Day 6 was originally planned to have us visiting a new Alpine Coaster in Branson called Mountain Adventure Resort, before spending the majority of the day at Silver Dollar City and then heading through the Ozarks to St Louis. We later added Miner Mike's into the route but then found out the Alpine wasn't going to be ready so we had to drop that.
(It has subsequently opened)
Silver Dollar City is a rather special park that is always highly rated in reviews and was expected to be one of the highlights of the trip, with everyone looking forward to it.
Around the entrance to the park was plenty of foliage, the first reason to love this park. Lots of plants mean you have a oxygen rich park which makes you feel better than one covered in concrete - take note Six Flags.
Rather amusingly, they also had these quotes about the importance of family. A nice sentiment until I realised one of them was by the author of The Godfather and the mafia is the family being referred to here.
We had arrived for the park opening and before we'd even made it to the first coaster there was a music act, albeit one that we didn't want to stick around for. Some sort of country wailing.
Another reason why the park is liked by many is the mixture of crafts on show with Blacksmiths, glass blowers and other such things there for you to see and purchase their output.
With all the foliage it is easy to get lost in this place, and with no eye line to the coasters, which are around the outer edges of the park it's hard to get your bearings. It's fair to say this park wouldn't benefit from a Batman coaster like Fiesta Texas.
and another reason to like Silver Dollar City. Great food with no obligation to buy an annual "eat all you can" pass, although that would be great here!
Despite seeing no evidence to the contrary, there were bad weather warnings being announced in the park which meant a delayed opening to some of the rollercoasters. Perhaps down to their good planning the park does have a single indoor dark ride/coaster hybrid to which everyone had gathered.
Fortunately the park has decent operations (another reason to like it) and this ride has good throughput so it didn't take too long to get through the line. The ride itself is a fun ride with a never ending ascent to the top of a burning barn, before a crazy descent into a splash zone. I've not spoiled the ride as the trains are wet when you get on them. A fun, and slightly unique way to enjoy a park (if you've not done the same ride at the sister park Dollywood that is)
Our first coaster once they opened up was the S&S launched coaster "Powder Keg". This is a super ride built from a water ride that used to sit here. The lift hill is common as it some of the theming.
The train that has crashed into the roof is from the old ride also.
We liked this ride a lot when it came to riding, not so much when it came to photographing it. You can only see the launch, the brake block and a couple of hill tops. The majority of the ride is hidden out of sight.
and I wasn't going to risk jumping any fence for the sake of the photo.
The second coaster was Wildfire their rather average B&M coaster.
This ride is alright, not amazing but this one does offer some unique photo opportunities, particularly the cobra roll where the view is closer to the top than the base as usually occurs. Yay for elevated platforms.
Then we headed to Outlaw Run which is another Rocky Mountain coaster but the first I'd done that was built from scratch. All the others I've done have been built on older coaster structures. This one was opened in 2013 following the New Texas Giant and the coaster that really put them on the map due to it's crazy layout and inversions which made it unique at the time.
So, how was it...Warning: controversy follows.
I didn't like it, and here are my reasons why. As with the other coasters in the park you have absolutely no chance of seeing the track layout, which leaves you to ride the coaster blind. Yes, I could have watched a POV, and I will likely post one later but I like to be surprised, which isn't easy to do in the days where everything is on the net and in your face so hadn't watched any footage of it. Also, whilst the pacing of the ride elements is very good they appear out of nowhere for the most part and this resulted in me being thrown about quite wildly which I didn't like. Also the restraints are a little less forgiving than those I'd ridden previously; that's more a criticism of me than the ride but the inconsistency was a tad annoying. Finally, it's not re-rideable for me. I think my new measure of a good ride is could I stay on it for an hour? I mentioned earlier that I could ride Gauntlet, which most people would despise having to ride once but with this one I gave up after 2 rides and sat outside whilst the others continued to get their rides in. There is no way I could ride this for any length of time; too fast, too sudden, too intense? Perhaps all of that and whilst I realise my opinion is likely to be unique, on the back of riding this I'm no longer excited to be riding Dollywood's "Lightning Rod" or Kolmarden's "Wildfire", both larger versions of this ride.
The other thing I've taken from this ride is that it has acted as a catalyst into whether I still really enjoy this hobby. If I'm not enjoying the best coasters, what am I doing? Maybe it's because I've been here before; if the same ride was in a park I hadn't been to before would that have made a difference? That sounds a bit zen for coaster enthusiasts...
The drinks are fairly well priced at Silver Dollar but there are cheaper options if you're prepared to put in the effort.
In a back corner of the park there's a well themed exposition area. I don't recall all the rides being here on the last visit, and I certainly don't recall a 6ft tall dalmation walking on it's back legs either.
Lots of decoration. You certainly can't fault the effort this park put into their theming.
Coaster number 4 was the kiddy coaster and a tough ride to claim if you can't get the safety bar down pretty far. I recall last time riding this but Martin was unable to do so, and unfortunately the same happened to Tal. I wouldn't have made it this time around either but I didn't need to. You win some you lose some.
The last coaster of the day was Thunderation which like the mine train in Arkansas was one with the lift hill at the end. Back in 2008 the centre seats faced backwards but this time they were all the same way around. It's an alright ride, if you can find it :)
With the coasters out of the way we took some time out to watch the Harlem Globetrotters who were touring the US and at the park today. The group has around 20 members but we only had half a dozen of them in attendance today: I think we had Scooter, Moose, Flip, Dizzy, TNT (female) and someone else who I'll call Fred. The show was alright and it's a thing I can tick off my imaginary bucket list but they didn't have the magic that attracted me to them when I was seeing them on the telly as a kid. Their mascot Globie was really entertaining though
One cool thing they have done is shot a basket from a skycoaster, which I suggested years ago they should let the public do.
Near Thunderation is the glass blowing which is true to how it's always been done.
In an attempt to photograph some of Outlaw Run we took the train ride which was momentarily hijacked by some pun giving rednecks before sending us on our way. Alas we did not get any photos of the train and had to make do with some structure photos :(
We found a shooting boat ride, which looks to have been there for years but somehow I'd managed to miss it on my last trip. So a bonus new thing to do here!
Some kids dance show. It was rubbish because the dancing was mostly being done by people who where there as guests not as choreographed employees.
We finished the day with some very highly recommended cinnamon bread and we bought a little loaf each as we were such pigs. It was very warm and tasty and I will join the cult of people who say to eat this when you go and visit.
and that was a very brief write up of a good day at Silver Dollar City. Despite my negative review of Outlaw Run this is still an exceptional park and we were all in agreement that Six Flags had been shown up by this place. You don't have to have the biggest and fastest rides to be the best; genuine customer service, plenty of shade, lots of things to do for all the family, not just the teens and plenty of oxygen makes a great combination. If they laid paths around and under the coasters I'd love this park even more. I did tweet that to them but got no response, so perhaps a better social media presence would be good too.
The worst part of the day is the inevitable walk back to the car. No oxygen or shade, unfortunately.
Random "and finally" photo was this flyer for a show in Branson. They're a gospel show and according to the website their name comes from them having been adopted twice; once by the parents and then by God. Hahaha!
Here's their trailer so you can see and hear how terrible they are. This may be your thing in which case go and enjoy it, but as we only had one night in Branson we chose to go and eat instead.
Oh, and despite there still being another park the coaster of the day, was Powder Keg for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment