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[HumphreyHawk]

I'm from NWA...about a 1.5 hour roller coaster drive around the lakes from the park.

We specifically went Thursday in hopes it would be one of the lighter days during the break.  I guess we weren't the only ones with that in mind.  20k sound about right.

I can confirm the food stations where extremely understaffed.  They where all open but usually only with one window and one or two workers.  Only about 1/3 of the stores where open...mostly the ride gift shops and a few of the newer ones by TT.  Only had a couple of shows scheduled in the smaller venues....I noticed one (gospel singers?) going in the dockside venues and it was standing room only.

If the crowds stay like this...HFE almost has to start jacking up prices to help control the crowds:(  Or do the variable pricing like Disney/Universal.  I thought about that all day as I snaked through the endless crowds to wait 20mins to 2 hrs for the next ride/food vendor/bathroom (yeap waited 10 mins for the mensroom).  There where also trailblazer passes everywhere!!!!  Overheard a table of people by us at lunch talk about the Dad going back to the gate to buy 2 trailblazer passes so they could ride TT.  They planned on sharing them (5-6 people).  They came from OK.  I think those are limited to one TT ride a day so I wonder if they where able to do that.

I would be livid if I came from out of state....paid full price for the day....and had to deal with those crowds and the amount of trailblazers.  It's a good but tough situation for SDC to have to deal with.

[sanddunerider]

Thursday 20,000 attendence?   I cant verify that..

But friday and sat they had 18-19 per day..  Lots of people? yes..  But has been 5,000 more many,  many times.  Early in the Season?  New Ride. Problems with new ride.   It will work out,  things will calm down this week, and then scheduling of employees will straighten out... 

COME ON SPRING!!!

[Okiebenz]

Oh....something else they need to address.  It has always been somewhat of a problem in the past, but it really seemed to be getting worse is the drivers proceeding in the right lane to enter the parking lot.  As we are all lined up nice and neat in the left lane to enter parking lot 2, you have this stream of folks speeding up in the right lane then jumping in whenever they feel like it.  I actually had someone honk at me because I wouldn't let them in in front of me!  As we stood in line for the tram, it hit me....what's the different between that and someone just walking up to the tram and cutting in front of everyone and getting on the tram?  I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I consider that extremely rude.  SDC needs to split that road and make people commit to the right lane if that's where you are at.  Wouldn't take much more than a metal barrier between the left and right lanes to cure that problem.

Yes, people seem to be getting more and more rude every year.  What is really annoying is people in the right lane then trying to get back left holding up preferred parking people behind them because they can't seem to read the signs way down the road.

[kbosch1]

Late adding this, but we've been busy.  We went to the park on Friday the 16th and arrived around 10:30am.  Parked in preferred parking and there was maybe 40 cars in it.  Got in and did a little browsing in the shops before heading TT.  They had just opened it and the guy working the test seat said it was 2 to 2.5 hours wait.  We turned around went back to cave entrance and bought Trailblazers for the day.  Went back to TT and was on the ride in 10 minutes.  Loved every minute of it.  My daughter went with me as my wife was leery about the spinning.  Got off the ride hit the shop and bought a TT shirt that had the year on it and then went straight to the Culinary School to enjoy the view on the back porch  (on a side note....while shopping in the TT shop, I heard a voice behind me that I knew I had heard before but couldn't nail it down.  After surveying all of the shoppers I noticed SirWillow and his family exiting the store.  Didn't go chase him down as he was out the door and I had unpaid merch in my hand).

Went inside Culinary School and actually did some shopping for the first time inside.  Their honey pecan butter was to die for and we bought a jar of it for our breakfast in the condo the next day.  We also tasted some instant salsa mix.  Pour an amount of their canned dried seasoning in with a can of diced tomatoes and boom, instant salsa.  It actually tasted really good.  $20 for the can but it made quite a bit of salsa.  Talked to the nice lady working in there for a bit and moved on for lunch. 

We ate at Buckshot' Skillet and I had the jambalaya (very good).  Went to FM and had no wait.  The fresh paint always makes it smell new and updated.  The ride was great.  We went and rode the train next.  Show was fun and had lots of adlibbing and it was the longest I've ever seen (maybe this is normal on day 2 or the first week or two??)  Exited and went to TNT.  No wait once again and had a great ride (still one of my favorites). 

At that point TT was a 15-20 minute wait and after a LOT of convincing my daughter and I talked my wife into riding TT.  She doesn't do "spinning" at ALL, but she absolutely loved TT.  We walked across the swinging bridge and grabbed some cinnamon bread at the mill.  Spoke with a gentleman bagging some freshly grounded product and was sad to learn that they are using electric power now to turn the mill inside.  He said that they can switch to water if they wanted but rarely do anymore due to them shutting water down during later months for possible freezing.  Wife and I went and rode FITH and used Trailblazer to save a few minutes in line while the daughter wanted some homemade chips at Chester's.   FITH was great.  The lights seemed brighter and everything smelled clean (sure love that first week of the season). 

We then headed up to PK and used Trailblazer for me and my daughter while the wife stayed back and hit some shops.  We next swung up to WF and used the Trailblazer for it.  This is where I learned that the Trailblazer can be cumbersome too.  We didn't care where we rode on the ride, just wanted to skip the line.  Well, we were behind about 3 sets of riders who all wanted to ride in front row.  The workers on the ride allow a front row Trailblazer to go every-other-ride.  So we had to wait about 6 rides before we could board and noticed that people that were walking with us as we approached the building were riding before us.  I feel one way to make the trailblazer work a little better would be to have one section (or row) of seats dedicated to trailblazers.  If there are no trailblazers in line then let normal riders use that row for that ride.  That way the normal riders aren't watching ride after ride of trailblazers get ahead of them as they would know that this one particular row is dedicated for TB and no normal riders would be in line for that row.  Not sure this makes sense, but it sure did to me at the time!   

After WF, we headed up the hill and visited the owner at "In His Hands" in their new location.  We then caught a Homestead Pickers show (they were inside the cabin and we made sure to arrive about 30 mins early to get a seat).  Great show and the crowd was full inside and standing outside.  We then walked down to Outlaw Run and walked right up to the ride (no wait).  Great time!  After OR, we went to Giant Barn Swing.  They were only operating one swing and the wait was about 20 mins or so even though there weren't very many people in line.  Walked around looking for working squirting machines to squirt the Lost River riders, but they weren't working.
 
We decided to call it a day and head to Danna's for some bbq dinner.  Great day!  Crowds were never very much on that day and that might have had something to do with it being a Friday and that it was raining around park opening time, but it stopped by 10:00 and never rained again during the day.

[Gilligan]

Wait! What? No more sitting on the back porch of the Culinary School? Dewey Bald, what's up with that?

[sdcfan88]

I think they will open it up once the regular season starts later in April. I remember this from last year they did the same thing.

[sanddunerider]

I think they will open it up once the regular season starts later in April. I remember this from last year they did the same thing.

Agreed it will be open, they want people to see TT and as long as that area doesnt get overcrowded with viewers, I am sure it will remain open..

[shavethewhales]

The back porch was open all during opening weekend. I think sometimes the gate gets closed and no one realizes. They also might be closing it whenever TT gets shut down so people aren't sending out panicky FB live videos about riders being "trapped".

[Swoosh]

The back porch doesn't open with the park.  If you were there earlier in the morning then that's the reason why

[DeweyBald]

Regarding the porch, what I was referring to was don't plan on going back there to sit a have a quiet moment anymore.  This was my go to place to simply have a seat and relax.  Yes the porch is still there, and yes it was open, but the scenery is gone and it is far from being quiet.  In fact, it has become more or less an observation deck for TT.

[sanddunerider]

Regarding the porch, what I was referring to was don't plan on going back there to sit a have a quiet moment anymore.  This was my go to place to simply have a seat and relax.  Yes the porch is still there, and yes it was open, but the scenery is gone and it is far from being quiet.  In fact, it has become more or less an observation deck for TT.

IS TT really that loud? 
or is there also more noise from TNT now?, with trees removed

[DeweyBald]

Yeah, you get some noise from both, however the screams are loud!  LOL

[sanddunerider]

Yeah, you get some noise from both, however the screams are loud!  LOL

Oh yes!!   The Screamers!!!!

[Jipper]

I managed my first trip of the season today. There was rain all morning and into the afternoon. This kept the crowds at bay, but most rides were operational. Not a fan of the new pathway around Time Travler/ TNT/FM area... Still seems like it will be a cluster during busy times/Christmas season... They were only doing half cave tours due to all of the heavy rain recently. It was nice to see that FITH opening scene received some love in the off season. Train was fun as always...

[MandyTG]

I've done a quick read though of posts so I may have missed if someone already mentioned this-

Have they installed a new pressed penny machine with a Time Traveler design yet?

Also, does anyone know what times of year they make and sell the spicy peanut brittle. I discovered it for the first time last fall and was disappointed to discover they don't sell it at Christmas due to making holiday brittle at that time. Are there different brittles for every season/festival?

Sadly, I don't think we will make it to the park this year, much to the disappointment of my boys. They are very impatient to ride Time Traveler.  We do already have a trip planned for next April to look forward too though.

Thanks to everyone who posts about their trips!