The "City" Opens

Copper · March 20, 2008, 10:01:22 PM

They had a big opening day crowd today, over 15,000. This week will be a great week for SDC! With all the rain that the Ozarks got the cave is flooded, so they are doing half tours. Except for that and the Waterboggan being closed for the spring everything is doing well!

History Buff · March 20, 2008, 10:04:10 PM

Can you give some numbers? Is 15,000 a bbbuuusssyyy day, a busy day, an average day, or a light day?

Copper · March 20, 2008, 10:07:55 PM

15,000 is a pretty busy day. They were expecting far less then that, so it came as surprise.

History Buff · March 20, 2008, 10:08:56 PM

I wonder if the day before Easter will be busy or light. They may be wondering the same thing.

Copper · March 20, 2008, 10:27:35 PM

Out of the three days they are open it will probably be the lightest, just because it is the day before Easter. It is also this weeks Sunday, since they are closed on Sunday and Sunday is usually the better weekend day to attend SDC.

marolinesdad · March 22, 2008, 08:49:35 PM

Opening day was good. My daughter and I were there Thurs and Friday. We got to the park at 8:05 so we could eat breakfast. I parked in parking lot C. At 8:30 when there was 30 people waiting for a tram and it was not running yet I called SDC. The girl that answered the phone told me the part did not open till 10. I reminded her that they served breakfast at 8. She sent a tram. They were expecting 7500 people and the final total for the first day was 16421... They were under staffed and they only had one set of cars on each coaster running. Friday was much better. They were more prepared. all in all it was a great 2 days.

marolinesdad · March 22, 2008, 09:23:48 PM

They have done a lot of work on the park. I really enjoyed seeing all the updates. The baloon ride was not repainted but did recieve new seats and seat belts. The Flooded mine got a new paint job. It looks great. Fire in the hole got some new timbers that support the track. (it is amazing what you can see in there when you take along a mag light...lol).

There are some things that are not so good.

the Duplicating Lathe is not working because they sent the motor off to get it fixed and have no idea when it will come back. The operator said he will be supprised if it is back before Christmas.

Birdie's Cabin is closed to the public now. They said it was not Structurally sound.

The tree house is still closed and When I asked about it I was told the only way to save it is for all of us to write in to the main office.

On a possitive note the guy that has been working the American Plunge (log ride) for years said thay are planning to revamp the ride and he wants vistors to write in and let them know that they need to add back the other half of the ride they cut out when they took away the float trip. It is all still there and the water still flows thru it but it is bypassed. He said there is also talk to bring things back to the tunnel but it would have to be all projection because when it was reconstructed they removed all the cool stuff behind the walls.

I need to go stop a fight between my kids.. more later.

shavethewhales · March 22, 2008, 09:59:04 PM

Aw, not Birdie's Cabin... That was always an awesome place to go and just hang out for awhile to get away from the City, plus it was a cool piece of history and part of an area of SDC that is quickly vanishing.

What was the Duplicating Lathe again?

I'll bet the American Plunge Re-hab will indeed involve major additions to the tunnel, as I'm sure everyone's been disappointed with the blandness of the new tunnel, I dunno about using the old Float Trip trackage though, that could get costly unless they plan on spending some serious dough on this.

Good stuff, I'll need to write a news article about it all once I get the new site running.

Copper · March 23, 2008, 02:36:39 PM

I have always wanted the American Plunge to include the entire Jim Owen channel. The cave needs to be restored and the entrance needs to be on the other side of the Plunge's lift hill. The reason for the entrance change is that it would open up the Wildfire walkway; it is too narrow and crowded.

History Buff · March 23, 2008, 03:20:40 PM

We were there on Day Three. There were no problems with parking at 8:30. We had heard nightmares from people on the strip that it would take hours to park and there was a four hour wait for some rides. Now, when has that ever been realistic??? On the third day, they were expecting 13,000, but came a couple of thousand short. The rides were fully open (except the Waterboggan) and fully staffed.

The Giant Swing has some improvements. In the queue, the chicken wire separating the line from the Lost River has been replaced with stronger wire - much better. Then, where the graffiti was a problem in the skinny part of the line, the upper half of the wall has been removed. Now you can see the ride area before you get on the ride, and graffiti should be less tempting. All good.

In the Flooded Mine, all the characters have had makeovers (though they look to have paper mache heads or something), and I noticed at least three guards have been added to the prisoner crew, along with new sounds. There's always a lot of stuff happening in there, so we'll have to keep looking for the new stuff. The song seemed more prominent, as well. Other upgrades have already been mentioned.

Geyser Gulch has new targets for the water cannons and at least one new pad for the kiddie fountains.

Midtown looks great and has an assorment of shops that will appeal to a more relaxed crowd. It's the first time I've seen such continuity there.

Fire-in-the-Hole seemed a little lighter during the first part. They now make you stow your loose items like the other coasters. I don't think much was done on the inside though - hard to look when you're calming a four-year-old.

shavethewhales · March 23, 2008, 05:31:07 PM

What about the Mansion? Were the rumors of work there true?

marolinesdad · March 23, 2008, 05:36:04 PM

They did some work in Grandfathers Mansion. The main thing I noticed is that they re felted the pool table. But now the ball rolls a little different. It still goes inthe hole but sometimes it hits the ball in the side pocked a little.

Coaster · March 23, 2008, 06:40:46 PM

I don't think the re felted pool table is the kind of Grandfather's Mansion re vamp we all wanted. Oh well.

Hmm, if they are wanting to make changes to American Plunge when would they do it? If SDC is getting a new coaster for 2009 then I can't imagine them also re vamping American Plunge in the same offseason. Also, if they used the entire Jim Owen channel how much longer would the ride be? I have always wanted American Plunge to be longer.

For all the rides queues that have a lot of graffiti (I mainly notice Wildfire and The Giant Swing) do they repaint the walls every offseason or how does that work?

I can't wait to go to the city and see all this for myself. We might be going this weekend for Young Christians' or April 5. Both days would be awesome though.

Sorry for all the questions.

History Buff · March 23, 2008, 07:49:45 PM

I noticed the new felt too. Swanky! It's these little things that make us a unique breed. Who else even cares about a new fence or new felt on a pool table? Do we have a problem? Should be seek help?

Anyway, I didn't notice anything else had been modified in the Mansion, though I saw the rugs on the ceiling for the first time - the ceiling over our hallway, not the upside down rooms. I always find something that is new for me, something I've never noticed before but that has been like that for years.