2015 Trip Reviews

Gilligan · November 16, 2015, 02:01:19 PM

Saturday was a monumental fiasco! Hubs and I came down with four other family members. We knew one person was needing an electric cart due to a recent injury so we called first thing Sat. morning to rent one. Only a select few are reservable (is that a word?), but we were told we could probably rent one if we got there early. So, we left immediately and got there at 10:00. We headed straight to Stroller Rental to find there were about a 100 people in front of us. No exaggeration! I stayed in line while hubs went to Guest Relations to pick up four tickets being held under my name. After standing in line for about 30-40 min., he was told that since the tickets were under my name he was not allowed to pick them up, even though he had my license and pass. He had to go through the turnstiles again to tell me this and was not allowed back in because he had recently entered and was accused of trying to sneak someone in. He showed his pass and drivers license and was still not admitted until someone else came over and finally let him in! Come on, people! Photo id! In the meantime, with about 50 people left in front of me the word came out that there were no more rentals. Hubs found me, and we went to Guest Relations to stand in line for another 45 min. When it was our turn, there were no tickets waiting for me. I showed a series of emails to prove there were four tickets being held. No luck! I gave an administrative phone number for them to call to verify the tickets should've been waiting. No luck! I asked for money back for the Show Lovers reserved seating that I paid out for the group and was told that they could not do that. When I refused to leave until someone above them came to talk to me, I was told that they had made a mistake and my tickets were only paper tickets. They would have to print them. I said I would wait for them to be printed. I asked if we could now get our money back for the Show Lovers because we were going to miss the show because of all this and was told no. We passed out tickets, went through the gate, and ran to It's A Wonderful Life. One sister stayed behind to help her injured sister. We made it at 12:57 to the 1:00 show. I understand there are problems on busy days, but it is inexcusable to accuse a season pass holder with i.d. of cheating, and there is absolutely no excuse to have only two people working at Guest Relations on such a busy crowded day. By the time the play was over, Main Street was packed and people were still coming in droves. Injured sister was having difficulty walking without pain, so we stopped at Delilah's for a rest and left the park. Fortunately, the play was good and the weather was great.

History Buff · November 16, 2015, 06:56:02 PM

Well, that wasn't a happy time at all. I hope it was an anomaly and doesn't become the norm.

Swoosh · November 16, 2015, 07:07:45 PM

They were overwhelmed Saturday. One of the largest crowds of the season.

mhguy77 · November 16, 2015, 08:26:39 PM

QuoteOne of the largest crowds of the season.

I wonder why? You know they really do need to do something else to absorb the crowd.
I am not sure if its more shows more smaller shows more rides?

Swoosh · November 16, 2015, 08:55:12 PM

Because it was beautiful outside. They were using all of the overflow parking. We (mother and I) saw all of the shows (except Frosty and Bayou), parade, tree and rode all of the coasters plus FITH, FM, and Train. Also caught rides on swings and electro spin.

If people don't go in with a plan the. I don't feel sorry for them for not being able to ride/see everything as it is possible and even on a busy Saturday.

Oh BTW, we didn't wait longer over 45 minutes for anything the entire day (and that included front seat rides on all the coasters but WildFire and FITH)

Gilligan · November 16, 2015, 08:56:06 PM

Quote from: Swoosh on November 16, 2015, 07:07:45 PM
They were overwhelmed Saturday. One of the largest crowds of the season.

I can believe it based on the droves of people coming in at 2:30. It would've help a lot if they had separated rentals from season ticket buyers. Wheelchairs, electric carts, strollers, and season passes were all being sold out of the same booth. It was nuts! And, the Run to the Lights marathon people weren't adding to the Saturday crowd as there were many, many participants angrily standing in line at Guest Relations because they discovered after the fact that their free ticket wasn't valid on Saturday, the day after the race, as it has been in the past. I guess that fact wasn't released until the last email went out, but by then lots of people had already left home to head for Branson and didn't get it. Whew! What a morning! On a positive note, the blacksmith that recently retired was back! I can't think of his name - the guy that always wore the red shirt. Hoping he'll be there again Thanksgiving weekend.

runner1960 · November 17, 2015, 07:13:31 AM

There is really no excuse for them to be unprepared for crowds like this. It happens every year and they never change or plan. There needs to be a attendance cap.

sanddunerider · November 17, 2015, 08:13:43 AM

There will never be an attendance cap,

The PTB just need to address the problem of people flow up at the gates... as Giligan said, separate booths doe rentals, tickets and so on...

That area is very congested, BUT could be "reworked" to flow better.. I have a couple of ideas that I think would expedite people, but not up to me.........

runner1960 · November 17, 2015, 08:31:01 AM

Quote from: sanddunerider on November 17, 2015, 08:13:43 AM
There will never be an attendance cap,

The PTB just need to address the problem of people flow up at the gates... as Giligan said, separate booths doe rentals, tickets and so on...

That area is very congested, BUT could be "reworked" to flow better.. I have a couple of ideas that I think would expedite people, but not up to me.........

There should be. Last year on a December Saturday we were there and it was actually dangerous around the square during the initial tree lighting. If there would have been a emergency with someone the responders could not have gotten anywhere near someone in need. Let alone get a vehicle or cart in to evacuate a person. Hopefully it will not take something like this for the PTB to assess how they handle the crowds. Even Disney Caps attendance at the parks.

Gilligan · November 17, 2015, 09:26:57 AM

There was an emergency last year during Thanksgiving on the hill by the candy shop. Not sure what happened, but they were trying in earnest to get people out of the way. Visitors were trying to form a circle around the person on the ground to give the emt some room to work.

MissinTheGreenTrams · November 18, 2015, 09:06:52 AM

That sounds like such a crummy trip! I am saying bah humbug to that!

Citydweller84 · November 18, 2015, 01:33:35 PM

My wife and I and my in-laws went to the opening day of Christmas and that was a pretty big cluster as well. We obviously went later in the day so we could see the tree and lights and the parade. Big mistake there. Took us half an hour to find parking as all lots were full and we nearly got hit by other cars on at least three separate occasions. When we finally got in, they weren't letting people in through the turnstiles as normal. They were sending everyone in through what I can only assume was employee access that had us coming in through the gate by the candy shop. So this is at like 6:00 when we finally get in, after having first arrived at the parking area just before 5:00. So people were camped out already for the parade and weren't really giving others room to even just get in the the park despite the best efforts of the employees in change of traffic flow. We ended up catching the 7:00 show of Christmas Carol which was really good. When we got out the park was nearly deserted. When we were finally able to move around after the show it was quite nice as Christmas always is.

After this experience, and what I've read in posts above, they really should think about capping park attendance, or at least finding a way to slow the flow of people coming in. With as nice as the weather has been thus far, it really needs to be an all hands on deck sort of situation. I don't know if they max out employees on weekends already or are just scheduling based on projected attendance. It just seems to me like they could definitely be handling things better.

mhguy77 · November 20, 2015, 10:27:41 PM

I arrived at the park Friday the 20th at about 4:00pm. No crowds, I have always felt like Friday's were nicer to visit that Saturday's crowd wise and I think I was right on this one.
It looks like they are working on the Ozark Marketplace. Walking up from the lot there is a lot of
new looking stucco or patchwork on the second floor and possibly a new utility structure.
I went into the park looking for a cheese stick at the bakery, just to be disappointed. My buddy bought a hot chocolate (no frills) $3+. Kind of high for plane Jane hot chocolate I thought, maybe it was Starbucks. Anyway down to the Outlaw Run for a spin and then Powder keg and Wildfife, all walk ons. While walking up to PK I noted a newly expanded and possibly shifted s'mores stand positioned right across from the saloon ....poor decision making. If SDC finds it nessesary to force a booth out into the walkway just to get people to buy what that booth is selling, maybe they are selling the wrong thing. I thought the berries and cream booth and the chips booth was a real clog. Try placing yet another booth in that deadly triangle. There was no crowd to speak of and this area was impassible. I just don't see the reason why they couldn't remove a few picnic tables at the restaurant there and make room for some of the people to move. Possibly rework the saloon q. We had an apple dumpling and walked the shops and left. Nice evening minus the avoidable traffic jam. I did find some Bigfoot shirts down at the knife shop and also some men's soaps and shave items. It all seemed like quality merchandise, I was impressed. I did check the Christmas store and I think the quality there has gone down. Maybe it's just a matter of taste.
The lights look good this year, brighter. The square was well done with a fair amount of the shade trees wrapped, once again a improvement. I was not fond of the Rudolph stuff, it looked cheap and it's everywhere. I know it's for the kids but here are tiers of merchandise and this stuff was not top shelf stuff. Maybe I will make it back next month, there were a cpl shops I missed. Tomorrow night is the Whynonna show and shopping in Branson, possibly a little time at the city. I will amend the report to finish up the weekend.

biscuitcreek · November 22, 2015, 07:26:20 PM

My husband and I were also in the City on the 20th. We arrived about 5:15. Saw part of the tree lighting ceremony and then headed to the Opera House. Saw the 6:15 performance of Dickens. Theater was full but not packed. We were never asked to move to the center of the seats, etc. to accommodate more people. Left there and went to the Living Nativity at the Riverfront Playhouse -- ended up being half full. Then went to the 8 pm parade, stood near the train station. Got in the "iffy line" for the last train of the night and was able to get on board.

After the train we headed to the school house to get our ornaments and season passes. Walked right in and took care of business with no waiting. Easiest time we have ever had to get our ornaments and season passes.

Went from there to the tram line. 5 buses/trams took care of lots 2 and 3 in the time we waited for 1 tram to take us to stop 5 -- not good.

Plan on going back in December to see what we missed on this trip.

joshblakebran · November 24, 2015, 09:30:04 PM

Went to watch my son run in the Division II Cross Country National Championships in Joplin on Saturday and then went to Branson for the remainder of Saturday and Sunday. We were able to watch the tree lighting Saturday, watch It's a Wonderful Life, rode Thunderation, and watched the parade. We were pretty much able to walk in to anything we wanted except for the train. We ended up doing the train on Sunday. The line for the train was very long the whole time we were there but we were able to walk on the other rides we rode. Watched the Dicken's Christmas Carol on Sunday. The shows at SDC really are amazing. I'm impressed by the great talent the park employs. Anyway, the trip was great and we had no issues navigating the park. Maybe attendance was down this weekend but the park didn't seem overly crowded.