- May 31st, 2013, 10:26 am
#50982
Silver Dollar City - May 18-19, 2013
All 82 photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 772584395/
My first visit to Silver Dollar City came in 2005, and it immediately became one of my favorite amusement parks. Much like its sister park Dollywood, Silver Dollar City's wooded mountain location separates it from other parks. Unfortunately, being in Branson, Missouri means it's not exactly convenient to get to. This year, however, it was once again worth the trip.
Thanks to a cheap flight on Southwest, I headed to the midwest to meet some friends for the Coaster Crew Outruns the Law event.
If the name of the event didn't make it obvious enough, the focus was the park's new for 2013 coaster, Outlaw Run. Morning ERT was scheduled, setting up plenty of rides on one of the most anticipated new rides for this year.
There were definitely plenty of rides. Outlaw Run is the first wooden coaster from Idaho's Rocky Mountain Construction, which exploded onto the scene with their re-imagining of Six Flags Over Texas's Texas Giant and this year Six Flags Fiesta Texas's Rattler in hybrid wooden and steel fashion.
Outlaw Run has been receiving loads of hype for several reasons. For starters, at the top of that hill is the steepest wooden coaster drop ever at 81 degrees. It is also the second fastest wooden coaster in the world, at 68 miles per hour.
The real attention, however, is on this.
And then this. Yes, Outlaw Run charts new territory for wooden coasters. Son of Beast at Kings Island became the first modern wooden coaster to go upside down, but its single loop was actually made out of steel and since that coaster recently met the wrecking ball, Outlaw Run for a brief time (before Hades 360 opened) became the only wooden coaster to feature an inversion. Three inversions, to be exact. To be honest, though, I don't have much interest in inversions. This ride is a lot more than that, though.
After the fantastic first drop that utilizes the park's natural terrain to drop 162 feet after just a 107 foot lift, the train speeds through the signature element, the 153 degree outside banked turn. It is one of the strangest elements I have seen on a coaster, with the train twisting in an unnatural direction as if about to do a barrel roll, but instead coming out of the bank in the same direction before cutting back the opposite way into a steep diving turn. It is spectacular.<!--nextpage-->
From beginning to end, Outlaw Run is absolutely relentless. It is a short coaster, but every single piece of track is action packed. It reminds me of a modern day Raven, and I suspect it may have a similar impact on the future of wooden coasters. There are several insane airtime hills, one of which (not pictured since it is hidden out in the woods) is taken with the track banked 90 degrees, another element I have never seen before.
The two barrel rolls at the very end of the ride are probably the least interesting elements to me, but are icing on the cake in a way, and it is a weird sensation spiraling through the wooden structure.
This ride is no doubt going to be a big hit. It is one of the best rides I have ever been on, and will certainly go into my top 10 wooden coasters. It is one of the most intense coasters I have experienced as well, up there with rides like The Voyage, El Toro, Skyrush, and Intimidator-305. Its wooded setting and use of terrain are big factors in making it such a great ride. I think it would be incredible at night.
Hopefully the word will get out quickly to other parks and I will be able to ride many more Rocky Mountain projects in the future.
Taking a look at the rail that the coaster train runs on reveals Rocky Mountain's wooden coaster innovation. While the conventional wooden coaster uses a thin strip of metal to run on, Rocky Mountain's design replaces the entire top layer of wood with a thick steel. I was skeptical that this would make the ride more like a steel coaster than wood, but the great news is that while the technology makes the ride smooth as glass, it still feels very much like a traditional wooden coaster. My attention was also caught by the fact that this ride does not have handrails and walkways along the track; I am not aware of any other wooden coaster like that.
There is one unfortunate flaw in Outlaw Run. Last year it was Skyrush, and this year I am once again complaining about restraints. While the simple lap bar restraint is very much welcomed, the cost it comes with is a dreadful shin bar that caused me a great deal of discomfort. The shin bar is particularly egregious for tall and skinny people as it really pins down hard due to the geometry of the restraint. The bar is not particularly soft and it is thin, so the contact is focused in a small area. I had some nice bruises after several rides, and heard others complaining throughout the day. Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to ride it while minimizing contact with the bar. The restraint does not change the fact that this is one amazing roller coaster, but I really hope modifications are considered for future Rocky Mountain projects.
Breakfast was provided at the event, and it was immediately clear from the spread that a lot of walking up and down the park's steep hills would be necessary.
With the park open for the day it was time to explore everything else it had to offer. Lines were forming quickly. Fortunately, this line was for one of the park's many shows.<!--nextpage-->
Silver Dollar City has several excellent coasters, and Powder Keg might be the most bizarre of them. The ride utilizes part of the park's old water coaster Buzzsaw Falls combined with new track to form a launched coaster with lots of great airtime and speed.
Just as Dollywood has Blazing Fury, Silver Dollar City has Fire in the Hole, an indoor dark ride/coaster hybrid with a splash down finale. The storyline of the ride surrounds the burning of Branson by the Bald Knobbers, a group of 19th century vigilantes who seem suspiciously like the Ku Klux Klan but apparently sided with the Union during the Civil War, so I'm still not quite sure what their angle was.
Next was Wildfire, the B&M looping coaster that marked Silver Dollar City's real entry into the thrill ride landscape.
The coaster's mountain side location enables incredible views from the top, and the ride itself is not too bad either, packing a decent punch with its five inversions.
Also, it appears that the cast of Duck Dynasty operates the ride.
The most easily forgotten of Silver Dollar City's roller coasters is probably Thunderation, but it was this ride that grabbed my attention the most on my previous visit.
I am not exactly excited by mine train coasters, but Thunderation is hands down the best mine train coaster I have ever been on. The train rolls out of the station and continuously builds speed as it curves lower and lower into a valley, ultimately hitting nearly 50 miles per hour at the bottom of an intense helix into a tunnel. The lift hill comes late in the ride and is followed by a fast and furious run through the woods back to the station. I believe this was the last mine train coaster Arrow Dynamics ever built, and they clearly learned many lessons from prior rides. It's basically Magnum XL 200 in the woods without the airtime hills. In prior years, every other car on the train faced backwards, but unfortunately this neat feature has been removed.
Finally, the group just could not resist getting a ride on the Grand Exposition Coaster.<!--nextpage-->
An irritated parent summed it up best: Just because you can ride something doesn't mean you should.
No Silver Dollar City trip would be complete without a ride on the Flooded Mine, a 45 year old boat-oriented dark ride that was retrofitted with on-board infrared guns to shoot at targets in 1990.
As is the case at Dollywood, they love to eat here. Food is a big part of the park.
The coaster event coincided with the park's Bluegrass and BBQ event, and what I saw just further confirmed that these midwesterners don't actually know anything about barbecue.
I liked the idea of the sauce tasting station in principle, but pondering the hygiene situation makes me shudder.
Before we had our food, however, there was a brief descent into madness via a teacup ride. We nearly spun into another dimension.
Silver Dollar City is known for its hospitality. I learned that on my last visit, and it was confirmed this time. Park officials were great hosts, and lunch was one of the better meals I have had at an event like this.
Immediately following lunch the event attendees were scheduled for a group tour of the most unique aspect of Silver Dollar City.<!--nextpage-->
Silver Dollar City did not start out as an amusement park. Tourists were initially attracted to the site by what lies beneath the park: Marvel Cave, one of the largest caves in the state with one of the largest cave entry rooms in North America.
Even better, entry into the cave is included with park admission. The guided tour lasts nearly an hour and includes a lot of stairs and some narrow passages.
Marvel Cave is a must-do part of a visit to Silver Dollar City and it is likely the most unique amusement park attraction I know of. After descending hundreds of stairs, thankfully exiting the cave is accomplished by a ride on a winding inclined railway back up the mountain.
Nearby is a much sadder site. In 2003 the Ozark Wildcat opened as part of Celebration City, an attempt to complement Silver Dollar City with a night time park. Unfortunately, the idea was a major failure, and this excellent wooden coaster closed with it in 2008. Branson just is not a place where people stay up late, which makes sense given that typical age demographic seems to be around 80 years old.
Saturday's event included a bonus admission ticket for Sunday, so I headed back into the park for a couple of hours in the morning to get a few more Outlaw Run rides.
Since I actually had to wait in line this time, I was able to explore the ride's theme a bit, which depicts a stagecoach company sending passengers westward while trying to elude bandits.
My Sunday rides were just as great as the day before, though my shins were getting a bit tender at this point.
This is going to be a destination coaster for a lot of people, and may be the best new ride of 2013. Silver Dollar City was one of my favorite parks already, but lacked a real marquee ride. Now they have it. The great news for wooden coaster fans is that Outlaw Run redefines the wooden coaster without altering its fundamental look and feel. This is an industry changing ride, and I hope and expect that it will result in many more outstanding new coasters in the coming years.
All 82 photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 772584395/
My first visit to Silver Dollar City came in 2005, and it immediately became one of my favorite amusement parks. Much like its sister park Dollywood, Silver Dollar City's wooded mountain location separates it from other parks. Unfortunately, being in Branson, Missouri means it's not exactly convenient to get to. This year, however, it was once again worth the trip.
Thanks to a cheap flight on Southwest, I headed to the midwest to meet some friends for the Coaster Crew Outruns the Law event.
If the name of the event didn't make it obvious enough, the focus was the park's new for 2013 coaster, Outlaw Run. Morning ERT was scheduled, setting up plenty of rides on one of the most anticipated new rides for this year.
There were definitely plenty of rides. Outlaw Run is the first wooden coaster from Idaho's Rocky Mountain Construction, which exploded onto the scene with their re-imagining of Six Flags Over Texas's Texas Giant and this year Six Flags Fiesta Texas's Rattler in hybrid wooden and steel fashion.
Outlaw Run has been receiving loads of hype for several reasons. For starters, at the top of that hill is the steepest wooden coaster drop ever at 81 degrees. It is also the second fastest wooden coaster in the world, at 68 miles per hour.
The real attention, however, is on this.
And then this. Yes, Outlaw Run charts new territory for wooden coasters. Son of Beast at Kings Island became the first modern wooden coaster to go upside down, but its single loop was actually made out of steel and since that coaster recently met the wrecking ball, Outlaw Run for a brief time (before Hades 360 opened) became the only wooden coaster to feature an inversion. Three inversions, to be exact. To be honest, though, I don't have much interest in inversions. This ride is a lot more than that, though.
After the fantastic first drop that utilizes the park's natural terrain to drop 162 feet after just a 107 foot lift, the train speeds through the signature element, the 153 degree outside banked turn. It is one of the strangest elements I have seen on a coaster, with the train twisting in an unnatural direction as if about to do a barrel roll, but instead coming out of the bank in the same direction before cutting back the opposite way into a steep diving turn. It is spectacular.<!--nextpage-->
From beginning to end, Outlaw Run is absolutely relentless. It is a short coaster, but every single piece of track is action packed. It reminds me of a modern day Raven, and I suspect it may have a similar impact on the future of wooden coasters. There are several insane airtime hills, one of which (not pictured since it is hidden out in the woods) is taken with the track banked 90 degrees, another element I have never seen before.
The two barrel rolls at the very end of the ride are probably the least interesting elements to me, but are icing on the cake in a way, and it is a weird sensation spiraling through the wooden structure.
This ride is no doubt going to be a big hit. It is one of the best rides I have ever been on, and will certainly go into my top 10 wooden coasters. It is one of the most intense coasters I have experienced as well, up there with rides like The Voyage, El Toro, Skyrush, and Intimidator-305. Its wooded setting and use of terrain are big factors in making it such a great ride. I think it would be incredible at night.
Hopefully the word will get out quickly to other parks and I will be able to ride many more Rocky Mountain projects in the future.
Taking a look at the rail that the coaster train runs on reveals Rocky Mountain's wooden coaster innovation. While the conventional wooden coaster uses a thin strip of metal to run on, Rocky Mountain's design replaces the entire top layer of wood with a thick steel. I was skeptical that this would make the ride more like a steel coaster than wood, but the great news is that while the technology makes the ride smooth as glass, it still feels very much like a traditional wooden coaster. My attention was also caught by the fact that this ride does not have handrails and walkways along the track; I am not aware of any other wooden coaster like that.
There is one unfortunate flaw in Outlaw Run. Last year it was Skyrush, and this year I am once again complaining about restraints. While the simple lap bar restraint is very much welcomed, the cost it comes with is a dreadful shin bar that caused me a great deal of discomfort. The shin bar is particularly egregious for tall and skinny people as it really pins down hard due to the geometry of the restraint. The bar is not particularly soft and it is thin, so the contact is focused in a small area. I had some nice bruises after several rides, and heard others complaining throughout the day. Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to ride it while minimizing contact with the bar. The restraint does not change the fact that this is one amazing roller coaster, but I really hope modifications are considered for future Rocky Mountain projects.
Breakfast was provided at the event, and it was immediately clear from the spread that a lot of walking up and down the park's steep hills would be necessary.
With the park open for the day it was time to explore everything else it had to offer. Lines were forming quickly. Fortunately, this line was for one of the park's many shows.<!--nextpage-->
Silver Dollar City has several excellent coasters, and Powder Keg might be the most bizarre of them. The ride utilizes part of the park's old water coaster Buzzsaw Falls combined with new track to form a launched coaster with lots of great airtime and speed.
Just as Dollywood has Blazing Fury, Silver Dollar City has Fire in the Hole, an indoor dark ride/coaster hybrid with a splash down finale. The storyline of the ride surrounds the burning of Branson by the Bald Knobbers, a group of 19th century vigilantes who seem suspiciously like the Ku Klux Klan but apparently sided with the Union during the Civil War, so I'm still not quite sure what their angle was.
Next was Wildfire, the B&M looping coaster that marked Silver Dollar City's real entry into the thrill ride landscape.
The coaster's mountain side location enables incredible views from the top, and the ride itself is not too bad either, packing a decent punch with its five inversions.
Also, it appears that the cast of Duck Dynasty operates the ride.
The most easily forgotten of Silver Dollar City's roller coasters is probably Thunderation, but it was this ride that grabbed my attention the most on my previous visit.
I am not exactly excited by mine train coasters, but Thunderation is hands down the best mine train coaster I have ever been on. The train rolls out of the station and continuously builds speed as it curves lower and lower into a valley, ultimately hitting nearly 50 miles per hour at the bottom of an intense helix into a tunnel. The lift hill comes late in the ride and is followed by a fast and furious run through the woods back to the station. I believe this was the last mine train coaster Arrow Dynamics ever built, and they clearly learned many lessons from prior rides. It's basically Magnum XL 200 in the woods without the airtime hills. In prior years, every other car on the train faced backwards, but unfortunately this neat feature has been removed.
Finally, the group just could not resist getting a ride on the Grand Exposition Coaster.<!--nextpage-->
An irritated parent summed it up best: Just because you can ride something doesn't mean you should.
No Silver Dollar City trip would be complete without a ride on the Flooded Mine, a 45 year old boat-oriented dark ride that was retrofitted with on-board infrared guns to shoot at targets in 1990.
As is the case at Dollywood, they love to eat here. Food is a big part of the park.
The coaster event coincided with the park's Bluegrass and BBQ event, and what I saw just further confirmed that these midwesterners don't actually know anything about barbecue.
I liked the idea of the sauce tasting station in principle, but pondering the hygiene situation makes me shudder.
Before we had our food, however, there was a brief descent into madness via a teacup ride. We nearly spun into another dimension.
Silver Dollar City is known for its hospitality. I learned that on my last visit, and it was confirmed this time. Park officials were great hosts, and lunch was one of the better meals I have had at an event like this.
Immediately following lunch the event attendees were scheduled for a group tour of the most unique aspect of Silver Dollar City.<!--nextpage-->
Silver Dollar City did not start out as an amusement park. Tourists were initially attracted to the site by what lies beneath the park: Marvel Cave, one of the largest caves in the state with one of the largest cave entry rooms in North America.
Even better, entry into the cave is included with park admission. The guided tour lasts nearly an hour and includes a lot of stairs and some narrow passages.
Marvel Cave is a must-do part of a visit to Silver Dollar City and it is likely the most unique amusement park attraction I know of. After descending hundreds of stairs, thankfully exiting the cave is accomplished by a ride on a winding inclined railway back up the mountain.
Nearby is a much sadder site. In 2003 the Ozark Wildcat opened as part of Celebration City, an attempt to complement Silver Dollar City with a night time park. Unfortunately, the idea was a major failure, and this excellent wooden coaster closed with it in 2008. Branson just is not a place where people stay up late, which makes sense given that typical age demographic seems to be around 80 years old.
Saturday's event included a bonus admission ticket for Sunday, so I headed back into the park for a couple of hours in the morning to get a few more Outlaw Run rides.
Since I actually had to wait in line this time, I was able to explore the ride's theme a bit, which depicts a stagecoach company sending passengers westward while trying to elude bandits.
My Sunday rides were just as great as the day before, though my shins were getting a bit tender at this point.
This is going to be a destination coaster for a lot of people, and may be the best new ride of 2013. Silver Dollar City was one of my favorite parks already, but lacked a real marquee ride. Now they have it. The great news for wooden coaster fans is that Outlaw Run redefines the wooden coaster without altering its fundamental look and feel. This is an industry changing ride, and I hope and expect that it will result in many more outstanding new coasters in the coming years.
