These are codenames of sorts, that describe something fundamental about the person…except some of these can be applied to multiple people, or multiple descriptors can be applied to one person. And while the descriptors below may feature gendered pronouns, they may or may not apply to the actual person in question.

Call it obfuscation if you like. I would venture that one or more of them will be readily identifiable, either immediately or after their individual posts that will follow that discuss details. That being said, it is unlikely that I will be confirming or denying, or otherwise publicly identifying…which does not preclude doing so when required by law or if someone from Herschend proper were to contact.

Ground Zero: The epicenter of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change; the very beginning or starting point.

Homelander, but Wish.com version: Yes, like Homelander from The Boys but from Wish.com. You know the reference and the meme. Here’s a beautiful description I found of the original Homelander:

On the surface, he’s affable, modest, and sincere; the ultimate boy scout, an American treasure, and a God-loving patriot. But just like regular mortals, even superheroes have secrets.
Driven by a god complex, Homelander seeks to seize political control…

The Wish.com version might even be more delusional than the original.

Gatekeeper: Gatekeeper seeks to prevent or control access to something or someone important.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil: This person covers their ears and their eyes and pretends nothing has happened.

Archie Bunker: Some readers may not understand the reference, so allow me: he was the main character in the 70s sitcom All in the Family. If you don’t understand the connection to the pre-Herschend Silverwood, well…think about it for a while.

Interference: Interference is the act, process, or result of something getting in the way, overlapping, or disrupting a process, signal, or object. Think of it in terms of football (pass interference) or wifi signal. This person disrupts what might otherwise be a proper process or procedure.

Faraday Cage: A Faraday cage is designed in such a way that things that would otherwise communicate via RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, cell, wifi, etc are unable to because…the signal is blocked.

Which do you want to see discussed first? Ready for the proverbial beans to be spilled?
[Will be starting with Ground Zero, because we must…and there will be–at this point at least–three major explosions of information.]

–S.

PS As always, my contact info is at the bottom left of each page in the About section in case you have information to potentially add, or if you are from Herschend proper.

The post Silverwood Chronicles: The Cast of Characters appeared first on A Dad First.

First, the disclaimer:

1. This all pre-Herschend, and may have played a part in the decision to sell, considering the published words after the 2021 talks were: “Gary Norton made one thing clear: Silverwood Theme Park is not for sale.” Link. I would also venture to say that Herschend is very unlikely to have known.
2. We love Silverwood and what it brings to the area, and more specifically, what it’s brought to Evanna since we moved here. It still is one of her favorite places, though decreasingly so since the changes post-2023 season.

Now back to the post and question at hand. To quote the best movie ever made: “Let me explain! No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Because it’s not a simple straightforward answer. It just sort of happened.

We moved to North Idaho in June of 2021. We might have visited SW once or twice that season, but we did season passes from then on. We spent a ton of time there during the 2022 season–so much so that Evanna became a little bit of a celebrity there.

In the 2023 season, we applied for and were selected to be in the Silverwood Conductor social media program. [As an aside, the Silverwood Express site has been offline–at the time of posting–for at least several days. Maybe they’re scrubbing the other posts of mine. Link to screenshot of the one post they coincidentally scrubbed after I posted about an accessibility issue in the 2025 season…]

These picture illustrate another factor: Evanna loved the cast members on the Entertainment side, and they seemed to take a liking to her as well. And as her dad, *I* loved seeing how well she was treated, and grew to really appreciate the cast not just as good performers, but good people.

We’ve kept in touch with many (almost all) of them over the years since. We were even specifically introduced to the families of two of the cast that were visiting during the 2023 season. That was–and is–a huge honor to have that kind of connection with the cast. That factor is important later.

But it was during our time in the Conductor program when I began noticing things. Little things. Little things that by themselves would have amounted to nothing. For the longest part of that season, I really didn’t even think much of these little things. But they started clicking for me after Evanna’s accident on the train lift.

The initial reaction by cast and by the immediate Entertainment supervisor was EXCELLENT. Textbook for how a venue should respond–both in action and in word. I was so appreciative that I wanted to write a non-Conductor post about the it. A very positive experience that would have been a very positive post.

But as talked about in that post, the reaction to me wanting to write a positive post about the incident was bizarre. After some back and forth of me clarifying what it was I wanted to write, and outside of the Conductor posts, the reply I received:

Surface level, it doesn’t seem like much at all, but in context of the email thread, it was threatening. The desire for control of the narrative to the point of not even wanting a complimentary post about how well the cast responded opened my eyes to some of the management decisions. [That’s even before some of the petty things from the 2024 and 2025 seasons…]

In the months that followed that season, serendipitously, former cast members began telling me about issues they experienced or saw, or how they were (mis)treated. Turns out that so few people were willing to even remotely criticize Silverwood that even the slightest amount drew attention. (We’ll get to why that might be in a future post, and it’ll get linked here.)

Those kinds of contacts continued to this year, including a former cast I’d never met, who worked at SW prior to us moving here.

The stories combined to paint a picture of troubling actions and decisions over a long period of time that affected many former cast members, Isaiah included. As more of these stories were relayed to me, it quickly became clear that I had to make a difficult choice about what to do with the information.

There’s a quote from Desmond Tutu:

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

If I cannot be neutral with the information, I either have to hide it away and be silent (and thus side with the injustice, allowing it to continue) or I have to speak about it. And in light of Isaiah’s passing, and him no longer able to tell his own story in his own words, there’s really no choice. Additionally, as a Christian, I have an obligation to be a voice to the voiceless when it is within my power to do so.

Point of clarification
I have had to carefully differentiate my personal dislikes, things that I disagreed with, etc from the other, bigger issues. My things, as I wrote above, were small comparatively. But looking back, I believe they were signs of the bigger issues.

Think of it like a water pipe that’s been around a while, but hasn’t really been maintained. There’s some corrosion visible on the outside. There’s some valves that haven’t been checked. Flow isn’t what it used to be. But nobody has really done much of anything about it, though management knows about the age and lack of maintenance. Then there’s the smallest of leaks here and there. They don’t amount to much on their own, so they are left alone. Maybe one is patched here and there when an outside person notices and says something. But those leaks, even though they are small, are all telling a bit of the story about the pipe that seemingly everyone is ignoring: the condition of the inside of that pipe, and its overall functionality, it in serious peril.

Remember, we’re not really talking about water leaks. We’re talking about little signs that point to bigger issues. My observations were the little leaks, and the experiences of other people that I learned about, Isaiah included, are much bigger issues that almost nobody sees. The leaks still matter, but the corrosion and corruption of the pipe is the bigger issue.

So what am I after?
Valid question, and one I’ve had to seriously consider for over a year now. And I can now say that my only aim is to put the information out. The repercussions are not for me to decide.

Now…if I had my druthers (and that is a word that needs to make a comeback), it’s going to become very clear that there are some individuals, by the decisions they made and the things they knew about and allowed to continue and/or covered up for years, should not be associated with Silverwood, but are currently there. You cannot trim the mold off the bread and then put it back into the same bag and not expect the mold to continue to rapidly spread.

I’ll take that a step further even: if I were to publish the entirety of information I have–including the unverified info that I absolutely believe is true–the public response would look something like this:

Ultimately, in either case, it’s out of my hands.

TLDR: it just happened. Wasn’t planned. Wasn’t necessarily even wanted. But with any potentially important information, there is a responsibility: first to look into the truth; second to corroborate the truth; third to speak or publish the truth. To withhold truth that you know, or have been told and has been corroborated, especially in the face of injustice, is to be complicit in that injustice. I cannot do that.

Buckle up. In Friday’s post we talk about the characters involved. After that, the revelations begin.

–S.

PS My contact info is at the bottom left of each page in the About section in case you have information to potentially add.

The post Silverwood Chronicles: How Did I Get Here? appeared first on A Dad First.

But before that, some background on Isaiah; and before that, what is going to be my standard disclaimer for this series.

1. This all pre-Herschend, and may have played a part in the decision to sell, considering the published words after the 2021 talks were: “Gary Norton made one thing clear: Silverwood Theme Park is not for sale.” Link. I would also venture to say that Herschend is very unlikely to have known.
2. We love Silverwood and what it brings to the area, and more specifically, what it’s brought to Evanna since we moved here. It still is one of her favorite places, though decreasingly so since the changes post-2023 season.

Brief background on Isaiah. Isaiah grew up in Spokane, and was brought to Silverwood often by his family. Even at an early age, he was enamored with magic, and began working at Silverwood in the Theatre of Illusion as a teenager, and left following the 2024 season. He moved to Denver and began working and performing there.

His departure from Silverwood was unexpected, sudden, and without explanation. For someone who had been prominently featured for nearly a decade, it was shocking.

Then on July 19th, 2025, Isaiah posted to Facebook:

Wondering why I left Silverwood Theme Park?

I think I’m finally ready to begin sharing my experiences working for the Nortons. But before I dive into my own story, I invite you to listen to the voices of others who have had challenging experiences with them as well. Their stories deserve to be heard. Please share. It’s time to rally everyone with experiences to tell.

He had linked to this post on Reddit, in which several people had commented on different aspects of not only Scarywood, but Silverwood as a whole. But there was a recurring theme, and that was the experiences people had with Nick Norton, Isaiah’s mentor.

Unfortunately, Isaiah had a big Halloween show in Denver to plan and prepare for, so writing his story was put on the back burner, and then he passed away in January of 2026, before he could complete and share it.

He and I had many chats between his FB post and his passing, and the information from those chats–the parts I have been able to verify–are the foundation of what I will be sharing.

I have intentionally been very careful with the information, even when there were times I did not want to be. I will be publishing only what I’ve been able to verify with multiple sources or from outside third-party sources. I’ve taken a step further and have certain individuals who have stated they would be willing to provide notarized affidavits of their experiences and/or the information they provided.

One of the things Isaiah and I discussed was the format of how to allow other people to share their stories, publicly or anonymously, and how to emphasize that people should share only what they personally experienced or witnessed, and why that was important.

This reflects one of Isaiah’s main thoughts from our chats: that his story would be the catalyst for others to share theirs, because there has been, even in a chat I had with someone last week, a reluctance to speak out despite the experiences of many over a long period of time. The reasons for that I’ll share in a future post.

We didn’t always agree, though it was never acrimonious at all. His thoughts on the issues were very focused and narrow, whereas I saw a much wider systemic issue.

The next posts in the series (subject to change) are an introduction to me and how I found myself in the middle of this story; then, an introduction to the characters that will be discussed.

–S.

PS My contact info is at the bottom left of each page in the About section in case you have information to potentially add.

The post Silverwood Chronicles: Isaiah Daniels appeared first on A Dad First.

Next week will mark the beginning of what I’m calling the Silverwood Chronicles.

There is a LOT to unpack.

I have rough drafts of the first few posts in the series, but a lot of the direction of the posts–and the series in general–is going to be based on what has been corroborated, what people are comfortable with me sharing, etc.

Don’t expect any immediate bombshells.

Mainly because there are some other contacts I’m still hoping to make, but also because the first two or three posts in the series will be introductory: about Isaiah Daniels, about me and how I ended up in the midst of this whole story, and about the scenario at large, before diving into the deeper issues.

There are some disclaimers that will be repeated throughout the series, in different ways and at different times:

1. This all pre-Herschend, and may have played a part in the decision to sell, considering the published words after the 2021 talks were: “Gary Norton made one thing clear: Silverwood Theme Park is not for sale.” Link. I would also venture to say that Herschend is very unlikely to have known.
2. We love Silverwood and what it brings to the area, and more specifically, what it’s brought to Evanna since we moved here. It still is one of her favorite places.

That being said, the reasons for bringing these things to light are multi-faceted: there were events and behaviors that were inappropriate and unprofessional that took place over a number of years and affected many people, including Isaiah; there were people in management that knew, but seemingly were more focused on protecting a person (or persons, in all truth) rather than the Silverwood (or Norton) name and reputation; some of those people are still on staff at Silverwood; Herschend deserves to know, in order to take steps to improve the Silverwood experience for the public and for staff.

The post Intro to the Silverwood Chronicles appeared first on A Dad First.

The 2022 Speak Out Act (federal) specifically spells out that those agreements are unenforceable when they involve allegations of sexual assault or sexual harassment.

And it takes it a step further: making it clear that, even for NDAs signed prior to the Act becoming law, those too may not be judicially enforceable.

Now you know.

General information of course, totally unrelated to any other posts on this site, let alone any specific categories listed.

Why would you even think otherwise?

The post Non-disclosure Agreements and Cover Ups appeared first on A Dad First.

And I now have hope that Herschend is going to bring some good changes to Silverwood.

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What I didn’t fully realize was that I was one of the very few people he had confided in–and in my case, it came in small bits, tentatively, over time, because he was still working on how he was going to tell his story. We discussed the idea of intentionally not writing about any of the events in third person–that is, only what he personally experienced or witnessed. We expected, from him telling his story, that others would then be ready to tell theirs. And we know this to be true, because we both had people reach out to us, individually, about this.

I didn’t know that I was one of the few he’d opened up to until I received a message from one of his close friends after his memorial service. [For those unfamiliar, he passed in January.] I hadn’t attended, because I frankly didn’t feel close enough to him (ironically), but also there was a level of guilt, not knowing whether I hadn’t messaged enough, or too much…or if our messages helped or made it worse for him emotionally and mentally.

So…we are meeting Monday to share information. Hopefully I can provide some answers and some solace to a grieving family, and perhaps we can, together, bring clarity to his story.

Update: the rescheduled meeting with Isaiah’s family is now set for 9/8. There will most certainly be a post following the meeting.

Update, 9/17: there have been some developments after meeting with Isaiah’s family. I have several drafts posts ready and waiting, but because of the potentially major developments, am holding off. Sorry for the vagueness, but it’s necessary at this point.

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So let’s step back from the specific example, and get to my two hot takes on the topic. One is general, one is very personal.

Hot take #1: Abortion has always been about eliminating the “undesirables”. We can talk about nuance, we can talk about compassion, but in the end, this has always been the point. What’s changed over time–but only to an extent–is the definition of what is deemed undesirable. For Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, it was about eliminating the “unintelligent” and the black community. From her, directly:

“The eugenic and civilizational value of birth control is becoming apparent to the enlightened and the intelligent.”

“We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

Eugenics was the driving force behind Hitler’s plan to exterminate his “undesirables” as well…he just did well after birth. Abortion is nothing but a subset of eugenics. The goals are the same.

Undesirable now can mean potential birth defects, the baby being the “wrong” sex, or simply convenience. So let’s at least be honest about it.

Hot take #2: This is the very personal hot take, guaranteed to make some people upset. But as the dad of a disabled child, I believe I stand in a place of understanding in a way the general population cannot.

The hot take is this: as Evanna grows up, she is going to know and understand what I’ve written above, that there are people who believe in the “right” to eliminate those who are deemed undesirable, including those who are disabled. She is going to know that there are people–probably some who claim to care about her–that would prefer or choose for her not to have been born, because they believe she is somehow “less than” or some sort of undue burden, because that is what abortion boils down to in the end.

Bonus hot take: Jesse Ridgway can rail against those who oppose what they chose to do all he wants, but here’s the thing: he is the one that decided to announce it to the world like he’s somehow this brave and moral leader. Even on social media, eventually people notice that the emperor has no clothes. Point is this: not everything needs to be put on social media…and clicks and views aren’t a great indicator of morality.

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In regard to the behind the scenes stuff, January’s sudden and unexpected death of former Silverwood magician Isaiah Daniels put the exposé of those stories on the back burner, in large part because Isaiah’s experiences were kind of the impetus for that. Those aren’t my stories to tell (broadcast and amplify when they come out, for sure though) since I was not directly involved. That does not in the least affect the truth, the depth, or the effects of those experiences, however.

But with the Herschend acquisition of Silverwood*, it deserves a second chance. A clean(ish) slate. A new beginning, if you will.

I’ll still point out issues if experienced this season, because the issues deserve to be highlighted so that they can–hopefully–be addressed.

–S.

*Last season would have been our last as season pass holders had it not been for the Herschend acquisition, because of the issues experienced.

Additionally, my thoughts on the structure of the contract–relying on just experiences with my own clients–is that the 2026 season is likely to be a transitional season, meaning Herschend is likely to be mostly observing this season and planning out changes. But that’s just my personal thoughts. So I’ll probably be slightly more forgiving in criticism this season. As I wrote last season, I fully expect that the changes brought in by Herschend will be good ones, based on the rankings of Dollywood and on the experiences of previous Silverwood cast members that went on to work at Dollywood.

The post Silverwood 2026: To New Beginnings appeared first on A Dad First.

Then someone quickly ID’d the owner as some local ‘influencer’ by the name of Jake Schnatter. I’d never heard of him before…but decided to do a little social experiment of sorts. I posted the below on IG, initially with only the first line.

The experiment was to see the reactions. I posted nothing offensive, nothing personally attacking the guy, just a funny little comment.

The internet did not disappoint, though because of the vitriol of the first two comments, I quickly deleted them, blocked those two commenters, then turned off commenting for a while. But the gist of the comments can be found in almost all threads online about it. And to me, the responses are fascinating.

The first and the ones with the most vitriol were defending him in a way that was WAY overboard, as if my comment was somehow smearing him or saying something offensive. Even had one send me a FB message like he was trying to intimidate…and over this comment?! [As an aside, Cody Gervais, formerly of CDA, now living in Bozeman, or Evan Nicholson, realtor in CDA…it’d take a whole lot more than that. I’d be more than happy to meet over coffee sometime to discuss your…concerns.]

The second set of comments I found repeated throughout local FB threads about this were comments that basically said: Jake has worked hard to be where he is/get what he has. My first thoughts were, “Ok, but what does that have to do with anything?” Conversely, if someone works hard for something, they tend to be more protective and careful with it, no?

The other comment was along the lines of “he’s a good kid” and usually combined with the second category of comments above. But does that bear out? Publicly-available records show past cases all involving…you guessed it…driving. Not necessarily extensive, but enough to question the claim, especially when a car crash is involved.

Like the original IG post, the point isn’t anything against Jake himself. Like I wrote, above, I’d never heard of him before, nor does his status matter to me in the least. But the responses…those tell a story.

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