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Last week my son and I made an epic trip from Southern California to Ontario Canada, where he will be getting married to his amazing fiancé.
The original plan was to visit Silver Dollar City, 3 days at Cedar Point and then 2 days at King's Island before heading to Ontario. If you've ever driven cross-country you know what an exhausting ordeal it is, so our plans quickly changed to cut out King's Island (which turned out to be a good idea due to bad weather there over the weekend). But the trip was still epic, and we got to visit 2 bucket-list parks. And we'll of course now be visiting the northeast more in the future, so adding King's Island to a future trip will be rather easy. So let's get right into it with our day at Silver Dollar City, which was unbelievable. This park has landed a place on my top 10 park list. IT'S THAT GOOD! - Gregg 
Good Morning Silver Dollar City! Before we head in, let's go over how we got here!
After leaving Southern California at about 5:00am, we found ourselves in Winslow Arizona in the early afternoon.
Over the years my son has pretty much learned to just go with the flow on roadside destinations.
I mean, when is the next time we'll be in nowhere Arizona taking it easy? =)
No road trip is without it's issues, and somewhere in New Mexico this happened. Thankfully this was the biggest issue we had in the entire 2,900 mile trip. I'll take it!
On the suggestion of a friend, we drove a couple of miles from our hotel to Tomasita's. It was definitely worth it as you'll see below.
When in New Mexico, the Chile's are a requirement.
After a rather uneventful (but very long) drive from Albuquerque to Branson, we found ourselves in what can only be described as "take I-Drive Orlando, mix it up with Downtown Las Vegas, but remove the Casino's".
We had a couple of restaurants we wanted to try in Branson, but this was the closest to our hotel. As you'll see below it was a great choice. Also, if you're staying in Branson, we highly suggest the Lodge of the Ozarks. It was comfy, clean, the staff was amazing, and it's centrally located to lots of cool stuff.
Based on the suggestion from the Silver Dollar City Social Media Team (true story) we got dessert at Andy's Frozen Custard. And it was a great suggestion.
The next morning it was a "very little" driving day, but not before morning coffee. We had no idea WhiteWater was a 2 minute walk from our hotel!! Next time!
Ok, back to where we started this!
Yay for no driving!
The park was kind enough to hook us up with tickets, some front of the line passes if we needed them and a coupon for Cinnamon Bread!! They are amazing!
Where I belong
My jail buddy!
A must on any hot day, and it was! It was also Gospel Fest and we worried that the park would be rather busy. There were a lot of people, but the ride lines were quite manageable all day.
Our first stop of course ...
Love the queue!
This was the longest wait we had all day for Time Traveler. Seriously.
I absolutely love the queue for this
Silver Dollar City utilizes their terrain better than any other park, ever. At least that I've visited. As such, it's hard to get a lot of pics of their coasters.
We honestly weren't sure what to expect out of a spinning ride that has inversions, but we both loved it. This is a top 10 coaster for me!
Right next door is Thunderation, the parks Arrow mine train, which also uses the terrain amazingly well.
Will be honest, it took us a bit to figure out the layout of the park, but here's a nice shot of Mystic River Falls, which opened later in the day. We'll get back to this.
We headed over to Powder Keg, which did NOT disappoint!
Have I mentioned how gorgeous this park is?
Due to 1-train ops we used the first of our skip the line passes here. And got a front-seat ride for our first trip of the day. In fact, other than Mystic River Falls, this was the only attraction we used our skip the lines on. That's how great ops are at this park. Even on a busy day.
Fire in the Hole!! This is such a fun classic ride, and as we discovered later in the day, a surprising bump of airtime in the back!
Have I mentioned how gorgeous this park is?
Heading over to Wildfire after a spin on the log flume!
What's going on over here Silver Dollar City?
It'll be something amazing for sure!
After a few hours in the park, it was time for lunch at the buffet. And it was pretty amazing!
Unfortunately after lunch there was some lightning in the area, so most of the outside attractions were shut down for the better part of 2 hours. On the bright side, this gave us a chance to check out some other parts of the park we may have missed!
Starting with Grandfather's Mansion!
This reminded me a bit of the Haunted Shack at Knott's.
John did not answer
Just what nobody asked for ever, many Gregg's.
We also visited the Flooded Mine!
We're definitely real close pals
Love the individual outfits for each ride at the park. Definitely not something we were expecting.
Let's head into the mine!
The ride reminded me a bit of the Calico Mine Ride at Knott's only on a boat. TBH, I didn't think the gun gimmick was needed, and as you'll see from the POV below I didn't really use the gun for the entire ride. But it was great fun!
During the lightning delay we also checked out the kids area, which we probably wouldn't have done otherwise.
Really well themed and the kids seemed to love it.
We also headed over to the Grand Exposition!
Oddly enough, the Disk-O was open, so we took a spin! It was a good one!
Finally, after the delay the rides started to reopen! So we started with Powder Keg! Had an awesome back-seat ride this time!
And finally Outlaw Run opened for the day after some issues earlier. Our first ground-up RMC did NOT disappoint. And then it was time for Mystic River Falls!
What better way to dry off after Mystic River Falls than a front-row ride on Outlaw Run?
And then of course, it was Cinnamon Bread time!! It was amazing!
We had planned on ending our day with the Marvel Cave so before we decided to take a few more rides on Time Traveler, yes, this was the wait. Sadly, we missed the last Cave tour by about 10 minutes. Next time. And there WILL be a next time!
After heading back to the hotel we decided to just pick up dinner at Fuel again. We were so exhausted and had a long drive to Ohio the next day.
Day 4 - We made a brief stop in St. Louis to check out the arch.
Kind of hard to get a selfie here!
I'd driven by on I-44 before, but had never stopped. It's great to see up close.
Hey Illinois!!
And here is where we leave you for today. We'll have another update tomorrow from our epic 2-days at Cedar Point! You won't want to miss it!
Related Videos
​Related Updates
60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Celebrates Tallest Drop Adventure Water Ride (7/20/2020, Branson, Missouri) With great anticipation of Silver Dollar City’s 2020 promise to present The Tallest Drop on a Water Raft Ride in the Western Hemisphere, Mystic River Falls is now open. The water adventure includes winding, roaring rapids set in an authentic Ozarks mountainous river theme, culminating with a waterfall drop that sends riders down more than four stories of splashing, rafting, family fun. A $23-million investment, Mystic River Falls is said to be an engineering marvel in the global attractions industry with its one-of-a-kind rotating, 4-platform, 8-story lift. Set in an authentic pier-like design of river towns of yesteryear, Mystic River Falls is the focus of the all-new area called Rivertown that includes the new expansive Rivertown Smokehouse, with an array of meats smoked on-site, and a new cinnamon bread bakery, featuring bakers in full view to guests as they create legendary specialties. A Theme of Legacy & Lore… Silver Dollar City is home to the massive Marvel Cave, which, indeed, has a Mystic River in its depths. Intensively studied throughout the ages, Marvel Cave’s passageways, water features and crannies are detailed in words and drawings as far back as 1893 through the documented work of the botanist, artist and scientist S. Fred Prince. His book and work of art, “The Story of Marvel Caverns 1893-1942,” is safely stored within Silver Dollar City’s archives to this day. As specified in several places in the book, Prince, enthralled by his inability to find the headwaters of the Mystic River, kept searching to no avail. To this day, following study by modern- day scientists, the end of the river remains a mystery. Now to the Storyline… With the Mystic River headwaters unknown, the adventurers of today seek to find a fabled waterfall that could mark the end of the raging river. They follow the path of Pearl, a young adventuress, along the challenging, winding waterways in pursuit of the legendary headwaters. At long last, Pearl and her riders discover Mystic River Falls -- and the town erupts in celebration! A Diamond Jubilee! As the storyline goes, the citizens of Rivertown are celebrating a 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee of the internationally acclaimed 1880s-style theme park in Branson, Missouri (founded May 1, 1960). The fun includes award-winning BBQ with the all-new Rivertown Smokehouse presenting smoked-on-site brisket, turkey, pork, sausage and chicken, along with signature scratch-made sides and desserts. This is the largest restaurant ever constructed in the park’s history, picturesquely situated along the banks of the new ride. Across the way is an all-new bakery, Clara Belle’s Cinnamon Bread, specializing in Silver Dollar City’s famous cinnamon bread – only now each loaf bakes in an individual pan designed to capture all the gooey icing, butter and cinnamon. The bakery offers peach, apple and original versions along with a variety of other items. Silver Dollar City 2020 Summer into Fall into Christmas: As in most businesses, and within most families, during summer 2020, adjustments are in place altering park operations – yet the vast majority of the City is open, including rides, attractions and outdoor entertainment offerings. Artisans continue to build on their well-earned reputation as Home of American Craftsmanship (US Congress) creating heirloom products. Coming up July 25 is Moonlight Madness with nighttime hours until 10pm (select dates until midnight) with rides soaring into the night skies. The City offers an after-5pm ticket for Moonlight Madness of $30.00 plus tax. Upcoming concerts feature Newsboys on August 1 and Diamond Rio on August 6. Upcoming festivals include Southern Gospel Picnic (August 27-September 7) and Harvest Festival featuring Crafts and Pumpkins In The City (Sept. 23-October 31). The season brings a grand finale with the acclaimed Old Time Christmas (November 7 - December 30). Related Videos
Related Updates One of our absolute favorite parks announced a major new attraction and a whole lot of other additions for 2020. The parks $30 Million investment includes:
Check out all the details below - Gregg         Pumpkin Nights Still to reveal during 2019, Silver Dollar City will soon open its doors, day and night, to a glowing Fall Harvest Festival that showcases Pumpkin Nights, a concept all new to Silver Dollar City. Between live and specially-carved, there will be more than 8,000 pumpkins. Most prominent will be the illuminated pumpkins and custom-designed carved pumpkin icons that reach from the ground to as high as 4 stories, such as a massive cat, spider, owls and others. A nighttime black light dance party, along with rides and attractions, will keep the park glowing into extended hours of 9pm/10pm on weekends. During the day, the park is adding a new acrobatic adventure of a lumberjack production show from Canada, Cirque Eloize, plus dozens of new to the City crafters, including a new Makers’ Market. Food at the park also adopts a fall look and palette with pumpkin-flavored churros and ice cream, glow-in-the-dark beverages and classic fall favorites like caramel apples and cider.  An Old Time Christmas An Old Time Christmas, already heralded as one of the biggest and brightest holiday celebrations in the land, brings more to its entertainment menu with the addition of a customengineered & designed 8-story, lighted, special effects Christmas tree. The tree combines color, music and animated imagery to create an immersive experience “Joy on Town Square.”  Related Videos:
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