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[Zephon]

First day of the season for SDC 2009.  The day started off a bit nippy, with rain clouds threatening.  But by noon it started to warm up as the clouds started to break some.  The rain stayed away and by the time I went home around 3:30, there were a lot of people on park, enough to extend the park hours by one.  I hope that bodes well for the season we are going to have.

Y'all come see us.

[SteamFreak]

I was so glad when the extended the park hours, ended up riding thunderation 3 times! It was a beautiful day in a beautiful park!

[themeparkguy]

How is the word gotten out when the park hours get extended?

[SteamFreak]

We heard about it at a show, other than that I dunno, I'm sure the vendors let everyone know.

[rubedugans]

As I had said on the other thread on the site, I was also in attendance, and my Dad and I had a wonderful time. I agree, it was a bit chilly at first, but it did warm up after a while, and I doubt if I will be in for a day that allowed me to take so many photos of the city without people obstructing the views. I will be posting the MANY MANY photos from today on my Flickr soon...

[Copper]

It was a great day at the City. I think FITH had the longest line I had ever seen and we had three trains on. I know I am somewhat inaccessible when I am working, but if you want you can get my attention and say hello!

[KBCraig]

I know I am somewhat inaccessible when I am working, but if you want you can get my attention and say hello!

Do you look like your avatar? 

[SteamFreak]

You were calling for the 3rd train as I was getting on so I couldn't say anything to you, I'll see you on saturday!

[marolinesdad]

I was there on Thurs and Friday with my kids.   Had a great time.  There was over 12,000 in the par both days.  I talked to the transportation people and they said that they could no longer find parts to keep the green trams running anymore.  and the fact they were not ADA.   I was also told that the Trolley Buses were the next thing to go.  They were bought in the 60's and they are having the same problems with parts and the ADA aspect on them as well.  They do not have all the signs up on the Parking Lots yet.  Some signs still say Lot C and others say Lot 4,  Also the lots are not numbered anymore the stops are.  Stop 1-2-3 and so forth, in old lot C there are 2 Stops now.  I think they are 3 and 4.  The lines for the cave were insane.  I waited for over an hour to take the cave tour...   Yes Doc I took them on a different tour...     Over all a great time.  I will be back next month.

[SteamFreak]

I'll be back today, praying for as little as possible or no rain at all!

[marolinesdad]

I forgot to mention in my other post.   All the signs for the new ride are gone.   They have nothing in the park talking about the new ride in 2010.  They have even taken it off the map.  I think they must have pushed it off even further.   Copper, Zephon, or Doc do you all know anything?  Oh and if you have not ridden FITH yet , they have rebuilt the care and some of the track.  The ride smoother and the cars look great.

[History Buff]

^No mention of the "New Ride in '10" in the Pathfinder, either - just a bunch of trees in its place.  I wonder if something else is in the works for the anniversary and the River Battle will be in '11...

In other changes, much of the rope-rail around the mulch beds in the Riverfront have been removed, allowing more roaming areas for the redneck children who think it's OK to walk through the landscaping.

There were some new signs in the ThuNderaTion queue (I'll upload some pictures.), showing mining operations - even mentioning Henry Blow and Greedy Brothers Dynamite.

The "funhouse" mirrors in Grandfather's Mansion were new and shiny.  You could actually see yourself in them.

We spotted new safety signs that warned us to not cross a fences or great injury could be the result.

The book store is no more.  A broom maker has taken its place, complete with a demo - nice to see a demo go in, but sad to see no book shop in the park.  Here's an idea - a Barns and Pebbles Bookseller in the old basket shop.

The new art gallery in the old Christian gift store has caused them to declare that area of Midtown an "art mecca" in the Pathfinder.

The cave tours seemed more backed up than usual - I'm not sure the new system or limited number of tours is really working yet.

The toy store needs to refocus attention on toys - too many clothing and junk items in the front half.

Bummer and Lazarus has moved to the Ozark Marketplace, while the Christian gifts have taken the old dog and cat venue.

Geyser Gulch looks better and appears to half an upgraded sound system.  It looks like everything is working - maybe even too well, since Splash Harbor had to be evacuated due to a broken water line (I'm not sure how they knew.).  There was a new vending machine at the entrance to SH that dispensed "waterproof bags" for a quarter.

There's new gravel at the RR crossing, but that's already been reported over the winter.

We think the citizens in the GE have donned new costumes - long black coats with long sleeves for the men - and were looking quite dapper and appropriate for the area.

Still no Genesis on Wilson's Farm - I'm wondering if, during lean economic times, the Wilson's might have butched the last cow they had.

The white tram-trailers are being pulled by large white pickups - our with a Georgia license plate, BTW - and look kind of odd.  I would like to see the menagerie of school buses and others being uniformly painted.  The green trams are in the service parking lot off of Hwy 76 if someone would like to get pictures for posterity.

Now, wherever you are parked, you can expect a 15-30 minute wait and ride.  We had to park at Stop 5, which was unmarked as such, but had to tour the perimeter of the entire lot system (it seemed) to get to the front gate.  There is still construction to the west (Another new lot or just a staging area?).  The Clot signs are still standing, but I noticed new signage lying in wait to replace the old ones.  One of the Clot stops, out by the road, had a striped, circusy awning.

We heard reports that PK was closed for a while, if not for the day, for technical problems.

The rednecks and the basketball bouncers were in full-force all over the park.  I don't know how many kids I saw climbing rails, trapsing through flower beds, belching and making gaseous noises, and rudely yelling or running through crowds, even breaking between my wife and daughter who were holding hands to stay together.  And the parents did nothing to stop any of this.  It seemed more like a Six Flags experience, yesterday, with all the unattended brats.

All the lines were long.  ThuNderaTion filled the queue house and was around and down the steps.  Fire-in-the Hole was out the door and too long for me to consider (Sorry, Copper).  At one time the Giant Swing had over an hour long wait (I can wait until next time.).  It was cool that Flooded Mine was out the door and all the way to the entrance gate for the first time in years (They could have turned off the heater in the dark hallway though - It seemed more like the entrance to Hades than a cool mine.).

We saw Terry Sanders a total of three times in two costumes, as Deputy Birdie and the Undertaker.

Lots of the shops were still closed until April and even until May.  It was odd that the patriotic shop will not even be open until after WorldFest - You mean, the USA won't be represented at a global festival???

All in all, the changes wouldn't be noticed by most visitors - only by true SDC Fans - except the new parking lot system.  We didn't get to everything, so I'm sure other things were changed.

[History Buff]

New signage in ThuNderaTion's queue:



New Broom shop:

[shavethewhales]

Thanks for the updates guys, I really appreciate it being so far away from the park. It's too bad again about the parking lot situation, seems like that just keeps getting worse and worse. Why not build new trolleys? Why not get a new parking lot train from Mack? Those buses are a pain, and can't be all that much less expensive in the long haul.

The stuff about the ride is probably just them sprucing the area up to look nice. It will be awhile before they go back to do work there.

Sounds like a strong start for the season though, let's hope it keeps up.

[SteamFreak]

WOW great post, we were just disscussing all of this, the next "extreme danger" signs are great, and the "Smoke in your face" ones are cute. I suppose they have something to do with the accident at six flags. I saw terry as Doc Harris and Auntie Mae on thursday, he even commented on my "SDCfans" tee shirt. I was chosen to be the "helper" in the chris stanley show today, not a bad performance, kind of corn ball, but it's a theme park. It was a little cold and wet but that just meant no lines! I must have ridden FITH 4 times, nice to have finally met you copper BTW.