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Silver Dollar City (SDC) Discussion Thread

p. 274: New Fire in the Hole announced for 2024!

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So we do know what 2015 is, so what do you think 2016 will be?

 

 

Wish: A B&M Flying Coaster that uses the terrain like Tatsu

 

Probably: A Ride like Firechaser Express

 

I don't think they would build a Firechaser Express when they have Powder Keg. It wouldn't be in Silver Dollar City's style to utilise those hillsides with something that didn't bring something really different to the parks package. Personally, the park feels incredible as is and I don't see them rushing to add a coaster (even a family coaster) when Outlaw Run was in 2013.

 

If anything they're fixing up one of the two most lacking areas of the park (the Gulch). If anything, they need to complete the Great Barn section of the park with more family-oriented attractions, a show, or some flat rides in the coming years.

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Development in Branson has been a little slower recently, and over the past decade or so SDC has often taken "off-years" after major additions such as OR, TGS, RiverBlast, and probably FL. Heh, I remember the old days when the scattered few Dollywood fans that existed would complain about how SDC got all the big rides and special treatment... Just shows how much the chain has grown and tourism growth is shifting. Branson is fighting through a generation shift and up and down local economy, but it is poised to still do well into the future.

 

For 2016, I wouldn't be surprised to see a ride, but it would be a lower capital investment. Something like the Frisbee ride that was once proposed for the Grand Expo, or a smaller ride to "balance" out the west end of the park. What I actually want to see is new shops, shows and craftsmen. If we're going to have an "off-year" from rides, at least focus on strengthening the lighter aspects of the park that make it special.

 

A new major show production is a likely possibility. They've really dropped off on those lately in favor of magicians or generic tv show characters. "Into The West" or whatever it was called a few years ago was critically acclaimed and had lines stretching across the park. I guess having major shows requires paying actors though...

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What I actually want to see is new shops, shows and craftsmen. If we're going to have an "off-year" from rides, at least focus on strengthening the lighter aspects of the park that make it special.

 

A new major show production is a likely possibility. They've really dropped off on those lately...

 

Yes, yes, and yes to both of these!

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So I'm in the midst of planning my first trip to SDC--half day next Tuesday and full day on Wednesday. Any tips on ticket discounts or cheap but decent places to stay?

I see that next week is "Southern Gospel Picnic" week, where you can buy admission tickets for $40 each. Park closes at 6:00PM so I'm guessing any type of "twilight" entry will have ended. Any thoughts on what the crowds might be like? Should I wear my Danzig T-shirt?

Thanks to anyone who responds!

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So I'm in the midst of planning my first trip to SDC--half day next Tuesday and full day on Wednesday. Any tips on ticket discounts or cheap but decent places to stay?

I see that next week is "Southern Gospel Picnic" week, where you can buy admission tickets for $40 each. Park closes at 6:00PM so I'm guessing any type of "twilight" entry will have ended. Any thoughts on what the crowds might be like? Should I wear my Danzig T-shirt?

Thanks to anyone who responds!

All area schools are already back in session, so weekdays will be very light indeed. Most of the people who do come will be older folks who are just there for the music. Rides should be mostly walk-ons, so do what you like in any order you like. SDC is running their after 3, get in free the next day promo until 10/24, so show up at 3 on Tuesday and enjoy you some Outlaw Run.

 

Oh, and yes, absolutely, wear the Danzig T-shirt. The festival is sorely lacking in syncopation.

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So I'm in the midst of planning my first trip to SDC--half day next Tuesday and full day on Wednesday. Any tips on ticket discounts or cheap but decent places to stay?

I see that next week is "Southern Gospel Picnic" week, where you can buy admission tickets for $40 each. Park closes at 6:00PM so I'm guessing any type of "twilight" entry will have ended. Any thoughts on what the crowds might be like? Should I wear my Danzig T-shirt?

Thanks to anyone who responds!

 

I think there's a twilight deal after 3pm on days where they close at 6pm, but a lot has changed in recent years and I haven't kept up on it. I've been hearing good things about Classic Motor Inn, and they usually give you a discount if you mention SDCFans.com

 

Crowds at the park will be fairly light, especially with the heat. We're right in the transition between final end-of-summer vacations and the fall which is focused more on older and "classic" patrons who aren't just here for the coasters. Still too hot for a lot of the old people though.

 

What does the Danzig shirt have on it? If it's one of the more vulgar ones, they'll probably straight up ask you to leave at the gate. HFEC doesn't mess around with that, especially at SDC and DW, and especially more so during a Gospel event. HFEC is a privately owned christian company and Marvel Cave and other parts of the park are actually owned by a Presbyterian church and leased to the park under certain conditions. You'll find that SDC is a very christian-oriented park, more so than DW even. It's not really in-your-face and you can easily ignore it, but you shouldn't go in there planning to disrespect it.

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Not to speculate for 2016, but just a thought, with FL coming in, and the really well done theme/revamp for that area had this come to my mind, I could honestly see a properly themed coaster(not that SDC has issues with that) fitting in for that area.. maybe like a wing coaster fit to the theme of a fire fighting aircraft, or something to that extent. But I am really excited to see FL and the really well done job SDC has done once again.

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Honestly now I don't think they will be getting a coaster soon. They have enough to do and enough good rides, I am fit for the whole day at the park, the only reason that makes me leave is because it's always blazing hot and lines for the water rides exceed an hour. I still miss the ol waterboggan

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Honestly now I don't think they will be getting a coaster soon. They have enough to do and enough good rides, I am fit for the whole day at the park, the only reason that makes me leave is because it's always blazing hot and lines for the water rides exceed an hour. I still miss the ol waterboggan

Really? You say you leave rather than wait an hour for a water ride, yet you miss the one ride that absolutely never had a line less than an hour? That thing had horrible capacity and badly needed to be replaced.

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Well, when the other rides lines are like fifteen min, it doesn't seem worth it when you drive five minuts back into branso and have the chute, where you can ride for an hour as many times as you want. I also do t remover lines that long for the waterboggan

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Well, when the other rides lines are like fifteen min, it doesn't seem worth it when you drive five minuts back into branso and have the chute, where you can ride for an hour as many times as you want. I also do t remover lines that long for the waterboggan

You may have gone on good days. It wasn't unusual for people to be queueing all the way back to where the exit path met the main pathway, which was about halfway between the tower and the entrance to Geyser Gulch. SDC really focused on water rides in the 80s, remodeling Jim Owen's Float Trip into the American Plunge, replacing the Diving Bell with the Lost River and building the Waterboggan. These were the big draws then, before they had any big roller coasters. The park had far fewer visitors then, too. 10,000 was a busy day; now that's practically every day in the summer, with Saturdays pulling twice that. So when these water rides were built, they didn't expect to need huge capacity. The low capacity of the water rides was the biggest reason for the decision to replace Waterboggan with the River Blast. Even on busy days River Blast is 15-20 minutes, plus it soaks you head to toe. It also has a much smaller footprint than the Waterboggan, which opened a lot of land for future development, what we now know is Fireman's Landing. It was a really great decision to retire the Waterboggan.

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The low capacity of the water rides was the biggest reason for the decision to replace Waterboggan with the River Blast. Even on busy days River Blast is 15-20 minutes, plus it soaks you head to toe. It also has a much smaller footprint than the Waterboggan, which opened a lot of land for future development, what we now know is Fireman's Landing. It was a really great decision to retire the Waterboggan.

 

To me it seemed like River Blast was a replacement for Splash Harbor, which closed right as River Blast was supposed to open. Unfortunately, while River Blast is a beautiful attraction, it doesn't really recapture the magic that was Splash Harbor. It just simply isn't as engaging or popular as Splash Harbor was, but SDC didn't really like having a "water park" attraction in the park, and there were some issues with people wearing swimwear throughout the park among other random issues.

 

Nothing really replaced the Waterboggan, it was just taken out suddenly at the end of the 2010 season. I've heard some scattered stories which I think I may have posted long ago on this thread that allude to some potential safety issues stemming from the 2003 remake of the original Wilderness Waterboggin into the wilder Waterworks Waterboggin. From what I remember, it had OK capacity, but the ride was very popular and the line was rather awkward due to the issue of having to weigh people.

 

They are indeed finally making use of a little of the old Waterboggin space, but the majority of the land the ride used to occupy is still empty, and they're apparently just going to leave the old tower for some sort of background purpose (possibly communications equipment?)

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They are indeed finally making use of a little of the old Waterboggin space, but the majority of the land the ride used to occupy is still empty, and they're apparently just going to leave the old tower for some sort of background purpose (possibly communications equipment?)
I did notice last time I was at the park the old tower did have a lot of antennas on it. So possibly that is why they are keeping it around. Or maybe they are keeping it around for future theme element for a ride like Fire Chaser Express!
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Again, they really won't get anything like fire chaser express. Well reasonably. They already have powder keg. Which is a good launched family coaster. I mean it is a big step up above fire chaser in terms of intensity and ride experience, but I don't see anything coming like that. I mean it would be cool to have an euro fighter using the tower, but the capacity would be way to low. I thing a really good addition to the park would be a BM hyper or giga. But it would be very hard to blend it in the the terrain and surroundings

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^They already have two coasters with 150+ ft drops. They have plenty of land to run a hyper coaster out across, but like all SDC coasters, it would have to be done carefully and thoughtfully to avoid the bat habitats, train ride, and scenic areas of the park. They can go out beyond the maintenance area pretty easy whenever they need space for the next huge coaster.

 

What I would really like is if they took the Mystery Mine concept, but used a B&M dive machine instead, sort of like what Efteling is apparently doing. Mystery Mine really knocked us all off our feet when it was announced in 2006. It was such a crazy, huge, ambitious project for HFEC at the time, and really showed what this chain is capable of doing theming wise. It's been really unfortunate to hear that the PTB have apparently been viewing it as almost a failure from the ROI standpoint.

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Griffon was only about $15.6 million, So that'd be about $15.8 today if a park was looking to build a coaster of the same size. Maybe a few million more if you wanted to theme it. But I do agree with you, I rode Griffon this summer and it has my favorite first drop of any coaster I've been on.

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Again, they really won't get anything like fire chaser express. Well reasonably. They already have powder keg. Which is a good launched family coaster. I mean it is a big step up above fire chaser in terms of intensity and ride experience, but I don't see anything coming like that. I mean it would be cool to have an euro fighter using the tower, but the capacity would be way to low. I thing a really good addition to the park would be a BM hyper or giga. But it would be very hard to blend it in the the terrain and surroundings

 

Well obviously you know best. Insider knowledge, right?

 

IF you know where to look, you'll see exactly where the next coaster is going.

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^SDC doesn't seem like the right place for a hyper. But an invert seems like a good addition to the park.

 

SDC could easily build a 200 foot drop on a coaster that is less than 200 feet tall with its landscape, and it's been said in the past that SDC had wanted to build a coaster with a 200 foot drop around the time that they built Powder Keg. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a hyper at SDC too quickly.

 

I also agree that a B&M Dive Machine would be an incredible addition to SDC. I've only been on Sheikra, but the new, smaller models also look great!

 

Well obviously you know best. Insider knowledge, right?

 

IF you know where to look, you'll see exactly where the next coaster is going.

 

Where might that be Mr. Insider himself?

 

Another family coaster at SDC wouldn't get me very excited, but Fire Chaser Express does look pretty fun. It's just that they have three coasters targeted basically to that same age group, and with Fireman's Landing almost completely geared towards younger children, I would expect something a bit more thrilling than a family ride for their next addition.

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^ So B&M is a no

 

I think something like Wonder Mountain's guardian with a long coaster section and high capacity would be perfect for SDC. They don't need something as intense as i305 or SkyRush but their full size coasters all kept the intense level perfect. Plus Flooded Mine's technology is kind of outdated, don't remove it but a new generation IDR is never bad.

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Where might that be Mr. Insider himself?

 

LOL. Yeah, not showing my cards on this one yet. Let's just enjoy the new addition for the time being.

and on that topic, they put the S&S tower into place on Friday. It is now standing tall in Fireman's Landing.

 

Will try to get some "legal" pictures of the tower on stage this week. The PTB always get a little more than ticked when we post/take photos of stuff back stage

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