Recent Posts

11

Construction/Rumors / Re: Future SDC Development Speculation (Long-term)

« Last post by shavethewhales on April 09, 2024, 09:56:05 AM »

Years ago the rumor was that they would either have to rebuild large sections of it or Ibox it due to all sorts of issues they have had with it. I believe sections have already been rebuilt/retracked before. It's "only" ten years old, but it was the first to use this track type and with the extreme forces of the ride I think they encountered a lot of maintenance issues behind the scenes that luckily haven't been noticeable to the average guest until now.

I could easily believe that they are looking into an Ibox conversion. It's simply a cost saving maneuver over time. Not sure it will be the next thing on the agenda though, but I haven't ridden OR this year to know how bad it has gotten. Thunderation is already unrideable for many people, and as long as we are talking rumors, I think that might be the next one to go...

12

Construction/Rumors / Re: Future SDC Development Speculation (Long-term)

« Last post by The Outlaw on April 09, 2024, 08:46:05 AM »

Screamscape's reporting that the park is looking at giving Outlaw Run the I-Box treatment, similar to Lightning Rod's recent renovation. Anyone heard any actual rumors of that happening?

13

Other Parks / Re: New Park - American Heartland in NE Oklahoma

« Last post by shavethewhales on April 05, 2024, 10:38:33 AM »

I've been watching from the FB groups in the area that are tracking the progress. Construction has stopped. They put out erosion control and the contractor staging area a few months ago, then the contractor pulled off. Original rumor was that the concrete batch plant would show up in March and then construction would get more underway - that hasn't happened. The latest news updates include a blurb saying that costs have increased and they are currently working with the state to get funding...

I know there's a lot of utility/civil engineering that has to take place off-site just to support the ability of the site itself to be developed, but that is why these projects often have a 5-10 year timeframe instead of 2-3. They have made it through a few hoops regarding zoning and some infrastructure approvals, but there's still at least a year's worth of effort before they get to where they can actually move much dirt. Theoretically they could build PART of the RV park, but it would be pretty underwhelming.

We'll see where they finally land, but I'm guessing they end up with a small RV park, a small lake resort, and MAYBE a small theme park.

14

Other Parks / Re: New Park - American Heartland in NE Oklahoma

« Last post by sdcfan88 on April 05, 2024, 06:29:54 AM »

I now see it going up about the same as that Dogpatch revival project a few years ago... and Bells returning...

15

Other Parks / Re: New Park - American Heartland in NE Oklahoma

« Last post by KevinLong on April 04, 2024, 09:59:35 PM »

does anyone know any real current facts about this Park? its been pretty quiet out there lately


I found this comment from July of last year --

 Dennis Speigel, a consultant and former president of the largest international amusement park trade group, said there just aren't enough people in northeast Oklahoma to justify this size of a project. He also said market saturation and too much competition will limit the American Heartland Theme Park's potential.

Speigel said the 4.9 million visitors per year that American Heartland is projecting is unrealistic. KOCO 5 checked on that.

The 4.9 million visitors would make American Heartland the 10th most popular park in the country – ahead of both SeaWorld parks and all of the Six Flags. Silver Dollar City, which is in Branson and about two hours away from where Oklahoma's new park is planned to be, does about 2.2 million visitors a year.

4.9 million visitors seems a stretch to me at least for the first few years...  but I could be wrong..

16

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC’s 2024 Project(s) and Park Developments

« Last post by sdcfan88 on April 03, 2024, 05:19:48 PM »

Overall they did good with the new FITH after riding it three times, I liked it. The layout and visuals nicely respected the original blending the old effects with the new. Even down to doing the old fire effects using the orange lighting across a rippling curtain instead of doing digital projections everywhere that I expected would be present. If there is some critiques to be made I honestly wished they could have kept the original voice lines, I hate to say it but some of the VO audio feels dialed in and lacks the emotional depth of the originals. I saw a few others commenting on this too on Facebook and YouTube as their first impressions.

And granted this is the inaugural season and I expect things will get revised later on, I hope they redo Red Flanders hanging in the window scene to be more like the original with his legs moving on the ladder. Right now it looks like his legs have rigormortis just sitting balanced atop the ladder. lol And this might just be nostalgic nitpicking but I was really missing the "Here's a barrel of laughs! HAHAHA!" The new one with the bugs just doesn't do it for me. At least the old one moved and tipped over to add to that fear factor thinking you are about to get dumped on but I am gonna assume it may get revised later on too.

17

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC’s 2024 Project(s) and Park Developments

« Last post by mg on April 02, 2024, 10:35:43 PM »

Pretty sure I heard on a ride review of FITH 2.0 that the water tower in the last scene is supposed to "fall" or at least create the illusion of falling, but every POV video I've seen since the first one was posted doesn't give me the impression of that at all. Can anyone confirm or dispel that? On a separate, but related note, the fiber-optic chasing fuse leading to "blowing up" the water tower seems like a super cool and well-executed detail.

I've ridden 8 times so far and haven't seen it move. I believe that there were early rumors that it would move, but I don't believe that the movement made it into the final ride.

18

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC’s 2024 Project(s) and Park Developments

« Last post by History Buff on April 02, 2024, 05:58:59 PM »

Pretty sure I heard on a ride review of FITH 2.0 that the water tower in the last scene is supposed to "fall" or at least create the illusion of falling, but every POV video I've seen since the first one was posted doesn't give me the impression of that at all. Can anyone confirm or dispel that? On a separate, but related note, the fiber-optic chasing fuse leading to "blowing up" the water tower seems like a super cool and well-executed detail.

That scene happens so quickly that it needs the action of the tower falling to tie everything together.

19

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC’s 2024 Project(s) and Park Developments

« Last post by BackInTime on April 02, 2024, 04:52:45 PM »

Pretty sure I heard on a ride review of FITH 2.0 that the water tower in the last scene is supposed to "fall" or at least create the illusion of falling, but every POV video I've seen since the first one was posted doesn't give me the impression of that at all. Can anyone confirm or dispel that? On a separate, but related note, the fiber-optic chasing fuse leading to "blowing up" the water tower seems like a super cool and well-executed detail. 

20

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Vote for Silver Dollar City

« Last post by mg on April 02, 2024, 01:39:12 PM »

It's that time of year again! Silver Dollar City is up for the Best Theme Park in the USA and Rivertown Ramblers is up for Best Theme Park Entertainment. Voting will go through April 22nd.

Remember, you can vote DAILY!

Best Theme Park: https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-2024/silver-dollar-city-branson-missouri/

Best Entertainment: https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-entertainment-2024/rivertown-ramblers-at-silver-dollar-city-branson-missouri/

If you would like daily email reminders with voting links, you can register here: https://forms.gle/CGhYFnPNSyP1rGsL8

*This form is not affiliated with SDC and is just a fan ran reminder email. Your info will not be used for anything other than vote reminder emails and you can unsubscribe if you would like.