Silver Dollar City unveils its largest family roller coaster
Silver Dollar City will tell the next chapter in the story of its real-life Marvel Cave with Miner's Mountain Express, a new Mack Rides family coaster.
Located in the park's Daredevil Pass, the coaster will be marked by a 120-foot headframe tower from a 150-year working mine in Missouri. The coaster will feature 3,553 feet of track, making it the longest family coaster in the Midwest.
Here is the park's official POV.
Miner's Mountain Express invites riders to board mine cars on a trip to discover the lost entrance to Marvel Cave, which was known Marble Cave when actual miners first started working it 145 years ago. They did not find any marble, just a lot of bat guano. Turns out, though, that stuff is rich in nitrogen, which is essential in making TNT. Yet when the guano was gone, so was the mine's business... until it became a tourist attraction, renamed Marvel Cave for the visual marvels within.
Silver Dollar City has been "mining" (sorry) the cave's backstory for more than a generation, using it as inspiration for many of the park's thrill rides. Miner's Mountain Express continues that tradition.
Concept art courtesy Silver Dollar City
Miner's Mountain Express will feature two lift hills, a station fly-through and a tunnel, as well as 15 airtime moments, which Silver Dollar City said is the most for any ride in the park. The coaster's minimum rider height will be 39 inches, and it opens next spring.
Park President Brad Thomas said that Miner's Mountain Express and the upcoming Silver Dollar City Resort hotel together represent a $150 million investment - part of the $500 million in improvements over the next decade that the park promised two years ago when the new Fire In The Hole opened.
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Replies (5)
The proliferation of family coasters being installed everywhere over the past decade is an interesting phenomenon. This looks similar in thrill and scale to Big Bear Mountain (Vekoma launching family coaster at Dollywood), and should prove very popular. It's encouraging to see Mach starting to really make its mark in the US market (adding another major designer/manufacturer to rival Intamin, B&M, and Vekoma), and I wonder if this along with Bakunawa and Nightflight Expedition will see the company further increase their presence in North American theme parks - reliability will obviously play a big role in how operators view their products.
I think more and more park managers have looked at the changing age demographics in the United States and decided that "fun > fear" when it comes to their thrill ride design commissions. It's a bit ironic that a declining number of children has led to more family coasters, but that's because of the rising numbers on the other side of the Bell curve.
I think family coasters are cool and all, and 2026 should be stacked with this and Werewolf Gorge, but I pray that Kumba's revenge is something taller than 200 feet and not one of these.
I truly believe this is the worst name for a ride at a major park in the industry. I get that parks have always tried to replicate Disney's success, but this is like a whole new level of ripoff. Maybe SDC's next big ride can be a log flume called "Get Wet Mountain," and then after that they can get an indoor space themed roller coaster called "Milky Way Mountain."
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so, is this the thunderation retheme we all expected or something completely new? either way, an exciting new addition and looks to be great family ride.