Trip to Silver Dollar City

[Rivertown Rider]

I'm headed to Silver Dollar City this weekend.  I was there about thirty years ago but obviously don't remember much about the park. 

Does anyone have any tips for navigating the park or favorite foods / rides, etc.?  We are season passholders at Dollywood and from the maps, trip reports, and videos I have watched it looks very similar.

We plan to be there two days but are debating maybe heading to Worlds of Fun on Saturday afternoon / evening and using our platinum passes / dining.  Is it worth going the three and half hours out of the way to go to Worlds of Fun or are we better off just staying at Silver Dollar City the full two days?  We both have to be back at work on Monday so we were going to drive part of the way back home to Northern Kentucky on Saturday night.  Thanks in advance.

[Tera Ryzing]

I would enjoy myself at silver dollar city/Branson instead of constant running.

[King Ding Dong]

SDC has been about 20 years for me, and it has change a lot.   We will be in STL in June visiting friends and family and spending a couple of days at SFSTL as that is the park I grew up at and my boys cut their coaster teeth.  I keep debating if a quick trip up to WoF is worth it.  I just don’t see much there that is compelling enough to justify the expense of lodging for a night and 8 additional travel hours.  I am leaning towards putting those resources into a east coast CF trip or SFGAdv. 

Meramec Caverns near Sullivan, MO would be an interesting couple of hour tour and is along the way to SDC on I-44.  

[Rustbucket]

Last time we were there, we did both SDC and WoF on the same day. There are 4 coasters that are left side of the park and very close to each other: Wild Fire, Powder Keg, Outlaw Run, and Fire in the Hole. Outlaw Run is outstanding and do not miss Powder Keg. This is a unique launch and lift hill coaster.  Wild Fire is my favorite B&M looper. You will get wet on Fire in the Hole unlike Blazing Fury. 

Thunderation is one of the better mine ride. Of course, Time Traveler is new for this year. 

For food, you cannot go wrong with House of BBQ. Their foods are on par with Dollywood. Overall, SDC is one of the most beautiful parks I have ever visited. 

I have been to WoF 3 times.  Not a single time i spent more than 3 hours at the park. I rode all the coasters there multiple times including Prowler and Mamba. Maybe I got lucky all those times.  Anyway, go to Prowler then Mamba. They are pretty close to each other. Only other coaster that is decent is Patriot. 

If you are in KC, go to Q39 for the best brisket. It is amazing. 

 

[Rivertown Rider]

A little delayed trip report but I wanted to give an update on what we ended up doing.  

We ended up driving part of the way out to Branson on that Wednesday night and stopped just south of Meramec Caverns.  On Thursday morning we ended up going back up to Meramec Caverns.  I had not been there since I was a little kid nearly 30 years ago so it was interesting to see how my memories held up.  It was a great stop and something I would definitely recommend doing.  We were there on a calm day so there were only about 7 or so people in our group but I know it can get much busier.

After we left Meramec Caverns, we ended up stopping just north of Branson at Lambert's for a late lunch.  My wife and I had both had grandparents that stopped there many years ago and it was a good place to eat.  The food portions were huge and it was kitschy but a neat place to see.  It was also affordable for a tourist trap.   After we left there we headed on down to Branson.  We stopped by College of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, and Branson Landing as well as drove around Branson a little bit.  As it was getting late we headed on the way to our hotel.

The ACE event we were attending started on Friday morning so we got to the park early the next morning and headed straight for Time Traveler.  It was an exceptional coaster and definitely a different sensation than I have ever felt on a coaster.  The spinning was not over-the-top and definitely not like teacups or something along those lines.  The only downside to Time Traveler was the low capacity.  It had two-to-three hour waits most of the time we were there.  Knowing that as part of the ACE event we would have ERT that night I ended up moving around the rest of the park.

After riding Time Traveler, I headed right next to the ride beside it, Thunderation.  Thunderation, an Arrow mine train, was the surprise of the trip and may be the best mine train I have ever been on.  After a couple rides on it I went and did the Flooded Mine which was a fun ride.  As far as coasters, the next coaster I did was Wildfire, the park's lone B & M.  Wildfire was great and provided the best views of the Ozarks in the park.  We stopped and watched the saloon show and by this time it was around lunch time so I ended up getting one of the park's skillets for lunch.  Everything was cooked great.

After lunch I ended up hitting Outlaw Run.  I thought it was a great RMC.  With the wildness and inversions it made it a wilder ride than Lightning Rod.  The only thing negative I can say about it was that it was a short.  I ended up riding it several times and it is definitely one of the best rides in the park.  I went to Fire in the Hole next.  I probably like the Baldknobbers theme better than the theme that Blazing Fury at Dollywood has.  It is a fine dark ride / coaster and it is a nice thing that families can do.  Powder Keg went down in the afternoon so I didn't get a chance to ride it that day.  I ended up doing Grand Exposition Coaster, the kiddie coaster, which was fine for what it was.  That night the park had a great spread with sampling helpings of all of the parks best foods including their skillets, pizza, salads, and dessert. 

If you ever get the chance to go to Silver Dollar City when they have an event you should do it.  They roll out the carpet and do an exceptional job.  My wife and I got the chance to briefly speak with Brad Thomas, the park president, who was going around talking to guests.  He was super nice and you could really tell that he was someone who loved his job.  We ended up seeing some people with Worlds of Fun shirts that evening and went over and talked to them about Worlds of Fun.  Like some of you, they agreed that rather than going to Worlds of Fun on this trip that they would recommend just staying and enjoying Silver Dollar City.  My wife and I ended up debating it that night and next day and decided to just stick in Silver Dollar City.  I ended up getting on Powder Keg the next day along with re-rides on a lot of the other coasters.

Silver Dollar City is a great park and well worth making the trip for.  As frequent Dollywood attendees, Silver Dollar City had a lot of comparisons.  Comparing them, I would say that Dollywood has the better shows and Silver Dollar City had the better food.  From a top to bottom coaster lineup I don't know who I would give the edge to as they are both unique in their own way.

Ranking the Coasters:

1. Time Traveler- one of the smoothest coasters I've ever been on and you'll never get the same exact ride in a row

2. Outlaw Run- a very close number two and it could easily be number one

3. Wildfire- super smooth and underrated

4. Thunderation- incredibly fun

5. Powder Keg- it has a great launch and gets a little strange once it starts traversing the different track but still a fun ride

6. Fire in the Hole- more dark ride than coaster but still fun

7. Grand Exposition Coaster- make sure to brace for the brakes at the end as it can be a little jerky

Thanks for reading.

[Gannersdaddy]

Other than the Lumberjack Pizza, I thought the food at Dollywood was very good.  I need to take a trip to Branson sometime then.