Silver Dollar City: General Discussion

[JackFitzy]

I absolutely despise of the music used in the Silver Dollar City videos.

 

[Rob]

I’ve been fortunate enough to be at Silver Dollar City over the weekend. Despite technical issues, we did manage to get on Time Traveler yesterday; 4 times in fact!

I really was not too sure what to expect and knew there was a possibility of not liking it at all. However it’s actually a really great fun family thrill coasters that is extremely re-rideable!

The trains look and feel exquisite, the build quality is astounding. The ride experience itself is so unique and actually works well; being launched sideways is cool and the zero-g roll when spinning is awesome!

It’s a shame there’s not any theming once the ride starts though as you do kind of lose the story. But all in all, a good coaster and hopefully we’ll see one in Europe soon!

Silver Dollar City as a whole is a brilliant park with great rides, delicious food and the most friendly staff of any park I’ve been to. I shall post more about the park upon my return to the UK.

 

[Rob]

Looks like there is major work going on at Silver Dollar City in their Riverfront area which is home to the park's rapids ride, the Lost River of the Ozarks. As you can see, the station building has been demolished:

Source: Midwest Info Guide

The new Riverfront area is set to open in 2020. And it looks like the rapids is set to be a completely new ride!

I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it all, but am also glad that I got to visit the park before this as it was a nice looking area of the park.

 

[Rob]

The Lost River rapids ride and station building has now been completely demolished:

 

[Rob]

The huge site has now been cleared completely and work has started on the new rapids:

 

[DistortAMG]

I always find myself fascinated by rapids being built. What was the reason for the demolition of the old ones? Just fancied something new? Who is the manufacturer, Intamin?

 

[Rob]

I'm not sure why they've gone for new rapids, I don't remember anything overly wrong with the old ones however the station building was getting on a bit. Probably more cost effective in the long term to get a new ride system in.

 

[Danny]

Silver Dollar City today announced their 2020 rapids ride as Mystic River Falls, featuring 'the largest rafting drop in the western hemisphere".

— Investment: Total $27 Million

• Mystic River Falls - $23 Million
• Rivertown Smokehouse - $4 Million

— Channel Length: 2,100 linear feet total

(Nearly a half-mile river journey)

— Water Capacity: Maximum water flow - 200,000 gallons per minute

— Ride Duration: Approximately 5 minutes 30 seconds

(Dispatch to stop and unload)

— Vehicles: 8-person rafts | 18 rafts total

— Seat/Restraint: Latching seat belt

— Rider Height Requirement: 55"

Guests between 40" - 55" may ride with
a supervising companion 16 years or older

— Manufacturer: Design & Construction by

• Silver Dollar City in partnership with R.E.S.
• Barr Engineering
• Herschend Family Entertainment Corporate Development

 

[Dave]

Interesting they are going with an in-house design. Like or loath Intamin but they have 30 years of rapids ride development to go on, and I think it’s fair to say that rapids are probably one of the most obviously tricky rides when it comes to guest safety.

 

[Rob]

When I first heard that Silver Dollar City were removing their existing rapids and replacing them with a new one I was not expecting this! What an incredibly huge and exciting project it appears to be. I also don't remember there being too much wrong with their old rapids, sure the station was a bit tired but the ride itself I'm sure was fine.

This really will be fantastic for the park though!

 

[Rob]

Water is now flowing in Mystic River:



Really looking forward to seeing this once it is open!

 

[Danny]

Looks rather good fun!

 

[Burbs]

That looks like it'll be fun to ride, acquiring a speed you don't get on most rapids. There's just something about how it's there floating above the area rather than in a more secluded/hidden trough as part of the landscape that's a little odd.

 

[Danny]

Voila, a POV:



There's some serious speed throughout!

 

[Ian]

This has to be one of the strangest rapids I’ve ever seen! It looks like it’ll be a really fun ride.

It may just be the camera angle, but on the river sections when it gets speed up it seems to ride really high up the side walls. Can’t help but wonder if perhaps they’ll need to balance the boats out a bit when they load them to make sure they aren’t able to catch the tops. Like I say though, it might just be the angle of the POV.

It might also be a bit bumpy where the tubes hit the trough to flick around the corners, so hopefully the backrest padding is fairly soft. Can’t wait to see how many tubes this thing gets through where they get ripped to shreds against the concrete

 

[Tim]

I actually thought the opposite. At the faster sections the sidewalls seemed to tower over the raft, but that's hardly surprising given the change in water level.

But what an incredible looking rapids! I thought the lift and tube slide section looked fun the other day but now I think they are the weaker part of the ride! That rapids section is ferocious in all the right ways.

 

[Benjsh]

We can't have nice things like that over here because people can't follow simple rules and behave.

 

[Rob]

Silver Dollar City have just announced that after 50 years of operation, 2023 will be the final year for Fire in the Hole:



A really iconic indoor coaster, but one that I didn’t really know much about until I rode it in 2018. It will be a loss, but I’m looking forward to seeing what will replace it.

 

[Rick]

Cool historic ride, but they don't last forever, as they say.

I think the rumour is RMC are involved in building a modern replacement inspired by this ride for 2024 ?

 

[Skyscraper]

Cool historic ride, but they don't last forever, as they say.

I think the rumour is RMC are involved in building a modern replacement inspired by this ride for 2024 ?

Yeah it's rumoured to be some sort of powered coaster I think. Shame I'll never get to ride the original though.