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Useful Information:

1. The Silver Dollar City Commemorative Mugs cost $10 filled, but once you own one you can use them year after year and get drinks at a greatly reduced price.
2. The places selling drinks will fill your cup with ice water for free.  This is much cheaper than buying the bottled water.
3. When Silver Dollar City opens at 10 am, the traffic seems to be backed up the most at 10:00 to 10:30. Coming a bit earlier or a bit later will minimize the time you spend with your car in line.
4. The lines on the water rides increase and decrease with the temperature.
5. The length of the lines doesn’t really tell you how long the wait will be. The number of cars being run will determine your wait at least as much as the length of the line.
6. As you come into the main part of Silver Dollar City, on the right there are two all-you-can eat restaurants.   The top one is called Molly’s Mill and is the one most people see.  Underneath it is a restaurant set in an old mine. It is easier to miss and it is a bit cheaper.  The food selection and quality seems about the same at both.  Kids under 4 eat for free and there is a reduced price for those under 11.
7. You get a 10% discount  on most food purchases by presenting a season pass.
8. If you have a Silver Dollar City Season Pass, don’t forget to bring your photo id.  They will check it when you come into the park.
9. If you are going for at least two days, the Silver Dollar City Season Pass is  probably your cheapest option.
10. Season Passes ordered in advance sometimes come with coupons free or reduced admission for guests during certain dates.
11. There is a two day pass available, but only if you stay at Silver Dollar City owned cabins.
12. March through October, if you come after 3pm, you can the next day for free.
13. Silver Dollar City no longer accepts American Express.
14. Most of the shops and vendors will take credit cards.  A few of the popcorn stands have to process the card at a different stand.
15. The shows in Silver Dollar City are included on a first come first served basis, but you can buy an additional pass to guarantee you a seat.
16. There is a big show in the outdoor amphitheater most evenings around 6pm. It is included as part of admission to the park.
17. The park was built around Marvel Cave.  You can take a tour with a guide.  It is included as part of your ticket price.
18. The cave tour is a lot of walking down stairs and there is a train (of sorts) that will bring up back to the top.
19. Most of the shops are air conditioned which is a welcome relief in 100+ degree weather.
20. Most purchases can be sent to the exit and held for you so you don’t have to carry them around all day.

Interesting Facts:

1. Silver Dollar City sits on top of Marvel Cave.
2. Marvel Cave was originally called Marble Cave when it was discovered because it appeared to have ceilings made of marble.  It turns out they were just plain old rock.
3. The only thing valuable in the cave was bat guano.
4. The urban legend that women’s makeup is made from bat guano was started by a tour guide in Marvel Cave years ago.
5. The town above the cave was burned by a group that called themselves Baldknobbers after a fight in the local bar. This incident is what the theme of the ride Fire in the Hole is based on.
6. Fire in the Hole is the parks original rollercoaster

SEO Search Terms Tagging 2

This plugin keeps track of what search terms bring people to your site.   You can put a widget on your sidebar that links to the pages where people are going with the text that they are searching for.  This can give you some benefit in search engines and raise your ranking for those particular search terms because they are now used as anchor text in link.  Of course you’ll get more search engine benefit if the links are on other domains, but it can still help within your own domain.

You can also display search terms at the bottom of the page.  So if someone ends up on Page A looking for “blue poodles” the term “blue poodles” will get added to a list at the bottom of the page.  This means that if people start coming to one of your pages for a particular search phrase, your page will automatically optimize to include that phrase in the content.  You can also show a count of the number of times that phrase has sent visitors to the page. Beyond optimizing the page with the specific keyphrases people are using, it makes it easy to look at a page and see how people are getting there.  This can help give you ideas for future posts or may point to a way to optimize the content to draw more traffic.

LJ Longtail SEO

LJ Longtail SEO is similar, but it allows you to add a widget that shows phrases where people are clicking through from the second page of the search results.  So if you have a page that ranks for “free podcasts” on the second page of Google, once someone follows the Google link to your site, LJ Longtail SEO will add the term “free podcasts” and link to the page your sidebar widget.  This helps optimize your site for terms that you may not even realize you are ranking for.  The majority of web users click on a link on the first page of their search results. Since it often takes only a minimal amount of optimization to move from a second page position to a first page position, this can be a very effective way to increase the amount of traffic you get automatically.

I just ran across a device called a hovermower. It looks like it is basically a hovercraft push lawn mower. Instead of using wheels, it forces air down into the deck and this creates a cushion for it to ride on. It is an interesting idea. The market it as being ideal for mowing steep inclines and around ponds.

I suppose there is some advantage in not having wheels that can get stuck when you try to pull it back up the hill, but it still seems a bit odd. The video makes it look like more of a replacement for a weedeater around ponds and on slopes.