Search

[Gilligan]

I love a good glass of wine with dinner or sitting on my deck watching the night lights, but SDC - NO WAY!  Not even as a chill factor when the basketballs drive me nuts!  It's not the right atmosphere for drinking alcohol.

[DollarCityBoy]

Yeah...not a good idea. As other points, with the rides & drinking? Not a pretty picture!  You get tossed around enough, imagine being a little over the limit and getting off the electroslide? etc, etc, etc. It's a family park let's leave it that way!  Sure we all like a cold drink, maybe outside of SDC have them buy the Old Wooden Nickel Restaurant and can go from there? It's right up the road and used to be a great place to go!

Has Wooden Nickel closed? I haven't been out there in years, we use to go all the time. I remember the large tree trunk with th salad bar around it & pudding! I use to get the "wooden nickles" almost everytime we went, I still have a ton of those in a small plastic box.

[eagle1]

It did close think it's been about 5-6 years, maybe longer?? I just wish someone would buy it and get it back to the way it was, tree and all!  Unfortunately your nickles are worthless now....sorry!

[rubedugans]

no booze please.

[Junior]

Loved the Wooden Nickel. Been closed a long time. The building is in horrible disrepair. Time marches on.

[Harp]

Allowing alcohol would be a deal breaker for me.  Don't use it and don't want to be around it.  As much as I love the City, if alcohol were allowed we would simply stop going.  SDC is a rare jewel, messing with the values it was founded on would be devastating.

Harp

[rubedugans]

If people have to drink to enjoy SDC, then things would have to go greatly downhill. They can go to a winery (the area has several), hit up a distillery, or go out on the lake (which you are not supposed to drink and navigate the waterways FYI). SDC is doing great for 50 yrs w/ out it, and shouldn't have to stoop that low. That'd be out of character, knowing their core beliefs, and after all this time. It'd be like after all this time McDonald's unveiling that they are going to sell margaritas or fried rice...they are doing alright w/out it....

[KBCraig]

How many times have we had this discussion?

The majority of the responses here, even though I strongly disagree with them, are the reason why it would never happen. The Herschend's preference aside, it would be a bad business decision. I've seen the same thing over and over with my interest and involvement in unaffiliated minor league baseball.

Certain people are loud, rude, dangerous, angry and sometimes violent, all over the place. For some reason when alcohol is present people blame that behavior on the alcohol -- and I've even seen people complain about "loudmouthed drunks", when the loudmouths in question weren't even drinking. Like all prejudices, people assign a causation that matches their belief. (Yes, that's a reference to racial prejudice; the same thing happens.)

Edit to add: there are tons of complaint here about guest behavior during Young Christians Weekend. Nobody has suggested banning Christians from the park.

I really mean that tongue-in-cheek. I'm a Christian myself, and I only drink occasionally (almost never in public), so I don't have a dog in this fight. I just grow tired of old self-justifying prejudices that refuse to die.

[Ozark Outlaw]

I believe there is a lot of stigma with "loudmouth drunks," because it's true. Sure, some people are loudmouths even without alcohol involved, but alcohol, and loudmouths do seem to find each other quite often.

It has nothing to do with self-justifying prejudices. Alcohol has the ability to change a person's demeanor. Therefore, since some people cannot control their alcohol intake, I can see how the selling of alcohol could be an issue at a family friendly theme park.

[MagnoliaWhisper]

Ditto to what Ozark BBQ said. Some stereo types exist because of the abundance of truth to them. (some that is, of course not many or not all).

It would personally ruin SDC to me. I don't personally like going to restaurants that have bars, or smoking, ruins the whole dinner for me. I wouldn't want to be at a park to relax being all nervous the whole day. The lack of alcohol is one of the magical things about SDC for me.

My mom's family is a large population of alcoholics. Sure it's not the alcohol's fault, it's the users. However, some users have no control and if it's available the user isn't going to do anything to control it. And then ruins the whole families experience, along with who ever else they decide to be around and effect that day. I can't tell you the family gatherings, weddings, etc that have been ruined in my family because of excessive use of alcohol, so much so it was my goal at my wedding to be the first wedding that didn't have to have police called to come and intervene in some knock down drag out fight that some drunk has decided to start, or because they are holding people hostage at gun point in their drunken paranoid state, etc. SDC was one place we could always go as a family relax, and actually have a "good" time with said family members. Since alcohol was not a option there.

My husband's family also has some of the same problems. Because of such, even though my husband and I in theory are not against the use/consumption of alcohol by every one or even by most people, him and I have just found it easier for our lives not to even have it in the equation we don't see any value in it (cost money we would rather spend on other things, and doesn't add anything to our lives of any value). So we have personally made a personal choice that we don't drink. It's not that we have never had a drink we both have, and both decided it just wasn't anything special to us, and after seeing how some of our family members have absolutely used it to destroy their lives-in fact one of my uncles died a few years ago from alcoholism and he was only 43 years old! He was only a few years older then me, each year as I get closer to 43 I just can't imagine that being the end of my life. Not to mention the last 10 years of his life he was so brain dead from such severe alcoholism he might as well of been physically dead! Every time he seen my husband he would introduce himself and tell my husband he was my uncle and he had never met him before. No matter how many times he met him.

I can't tell you how many times the drunks in my family have ruined nice times. It was always so sad to me, especially how they would ruin their own children's special days. However, going to SDC was always a relief, and they would be so happy knowing their dad wasn't going to be making a jerk of himself, and/or ruining what could be such a fun day. They would be so happy! So different in comparison to going places where alcohol was served.

And for my own self, I just can't even relax when I am around people drinking, responsibly or not, cause just too much stress from my childhood of the family who never could control themselves.

Again I know not every one is like that. My MIL and FIL can have one drink and leave it at that and be fine. And I don't worry about being around them. But, mixed company that I don't know and alcohol just ruins my time. Cause I just can't relax and enjoy my day worrying about which one might be the crazy! Not to mention the other things people brought up-vomiting, urinating on themselves, being obnoxious, etc etc.

Plus I would imagine by the time they had to hire grown ups to serve, pay the extra for liability, pay the extra people to handle any such fights, etc (security), pay for the alcohol license, the liability insurances-drunks on rides, drunks causing fights, anything like this could cause non drunk patrons to sue if they got caught in the middle of said situation through no fault of their own, etc etc. I wonder in the end just how profitable it really would be. And then of course the customers like me that it would ruin their time so much they would just not go. (I do not go to WOF, six flags, etc). I just don't see in the end it being that big of a money maker, as a money loser.

[jmc75]

I saw some asked to try the poll thought I would go ahead since it is a interesting question

[sanddunerider]

no

[Junior]

No thanks, not at SDC.

[Twinsmom98]

I bring my children because it is a family Christian oriented place.  I think alcohol would be a hinder some of the fun of others and the ones drinking.  I always seem to get in line by someone who had to much to drink at local festivals and all they want to do is talk talk talk and the smell with the heat not a good mixture.  I say no to alcohol and keep it safe for our children!

[Avalanche04]

nope!! alcohol, hills, heat, kids, law suit.