Silver Dollar City is putting out the Fire In The Hole. Well, at least for now.
The Branson, Missouri theme park announced this morning that this upcoming season will be the last for the original Fire In The Hole attraction at Silver Dollar City.
"More than 25 million guests have been entertained by the Fire In the Hole adventure since the attraction opened a half-century ago," Silver Dollar City Attractions President Brad Thomas said. "Today's riders include grandparents who remember riding when they were kids, and now they share the fun and unique experience with their grandkids."
To celebrate the ride's final season, Silver Dollar City will be planning Fire In The Hole special events and promotions. In its press release announcing the ride's imminent departure, Silver Dollar City carefully used the word "original" throughout when referring to Fire In The Hole, which should only amplify speculation that the park will rebuild Fire in the Hole rather than remove it outright.
"This Grand Finale season of the original Fire In The Hole is paving the way for continued growth and new adventures at Silver Dollar City," Thomas said. "There will be exciting announcements in the future."
Opened in 1972, Fire In The Hole is one of the original dark ride/roller coaster combinations, with both powered sections and free-fall drops along its track. The storyline casts riders as volunteer firefighters riding through a burning town. Silver Dollar City owner Herschend Family Entertainment also operates a sibling attraction called Blazing Fury at its Dollywood park in Tennessee.
Silver Dollar City opens for its 2023 season on March 11.
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For the past couple years, Silver Dollar City has been working on a new attraction that appears to be a coaster/dark ride hybrid built behind the Fireman's Landing area. I strongly suspect it will be a new version of Fire in the Hole that's likely to debut next year. As for the current version, it's a classic but is definitely getting up there in years, and when I last visited in 2020 it was clearly past it's prime. If the old ride is closing for a new version in the same style, I'm all four it, and if done properly it could be one of the best dark rides in America outside of the destination parks.
I've also only been on the version at Dollywood, but I enjoyed it a lot and would hate to see it close permanently. Hopefully, this will just be an update like what Knott's did with the Calico Mine Railroad and Timber Mountain Log Ride.
Sad to see a classic attraction like this go, but I've also heard the new version is going in Fireman's Landing from a couple different places. Hopefully that turns out good, and I'm interested to see what they do with this building in particular.
I'm with AJ on this. Expectations are rising (I probably should have said "hot, LOL), for this one. Can't wait to see what they do. Herschend is in a good place to step up its dark ride game.
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This definitely sounds like a renovation. There are a lot of older dark rides around the world that have either already or will be undergoing renovations/re-envisioning.
I have never ridden this attraction, but Blazing Bury at Dollywood is a piece of history that unfortunately a lot of guests miss because of it's understated entry and unclear ride description. I wouldn't be surprised that if this attraction is renovated that something similar would be in store for Blazing Fury in the not too distant future. It's an less expensive way to promote something new in the park while still preserving historic attractions.