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[mhguy77]

I arrived Sunday night at 5:30, all the lots seemed full as well as much of the paid parking.  The cars concerned me for the crowds I would find however I stopped int eh bathroom on the way in and asked the attendant if they were having a good day, he said 7500 at that point.  When I got the to the square they were lighting the tree, no real crowds at all.
It was a great warm night and the rides had no lines. 2 trains were running on Powder Keg ( Nice ! ) there was the inevetable crowd issue for the Dickens show ( They really need to do something about that). I wandered down past the Saloon ( Big crowd) towards the River Battle.  I walked up and thought it was closed, they made no efforts to decorate the ride for the season with the exception of rope lights in the windows of the prop boat. I really couldn't figure it out, no music, no lights, no Santa's elves working around the creek,,,,,,nothing.  There were a cpl adults on the ride looking as if they were unsure why they were there.  I felt for them.....
We walked down around the park and stopped by the train station to see the new fence, the addition in that area will work well, its a quiet spot.  I do forsee there being a spot saving issue for the train but it will brighten up the area. Maybe they will do something with the old taffy shop as well, it used to be such a active area.

It didn't seem as if they had as many Christmas decorations for sale this year, less to choose from.
The Nature store also changed all of there merchandise, it has become a clone to the old buzzsaw falls outpost store near the FITH. Disappointing.
I had a good time but I think it was a little early to get into the spirit.
Beautiful weather.
I also skipped getting the ornament as the line is usually prohibitively long for me to wait.
You would think that this being the renew line for the passes they would move it quickly or staff it better but that wasn't the case.

[sanddunerider]

sounds like u had a good trip.. thats great!  glad the weather was agreeable. hopefully my sunday visit will be the same. crowd & weather.....

[Ozark Outlaw]

Thanks for the review mhguy77!

I am sure glad the parking lots were not a true indicator of how crowded it was inside of the park. Perhaps, everybody drove themselves that day, and decided not carpool?

I am really disappointed to hear about the lack of decorations around River Blast. Perhaps all of the water makes it difficult to install, and operate lights inside of the course itself? However, it sure defeats the purpose if there is nothing different to see.

I completely agree on the lack of merchandise variety! When I was there a few weeks ago they had nothing of interest to me to purchase, and I had an open wallet. Hopefully next year will be better when the 50th Anniversary merchandise is moved out.

I am definitely on par with you about it being a tad too early to really be in a winter mood. Glad to hear you had a wonderful time though! 

[Parson B Ready]

Went to the park today. Arrived at 12:45pm. Traffic wasn't bad, parking wasn't bad, pretty much walked right in.  As the day grew so did the crowds, but 2/3 of the crowds were senior adults wanting to see the shows. The lines for the rides weren't bad at all, pretty much walked on to thunderation, flooded mine and all of the rides in the GE.  We had a 15-minute wait for Powderkeg but they were only running one train.  About a 5-minute wait for FITH.  Train ride was awesome as usual (30-minute wait for the train).  Saw the parade.  We were able to get cups of hot chocolate with the works (using our refillable mugs) for $1.00 each!!! Ummmm goood.  Nothing going on with Half-Dollar Holler yet.  The fence was up, if you looked through the fence you saw some areas that were marked off with orange tape, but that was about it. Riverblast was nice, nothing extravagant.  Just a nice relaxing ride looking at the lights around the area, there were a few extra lights around Riverblast, but nothing really big, it was just a nice relaxing ride.  My younger boys (ages 7, 4) enjoyed pretending to shoot the guns. Weather was beautiful.  Going back tomorrow. Will try to post pictures, too tired to fool with it tonight!

[Ozark Outlaw]

Thanks for the trip review Parson B Ready!

I am sure glad the crowds weren't too terrible today, especially since it's Veteran's Day, and many people are off work.

An Old Time Christmas is just not the same without the wonderful train ride, and a cup of hot chocolate! Plus, all of that for just one dollar? That's a good deal!

Thanks for the update around the Half Dollar Holler area. Unfortunately, I don't expect any major construction there until January when the park is closed. However, just flag markers alone are a really big deal around here.

I look forward to your review for tomorrow!

[sanddunerider]

ozark+, it may be a little early, BUT the season is definanlty upon us.  getting closer everyday, I am sooo ready to go in 2 weeks!

[StaceySue]

We were also there today and last night.  I agree with Parson; everything was very manageable today.  Last night, we watched the parade and rode the train.  We also spent some time in the dark at the GE.  Today, we took the shuttle from Deer Run that left at noon.   We had nearly an hour to kill on the square, and then we went straight to Dickens.  We picked up our ornaments--very fitting for the 50th.  We also had the kids sit on Santa's lap.  We bought that picture even though our 1-year-old is screaming.  That will be a great memory; we bought the ornament for the picture.  We also added a wise man to our Fontanini Nativity.  We add a piece every year, and we are due for another wise man.  This one kind of looks like Samuel L. Jackson.

We left right after the tree lighting.  We would've left sooner, but we were killing time before the shuttle came back at 5:45.  I still don't know why people watch the tree lighting.  The only thing different was a paraphrasing of the life of Christ right before the first song.  The first song was Joy to the World.  Then it played Carol of the Bells (my favorite), but you can see those songs with the tree later in the evening minus hundreds of your closest friends.  Oh well.

We went out to dinner tonight, and then we hit Tanger and the Landing.

We will probably go in tomorrow, but we've already accomplished our main goals.  We'd kind of like to see the Tracy Heaston Show.  Maybe Frosty.  It's only a high in the 50s tomorrow, though.

I just want to say also that it is warm!!  It has been tee shirt weather for us the past two days.  Sometimes we put on a sweatshirt when it drizzles.

[sanddunerider]

sounds like a positive trip stacey.. thanks, have fun tomorrow.

[Ozark Outlaw]

Thanks for the review StaceySue!

So let's see; you picked up your ornaments, visited Santa, bought a picture of the one year old on Santa's lap, purchased the ornament for the picture, and added another wise man to your collection, and still had time to catch the tree lighting? That sounds like one very successful day at Silver Dollar City!

I agree that Branson has been very warm the past week, or so, but a cold front should be moving in shortly. I am glad you, and your family had a wonderful trip!

[Hatfield McCoy]

The family and I went to SDC November 11.

Enjoyed the warm weather and OTC very much.  I have to admit with the kids, we are using the 6 buck parking every time now.  Avoiding the tram mess, especially at Christmas adds great value to our visit.  Being the frugal type, we never spring for any kind of up charge, but this has become well worth it for us. The "lets get ready to ruuuummmble", portion of the trip was seriously affecting our quality of time spent on park.  We are the "no you go ahead" type of family.  Unfortunately for my family, people these days are not reciprocal and usually have the attitude of "out of my way sucker".  I stress manners to my children and I hate putting them in a situation where they see their elders look like the creatures from the movie "28 days" when it comes to a tram.

Anyway on to the good.  The park looked great.  It was not overly crowded but not deserted either.  The perfect mix of people having a good time with their families and Christmas lights.  We casually strolled through the park.  I apologize to anyone else from the board that might have been there for sucking the big skillet smell out of the air single handedly.  My those cooking smells at SDC smell good.  I think those smells could make me hungry after the nausea of a gut busting Thanksgiving dinner and 50 ketchup sandwiches.

During our casual stroll we stopped and let the kids play on the play ground by GG.   I snapped some pics of the marker flags and gazed at the abandoned part of the park walkway by the defunct Water Boggin.  We climbed to the top of GG and enjoyed the lights from up on high, and enjoyed watching the lit train go by while the kids played.  I never noticed the little rail road crossing sign lights up way up there as the train goes by.  Little details like that make SDC great.   I also noticed Lake Silver was drained really low, and could see where the old Diving Bell sub used to be housed. 

We took our usual trip through "Granpas old Mansion" as the kids like to call it.  It really looks great in there and it was fun seeing a family explore it for the first time.  With the warm temps outside, man it was stuffy and hot in there. 

One of the highlights of the trip was a couple of back to back rides on the Flooded Mine.  Everything was working great  and I actually saw dozens of things that seemed new, at least to me.  The special effects were looking as good as I have seen them in a long while.  Kudos to whomever is working on the old ride.  The staff was really friendly also. 

We were a little disappointed to see the soup shack closed and weren't able to get our bread bowl soup on as normal, but maybe it was closed because it was so warm. 

Another highlight for me was riding "The powder keg" in the dark.  Wow!  The view was amazing during the slow ride to the top of the last hill. The lighted city looked incredible from way up there.  Man that thing felt like it was flying through the dark.  I find myself with that goofy grin you have on your face after it comes to a halt while just writing this.

Biggest highlight though was getting to ride with my six year old boy who is now tall enough to ride Thunderation.  The little daredevil would ride anything in the park if they would let him, and laughed hysterically all the way through every bank, hill and turn.  Priceless!  I look forward to many years of laughter and coasters. 

In Summary.  Trips like these, including the slow ride home with sleeping kids in the back are why we keep coming!

[Junior]

Sounds like a nice trip, Hatfield/McCoy. Thanks for the review.

[sanddunerider]

good for you hatfield! glad you had a GREAT! trip..

[Hatfield McCoy]

Thanks guys.

Hey Junior I saw your ghost when I looked at the old Diving Bell location.   

Someone also was kind enough to stop and take our family's picture, and I remember thinking I wonder if it was one the great people on this here board?  It was really nice of someone.

[Parson B Ready]

We also like to use the preferred parking.  I've got a wife, 5 kids (ages 2-14), 3 refillable mugs, a diaper bag and a double stroller.  Shelling out the additional $6 for season pass preferred parking is so worth it compared to waiting for the tram, shepherding 7 people through the massive rush to get them and all of our stuff on the tram and unloading the tram.  Plus by using PP we could leave our coats in the van and one of us could simply walk back and get them if it got cold.  We've used the Deer Run shuttle which isn't as bad, but we are usually some of the last ones to leave the park at the end of the night and we have to wait for them to find a free shuttle to take us back.  Today we went to the park for just a few hours before we headed home. My 4-year-old wanted to ride the tram, so when we left the park this afternoon, we stopped at the tram pick-up and waited at least 15 minutes before a shuttle came by to take us back to "stop 1". When the kids get older and we don't have to fool with strollers and diaper bags, I will gratefully go back to free parking, but until then $6 is worth the convenience (though I don't think I'd pay $12)!

[sanddunerider]

well parson,stacey,hatfield..  sounds like you had a great weekend and i hope trams and i were able to keep off the rain..

I can only hope when we go in a couple of weeks, i have the good weather and get to see all the sights accordingly..