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Silver Dollar City Aug 2021

MakoMania

TS Member
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Silver Dollar City in Missouri for the first time. While I’m not going to go too much into detail like some trip reports I am going to go through the many highlights and few lowlights.

Highlights:
  • The park is absolutely beautiful, and was not very busy. The most we waited all day was 5 minutes for Mystic River Falls and every other ride was walk-on all day.
  • On the whole, the staff were very friendly and welcoming.
  • Time Traveler was excellent, great fun ride with some unexpected forces. The corkscrew in particular was outstanding with a spinning train and is probably my favourite corkscrew I have experienced.
  • Mystic River Falls is probably the best rapids I have ever been on.
  • Every ride was on one train (there was no need for more) but dispatches were consistently very fast.
  • Thunderation is probably the most exciting mine train coaster I have ridden and Powder Keg was unexpectedly great fun!
Lowlights:
  • There was a very rude and aggressive staff member at the Barn Swing making lewd comments at female guests which left a very sour taste after that ride.
  • Outlaw Run was my first RMC, and while I am aware there are more highly rated RMCs out there, I was fairly dissapointed. The ride was extremely rough, jolty and uncomfortable. The airtime was definitely there, but was somewhat ruined by the constant side-to-side shaking of the train. I was keen for a UK park to add an RMC, but after riding Outlaw Run I am not so sure. Personally I think I would take many GCI coasters including Wicker Man over it.
Overall though it was a stunning park with mostly excellent staff and great rides. I had a great time and would definitely recommend.
 
Great summary @MakoMania; glad you had a good day overall! If you don’t mind me asking, however; how did you get from the UK to the USA, as I didn’t think the US were letting foreign travellers in? And are you on a big US road trip or something, or is SDC the only park you’re visiting?

Time Traveler is a coaster that’s always intrigued me, especially having ridden and surprisingly rather enjoyed Storm Chaser (I’m not usually that into spinning coasters, but SC was really fun and didn’t spin too crazily)! Out of interest, does TT spin a lot (i.e. as much as say, the Maurer or Reverchon spinning coasters), and does it have much in the way of airtime?

I’m quite shocked to hear that you didn’t enjoy Outlaw Run, however; I thought RMCs were supposedly glass smooth? I guess Outlaw Run is a wooden RMC, which have a reputation for being a bit more rugged than their steel counterparts, and at 8 years old, it is knocking on a bit in RMC terms, so might well have gotten rougher with age, but I’m still extremely surprised and a little disheartened to be hearing that OR is “extremely rough”. Especially given that from some of your past posts, you seem to have quite a high tolerance for roughness (didn’t you once say you’re a big Grand National fan?). If you don’t mind me asking, do you think it was rattling or transitions that caused the discomfort? (I only ask because I know RMC have quite a penchant for transitions that rapidly change from one direction to the other, and I can imagine they might be perceived as jolty transitions in some cases)

Great to hear you enjoyed SDC, however, and it’s so nice to finally be seeing USA park reports on the forums again!
 
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Brilliantly informative, I personally much prefer this way of trip reporting @MakoMania . Silver Doller City is one of my most anticipated parks and one I really hope to get out too soon. It seems well themed with rides for the whole family.

I do have a few questions but please don't feel obliged to answer them:
  • How 'forced' does Time Travellers spin feel? I've heard some people say it feels like a slow spin where you are more taking elements in different directions rather than constantly spinning like a Maurer spinner.
  • I've heard a few people say Outlaw Run feels rough and jolty but what did you think to the layout itself? Do you think it would be a top coaster if it was smooth (Brand new) or do you think the layout lets it down as well?
  • How easy is the park to navigate around on a first visit? I only ask as I have heard that it really hard to find your way around as it's large and not very dense. A bit like Alton Towers were everything is hidden in the trees.
Thanks so much and I hope you have a wonderful trip!
 
@Matt N
I study in Florida, so while I am a British citizen I have a US student visa which allows me to travel to the US. I very much hope restrictions for everyone will be lifted soon. I’m currently driving across the country from Utah to Florida, and SDC was a convenient stop point!
The spin on Time Traveler feels much smoother, less chaotic and more controlled than on the Maurer spinners, which I think is a good think given the layout. I think if the spinning was too intense it would be a bit sickly. It feels so gradual that you sort of don’t notice the spinning, but you realise as the layout goes on that you are taking track elements in different directions.
Maybe extremely rough was a little of an overstatement about Outlaw Run on my part, but it certainly wasn’t smooth. The layout itself is short but excellent, it’s the side to side jolting that was pretty painful at such high speeds. And yes, as you say I’m usually not too bothered by roughness on rides.

@JAperson
Yes, the spinning on Time Traveler feels exactly as you describe. The weight distribution of the train does impact the spin, but nowhere near as much as on other spinning coasters.
I can’t fault the layout on Outlaw Run, it should be excellent. I don’t even think it would need to be butter smooth to be a top coaster, but I almost felt as if I was being thrown from side to side with janking of the train as much as I was progressing forwards in the layout.
It is a bit of a confusing park layout, but the park isn’t massive so you can get the general layout of it pretty quickly. It is dense woodland though, so like Alton Towers it can be difficult to see rides until you are right next to them.
 
@MakoMania Cool; thanks for replying! Out of interest, did you visit Lagoon while you were in Utah?

Hope the rest of your drive back to Florida is reasonably clear (in terms of traffic etc.)!
 
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@MakoMania Cool; thanks for replying! Out of interest, did you visit Lagoon while you were in Utah?

Hope the rest of your drive back to Florida is reasonably clear (in terms of traffic etc.)!
Thank you! I’m in Florida now, only 4 hours to go to Tampa!

I did visit Lagoon, strange place. Operations are excellent as is Cannibal, but the place has a weird feel to it.
 
I did visit Lagoon, strange place. Operations are excellent as is Cannibal, but the place has a weird feel to it.
Interesting… it’s a park that’s always intrigued me, not least for its growing collection of quirky, homemade coasters (with Primordial opening in 2023, I believe that makes 3; BomBora, Cannibal and Primordial), as well as the world’s only launched vertical lift hill coaster in Wicked! In what way did you think it was strange?

Sorry to be drifting off-topic slightly… I’d just be very intrigued to hear about Lagoon!
 
Interesting… it’s a park that’s always intrigued me, not least for its growing collection of quirky, homemade coasters (with Primordial opening in 2023, I believe that makes 3; BomBora, Cannibal and Primordial), as well as the world’s only launched vertical lift hill coaster in Wicked! In what way did you think it was strange?

Sorry to be drifting off-topic slightly… I’d just be very intrigued to hear about Lagoon!
Sorry for the late response I have been very busy! I will get to Lagoon in a trip report soon!
 
Glad to hear that you enjoyed SDC, it is one of my favourite parks! A shame to hear about how rough Outlaw Run was, but I am not overly surprised. It was fine in 2018 but did feel like it could get worse. I think the RMC toppers will age more quickly than the IBox.
 
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