Trip Report: Silver Dollar City

Some may ask, why Branson, Missouri?? Think of it as Las Vegas without the casinos. There are dozens of live shows, attractions, hotels, shopping malls…most of the country or gospel persuasion. The homespun flavor is everywhere. The main drags have all the lights and glitz of Vegas, and while there is no gambling (yet), somehow this tiny town buried in the Ozark Mountains has managed to carve itself out a sizable piece of the tourist market. I’ll be honest, country/gospel isn’t exactly my flavor, and I’m not a big craft mall person, but there are a few things in Branson that peaked my interest, namely a theme park…Silver Dollar City. I hadn’t heard too many things about the place. I knew a few things about it, but not much, and certainly not enough to not go while I was in town. At first, the ticket price surprised me, a cool 50 bucks to get in, however parking was free, and the ticket was good for two days, a good sign of things to come. Upon leaving at the end of the day, I came to realize that there aren’t many parks in the world that do it as well as this one does.

The entrance to the park sets the tone. Silver Dollar City is mostly themed as an 1800’s style mining town, and right away the park started to show just how elaborately themed and designed it really is. Ticket takers in costume, acting the part, and an entrance into a trading post style building filled to the brim with all kinds of gifts to be bought. All employees were dressed in costume, and more important, friendly…..very very friendly. In fact, I’ve never seen nicer park employees anywhere. I talked with a guy selling dulcimers (guitar-like musical instruments) for a few minutes and decided to make my way into the park.

It is upon entering the park that I began to realize just how well themed this park is. To paint a picture for readers, think of it as a giant frontier themed area. Everywhere you look, there are blacksmiths, glassblowers, and hundreds of other craftsman and traders, general stores and specialty shops. To the left there is McHaffie’s Homestead, a village which has a little log cabin church (that actually has church), and behind it a replica of a small log cabin settlement, complete with characters, manning a petting zoo, performing demonstrations for guests and conducting school in a little schoolhouse. A replica log cabin is open to walk into, and a carpenter is doing demonstrations for the crowds. The down-home flavor continues down the path, with a steakhouse, food places cooking for you on old iron cook tops, and shops selling any kind of homemade craft imaginable…all in costume, and all friendly. It was after the log settlement that I ran into some rides.

The rides at Silver Dollar City are few and far between, compared with most other parks out there. The park has a total sixteen rides, all spread out over the mountainside and tucked away behind trees. Usually you can’t even see the rides until you get in line for them. The rides aren’t many, but every one of them is good. My first ride of the day was Wildfire, a B&M looper. When it comes to quality coasters, you just can’t go wrong with B&M. I’ve never ridden a bad one, and this one was no exception. It was a little shorter in length, but it still had plenty of thrills. Besides the coaster itself, two things set this ride apart from its peers. The station and queue were well themed, and the coaster itself was set on a mountainside, offering a breathtaking view hundreds of feet in the air out into the Ozark Mountains. The track could have been a little longer for my taste, but that’s me being an overly picky coaster enthusiast. It was a great ride.

Not too far down the trail was one of the rides I was most curious about. Powderkeg is one of Silver Dollar’s newest offerings. It’s a launch coaster…taking riders from 0 to about 55 mph in four seconds. There are some fantastic moments on this ride, from the near vertical drops to a couple of high speed flat turns to a high speed helix finale. Despite the high speed thrills, there are no inversions on this ride, and there were families galore waiting for this one. I would consider this the best ride in the park. It mixes speed and great coaster elements while keeping it just barely tame enough for the youngsters. Another well decorated queue house, another fantastic view of the mountains.

Time for something to eat. There were several unique things to choose from. There were plenty of rib and steak places, a few buffets, some southern cookin, or even some Italian. I chose the Lumbercamp Restaurant and a wildfire burger. The eateries in this park like to put their little spin on otherwise normal food. The wildfire burger was no exception. The restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating. I chose the outdoor deck, with a large waterfall as the background. It was a touch on the pricey side…about ten bucks for the burger, fries, and large drink, but I didn’t mind paying for it. Another prime example of a park that does its job well is if I don’t mind paying extra for lunch. Another snack I at least thought about getting were the special skillet taters…fried potatoes, smoked sausage, peppers, onions, and seasonings. They sure looked good out on the midway being prepared in giant skillets, but my mind wisely overrode my eyes, because I had enough to eat.

On to the next ride. I ventured past the Silver Dollar Saloon and the Opera House to Fire In The Hole, an old school indoor dark ride. This one had all the feeling of an experience on the original Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney. It could be classified as a coaster because it was on a track, but there weren’t many drops, just a lot of speaking animated characters, sound effects, and a little water at the end. I had to appreciate this one because you just don’t see rides like these anymore. It wasn’t a simulator like it probably would be if built today. Building theming was flawless, and the classic feel of the ride made it a must see attraction.

Another thing that Silver Dollar City has a lot of is craftsmen. Blacksmiths, carpenters, seamstresses, and many more were everywhere. I noticed a glassblower working in his shop giving demonstrations. He was making glass bulb Christmas ornaments. A little air conditioning never hurt anyone, so I stuck around and watched, and I learned a few things. After visiting a few shops here and there, I made my way towards the north side of the park. I passed the Lost River of the Ozarks, a rapids ride, and pumped in a few quarters at the sprays to shoot water at the riders. What can I say, it’s a sick tradition, and I love it….watching people who thought they got away without getting wet get soaked by my hand. I bet the riders loved it today, it had to be almost 100 degrees outside. Just a little down the path was a kiddie land called Splash Harbor. This place was situated on a small lake within the park, and featured three levels of water cannon fun. There were plenty of things to shoot at, and I even joined the kids in a little fun. There was also a large maze and play area with lots and lots of those plastic balls and ballpits. There were cannons to shoot the balls and other mechanisms to transport them around the area. Any kid would love that place (including myself)…I was just a little too tall to take full advantage of it. The theming was once again great. It looked like a blast from far away, and it delivered.

I passed by another water ride, the Waterworks Waterboggan…a giant raft waterslide (guess I just wasn’t in the mood for water rides), and walked to the newest area of the park called the Grand Exposition. This area is themed after a late 19th century world’s fair, and it’s themed to perfection. There are shaded pavilions everywhere, worded signs in the style of “come see the amazing wonder of whatever” and such to compliment the attractions, flawless color choices, and a great collection of family flat rides. Most rides were park standards, a Viking ship, swings, a kiddie coaster, carousel, a set of tea cups, and even some smaller rides for the little ones. There was also a Zamperla Disk-o Coaster called the Electro Spin. Riders sit in a disk that spins as is goes along the track. We will be seeing a lot more of those rides around in the future. I caught one of the many different shows around in this area too. The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge is a show featuring those dogs you see on TV jumping 25 feet into the water and catching frisbees and such. It was quite an entertaining event. The area is not a super colorful, super new attraction area with big theme rides like one would see in many other parks, but the Grand Exposition is done just the way it would have been back in the 1880’s…It’s as authentic as they come.

There was still a little more of the park to cover, so I headed on. I passed another line of shops to the next coaster. Thunderation is a mine train coaster in the style of Big Thunder Mountain at Disney…using the steam engine trains over a track. The difference between the two is this. Thunderation has a lot more edge to it. The ride is surprisingly fast and fun, featuring some sharp curved drops and a great helix along with an out of control feeling that one would experience on a runaway train. I almost lost my cell phone on this one. It was thrown out of my pocket into the train on the ride and I got out without it, so Thunderation has the distinction of being the only coaster I’ve ever ridden, out of a hundred fifty or so to ever do that. Thankfully the ride ops recovered it and I returned fifteen minutes later to get it back. The only bummer about this one was that it was a one train operation, so what should have been a ten minute wait was a twenty minute one.

That was about the end of the rides. There were a few more attractions I hit. One piece of whimsy was Grandpa’s Mansion, an old time crooked house. Walking through all the disproportionate hallways, stairwells, and slanted floors was amusing….like something that could have been found at early Coney Island. It was these kinds of little attractions that really made my day at the park. The next attraction I visited however, was the one that won’t be found at any other park. It can’t be made by Disney, nor simulated by Universal. It was called Marvel Cave.

Something not widely known about that particular area of Missouri is that it sits on the second largest fault line in North America, making the Ozark Mountains rich with caverns. Marvel Cave is so far the largest in the area. The entrance to the cave sits right inside the front gate of the park, and it was the original draw to Silver Dollar City when it opened. This cave tour is quite a hike. First down 300 feet of stairs to the bottom of the largest cave room in the US, called the Cathedral. At the bottom of the room, a small set of speakers pump out classical music, amazingly filling the whole cave with sound. A cave guide then led us down another 200 feet through winding paths, small holes, up steep stairs, into a waterfall room, through more small openings, up more stairs, and finally to an old cable car that pulled us a thousand feet back up to the top. All total, one hour spent underground in a cave. It was an experience unlike any other, and one of the highlights of the day. There was a lantern tour offered earlier in the day, which I sadly missed. I highly recommend this tour if you are there, but be advised that it’s not for everyone. Quite a strenuous hike, plus the cave is home to many bats. That tour marked the end of my day. Some gifts and another few minutes at the dulcimer shop and I was done.

So what was so good about this place? Quite simple…it had personality. It had country personality, which isn’t really my type…nor is it a lot of other peoples as well, but they did it so well that taste didn’t really matter. So many parks only randomly theme or theme halfway, but this one was themed all the way, with distinction. The whole park was a giant mining town, and you are totally immersed in that world, with absolutely no sign of the outside world anywhere. The landscaping is a perfect marriage of natural surrounding, water, and manmade decoration, better than any park I’ve ever seen. The employees are all in character and get this….nice. I didn’t see one employee who looked like they didn’t want to be there. Every (and I mean every) employee I interacted with was genuinely glad to talk to or help me. I can’t say that about any other park I’ve ever been to. The ride collection was a bit slim for my taste, but there weren’t any bad rides in the mix, and the classic touches like Grandpa’s Mansion only added to the value. The food was good, and though most of the shows were too country for my taste, the ones I caught were good in their own right and did their job with the crowd. The shopping again wasn’t my taste. I’m not much for crafts and country style décor, but I still have to hand it to the park for offering so much and sticking to their theme at all times. I really would like to see a wooden coaster there as well, but that’s just me. Where does Silver Dollar City rank in the land of theme parks? In my opinion, it ranks near the top…better than Busch, better than most of Universal, and better than some of the Disney parks. The rides themselves don’t really tell the stories, the whole park does, and as a park, it tells the story better than anywhere else. The one thing that keeps this park out of the top theme park spot for me is the fact that it tells only a couple of stories…while other parks like Islands Of Adventure tell five. To me though, that’s all apples and oranges. This park is a buried treasure away from the theme park meccas of Florida and California… it’s an absolute must visit for any fan of theme parks and themed attractions, and it belongs right up there with the royalty of Disney and Universal.

Speaking of old west-type parks, anybody ever been to Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, NC? I just saw a webpage stating it's for sale, wonder how long it's been since it was operating. Went there as a small child (AWA Dollywood when it was Gold Rush Junction). Too long ago for me to remember much about either place...

And, back on the original topic, SDC is awesome.

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