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[History Buff]

I tell you what gets on my nerves.  The rascles riding on their rascles on a crowded day.  They will flat run over you and not bat and eye.

[PastorDon]

One of my favorite places...(and I'm curious to see if anybody else does this) is the white tower you can see from the top of the first hill on Wildfire.  My kids and I discovered that if you keep your eyes on the tower while you go down that first hill it really enhances the feeling of weightlessness on the ride down.  Anybody else do this?  Oh, and unlike my kids, I like riding in the FRONT, feeling the wind in my hair and pretending I'm flying like Superman.  Guess that's one of the things I love about SDC...I can be a kid again! 

[Copper]

The tree is still up because it is such an icon and that is how everyone on park feels. To open it back up would mean tearing it down and rebuilding it and yes if they do that it should be accessible to disabled children.    

This is a very primitive design, but a ramp on both sides of the entrance would work. The interior could be filled with lots of crazy gadgets. My favorite things in the tree house were these cans that would tell you strange things, such as putting a rock under your pillow will keep the Boogie Man away.



If they were to do this I bet tons of people would still complain, its hard to make everyone happy.

[KBCraig]

I don't believe amusement park rides are required to be ADA accessible. Some rides, by their very nature, can't be.

It's nice if they make an effort on some rides, but not every area of the park has to be accessible to every visitor.

[Copper]

However, I believe if at all possible each attraction should be accessible to everyone and SDC feels this way too.

[StaceySue]

One of my favorite places...(and I'm curious to see if anybody else does this) is the white tower you can see from the top of the first hill on Wildfire.  My kids and I discovered that if you keep your eyes on the tower while you go down that first hill it really enhances the feeling of weightlessness on the ride down.  Anybody else do this?  Oh, and unlike my kids, I like riding in the FRONT, feeling the wind in my hair and pretending I'm flying like Superman.  Guess that's one of the things I love about SDC...I can be a kid again! 

I sit in the back seat of Wildfire and raise my hands AND feet.  That helps the weightlessness.  Of course, I love PowderKeg in the front.

[KBCraig]

However, I believe if at all possible each attraction should be accessible to everyone and SDC feels this way too.

I understand, but you can't plop a Rascal rider in Powder Keg, and you wouldn't want to flop a quadriplegic into the Lost Mine boats. There are no wheelchair ramps into or out of the cave. This thread of discussion came up because someone said handicapped accessibility was an issue for rebuilding the tree house. Clearly, not every feature has to be 100% accessible. You don't see any ramps or lifts on those ziplines going in all over Branson, right?

ADA is very misunderstood, and that's complicated by activists and lawyers who file on anything and everything. For the most part, the claims are specious, but it's cheaper to pay them off than fight them.

[History Buff]

Although my favorite place was never the tree house (neither the real tree house nor Guyser Gulch which doesn't even resemble a tree house, but is still called one although I can't figure out why), I think the real issue here is safety and not accessibility.  I'm pretty sure it can't even be shored up and would simply have to be replaced.  There wouldn't be anything wrong with that either, but they would have to spend millions to do it right, and they wouldn't exactly have an attraction to advertise on the front of the brochure.  Not that we wouldn't like it.

How about this?  Use the Waterboggan tower but build and mold a shell around it to resemble a tree.  Stick some fiber optic leaves on it and call it the Four Seasons Tree House.  It would be used as a great look out tower for guests, but would also light up and change colors with the seasons - shades of green for spring; oranges, reds, and yellows in the fall; and pure white in the winter.  They could even provide music for it and have a light show after dark each night - mellow music, not like the Christmas tree.  Of course, I still also like my miner's tree house which is around here somewhere - Rube Dugan in the trees.

Anyway, the point is, we can pretty well write off the tree house as is.  You're not going to legally get inside that structure again.  Now if we could only burrow into it from the roots...

[sdcforever]

I forgot to mention that one of my favorite places in the whole park is Colonel Poppin's Kettle Corn by the entrance to Geyser Gulch!  Yum!!

[Cardinal Fan]

This is a tough one.    I would have to say any of the theatres......just love the music!, Wilderness Church....it's so beautiful and peaceful in there, the train ride during the Christmas season, the square looking at the big Christmas tree while drinking hot chocolate and all the neat shops. 

[How-doFolks]

The creek off to the left of the main square that runs down to Rays knife Shop. And where the skillets are cookin' up the yummy fixin's.

[maddilives4him]

my favorite places?  I have a TON but here are a few:
- I really like the lantern tour.
- There is not one thriller ride that I don't like!
- eating root beer floats at Hannahs ice cream parlor.
- The best cinnimon bread on the planet at Sullivans mill.
- GAC nights at Echo Hollow.

[bthomas]

I enjoy sitting on the rock walls just before you enter the park watching all the people go by.  You see all kinds.  Those going in have a look of anticipation on their face, especially the kids.  You hear them planing the day, where they will meet up, who has the kids....its great fun.  Of course you see the ones leaving....they're not nearly as happy.

[Andymeets1880s]

It's amazing to me how I have grown and the feelings change from a child to an adult in regards to SDC. I remember 1980 vividly when I was itching to ride things and get ice cream and had the "theme park" feeling. I can remember not giving two cents about whether the park was 1880s or not. I didnt pay attention to the "homey" feeling and was nothing but a kid running on theme park adrenaline.
Now......whole different ballgame! I mean, I know you are reading this and thinking "Well, that's just about everyone. You dont pay attention to things as much when you are a kid and dont appreciate it as much!" But, this feeling is...well.....let me put it this way....I can go to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and feel the same way as an adult as I did as a kid. Rides! Eat! Get wet! But the view is completely different with SDC. Now, I feel Relax! Breathe! Calm! I am chomping the bit to get back there and I am looking so forward to checking out all of the relaxing places to sit and eat and rock on the porch! I didnt get to go into the Wilderness Church in 08', but I am just imagining that the calm inside of a CHURCH inside of SDC has to be double the spiritual calm!
I want to thank all of you for posting these forums of memories and stories. They are bringing me calm and a smile in a difficult situation and I get on here with great anticipation of the new trip  reports so I can keep going back again and again through those that are visiting (I'm looking at you right now, PastorDon!).

[Parson B Ready]

On the square at Christmastime, watching all the lights and the giant tree and just feeling the spirit that is SDC.