Smoking Area by PowderKeg

[MSUBear42]

Is anyone else disgusted that SDC has made the observation deck for the PowderKeg launch a smoking area? We would always sit there with non-riders to watch the people's faces when the ride shoots off, but it's unbearable now to be around all those smokers. Terrible idea to put it there because I know when we were there today, at least 20 people turned back around when they saw all the smokers standing there.

[marolinesdad]

Don't forge that the exit area to Wildfire is now a smoking area....  You have to walk thru a cloud to get to look at your pictures...   That is 11 or 12 smoking areas in this park now.  Just 2 years ago there was 4.

[tinmann620]

My biggest problem is the one they moved to the front of the Homestead, especially when the Picker's are playing.  I don't have a problem with the one at PK, because IF you are sitting at the smoker's area, you CAN"T see the coaster launch.  Maybe they should make it 1880's themed smoking, you know, when MORE men smoked pipes & cigars, than they actually smoke cigarettes, today, would that please everyone?  Off of soapbox...

[Ozark Outlaw]

Well they have to put a smoking area at PowderKeg so that people can light their cigarettes every time the barrels explode, and the coaster launches. 

[saloongal]

The only smoking area that seems out of the way is down by the train station.  But there are just not a lot of places that aren't in the path of something else to put those areas.

As long as they don't allow open smoking all over the park you won't hear me complaining. 

[Ozark Outlaw]

Designated smoking areas are defiantly a balancing act. I am sure smokers enjoy the ability to smoke while watching their friends, and family ride the different rides. I am sure they much prefer that over a little smoking hole shoved into a tiny nook of the park.

However, part of the excitement of Silver Dollar city is enjoying not only the beauty, but the fresh clean air of the Ozarks. So how do you balance it?

For me personally, the only smoke that I enjoy is the smoke billowing off of the old barbeque grill!

[History Buff]

It wasn't that many years ago that SDC sold cigarettes in some of the shops.  I'm disappointed that there are more smoking areas in a park that brags so much about supporting ecology.

[amazonman]

First of all,I'm a Smoker and i know we are looked down on by Society and i wish i never started Smoking.I can understand non-smokers not wanting to be around it.I do think it was a bad choice for a smoking area.

[Firstvisit1967]

Maybe the smokers have complained enough that the park thought they needed more than 4 smoking areas. 

I do not want to get on a soap box but be carefull what you wish for.  ( Those that demand smoking be banned in all public places)  When the worlds governments start taking away rights things do not seem to end well for it's citizens.  I could care less what they do with smoking areas.  What is next???  Weigh in for buffets, or candy shops.  If you weight to much you have to eat healthy?   If you ride a hoveround because you are to fat you have to eat only healthy food?  No obese people allowed in the park? 

[Joy]

For me, the difference is that a person being overweight is only detrimental to their own health. A person smoking, on the other hand, is not only marring their own health, but the health of those around them.

[/soapbox]

[MSUBear42]

Wasn't there already that one smoking area by the queue for FITH? Why add one so close to that one that has been there for as long as I can remember?

[PastorDon]

^I remember a pre-show guy for the Saloon Follies pointing out one time that it's right next to the Firemen's Cemetery.  Always wondered if they planned it that way? 

[Joy]

Good point, MSUbear. I always thought it was funny that they designated an area right in front of the cemetery for smoking. I love SDC's tongue-in-cheek humor.

[KBCraig]

It wasn't that many years ago that SDC sold cigarettes in some of the shops.  I'm disappointed that there are more smoking areas in a park that brags so much about supporting ecology.

Better shut down the blacksmith's forge, then. Oh, and glassblowing factory, kettle corn, all the restaurants...

[History Buff]

^...lye soap making, wagon wheel making...

However, this is a list of productive activities, with smells that are pleasant.

I do understand the idea about governments taking away rights, but rights are not the same as freedoms.  The reality is, SDC sets the smoking policy for its park.  I doubt this is about anything but money, but are they saying they will make more money by having more smoking areas?  Unless they are selling tobacco products again, I doubt people stay away just because there on so few smoking areas.

How about they ban all modern cigarettes and sell more appropriate products to the 19th Century theme?  Teach the kids to roll 'em themselves.