SDC WorldFest

[biscuitcreek]

WorldFest at SDC began on Thursday, April 3. How is it this year? I think DH and I will be there next weekend.

[JoLaLaLa]

I wondered about it too. It's our fave festival to attend all year. The commercials have me all excited again this year and I may not even get to go! IF (and that's a big IF) I feel up to riding in the car for several hours, we may go up on the 18th or 19th to get in at least one day of SDC but that's looking like less and less of a possibility at this point. I would love to hear from people who have gone though!

[biscuitcreek]

I guess no one on the board has been to WorldFest yet. I'm headed to Branson on Friday and if the weather cooperates, I plan on going to SDC either Saturday or Sunday.

[Melle94]

My parents and I made a last minute trip up to Branson on Saturday night. We made it to Branson in time to see Echo Hollow on Saturday night. I think it's the best show they've had in several years. We picked up one of the Pathfinders so that we could plan out Sunday to catch as many shows as possible.
We started with the Russian Academic band at the Gazebo and they were great as usual. The female singer is different this year but very good. Next we watched about half of the Ecuador Manta show. Their music is very peaceful and relaxing. We headed to the Dockside theater to see the Invaders from Trinidad. This is one of my favorite groups that comes to World Fest. We stayed for Kerry Christian, the Austrian yodeler. He is very interesting as well. We looked around and had some lunch and then headed to Riverfront to see Beggar's Row from Scotland. We saw them last year in Echo Hollow and with the Irish show. They were really good. We left and went to Boatworks to see Noticky, a children's group from the Czech Republic. They were amazing. They sang, danced and played instruments. The last show that we saw was Feet on Fire, the Irish show in the Red Gold Heritage Hall. This was probably one of my favorites. Their is just something about Irish music and dancing that I love.
We will be going back on the 18th -20th because many of these shows I would like to see 2 or 3 more times.

*Michelle*

[biscuitcreek]

Thanks for the info!

[WildfireFan]

Sounds like a lot of fun. My family and I are headed to down on Friday for the weekend. We've never been to SDC during the WorldFest, so we are excited!

[biscuitcreek]

DH and I went to SDC on Saturday the 12th. It was so cold with a sharp wind that you would have thought we were there for the Christmas festival!

Attendance at the gazebo shows were sparse because of the cold. By the way, the red material is no longer above the gazebo seating. Don't know if there are any plans to replace it. Would think something needs to go back up to provide some shade on sunny days.

Heard the guy that primarily does Alpine music -- was okay but had some problems with his stringed instruments staying in tune due to the cold; small attendance because he was in the Dockside theater and the wind was just blowing through.

The Chinese acrobats in the Opera House were great, and it was announced that the group does vary their show from performance to performance. It was packed. The Scottish group was in the Riverside Playhouse (loved the new seating) and they did traditional Scottish music and dance plus some original tunes; the theater was full.

The Irish show Feet of Fire was in the Red & Gold Heritage Hall; it was full.
Very similar to previous shows with a mixture of dance and Irish music. The harpist came out early and played 3 songs while the audience was being seated; she was very good.

In the dining area Taste of the World, there was a station set up where one could have free samples of the other products Coca Cola sells around the world.

The rides were running including the River Rampage but generally were not full due to the cold. First time I've ever seen the train run with most of the seats empty, and I saw that several times that day.

Hope to go back again later on this month and catch the groups we didn't get to see this time.

By the way, the old booth near the old Chamber of Commerce booth where you could get info and sign up for Showboat cruises has been converted to the Show Lovers Pass Booth. For WorldFest you can buy a pass for $10 a person that will enable you to skip waiting in line for the Chinese Acrobats show and the Irish Feet of Fire show. I presume this feature will be available through the other festivals for the shows in the Opera House and in the Heritage Hall.

[SweetSue]

We went to SDC today. We saw the Academic Band (Russia) at the Gazebo; we had never seen them, and they were very good. We didn't care that much for the female singer, though.

Then we saw Feet of Fire (Ireland). It was VERY good; in fact, we thought it was the best Irish show we've ever seen at SDC.

We saw the acrobats from China; they were very good, also. We had seen them last year and the year before, but we thought this year's presentation was the best.

We left before 2 p.m., went to Olive Garden for a late lunch, then headed back to Arkansas. Good day!