Celebration City 7/2 and Silver Dollar City 7/3

[Kev]

I arrived in Branson at 4:30 pm on July 2, after a LONG seven hour drive. It??????s funny how it doesn??????t look that far when looking at the map. [:(] I??????ve come to the conclusion after riding down I-44 for several hours that Oklahoma is??????..well??????.very dull. Oh well??????it??????s home, and I guess we all need one, right? Anyway, back to the story. I checked into the first hotel I could easily pull into, which turned out to be Branson Towers. Not a bad hotel and it was in a quiet area of Branson. Only $60 a night too, so if you??????re in the area, I would recommend it. Next, I ate at Whipper-snappers. This was an all you can eat lobster restaurant in the hotel. After all of this, I decided to hit the first park.

Celebration City

This is like the sister park to Silver Dollar City. It is only open at night so as not to compete with Silver Dollar City, which is only open during the day. The park itself is very small, which gives it sort of a carnival type feel. The theming is great though, with old style shops, gardens, and such. There is only three coasters here; Jack Rabbit, Thunderbolt, and Ozark Wildcat. My first ride was on the Ozark Wildcat.

Ozark Wildcat
Rides ridden: 3

You hear about the specs for this ride, and it doesn??????t sound very impressive. 80 ft. tall? 45 mph? Then you ride it, and are completely blown away. This compact wooden coaster is very intense for its size. This ride features a lot of high banked drops and pops of air time on almost every hill, especially from the impossibly small bunny hops near the end. Although its top speed is only 45 mph, you really feel like it is going much faster. There are no mid-course or trim brakes, so the speed continues for the entire ride. I rode once in the front and twice in the back, but couldn??????t really tell much difference between the two. There doesn??????t appear to be a bad seat on this one. Ozark Wildcat is definitely one of my favorite woodies now.

Thunderbolt
Rides ridden: 2

This coaster has the same layout as SFOT??????s Runaway Mountain, but it is not enclosed. Because of this, I thought I knew what to expect, but was completely wrong. Don??????t let the looks of this coaster fool you, as this is probably the most violent ride I have ever ridden. At times, you feel like you are slam-dancing with your ride partner. Being that I like violent rides, this is now one of my favorites. [:)] No airtime on this one, but the positive g??????s are near gray-out levels, particularly on the 80 degree hairpin drop and the final helix. Speaking of the hairpin drop, it seems to come up when you least expect it and totally scares the crap out of you.

Jack Rabbit
Rides ridden: 0

This ride just didn??????t look too appealing to me, and since the line was long and they were only running one train, I decided to not ride it.

Overall, I was really impressed with this park. Sure, it??????s small and has the tendency to get really crowded after SDC closes, but I think it has a lot of future potential. Oh!!!! I forgot to mention the most important thing. FREE PARKING!!!! You just gotta love that after spending $10 at most other parks.

Silver Dollar City

I went to this park the next morning, which is a few miles outside of Branson. The scenery in Branson is beautiful, so I figured the park would be more of the same. WRONG!!! It was even better! I had no idea that this park was situated IN the Ozark Mountains, meaning that you have to drive UP to it. Being that the park is also situated in a forest, you don??????t even realize that you are there until a traffic director points you to the parking area. Speaking of parking, guess how much it costs? [:)]

After purchasing my ticket, I attempted to hit Wildfire first. This was easier said than done, because the park layout is very confusing. Sure, they gave me a map, but who looks at those anyway? After walking aimlessly for about 20 minutes, I finally found it.

Wildfire
Rides ridden: 4

Wildfire is a B&M sitdown looping coaster. This was my first time to ride one of these, but I thought I knew what to expect: A smooth and graceful ride that has been over-engineered to eliminate any nasty g-forces. Heck, they probably even used that Purgatorium program to eliminate rough transitions. [:P] Imagine my surprise when coming off the first drop, because my ass quickly left the seat and didn??????t touch it again until the bottom of the hill! I definitely wasn??????t expecting airtime on a B&M looper, but it was there just the same. It was fairly violent airtime too, particularly in the back seats??????.Anyway, back to the ride. You go into in immelman after the first drop, which from what I read, it??????s a first of its kind on a B&M sitdown coaster. After the immelman, you go into a vertical loop, then curve to the left, and then up into the cobra roll. After the cobra roll, you go up a small hill and then bank sharply to the right and into a corkscrew. After that, you maneuver around a fast turn to the left (narrowly missing a fence) and into the brake run. Short, but very sweet. Not nearly as smooth and graceful as I had imagined it would be either, which was pleasantly surprising considering I like the violent rides. [:P]

This coaster was a walk-on for the time that I was there. The only delay came on the last ride, when they closed it for about 20 minutes to search for somebody??????s lost car keys. I rode it two times in the back seat, once in the front seat, and once somewhere in the middle. My recommendation for any of you future SDC visitors is to ride it anywhere towards the back of the train for the ejection seat airtime on the first drop. There??????s no airtime at all in the front seat, except when entering the final brake run. Also, for all you smooth coaster freaks out there, I would recommend the center seats. The outside seats tend to be a little rough. You can save those seats for me. [:)]

Buzzsaw Falls
Rides ridden: 1

The liquid coaster idea is very unique, and I would love to see one built around here on a grander scale. This coaster is too small though. You drop out of the station and float flume-style around an S-shaped flume. You then go up a very small hill, and then drop down into the coaster portion of the ride. This part of the ride had my adrenaline pumping, because we were moving fairly fast around a turn completely surrounded by very large trees. Sadly though, the turn was all there was to offer before starting up the lift for the big drop finale. It was okay, I guess. I??????m not much of a water ride fan, so maybe it would be enjoyed more by people who are.

ThuNderaTion
Rides ridden: 2

As I??????ve already mentioned, SDC is completely blanketed with trees. You can hardly see the attractions because of the trees, which is very cool when you are riding them. It??????s not cool though when you are trying to find them. I walked by this coaster several times before I finally found it. I actually had to pull out the map for this one. When I finally got to the entrance line, they closed the ride. Somebody hurled in the exit queue after riding it. This intrigued me. An Arrow mine train actually made somebody sick? Because of this, I decided to wait in line until they cleaned it up. [:P] Clean up took about 15 minutes, and then the line was moving again.

This is an interesting mine train. Some of the cars on the train are turned backward so you have a choice of how you want to ride it. I personally have never liked riding backward coasters (lesson learned from PKD??????s Rebel Yell), so I chose the forward cars. The ride takes a dive to the right out of the station, into some thick trees. It??????s a fairly large dive, so the coaster is moving pretty fast from the very beginning. The speed continues to increase, as you weave left and right through the trees. You then enter a helix at a fairly good speed. The helix starts out wide, but gets tighter in a spiraling motion. Toward the ??????center?????? of the helix, you are going very fast and picking up some fairly decent positive and lateral g sensations, something you normally don??????t get on a mine train. At the center of the helix, you dip into a tunnel. I??????m pretty sure you start up the lift after this, but I don??????t really remember. Anyway, it??????s a very large lift for a mine train. At the top of the lift, you turn to the left slowly, and then dive back down into the trees before entering the final brake run. I was a little let down by the ending, as it felt like it was missing something. The train is moving very fast when entering the brake run, so it seems like it could have done something else before ending. Oh well, it was still a great ride, and the most intense mine train I??????ve ever ridden.

There??????s another coaster here called ??????Fire in the Hole??????, but I never found it before leaving. From what I hear though, it??????s a heavily themed indoor coaster. Wish I would have found it, but there??????s always next time. They also have a kiddy coaster ride, too. Obviously, I didn??????t ride it either.

Aside from coasters, this park has a lot of water rides. Some of them look really cool too, if you??????re into that sort of thing. There??????s also a very large children??????s area, which was excellently themed and possibly the best children??????s area I??????ve ever seen in a park. All of the children and their families looked like they were having a great time.

The two biggest attractions at this park appeared to be a scenic railroad and the Marvel Cave tour. I guess the railroad is self explanatory, so I will tell you about the Marvel Cave. Marvel Cave is a natural cave that runs several hundred feet below ground. You are taken through a guided tour of the cave, which takes about an hour. At times, you are walking through huge caverns with the ceiling several hundred feet above you, and at other times you are crawling through four foot diameter spaces. This probably isn??????t recommended for the claustrophobic people out there. I wouldn??????t know, because I backed out when I learned that it takes an hour to go through it. I really regret that now, but it??????s at the top of my list for my next visit.

Overall impressions of this park were extremely favorable. This park has something for all ages, and you could tell this by looking at the crowd of people at the park. Aside from the thrill rides, there are also plenty of arts and crafts (such as basket weaving and glass blowing), shows, and EXCELLENT food. The staff at the park was very friendly and courteous too, and of different age groups (for example, one of the ride attendants for Wildfire was a jolly older man who was 70+ years old). This is also the cleanest park I??????ve seen, with no signs of litter or graffiti anywhere. This was definitely the perfect example of a ??????theme park??????. After visiting here, I don??????t feel that Six Flags, Paramount, or Cedar Fair should be allowed to use that description anymore for most of their parks. [:)] I whole-heartedly recommend this park to any of you who may find yourself in this area of Missouri.

[Oscar]

hey sounds like a good trip and provided good information and very good descriptions. I like it! makes me wanna go, too bad you didn't find fire in the hole though. [:p] good to see the parks were clean, pretty rare

[Kev]

I had a great time! You would definitely like it. Branson itself has sort of a Hee Haw atmosphere that gets old really fast, but it doesn't seem to spill into the parks. I also forgot to mention that there is a lot to see and do in the area besides the parks. I visited the National Fish and Wildlife museum in Springfield and it was very cool!

I just can't wait to go again! [:D]

sweet, sounds like a good time

Great review, i wanna go!

[Kev]

Pics from the trip are posted here: http://www.zerognetwork.com/galleries/s ... allery.php

Thank you shaggszgn for posting them.

No problem Kev. Sorry it took me a couple days to get them up. I was having too much fun at the Cleveland Grand Prix over the weekend.

Anyway, nice pics, and even better trip report.

[Kev]

Thanks again, and no problem about the wait.

Hey Kev,

You did a wonderful job on the description of these two beautiful parks. I agree with you, it's hard to walk into a Six Flags or Paramount themed park after these jewels. A well kept secret for the midwest! I know what you mean about finding the attractions in Silver Dollar City, I've been there a few times and still get turned around, but I think that's a good thing. At least there's not a cartoon character directing me or trying to take a picture or hug me. The back seat on the Wildfire going down the first drop is pure heaven, I think my favorite. It's a shame you didn't find Fire in the Hole. It's way in the back of the park and one of a kind, in-house built. Not a big thrill ride, but definitely a big "hoot"! And I think the themeing on the Main Street at Celebration City is looking down on Disney's. I was really impressed with what Silver Dollar City did with the old Branson USA, re-themed, re-landscaped and a wonderful woodie! You didn't mention the great fireworks, lazer, pyrotechnics and water show they put on each night, and along with loud music. I want to go back to ride Jack Rabbit, it was still under construction when I was there.

Thanks for the wonderful trip report Kev,
Steve

[Kev]

I'm glad you liked the report, Steve. Clearly I missed out on some of the other cool things about Celebration City, such as the fireworks and laser show. I was so dog tired after driving up there that I left a little before dark. As with the Marvel Cave tour, I'm kicking myself for it now. But at least it gives me an excuse to go again, right? [:D]

BTW, I'm hearing rumors that SDC might be getting a wooden coaster in the near future. Wouldn't that be cool? With all the trees and hills, there are so many wonderful possibilities.