Opening Day 2025 is now behind us, so it's time to take a look at our experience.
First, the good:
- the weather held out.
- it wasn't too crowded.
- the new show at the Theatre of Illusion was good, and for adults, there are now cocktails available.
- the train show was changed, mainly at the silver mine portion. Won't give anything away, but definitely an improvement over last season.
- the train show cast was more interactive than last year.
- the Engineers (the cast trios that sing at various locations int he park) were much better than last season, both in terms of the singing and overall performance...they even appeared to be having fun performing.
- Evanna, of course, had a good time.
The bad:
- at the ticket office on arrival, to pick up our physical season passes, we were told Silverwood no longer does extra passes--and as it was explained, the person seemed to be saying they never have. Except...we've done the previous two seasons, so each parent has an Evanna pass, since we often take her at different times.
- the train show (aside from the silver mine portion) still relies heavily on pre-recorded voiceovers; some of them appeared to have been re-recorded to help differentiate the different characters, which is something I touched on last season. But wasn't enough to clear up who was talking when.
- the train show still references few of the surroundings and wildlife figures. It's a missed opportunity for interaction between guests and the park.
- the Marvin the Moose and Friends show started...then ran into some sort of technical trouble shortly after it started. We waited for a few minutes, and it didn't restart, so we left. Chalk that one up to opening day issues that will be resolved.
The ugly:
- Accessibility training. Our first stop inside the park is to the info center to pick up a height bracelet so that Evanna doesn't need to be measured at each ride...requests for that can be ridiculous, offensive, and embarrassing when she (or worse, when she's ignored and I'm asked as if she's not there) if she can stand to be measured. And yet, it happens at least once every season, as if the ride operators don't know what the height bracelets are for. Sometimes I can reason with the operators and explain, and sometimes can just look incredulous, point to her and say she's in a wheelchair. But Saturday, she was made to wait through a ride cycle while we waited for a supervisor, while other kids had to maneuver around her. And to add to it, the particular ride operator was a returning operator, so he should have known.
[Note: may be policy to blame after all. Silverwood's official Accessibility Guide states that even with the bracelets "[t]he attraction attendants will still double check heights to ensure the safety of our guests." I do hope Silverwood refines that policy, because it's nonsensical to check heights of many, if not most, disabled people.]
- This one isn't on Silverwood, but was part of the experience. Here I am, just a dad of a disabled little girl, trying to help her go to the bathroom. As I mentioned in a separate post on IG, there are different levels of being inconsiderate, and this one hit them all. And it's not just the blocking: there was such a commotion in there that I thought it was a dad with like four or more kids in there running wild. Nope, just two. And then when he came out and realized he was blocking the entrance, and that Evanna was in a wheelchair, there wasn't even any sort of apology at all. Note: please don't do things like this.
