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[DollarCityBoy]

I thought it was odd when we were in Branson at the end of April and all of SOTH signage was still advertising Christmas.

SDC,SOTH, and Mutton Hollow all basically started off the same, but only SDC survived because they continued to make additions. They were simpler times, when all three parks existed, but only SDC could keep up with the demands of newer generations. 

[Swoosh]

This would be perfect land for SDC's Dreammore Resort

[Okiebenz]

That is sad.  In all my years of going up there and driving by it, I have never been to the SOTH show.  I was planning in this year as well as the Chuck Wagon dinner show thing.  Guess not!

[History Buff]

SotH hasn't been able to capitalize on its own theme for decades.  They've always looked for gimmicks to draw people in, but they never found their niche.  Maybe someone can swoop in and develop it better.

[sirwillow]

SDC and the Herschend company isn't going to touch it.  Pete and Jack aren't in charge anymore, and the company leadership has no interest in things like that (as should be obvious with the changes that have taken place at the park over the last few years).  It's not the type of attraction that they would put into their portfolio anymore.  The way the company is now, it's not a place of hope for history in the area.  At least not in my opinion based on what I've seen.

You might get one of the individual family members to have a bit of interest, but I think the ones that would already have their funds tied in other projects being built around Branson.

[sanddunerider]

Maybe some Pigeon forge money..??  they are buying and investing all over town anyway......

[Coaster]

This is really slow but something that doesn't really surprise me. It is a major part of Branson's history.

I would be very surprised if Herschend was interested in purchasing this land. They already own extra land at the CC site that they don't know what to do with.

[shavethewhales]

Inspiration Tower and the Zipline were both good attempts at diversification, but the implementation of both was somewhat lacking and they never kept truly trying to improve. The tower felt dated last time I was there, but it could still be an amazing attraction with some fairly simple renovations. The zipline was amazing, but it was expensive, and once you were done there wasn't much to do. The tower and zipline were kind of separated from the rest of the SOTH, which never really made sense. They should have stopped doing the tram tour long ago and let people walk between the tower, cabin, and the rest of the complex.

I wish we could go back in time and convince them to refocus on things like festivals with food trucks and bluegrass. Adding in an RV/camping/cabin resort would have been easy as well. Then you add in more attractions such as an alpine slide.

They never really understood how to properly diversify or reinvest in their other attractions. They assumed the show was all that mattered in the end. You simply can't get complacent when running a business, even when things are going well. As much as we complain about how things change at SDC, the park wouldn't have kept going these days if it was just a cave with some crafts and shops around it.

[sanddunerider]

Inspiration Tower and the Zipline were both good attempts at diversification, but the implementation of both was somewhat lacking and they never kept truly trying to improve. The tower felt dated last time I was there, but it could still be an amazing attraction with some fairly simple renovations. The zipline was amazing, but it was expensive, and once you were done there wasn't much to do. The tower and zipline were kind of separated from the rest of the SOTH, which never really made sense. They should have stopped doing the tram tour long ago and let people walk between the tower, cabin, and the rest of the complex.

I wish we could go back in time and convince them to refocus on things like festivals with food trucks and bluegrass. Adding in an RV/camping/cabin resort would have been easy as well. Then you add in more attractions such as an alpine slide.

They never really understood how to properly diversify or reinvest in their other attractions. They assumed the show was all that mattered in the end. You simply can't get complacent when running a business, even when things are going well. As much as we complain about how things change at SDC, the park wouldn't have kept going these days if it was just a cave with some crafts and shops around it.

couldnt agree more,,, perfect example of drawing s crowd would be myself... several years ago, I would go see the play 3 or 4 times in 1 year,   then twice- memoraial and labor day,  then once a year,  and i wasnt even planning on going this year...  great history lesson? YES!!  ,  but the same show, the same tower, same cabin, year after year, no changes, // the christmas lights were updated 3 or 4 years ago, BUT once again same thing.  Nothing new to draw in the multiple repeat visitor..

[biscuitcreek]

2 articles from this week's editions of Branson Tri-Lakes:

http://bransontrilakesnews.com/news_free/article_3cb578fc-34e9-11e7-8a22-eb1e4fa12ae9.html

http://bransontrilakesnews.com/entertainment/article_02a602a2-373d-11e7-9d0f-cb1224647571.html

[sirwillow]

interesting note from their Facebook page that also popped up on the newsfeed here:

We are happy to announce that The Shepherd of the Hills is under contract to new investors and closing will take place in the next few weeks. Major announcements of the new and exciting developments will be coming soon!

Hoping that's good news, but it's mysterious enough that it's hard to tell.  Wonder if this is the CofO thing (which people- e.g Terry Sanders and others-  in the know said was NOT a good thing as it would strip Shepherd, move the cabin to CofO and pretty much kill the play for good) or something else.

[sanddunerider]

interesting note from their Facebook page that also popped up on the newsfeed here:

We are happy to announce that The Shepherd of the Hills is under contract to new investors and closing will take place in the next few weeks. Major announcements of the new and exciting developments will be coming soon!

Hoping that's good news, but it's mysterious enough that it's hard to tell.  Wonder if this is the CofO thing (which people- e.g Terry Sanders and others-  in the know said was NOT a good thing as it would strip Shepherd, move the cabin to CofO and pretty much kill the play for good) or something else.

I saw this also... I am carefully optimistic...

[shavethewhales]

They sound pleased about it though... so it could be that the show will be saved with investors coming to make other improvements and build new attractions like we talked about. Or it could be that they are just happy about something cool that will be done with the place even if the show isn't saved. At least something big is happening.

[Junior, too!]

Perhaps you have seen the news elsewhere...the park purchase by a Springfield company has become final, no details yet on the people who bought it...annoncement forthcoming in one week or so. I hope they retool and kerp things intact.

[DeweyBald]

Supposed to have a Thursday (7/13) press conference to release future plans.