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[Swoosh]

The sad part, that wasn't even half the photos I took.
It was hard keeping it a manageable length.

[sanddunerider]

LOL!!  I am sure thats right... you always get a ton of pics....!!

[StaceySue]

Enjoyed your report, Swoosh!

We are in Branson this weekend.  We came in Thurs. afternoon, so we have been in the park both Thurs. and Friday.  Thurs. was actually a little busier than last night.  Last night was not bad at all.  We are bracing ourselves for today.

We are staying at Deer Run, so yesterday afternoon, I walked over to SDC for some "alone" time while the toddler, husband, and older DD took naps.  I enjoyed shopping a little without worrying about little fingers touching everything.  That was nice.  I took a tram back to stop 5 at about 5:30 to get the rest of my crew.

When we arrived last night, we headed for the train.  We only had to wait through one train, and two were going, so we had the shortest wait for the train ever last night.  Wonderful as always.

Both nights, we watched the parade from the Grand Expo.  Not a bad spot at all.  We've never watched from as far in the Expo as the teacups.  We sat on the stone ledge there right before it began.  Plenty of room and no pushing from anyone!

We stayed in the Grand Expo a little longer while the parade madness when on down the road.  We rode Frogs and such. 

When it was time to leave, we avoided the crowds waiting for the parking lots and hopped our bus for Deer Run.  Just a note--when the last pick-up is "closing," they mean 30 minutes after the park closes.

We are going in this morning at 11:00.  I'm sure today will be a completely different experience with thousands of our closest friends.  We are going to shoot for the first showing of It's a Wonderful Life.  We'll see if we can manage the wait with a toddler.

[sanddunerider]

Sounds like a good visit so far...  good luck today (sat)....

[StaceySue]

Amazingly, we were able to catch It's a Wonderful Life and Dickens, and now we are taking a little rest with the toddler in the motel room.

We got in a little after opening, which today was 11:00.  We headed over to the Red Gold building to check the line.  It wasn't really started yet, thankfully, since the first show was at 1:00.  We took the toddler over to the Grand Expo while my parents took turns watching the line.  We finally got in line a little after noon.  We were pretty high up, but it wasn't too bad.  I really wanted to like this show, but it was just "okay" for me.  I don't know that I care if I ever see it again.  I guess I just didn't make the emotional connection with it as I do with Dickens.

Right after this show, we decided to see if there was a possibility of making Dickens at 2:45.  We made it over there, and they were letting people trickle in a few at a time.  We got in, but we were on the edge of the left side of the House.  We also split up our party of five, but that was okay.  I just really love this show, and it is easily my favorite part of Old Time Christmas.  And yes, I still teared up when Fred sings to Scrooge--"There's a place in my heart where you've always been, for me."  Good stuff!

We decided to leave after that.  We'd already done the night stuff previously.  There was a steady stream of cars coming in. We are in our room at Deer Run, so we have no idea what is going on down the hwy.  We are going into Branson soon for dinner.

[StaceySue]

After dinner, I went back in the park alone.  An employee said that there was only 14,000 today, so it was not like last Saturday.  I came back in as the parade had just been through.  I did come in the back way where you come out by Brown's Candy.  I roamed around a little, and then I met up with my parents.  I got in a PowderKeg ride in the front seat with my daddy.  PowderKeg is my current favorite; we shall see if anything changes next spring...

When we left, we easily got on a tram to Stop 5.  Great job to SDC for their organization in getting everyone on the right tram/bus in a timely manner.  When we got in line, there was a bus filling.  We were on the next vehicle, a tram.  It didn't take long at all.  We walked from Stop 5 to Deer Run.  We opted not to wait for the closing shuttle since we left ahead of the 2nd parade.  It was a great trip.  Now it's time to think about spring!

[Junior]

Due to financial concerns, didn't know if my wife and I were going to make it up for OTC, but on Friday, WE DID!  Moderate to heavy crowds, spotty weather, with some rain. Right at closing, the temperature dropped and some moderate rain pelted down. One uncomfortable, wet ride back to the car. However, the overall trip was nice. We had two specific goals in mind: Dickens' Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. We walked right in to both places! Both shows are good. My first time in the Opera House, and I like the facility. The lights around park were wonderful as usual. Ya know that tree on Main Street they decorate in blue lights and have the melting icecicle effect lights? Well, they have done one up like that at the saloon, and another by the train depot, and a few just as you come onto park at the town square. Man, those lights look great! We ate some chicken/mixed veggies at Polk Salad Mary's...good as usual. Ate a giant roll at Eva and Delilah's, yum! Did have a chance to meet briefly with Terry Sanders and it was good to see him helping Santa. Noticed at Christmas Carol that the Ghost of Christmas Present is played by the talented gal that works in the saloon...the one pictured with our beloved Tiffany in her avitar. Also, Scrooge was played by the guy from the saloon that does the overeager young guy who wants to be in showbiz. Noticed at It's a Wonderful Life that my old work buddy, Dan Embry (who, many years ago, was the original Melvin the Chicken Thief at the old Courthouse Theater comedy/drama, and who was a Toby Show cast member with Shad at the Wilderness Settlement) played Mr. Potter and some other minor, background roles, too. So it was good to see him perform after not seeing him for over 3 decades! One bit of shocking info to pass along: Overheard an employee say that they had to shut down Flooded Mine for a short while Friday night because one of the anamatronic dummy figures CAUGHT FIRE! Some alarms sounded, the trouble was taken care of, and, as far as I know, they reopened. However, I didn't attempt to ride Flooded Mine, so I'm not sure. After park closing, my wife and I headed for Branson, ate a nice meal at Ruby Tuesday's, and then came back home. It is now after midnight, so at some point later today (Saturday) I hope to post some Christmas pictures. Lots of pretty lights, decorated Christmas trees in shops, and some shots of the two shows we saw. There is still some time left, so try to make it out for OTC! (My Christmas present this year...wife said it was OK to get a season pass for 2013, so I did! See ya at SDC next year, folks! GET READY FOR OUTLAW RUN! I asked the lady that sold me the season pass if they sold many due to the coming of the new coaster, and she said she didn't know about that, but said folks have been buying alot of season passes. Also noticed that although there were some clearance and discounted items, the discounts were not as good as last year. Most Christmas stuff we saw this same week last year was 50% off, on Friday it was marked down on average only 25%. Just a few observations from your old pal, Junior! God Bless! (Whew, I really got to get to bed!)

[sanddunerider]

sonds like a great visit so far,, glad you got to make it to OTC,,,

I am surprised to read you have never been into Opera House before..  they have so many great shows/events in that building...

[palallin]

My wife and I got to spend 4 hours in the city Saturday night and enjoyed them a great deal.  Parking was interesting:  this was the first time we were sent down to A-West, but we didn't get there until we had gone around the loop once, not sure where to go.  They could use some additional, temporary signs.

The Park was CROWDED.  As our purpose was primarily Christmas shopping--season passes plus some odds and ends for a few folks--the shows weren't on the agenda.  I was happy to see that the Woodcarvers' shelves were low on stock (although that really limited my selection) since that suggests sales were good this year.

We did indulge in a train ride--waited most of an hour as there was only one train in service at twilight, but the weather was quite pleasant, so the wait was no real hardship (except that I had forgotten to change into my walking shoes).  The chicken at the Springhouse was pretty good.

You could tell that the citizens were tired, but they were unfailingly cheerful, and it was a pleasure to hear "Merry Christmas" everywhere.


We hope to go down again this weekend with our boys and some friends for the whole day!

[Joy]

My friends and I went yesterday. We got into the park after 4pm; we parked at Stop 5.

We didn't do a whole lot. We went to see It's A Wonderful Life (which was just as great the second time around for us). We went on the Flooded Mine and through Grandfather's Mansion. Our ride convinced us to do the Marvel Cave tour, since our friend who we invited along has never been in a cave. She's an exchange student from Finland, so SDC was a cool new experience for her. She *loved* Marvel Cave.

I just wanted to give a shout-out to the young guy working the Funnel Cake stand next to the Candy Factory after 9pm last night. I was out of breath and extremely worn out from the Marvel Cave tour, so I asked if I could get the complimentary water in a larger cup, since none of the drinking fountains were working. He hesitated only a moment before obliging. There was a lady in there who I think may have been his supervisor who looked like she may not have been happy with him doing that, since obviously they have to be able to sell bottled water. But I would have just asked to refill the small cup if they'd given it to me. So I'm forever indebted to that extremely nice young man; I really needed that water.

[Junior]

I visited the park LAST Friday, but did not have time to upload photos until now. Enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniordugan

[sanddunerider]

Junior, great shot of the saloon..

[buckmehoff]

We made it out to the park Friday and had a wonderful time.  The lights are all beautiful, as expected.  We didn't ride any of the rides except for the train this time (can't miss Grandpa telling the story), spending most of our time just walking around doing a little shopping, enjoying the scenery, and seeing the wonderful Christmas shows.  We enjoyed the Cajuns and Frosty.  The Saloon show was great although I'm still partial to the shows of yesteryear when the men were men and women were women, if you know what I mean.  The Nativity show in it's new location was moving.  The set was very cute but I do miss the Bethlehem city that they used to have in the Red Gold.  The Christmas Carol was, as always, terrific.  It's timeless and it's message of redemption tugs at my heart no matter how many times I see it.  We saw the new "It's a Wonderful Life" show and it was good, but not nearly the caliber of the Christmas Carol show.  I'll detail my impression of it in the other thread. 

All in all, it was another great day at SDC.  Is it ever not?

[sanddunerider]

Glad u had a good visit,

Welcome to the group!

[saloongal]

Quick review of a quick trip.
Went to the City on Sunday (23rd).  Parked at stop 3.  Turnstile lines were a bit jammed as it was right at 1:00.  Kids and menfolk went directly to TNT. Mom and I went to the School and got our ornaments and '13 passes. Met up at HDH. Took the kids up for the Carriage ride which was quite nice. Went through Grandfathers. Rode the flooded mine and TNT again. Train was broken down, FITH line was back to nearly the saloon. Back to HDH for the kids and men while Mom and I went shopping quickly (got dri fit style tshirts for the kids for 5.00). We all met up, decided that since we had all already seen the tree and parade it was a good time to hit the road back home. So we were out of the park by 4:30.  As we were leaving the turnstiles looked quite busy.

Hope everyone had a very  Merry Christmas.