Day 1: Wednesday March 20th
Departure Day! I got up early to
finish packing and get the car loaded up.
We left our house about 8:45 am.
Destination: Silver Dollar
City. Originally I had intended to go
there Thursday, but as the day grew closer the weather forecast was not good
for Thursday (snow, cold, yuck!).
Wednesday was supposed to be about 50 degrees and sunny so we took the
best opportunity we would get.
We arrived around 1 pm and parked in Lot 5. We only had to wait a few minutes in line for
the tram (which was actually a bus). The
driver literally packed us in that bus – she filled all the seats and then had
people stand in the aisle, which is what the girls and I did. She drove a bit faster up to the entrance than
I felt was safe with people standing up!
But we made it safely.
We had to go to Guest Relations to get our season passes printed since
they hadn’t arrived in the mail in time.
Unfortunately the line was quite long and it took an hour before we got
into the park.
The girls had requested
to go to Grandfather’s Mansion first thing, so that’s what we did! They love that place. Next we went to Thunderation. The line was long. It took us about 25 min to get on the roller
coaster but it was fun. The bottom photo was taken from inside the loading area, looking out over the track. In the summer you can't see much, if any, of the track because of all the leaves.
The Grand Exposition was our next stop, for the girls to ride the
Magnificent Wave Carousel. This is a
very fancy name for swings. I can’t ride
spinning rides, so fortunately they are tall enough to ride alone. This particular ride freaks me out for some
reason and I have a hard time even watching them ride it, but I let them
because they love it. We waited about
25-30 min in this line.
We headed towards Fire in the Hole.
Partway there we stopped at the Riverfront Theater to watch Mike Bliss,
an entertainer who does comedy and juggling, for a few minutes. It was entertaining but we not enough to
spend our time on when our time was limited.
Unfortunately, the line for Fire in the Hole was long. The girls said they didn’t want to wait that
long, and that was ok with me.
I wanted to see the new roller coaster, Outlaw Run, before we left,
though, so I went to one of the frozen lemonade stands and asked the man
working there if he could tell me how to get to the new roller coaster. He answered, “Walk.” Haha!
Once he gave us the real answer (in the Wilson Farms area near the Giant Barn Swing) we checked it out. You can’t see a lot of it from the deck area
the way you can with Wildfire. The first
drop is visible, though, and it looks amazing!!
The sign out front said the wait time was 130 minutes at that point. My friend Kim and her family had tried to
ride it earlier Wednesday and gave up after waiting 3 hours in line. Apparently weather and mechanical issues were
causing problems. One of these days I’ll
ride it, after the new wears off and the lines aren’t two hours long!
On the way up to see Outlaw Run we passed a horse racing game where you
make the horses move by squirting a water gun at a target. It was $3 to play but there was no one else
around so I knew at least one of the girls would get something so I let them
play. Chesney’s horse came in first
because Allie had a little trouble getting on target at first, but they both
got a prize. Chesney got a small stuffed
horse and Allie got a small stuffed pig that says Silver Dollar City on the
side. As we were walking along later,
Allie said, “You know, winning stuff is much better than buying it, because it
doesn’t cost you anything when you win it!”
Um….well, sure.
Chesney wanted a funnel cake and there happened to be a funnel cake
stand right across from Outlaw Run so we waited in line. About 20 min.
Have you noticed a theme yet?
Yes, that would be waiting in line.
There was only one person in this stand, taking orders, making the funnel
cakes and handing them out. After about
15 min another employee showed up, it appeared she had gone to get change
because she had a big stack of cash in her hands and was out of breath from
hurrying. She was very apologetic for
the wait time which I appreciated. Once
she was back, the young man went back to cooking the funnel cakes and the line
started moving faster. They have a red
velvet funnel cake on the menu, with cream cheese icing. I’d love to try it sometime but the girls
wanted a regular funnel cake with powdered sugar this time.
I was impressed to see that you could also buy fresh fruit at this food stand - they had individual cups that contained one kind of fruit or a fruit tray with about 3 different fruits plus a yogurt dip, along with whole apples and bananas. This will be a good alternative to all the bad food available at SDC!
I was impressed to see that you could also buy fresh fruit at this food stand - they had individual cups that contained one kind of fruit or a fruit tray with about 3 different fruits plus a yogurt dip, along with whole apples and bananas. This will be a good alternative to all the bad food available at SDC!
The funnel cake was so delicious and worth waiting on, for sure. It was warm and chewy, so fresh and
wonderful! We walked towards the exit
while we ate, because it was about 4:30 and we needed to get checked in to the
condo, get some dinner, and get ready for the Haygoods show that evening. There was a tram ready and waiting. It was definitely colder riding back on the
actual tram, but not as scary as the bus ride had been. Always a tradeoff.
Arriving in Branson, we went to the check in center for the Grand
Crowne Resort. Last time we stayed there
it was busy and it took a while to get done, but this time I was in and out in
about 10 minutes. They gave me a free
Branson Guest Card (which would be $20 if I purchased it online – I know,
because I did purchase it online last year).
This was a nice bonus because we will use several of the discounts in
it.
We were assigned unit 401A in Building 7. It’s the smallest of the condos, a one
bedroom, one bathroom unit with a living room and full kitchen. It was very nice and considering that I paid
$39/night it was well worth the money!
We unloaded the car and unpacked.
We didn’t have time to go to the grocery store and fix something for
dinner so we decided to eat from the concession stand at the RFD TV
Theatre. I was hoping they’d sell the
mini D’Giorno pizzas like the Americana Theatre does, but they did not. Chesney got nachos, Allie got a corn dog, and
I got popcorn. Our breakfast had been protein
bars, lunch was the funnel cake, and this was our dinner lol.
My aunt Winona, her daughter Jessica, and granddaughters Lexi, Kyleigh,
and Chloe were in Branson as well. The above-mentioned Kim was giving away 2 tickets for the Haygoods because she changed her plans, so
I got them from Kim and gave them to Winona and Jessica. I met up with them in the lobby to give them
the tickets, but their seat assignments were on the other side of the
auditorium so we didn’t sit together.
The Haygoods show was great, as always.
Not much that is new from last year, but slightly different arrangement
of things. Again this year Aaron is
absent, but at least he’s no longer on the billboards and flyers, so it’s not
as obvious that he’s missing! The Haygoods
add and delete family members like other people add and delete Facebook
friends. The official word is that Aaron
is not coming back to the show, but in Haygood speak that probably means he’ll
be back soon.
After the show, we waited along with my aunt and cousins to get
autographs and pictures of the Haygoods.
They were nice and friendly as usual.
Tim was riding around on his banjo boy cooler and the girls thought that
was hilarious.
Happily surprised to find Andy’s Frozen Custard still open, we hit the
drive through. I ordered the chocolate
chip cookie sundae, Chesney got a Thin Mint concrete, and Allie got chocolate
custard on a cone. So delicious! Then it was back to the condo and time for
bed!
