Search

[Gilligan]

Hubs and I went this afternoon and had a great time!  Honestly, didn't pay much attention to the construction...sorry!  The plan was to see William Close, Earth Harp dude, and leave, but the weather was perfect so we hung around.  And William Close?? Wow! That was beyond awesome!  Don't miss that show!  Also, the couple from France playing the harp and hang drum at the Gazebo was great!  We plan to go again next week and spend the day.  And, yes, they are still selling sarsaparilla! 

[DianaGail]

Well, I would love to say we saw a show today.  But with three kids who wanted to do nothing besides ride, we didn't.  I was worried it would be super crowded, but it wasn't.  The longest wait we had was an almost 30 minute wait for TNT.  Most we only waited one or two rounds to get on.  It was an absolutely beautiful day!  We saw the show tonight.  Tracey heaston is back on the piano this season down there.  They really did a great job!  I've attached a photo of Anna and some of the women that perform in the show.  She loved their "sparkle dresses".

[sirwillow]

The one on the right is Rachel Wallace, who has also done the saloon show in the past (not sure if she's doing it this year) as well as the Ghost of Christmas Present in Dickens, beating on her husband who plays Scrooge.  Great lady.  Unfortunately I don't recognize the other 2 offhand.

[Jemmicat]

Went today. Started with the balancing act show. It is essentially a pared down version of the cirque zuma zuma or whatever was in the Red Gold Hall the last couple years. Was still good and quite impressive. Went to the Flamenco Kings next. It started out REALLY slow but got much better. Many of the times it seemed like they were not playing the instruments or making all the noise with the dancing, but it was still very enjoyable.

Then lunch. My friend had the strawberry flatbread which she enjoyed a lot. I had the pork belly fries which were excellent.

After lunch we hit up the earth harp... not sure I believe his explanation of how the thing actually works (Seems that the notes would be much lower pitch than standard A440 tuning if it worked how he said...), but it was a very good show. Never thought I would hear Pink Floyd at SDC. It is very much a performance art piece. If you cannot appreciate that, the show isn't for you.

Then to see Ecuador manta or whatever. Have seen them many times... I was not bored with them this time so that is a plus. I actually enjoyed it

The people in the shows were much more lively than I remember them being in years. It was very loud at every show. Kind of surprising.

We had a beautiful day. Not too crowded.

[warp9p65]

Went this morning myself, mainly to attend the 10 AM church service.  There was standing room only, and barely that.  Pastor Kevin Day is fantastic!  I feel totally renewed and spirits lifted after listening to his messages.  Afterwards, checked out the food barn.  Got bacon-wrapped chicken, and I wasn't the least bit impressed with it.  Should have stuck with something tried and true.  Walked around a bit.  Crowd was moderate in the afternoon.  Beautiful day out to enjoy the park.

[sanddunerider]

Looks like a busy weekend for all.  good weather and all...   thanks for the reports..

[Swoosh]

Here is our coverage of the Festival of Wonder
http://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2017/04/festival-of-wonder-sdc.html

[DianaGail]

We spent two days at the park..:so here's Sunday's report. 

The measuring station was open!  Yay!  When you have a kid that is 42 inches on the dot, the measuring station saves you, and those waiting behind you, a lot of time.  We didn't see any shows today.  The only thing we waited in line for the entire day was tnt.  Everything else was a walk on...even firefall.  I'm not sure their marketing for this festival is going well.  As we were walking out, One of the kids looked at me and said "look mom!  The festival of wonder!  When is that happening and can we go to it?!"  we explained that this is the festival of wonder.  He said "I didn't see anything too wonderful about it."

[sanddunerider]

we explained that this is the festival of wonder.  He said "I didn't see anything too wonderful about it."

LOL.  Out of the mouths of babes....

[Swoosh]

we explained that this is the festival of wonder.  He said "I didn't see anything too wonderful about it."

LOL.  Out of the mouths of babes....

Yeah, the consensus from most people I've talked to is that the name of the festival is extremely weak.  I'm not sure what they should change it to, but it should be changed.  Honestly, not sure why we are not still having World Fest as the same acts are still here just not under the guise of being "from somewhere else"

Serious - we have...
Cirque Zuma Zuma (lite)
Ecuador Manta
Flamenco Kings
Harp and Hang Drums (from France)

The only difference is that we have a Painter (which could have gone during Summer Fest) and a guy who plays the glasses. 

this is still World Fest.

[shavethewhales]

I made it there last weekend, if you couldn't tell by the FB photo updates. All in all, it's a nice little festival, but I agree that it is missing some piece of pizzaz that would let it live up to it's name. Not sure what else I'd want them to do though, between the nice weather, interesting food, and neat shows I had a good enough time.

After running around to catch up on all the changes to the park, I saw the balancing show in the riverfront playhouse. It's a nice show with a crazy ending that had me cringing (in a good way) until it was over. Then I saw the Flamenco Kings, which was a decent spectacle, but like Swoosh says, pretty repetative. I also wonder how "real" it is... I'm about 95% sure their shoes hardly make any noise and the whole tap-dancing effect is faked. Obviously they have some neat choreography and musical skills though. Plus they are eye candy for the ladies.

The show I really liked was the Earth Harp. That is quite a performance and spectacle, and all the musicians involved are very talented. That's the thing to see if you are going to this festival.

As for the food that they are making a big deal about... some of it is good, some of it is so-so. I had an alligator kebab which was very tasty... for what little morsel they gave me. It was served on a bed of what I suspect was Uncle Ben's rice. Nothing else, and only one small kebab, unlike what is shown on the menu when you order... for $12.50. It was a nice delicacy though.

I also had the apple cinnamon bacon grilled cheese thing which was nice. Terry recommended the milk shake concoctions that are in the festival barn. Apparently they blend brownies and ice cream and other things into a shake and serve it in a mason jar. I stuck with some ice cream though - it was pointed out to me that the ice cream stand across from Red Gold serves a really nice blueberry soft serve so I had to try that out.

Outlaw Run is running smooth and quiet on it's new poly wheels. Hope they don't wear down and get rough though.. OR is not a ride that can tolerate much roughness with how aggressive it is already.

Flooded Mine is looking great. Still some gun issues here and there, but overall it has been thoroughly cleaned and lots of effects are working that haven't in awhile. It was pointed out to me that when you want to push the PTB into working on FM, you don't want to make a complaint, as they will simply see it as the ride being a problem - whereas if you praise the ride and encourage them to work on it they will see it in a different light. They aren't going to invest in a ride that causes complaints when they can just rip it out and replace it with something new, if you get my drift.

[Clint F]

We had a VERY enjoyable day in the City today!  The Flooded Mine looks fantastic all fixed like it is!  I made a point of complimenting it to the ride controller as we were leaving.  I didn't even use my gun.  I just looked at how good everything was!

We made the first Earth Harp show.  I've seen the YouTube videos of it, but they really don't do it justice.  Seeing it live and in person was amazing!  Just watching her play the thing was a lot of fun.  It was a packed house too.  I don't think there was but one empty seat.  I loved the show!

We had breakfast at Molly's Mill before the park opened, and everything was really really good.  I was stuffed when we left.

On the Fire In The Hole, I was surprised that on the hill with the train whistle and light, that the light did not come on.  The train whistle sounded, no light, and down we go!  I don't know if that was on purpose, or the light is just not working.

On the way out, I picked up a new SDC ball cap and tried to find my 2017 Season Pass Holder trading pin, but was informed that they aren't going to do those any longer.  I'm sad about that.  Those were always my favorite pins.  I did pick up the new "Festival Of Wonder" pin though.  The rest, I already have.  When I asked the cashier about them, she said they aren't going to trade anymore either.   

The weather was beautiful, and the park was pretty crowded.  Still, we had a really good time!  We'll be there again on Friday and I can't wait to do it all again!

[Coaster]

We were at the park yesterday for the new festival. Like everyone else has stated, our favorite show was definitely the Earth Harp Collective. Every single performer in the show is extremely talented. If we hadn't of attended the last show of the day then I honestly feel we would have watched the show twice. The other show we really enjoyed was Dan Dunn's speed painting. Very impressive and I love how I don't completely know what the creation is until the very end.

The park looks very fresh and clean for the new season. Construction was ongoing all day on the 2018 project. Some foods we tried were the monster fry bread sandwich, shrimp and mango flatbread, and a fried Oreo funnel cake. The flatbread was definitely so-so and probably not worth the price. The other two were enjoyable but definitely share with someone else. The sandwich is HUGE and I don't even want to know how many calories I consumed.

Looking forward to the next trip, hopefully Bluegrass and BBQ.

[biscuitcreek]

We went on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday we caught the last Earth Harp show of the day and was able to hear the creator, William Close, play the earth harp and some other instruments he created. He was also the emcee. We thoroughly enjoyed the show and decided we would go back on Thursday. On Thursday we went to the early afternoon show and a blond woman played the earth harp; William Close was not there. Was basically the same show but the woman, who also served as the emcee that day, had some more detailed explanations and she played the harp a little differently (just as any musician will play the same song slightly differently).

On Wednesday we also saw part of the Harp and Hanging Drum show (think it would have been better in a theater instead of the gazebo) and part of the Paint Jam speed painting show (think that would have been better at the gazebo).

Thursday morning we saw the Homestead Pickers, the Glass Armonica at the gazebo (could barely hear, should have been in a theater where the sound could be controlled better). We also saw the Flamenco Kings and enjoyed the show. Most of the audience seemed to really enjoy it. We also went to the Balancing Wonders show. The juggler dropped a lot of pins during his act but his finale act of balancing was very good. We thought the band was good but the background music they played was very repetitive.

We looked at the festival food but didn't buy anything. People seemed to be buying from the stands inside the barn but there didn't seem to be any business at the outdoor stands near Red Gold. We did buy Chester's Chips on Thursday, and were pleased as usual. Had a frozen strawberry on Wednesday and a lemonade shave ice on Thursday (supposed to be lemonade but had the texture of shaved ice -- looked the same on Wednesday). Both days we purchased from the stand across from the kettle corn. The stand by the saloon was not open either day.

Discovered on this trip that the culinary school has a shop inside with free samples; reminded me of Mulberry Mill at Grand Village. We spent some time sitting in rockers on the back porch; good place to watch the construction going on.

Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful days but not overly crowded. Wednesday's crowd seemed larger but that may have been due to more school groups. When we left Branson Friday morning traffic was backed up past the Highroad headed toward the park.

Saturday morning I had an email survey asking me about my visit to the Festival of Wonder.

[shavethewhales]

Discovered on this trip that the culinary school has a shop inside with free samples; reminded me of Mulberry Mill at Grand Village. We spent some time sitting in rockers on the back porch; good place to watch the construction going on.

This is the first year they've had the expanded shop in there, I think. Definitely a nice change, and a good way to get people to actually go in there. I don't think they've ever had much success with the school...