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[marolinesdad]

I would not call the employees Stupid.  I would say they are making a judgement about the situation.  First of all if it were the case about them making the lines longer on purpose to sell the Trailblazer they would not tell a ride opp that.  They still are only selling a set amount of the passes on a first come first serve basis.  Second they would not do this anyway because they would not want to make the masses angry and not want them to come back.     I talked to MGMT on park opening weekend and they said they were a little short handed because of the student workers not there yet,  but mostly the lines were long because they were training new employees.  The new employees have to be trained with guests on park then certified to run the rides.  So they had most of the employees they needed but they were not yet trained to run the rides by themselves.  If you went back this weekend I bet you would find smaller lines.  

[Ozark Outlaw]

Hopefully after all of the schools finish up with Spring Break the lines will die down a bit until this summer, and by then Silver Dollar City should be fully staffed.

My speculation is that the ride operators are as much in the dark about this situation as we are. The ride operators are just there to operate the rides. I would assume that they do not make the decision of how many rollercoaster cars to operate each day. I would bet that management along with maintenance makes that determination.

The ride operators probably speculate about the reasoning behind the Trailblazer Pass just as much as we do.

[Copper]

short handed because of the student workers not there yet,  but mostly the lines were long because they were training new employees.  The new employees have to be trained with guests on park then certified to run the rides.

This is true. You also have to take into consideration the amount of things closed, shops and theatres that haven't opened yet. Trains that haven't finished their winter maintenance, the winter season keeps getting shorter. Also the more trains and boats you have the bigger your chances are for down-time, if the train/boats get to close to each other because people are taking too long to load the ride or for some other reason the ride shuts down. PK with three trains more than likely will shut down frequently.

I like Disney's system too, but you have to realize how much it costs, I would say any chance for a new ride would have to be sacrificed for several years.

I want to know what rides told you that the long lines were supposed to boost Trailblazer sales. I know for a FACT that this isn't true; SDC does not operate like that. This should be dealt with.

[Bigdog]

TNT, Giant Swing and PowderKeg were all running below capacity on opening day.  The line for the Swing, with only one arm operating, was the longest that I have ever seen it.

During Spring Family Days, virtually all of the shows and many of the shops are closed.  There's really not much more to do than eat and ride.  I happen to like to visit with the workers as I wait to ride.  Since all of the line except for Wildfire were moving very slow, I had a lot of chances throughout the day to talk to the ops, both the ones that appeared to be in charge as well as the ones that seemed to be new at it.

They could have told me that the other train was busted, the other Swing Arm was not ready for operation, that they were understaffed or training new employees, etc. etc. etc.  But they didn't tell me those things.  They told me they were trying to sell more Trailblazers.

Sorry, but I'm more inclined to believe the opinion of several people that I talked to in person over a group on a message board.  The regulars on this forum seem to be very well informed, but they may or may not have been present in the parks at the time.

[sdcforever]

^You can believe what you want.  But it is NOT good business sense to tell guests on park that rides are purposefully understaffed to sell the upcharge Trailblazer Passes.  Copper works at the park and has for several years.  He knows what he's talking about.  SDC would not tell ride ops that for the specific reason that it could very well get back to the guests.  I also don't think SDC would institute a policy like that in the first place.

My guess is that the ride ops told you that to have some fun with you.  I'm also inclined to believe that they didn't tell you that at all and you're just trying to stir things up on the forums.  Especially since you've backed away from the fact that ride ops also told you they didn't know it would be so busy (you mentioned that reason in your first post, but failed to mention in your latest post).  There have been other legitimate reasons for rides not running at full capacity.  It's just irresponsible to ignore those and insist that the reason is to sell more Trailblazer Passes.

[Bigdog]

No, not trying to stir things up, just sharing some stuff that I was told.  I didn't dwell on the crowd projection aspect as this thread is about the Trailblazer pass option.

I take the family to the City several times a year and will be back in a few weeks.  We'll see how things are going then.  The lines for the rides do tend to die down as more of the shows and shops open for the season. 

[sdcforever]

^I hope I didn't offend you.  I was a little irritated when I posted that.  Normally I'm on a pretty even keel.

Hopefully things will be better when you visit in a few weeks.  My wife and I will be visiting in early May.

As for the Trailblazer Pass, I don't have much of a problem with it as long as they keep the numbers they hand out each day to 75-100.  If they make the numbers unlimited then there might be a problem.

[History Buff]

Thank you all for keeping a civil conversation going.  I never saw a TB being used last year.  Except for a sign at FitH and postings here, I wouldn't have even known it existed.  I'm not even sure where I would go to use one.

As for training new employees, why not just have the first day open be Season Pass Appreciation Day (SPAD) and let us help train the citizens?

[mhguy77]

I agree that this is a new 2 tier system.
According to the pigs in the Orwell novel Animal Farm " all animals were equal, but some animals are more equal"
There is a lot of truth to that in this situation.
We started with the show pass now its the Trailblazer.

The lack of effenciancy is nothing short of intentional, there are no moves being made to improve the situation by the management.

All debate aside ponder this, and pose this question to a manager.
If Silver Dollar City were to go on the old pay per ride system would they find a way to increase the riders per hour?
We all know the answer to this.
Therefore it is my strong contention that this is purposeful and intentionally created.

Thoughts?

[shavethewhales]

The lack of effenciancy is nothing short of intentional, there are no moves being made to improve the situation by the management.

How do you know this? In a few weeks they'll be back up to normal capacity, I'm positive. The fact is that Branson doesn't exactly have a huge workforce available to come into the park during this time. And again, I've found that the limits are still in place, so they aren't exactly going to create big lines intentionally to sell an extra 20 passes. It's still very much in their best interests to be as efficient as possible so more people will come back.

[Coaster]

Thank you all for keeping a civil conversation going.  I never saw a TB being used last year.  Except for a sign at FitH and postings here, I wouldn't have even known it existed.  I'm not even sure where I would go to use one.

As for training new employees, why not just have the first day open be Season Pass Appreciation Day (SPAD) and let us help train the citizens?

Love that idea!! And while I have seen things around the city to suggest that it is becoming more about the money, I know that SDC does not operate that way. That just sounds like some dumb college kid.

[Joy]

I seriously think the long lines are due to great weather and very few shows & shops being open.

[History Buff]

At Disney parks, the best time to ride is when the crowd is drawn to a parade.  At SDC, the shows/shops relieve the lines.  No shows/no shops = longer ride lines.  Period.

[KBCraig]

Despite adding additional days to the operating year, SDC remains a seasonal park, and probably always will.

Instead of griping about wait times in the very early season, just think about if there was no early season. Traditionally, SDC (like most parks not in Florida or SoCal) operated full time only from mid May to early September, and wasn't open at all outside that time frame, except for some weekends in the early summer.

Missouri, even at the southern edge, is hardly in the temperate climate zone. There's no way to operate the full park year-'round. The workforce and the guest traffic simply won't support it. The fact that the park is open at all between Labor Day and May 1 is just a bonus.

[Junior]

I have a history with this park as a guest and as an employee since 1970. I cannot believe long lines are intentional in order to sell Trailblazer Passes. If this is so, management is in need of replacement.