/operational changes. Last time I did MM, pretty much everything in the park that wasn't a ride closed at 7. This year, everything stayed open til 8, then a few shops stayed open til 9 or 10 o'clock close. I thought this was a big improvement from ~5 yrs ago~

The ambiguous
-Taffy shop remodel. It's very nice, but feels like the designer thought he was doing it for Dollywood.

The bad/needs improvement:
-Reuben's. I'm happy they're doing an original show and the set was fantastic. That said, there were too many fourth wall-breaking jokes for my taste, the Reuben at the performance I saw wasn't particularly good, and there were some inconsistencies (i.e. A character mentions that they have trouble rhyming, but then rhymes flawlessly two minutes later in the musical number) that bugged me.
-Redone EH stage. I totally understand why they did it, but the old backdrop had character. The current one might as well be in any City Park, USA.
-FITH. See my post in the 2021 Thread.
-Lantern Tour. It's not that I didn't like it, it just played more like a ghost tour than anything promised on the website ("guide in themed costume" did not happen, to say the least).
-There's a bad jolt on Thunderation in the tunnel after the helix. It's very pronounced and painful now.
-Merchandising/computer snafu. STORY TIME: I went to use the 25% coupon I got with my pass for three items purchased at HH. I go to buy them and use the coupon-the employee tells me that the Marvel Cave DVD I want to buy is sold by attractions and that he can't ring it up for me. Weird, but ok. So I go the cave tour desk. I tell this employee what the previous one had told me. This guy rolls his eyes and said that the other guy absolutely could have and should have rung up the DVD with the other items.

So I assume that the first guy just didn't know and go to Guest Relations to get the 25% to also apply to the DVD. They call HH and assure me a manager is coming. This manager takes me to the Marketplace and tells the employee there to refund the DVD and then have me repurchase with the coupon. Ok, fine. But the Marketplace employee says that that's not going to work because it's a cave item, only the cave people can sell/refund/adjust it. Manager says it'll work and walks away. Marketplace employee tries, but the computer doesn't recognize the item at all. Marketplace employee and a few other employees try several things with the computer and make some phone calls. It takes awhile, but finally it works. Unfortunately, by the time it was all done, it was an hour of my day I will never get back.

It doesn't make any sense to me that the Cave DVD is an attractions item and not a general merchandise item, or that it could only be rung up in a particular place, but that seemed to be the case. Especially since one of the other items I purchased was a Marvel Cave book that was also from HH! I hope that at some point whoever handles SDC's IT needs fixes some of those weird little kinks in the system.

[Okiebenz]

We went up yesterday at around 5pm and rode rides until it was time for the Echo hollow show.  I really just do not like the new stage. It is great that it is new but it does not have the same ambiance it has before. Anyway, we did not stay thru the whole show, left at about 8:45 and rode a few more rides.  It was not super busy but was not dead either.  There was a little bit of a wait for PK.  We were 1 train away from being able to see the fireworks from the ride.  As it stands we did not see anything at all of the show because we were in the building.  For some reason there were several train loads of folks who could not seem to figure out how to get on and off the ride.  We left right before 10pm.  It was a mad house at the exit.

Today I had planned on going up at opening them coming back later in the day.  We ended up just coming at about 7pm.  On the way up it was raining cats and dogs even though it was just a little blip on the radar.  Just as we were pulling in the rain was stopping.  As we were going in (we were the only ones going in at that time) it was like an episode of the walking dead with the hordes of people coming out.  This was looking like a good sign.  As we got in all the rides were closed, even FM.  We ended up getting on FITH pretty quick.  Rode that, got a $1 ice cream float, then even though app said TGS was closed we went up there anyway and they just opened it.  So, we rode that.  We headed up to PK and they said it was open, got down to the gates and there were probably 4 loads of people ahead of us.  They said they were just waiting on a call to start running.  Pretty soon they sent one of the workers out for a test ride.  As soon as that car left, they got another call.  Worker comes back on and lightening is within 10 miles so they can't run.  We left.  Headed toward the train, it was running but I guess it shut down also when it got back in.  Rode FM.  Waited around till about 8:30 and there was still lightening in the area per radar.  Figured there was very little chance of them opening anything to started to head toward the exit just as it started pouring again.  Currently at the Honeysuckle where Michelle from All Access hooked us up for $60 a night where as our usual place wanted over $200 for the jacuzzi suite, which was all they had.  All the travel sites have the other places in town close to $100 or more for the rat hole places.  Will head back up at opening tomorrow for a couple of hours, then go back around 8:30-9pm tomorrow for another couple of hours. 

[Swoosh]

Guys... this is the 2018 thread.  It’s 2019
Hey administration can we get a lock on this thread?

[Okiebenz]

I am really a dummy, I think I just saw new activity on this one and posted mine here.  I am going to copy it to 2019 and add Saturday trip to it