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OZARK MOUNTAINS, Mo. (10/17/2024) — Silver Dollar City, America’s #1 Theme Park, today announced plans to invest half a billion dollars over the next decade on the construction of new family adventures, including the development of 1,200 acres adjacent to the Ozark Mountain theme park. The strategic plan represents the largest investment in the company’s 65-year history and begins with the debut of the Silver Dollar City Resort, the first theme park resort in America’s Heartland  “This is more than just growth—it’s a new era.” said Silver Dollar City Parks & Resorts President, Brad Thomas. “Over the next decade, we will mindfully transform 1,200 acres into an authentic, only-in-the-Ozarks destination starting with our first resort. The new resort will combine Silver Dollar City’s spirit of playfulness, discovery, craftsmanship and exploration with all that makes The Heart of the Ozarks so special.” Already under construction and set to open late 2026, the 262-room resort will feature never-before-seen vistas of the Ozark Mountains and Table Rock Lake, along with unparalleled access to Silver Dollar City theme park. The new resort will also be located just a stone’s throw from the company’s other family attractions, including White Water water park, Showboat dinner cruises, Pink Jeep Adventure Tours and the Silver Dollar City Campground.  “This investment showcases Silver Dollar City’s commitment to tourism and economic growth in the Ozarks and for the State of Missouri.” said Missouri Governor Mike Parson. “We are excited to see this project bring thousands of new jobs and millions of new visitors to our great state.” Additional resort details will be provided in the coming months regarding guest amenities, park privileges, room types, and group meeting spaces. For more information, visit silverdollarcity.com/resort. SILVER DOLLAR CITY Opened more than six decades ago as the original Herschend property, and internationally awarded for excellence, Silver Dollar City® is an 1880s theme park nestled in the Ozark Mountains. Founded atop a national landmark that is Missouri’ s deepest cave, Silver Dollar City offers unique rides like record-breaking coasters, live entertainment, concerts and world-class festivals. Also known as The Home of American Craftsmanship, Silver Dollar City features a crafts colony of over 100 demonstrating artisans and down-home country cooking in award-winning eateries. Nearby the theme park resides the Showboat Branson Belle®, an 1890s-style paddle wheeler featuring a dinner show on Table Rock Lake; White Water®, a 13-acre water park; Pink® Adventure Tours; and lodging options with the Silver Dollar City Campground and the Silver Dollar City Resort®, set to open in late 2026. For more information, visit silverdollarcity.com  HERSCHEND Herschend is the parent company for a family of entertainment brands with a collective vision and mission of bringing families closer together by Creating Memories Worth Repeating®. The company’s roots date back to 1950 when the Herschend family founded their first attraction, a small cave tour in the Ozarks, which later expanded into the famed Silver Dollar City. Today, Herschend Enterprises is recognized as the largest family-owned themed attractions organization in the U.S., with 11,000+ employees across 26 properties that collectively entertain more than 14 million guests annually. Operating companies within Herschend Enterprises include Herschend Family Entertainment (Dollywood® Parks & Resorts, Silver Dollar City Parks & Resorts, Adventure Aquarium®, Newport Aquarium®, Kentucky Kingdom®, and Wild Adventures®), Herschend Live (Harlem Globetrotters®), Herschend Entertainment Studios (Splash & Bubbles® and Chuggington®) and Herschend Adventure Holdings, LLC (Pink® Adventure Tours). For more information, visit herschendenterprises.com.
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  One-of-a-kind coaster combines family thrills with historic storytelling BRANSON, Mo. (3-27-24) — The largest family roller coaster in the Heartland, Fire In The Hole, is set to open this Saturday, March 30 at the internationally-awarded Silver Dollar City theme park. Today, media from across the country "answered the call" to experience their first rides on the new family coaster as part of a media preview at the 1880s theme park in the heart of the Ozarks  At over 32,000 square feet, Fire In The Hole represents the 1880s theme park's single-largest attraction investment to date — a nearly 3-minute long ride, retelling an account of the night the real town Silver Dollar City now sits on was burnt to the ground. Integral to the ride's story, "volunteers" are asked to board their very own "pumper" — an 1880s steam-powered, firefighting wagon — and save the burning town from the notorious vigilantes, The Baldknobbers. 14 iconic show scenes are paired with 3 gravity-driven drops, while the journey ends with a surprise, quick water-splash finale. The final product is a result of years of collaboration with Idaho's Rocky Mountain Construction and Herschend Creative Studios. "Fire In The Hole is truly one-of-a-kind," said Duane Marden, founder of the Roller Coaster Database, a worldwide database with statistics on over 10,000 roller coasters and counting from around the world. "The ride combines a family coaster experience all can enjoy with indoor elements illustrating the history of this area, all in a massive building that ends with a water splash. There's nothing like it anywhere and will be an absolute must-ride every visit." True to the theme park's 1880s roots, the new coaster recounts the story of a real night in Ozark Mountain history when the mining town of Marmaros — the once-real town Silver Dollar City now resides on and inspiration for the park's theme — was burned to the ground by the Baldknobbers. This new coaster follows in the legendary footsteps of the original Fire In The Hole, a 51-year-old coaster that held final rides on Dec. 30, 2023, after hosting over 25 million riders since 1972. Now, housed in a 5-story, temperature-controlled building, the new family coaster will always be open regardless of the day's weather and temperature. "Fire In The Hole is a testament to the hard work and ingenuity of the men and women who work here at Silver Dollar City," said Brad Thomas, President of the Silver Dollar City Company. "Work on this massive addition started back in 2021, with planning much before that. They have poured tens of thousands of hours into this project, and their craftsmanship can be seen in every nook of this ride, from the queue line and coaster building, all the way to the hand-painted backdrops and lush foliage." Effectively doubling the size of one The City's most popular areas, Fire In The Hole is the new centerpiece in the newly incorporated Fire District. Additionally located in The Fire District is Sadie's Pretzel Cafe, an all-new restaurant serving handmade pretzels, pretzel dogs and pretzel sandwiches. Plus, just across the street, the new Flanders Dry Goods offers a line of "Flanders-branded" merchandise, connecting the store location back to Fire In The Hole's rich lore. "This new Fire In The Hole continues our mission of creating memories worth repeating, as we look to always improve the experience for our guests and towards the future of our park," said Thomas. "This coaster, just like the original, ensures the whole family makes lasting memories for the foreseeable future, and the only place you can ride something like this is Silver Dollar City." Today, heralded as the "first" ceremonial coaster train, firefighters from Stone County and neighboring Taney County made up the ride's first batch of "volunteers" in honor of their heroic actions in 2021 that saved The City from a fire of its own. Thanks to those actions, no serious injuries were sustained and the fire was contained to just three buildings. Fire In The Hole marks the beginning of an action-packed summer this year at Silver Dollar City, with the park's Summer Celebration kicking off June 8, with extended nighttime hours starting July 13 with Summer Nights, all the way through August 4. And, there's plenty of fun between now and then, too, as this spring The City celebrates the final year of Street Fest from April 11-29. Then, Bluegrass & BBQ from May 2-27, awarded "Top Bluegrass Event" by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). Related Videos
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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!
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