Search

[Junior]

When I was an employee, I asked a guest if I could buy an old souvenier map they had from '73 (this was in '79) and since it had some places on it that were torn, they just gave it to me! It is one of the prized collectables I have today because it is a map that shows the entire Lake Silver area completely undeveloped. Also when I was an employee, I had a nice pewter mug with a glass bottom that I had purchased at the Hospitality House with a nice SDC logo on it stolen from me when I sat it down at the diving bell one day about 1981. That really bummed me out, 'cause back then you could actually leave a fancy camera bag or an expensive video camera unit with a stroller in front of a ride and no one would touch them...everything would still be there when you got back.

[rubedugans]

Junior that's because the video cameras were the size of cinder blocks back then...no one could get away with them without making a scene!

[QueenMum]

This past Saturday the hubby and I were able to sneak off to the park childless with the sole purpose of riding every ride. Can you believe I've never ridden Powder Keg before? Wow - I give that ride two thumbs and two big toes up. 'Twas awesome, folks! Unfortunately, I ended up busing a tendon on my arm that's marked in a rainbow of colors from my forearm to my wrist. Hurts like crazy and it looks pretty scary. I think it's when put my arm down and held on to the side of cart while going around a corner. Dang... now I know better.

Snack: Hot apple cider and an apple dumpling. Pretty good overall and the price was just fine. My hubby thought the cider was a little watered down.

I am annoyed with Christmas so early, but I wasn't there to soak up the atmosphere. I wanted my rides and my park food, and we were outta there. We didn't even stay late enough for the lights to come on. lol It trips me out seeing elves so close to Halloween. Kinda like they forgot to take off their costume.

For being the first day of the Christmas bonanza, I didn't think it was super crowded. A big crowd yes, but not bothersome.

I look forward to going AFTER Thanksgiving when I'm ready for the Christmas atmosphere.

[DollarCityBoy]

We visited Silver Dollar City's Old Time Christmas Saturday November 5th (Opening Day). We arrived at the park around 3:00, we parked in parking lot #5 and took the tram in. There was one tram after another, as there seemed to be a lot of people entering the park around this time. Hardly no wait at all, because the trams moved along great. Cold enough weather to feel like Christmas, but not bitter cold to annoy you.
We visited specifically to see the christmas lights, mainly because this might be our last trip for the year. OTC is my favorite of all the Fesivals, and it takes my breath away year after year. We first rode The Flooded Mine, everything seemed to be working, and we could hear the music, the santa hats were on as usual, we didn't use the guns, just sat and enjoyed the ride. We had the succatash for dinner, and enjoyed the large lighted raindeer as we sat at our picknic table. This was the first year (in 9 seasons) that we missed "A Christmas Carol." We stood in a LONG line on the square to get "The works" before the Tree Lighting Ceremony. "The Works" is always worth the long wait, and just as we got our drinks, we were able to turn around and enjoy "Christmas on Main Street." The blue tree, that is traditionally in front of the General Store, had long LED Icesickles hanging from it this year as well; was a nice added touch. We did get a special treat to see the Mo. State Band march at the begining of the parade! I believe this was just because it was the first parade of the Christmas season. After the parade, we headed in to see "The Living Nativity." After that we stood in a long line to wait for the train (only 1 was running that night). We ended up being on the last train of the day...the park....breathtaking.....Grandpa telling of the TRUE reason for the season, perfect; THIS SHOULD NEVER CHANGE! EVER. We had a truly wonderful time, OTC is a MUST see for all SDCFans. Thank you also, Paige & Cherie, for another great stay at HomeStay Inn! Pictures to come, I promise! 

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

That is it! After reading all of these trip reviews I am officially taking up the Poor Student Foundation for those who are Economically Down to aid in Trip to the City.......or the PSFEDTC. I have a year to go on my Masters and then two on my Doctorates and then foundation! lol

[rubedugans]

That's why my doctorate is on hold...so I have some spending money (even though I am paying off my recent Masters! My wife does have 2 bachelors and no masters, maybe I'll let her catch up to me before I move ahead.

[BackInTime]

Just returned from our first trip back to The City in a year and our first ever visit during the OTC festival. We visited almost all day Friday 11/11 and Saturday 11/12. Here were my impressions:

- It definitely is a bit bizarre seeing the park decked out in all its Christmas glory well before we've even celebrated Thanksgiving. However, I'm glad they offer OTC this early, as we elected to go down in hopes of having a little more favorable weather, which we did both days.

- All of the OTC festival touches lived up to, or exceeded, all of the hype I've been reading and hearing about for years. The lights are truly a sight to behold. We've vowed to make an annual return visit a new holiday tradition.

- Once again, I was truly amazed and impressed at the number of employees who went out of their way to not only help us, but make casual, friendly conversation. And it never felt obligatory. Just seemed like good people, who loved being in the park, and appreciated us being there with them.

- The crowds were lighter during the daylight hours and noticeably heavier during the evening, but still nothing oppressive. TNT and Wildfire never had lines at all. You could simply ride, then jump right back into the station and ride again. We've been so spoiled with scenarios like this every October (and now November) when we go down, that I just can't imagine waiting for hours to ride these coasters. Only one train running on PK Friday so it took about 20 minutes or so to ride. They ran two Saturday, which helped the flow significantly, but there was still a bit of a wait. All three coasters never cease to amaze and bring a smile to my face. Three very different rides, and each one is special in its own right. We are so lucky to have them. This was my first experience riding all three of them at night. Wow. Never expected them to get any better, but all of them did, in my opinion.

- We didn't feel like waiting in line for "A Christmas Carol", as the line for each show was very long. We will next time.

- We were a bit disappointed to see that some of the craftsmen areas were closed due to the cold season. Understand, but it did seem to take away from the overall experience just a bit. We noticed a similar trend with the shopping. It seemed like several of the shops had noticeably less inventory, which bummed us out. We guessed perhaps that's just the parks way of tying to liquidate goods for the season. Maybe not. We were also a bit disappointed that the shops didn't seem heavier on holiday related items for their particular niche. Could be we just weren't interested in some of the things that were. Maybe it's still a bit too early in the festival. Not a big deal. I think we just assumed that the park would be brimming with holiday merchandise that could take days to go through, and we didn't leave with that impression.

- Didn't try the Wassail like I wanted to, or The Works, but did have a hot chocolate with whipped cream and an apple dumpling with cinnamon ice cream. A little taste of heaven no doubt.

- The lines for the train were extremely long and Saturday evening we found out why. We got on just after the sun dipped and I'm so glad we took the time to do it. It's amazing how something so simple can leave you with such a good feeling, and impression of a place. Bravo, SDC. And the view of Sliver Lake at night during OTC is something everyone should see at least once. Just spectacular.

- I would advise anyone wanting to watch the parade (especially with children), to simply wait and grab a spot along the route when you see the parade coming. We stood around "holding a spot" for over 30 minutes, not knowing the parade itself doesn't even last 10 minutes. It's cute and well done, but it's lack of length definitely doesn't warrant waiting around for it, when you could be enjoying other things in the park.

So, here's my trip report card for SDC OTC.

Parking: A
Crowds: A-
Hospitality: A+
Light Display: A+
Food: A
Lines: A-
Shopping: B+
Night rides : A+
General atmosphere: A
Festival detail: A

Overall grade: A

[sanddunerider]

great report.  glad you had "A" good time!

[mhguy77]

Sounds like you had a great time!!

I know what you mean about the merchandise.  It seems that it was around 2001-2003 somewhere in there that SDC had a load of Christmas merchandise.  They also had a terrible year as far as Christmas was concerned because of rain or bitter cold. The weekends were pretty bad all that OTC.  I was there one evening in had rained and the lights had shorted out ( many of them).  The following years you saw the same merchandise as they were clearing it out.  Seemed like it instigated conservative buying of holiday merchandise.  I have never again seen the selection like they had back then.

[palallin]

Some impressions from our "surprise" trip this past weekend.  Traffic was HEAVY Friday on I-44 and US 65 (and in Springfield).  We got to the city about 7:00 Friday night, so we only had 2 hours before we had to go to the hotel.  We got to the City about 11:30 Saturday AM (we grabbed breakfast at Donnie's Diner in Branson West, a little place in a strip mall that I recommend highly) but had to leave at 6:00, just as it was getting really dark.


Very busy, probably at least partly a function of the very good weather. 

The trees in the park are still more colorful than most back here around Rolla.

The new train car is in use.  We didn't get to ride in it either time--heck, we weren't even on the same train--but I saw it a couple times.  Looks like it will have more headroom.  While I prefer the older roof style, this new one IS period correct.  Not sure whether I like the tan interior, though.

I really appreciate the fact that most of the lights are still incandescent.  I do not like LEDs for Christmas lights—they seem garish and cold.  For that reason, I'm afraid, I have to say that the big tree simply doesn't do anything for me.  The vast majority of the rest, however, are very, very nice.  I cannot imagine their power requirements, however! 

"A Christmas Carol" was a great deal of fun, though I think the ghost of Christmas Present rather hammed it up too much (she's not supposed to be a Bolin) and I have to wonder why they reversed the appearance of the first two ghosts.  GREAT sets and costumes.  As one who has to wear wool in the heat of the summer, I could sympathize with the folks on stage in all those layers.

Enjoyed the Living nativity.  I understand it will be reverting to a simpler format next year, and I think that will actually be an improvement.

My boys recognized one of the tram drivers as a Ralphie Bolin and enjoyed talking with him.  Then they practically assaulted one of the conductors doing line crowd control with "Hey, hey, hey!" when they realized he, too, had been Ralphie.

This trip was only the second time I'd been to OTC, and one thing that I find interesting is that, despite Grandpa's story and the Living Nativity, most Christmas representations and all the sing-a-long music on the train are Santa.  Got nothing against Santa!  But why not some real carols in the mix, too?

Getting out of the park Friday night was a bit chaotic.  The route through OM was closed off—I can see why!—and so we had to guess how to get into the right line for our tram.  Very crowed and somewhat rushed.  Too few signs.  Not sure how it could be fixed without several more people or many more signs.


Well, all the nits aside, it was a great time.  The whole family had a blast, and we hope to hit the City one last time in December.  The food was great, and the hot chocolate was very welcome.  The City was over-run with strollers, which tells me that yet another generation of SDC Fans is in the making!

[coalesce99]

I've been to SDC 10 times this year, and maybe it's just me but Saturday Nov. 12th seemed like the most crowded. Even more so than the christian youth fest.

Sunday had better weather though, and maybe half the people.

Just observations...

[pintrader]

We were there Saturday Nov. 12th also, but only stayed until about 4:30.  We were pretty tired by that time because SDC had their annual Pin Trading event and we had already had been there since 8:00 a.m.  I didn't think the crowds were too bad considering it was nice weather and on a Saturday.  Last year we went to OTC and you had to get in line and wait to just use the bathroom.  The line to the train last year was backed up to where Becca's is now and the Flooded Mine line was backed to the train depot.  The longest I saw the train line Sat was back to Bears In The Hollow and Flooded Mine you could just walk right on.  Maybe later in the day the lines became worse.

[MandyTG]

Okay, what is "The Works" that people have mentioned as snacks?

[BackInTime]

When you buy hot chocolate during the OTC festival, they offer it with various garnishes. If I'm not mistaken, The Works is simply topping your beverage with everything (whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate chips and candy cane bits).

[DollarCityBoy]

When you buy hot chocolate during the OTC festival, they offer it with various garnishes. If I'm not mistaken, The Works is simply topping your beverage with everything (whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate chips and candy cane bits).

Exactly! except, they are actual candy cane's.