Celebrate the GRAND FINALE of The Original Fire In The Hole!

Press Release from Silver Dollar City

Branson, MO (February 13, 2023) Proclaiming 2023 the Grand Finale of the world’s most historic indoor roller coaster, Silver Dollar City officials announce the original Fire In The Hole is boarding last riders during the upcoming season. For those who are park fans and Fire In The Hole aficionados, or for those who have never experienced the internationally-awarded Silver Dollar City before, all riders have the opportunity to become part of the journey of this legendary coaster. To celebrate, park creative teams are deep in the process of planning Fire In The Hole special events, parkwide fun and promotions, kicking off March 11 with Spring Break and culminating at the end of December.  

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Our 2022 Golden Ticket Awards Ballot

With the Golden Ticket Awards presented by Amusement Today being announced this coming weekend in San Antonio at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, I figured it would be interesting to our readers to get some insight into the awards categories, who we voted for and our rationale behind it.

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2020 – Preview (North America Edition)

It’s about this time of year I start composing all sorts of lists of the places I’d like to visit. Plans are typically influenced by a variety of factors ranging from checking off things off a bucket list, to visiting old favorites all influenced by travel deals. One of the primary things that I look at is what are the new theme parks and attractions that are opening in the coming year. In this article, I go through that list with you.

Iron Gwazi Construction from November 2019

Things certainly are not slowing down in 2020 in the theme park world. This year there is so much happening in the US alone, that we’ll split our preview into multiple articles leaving the rest of the world for later. In no particular order, here’s what we have to look forward to next year:

LEGOLAND New York

The US is getting a brand new theme park in 2020!. Planned to open on the 4th of July, LEGOLAND New York will be the third park of its kind in North America. The park will be built on the largest plot of land for a LEGOLAND park ever, leading to nearly endless possibilities for future expansion. At opening, the park will be anchored by the unique LEGO Factory Adventure trackless dark ride as well as familiar LEGOLAND staples including the Dragon coaster, Ninjago: The Ride, Driving and Boating Schools as well as our personal favorite: Miniland.

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Silver Dollar City is making a splash in 2020!

Silver Dollar City has announced that they are investing 27 million dollars on two new attractions for the 2020 season. These are Mystic River Falls, a white water rapids ride that claims to be the tallest in the western hemisphere, and Rivertown Smokehouse, a new eatery.

Image courtesy of Silver Dollar City
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Top 10 Launched Roller Coasters

Roller coasters these days are not always propelled by a lift hill.  Launches can provide a more thrilling way to start a ride.  They provide differentiation for the parks that have them.  Launches come in all different methods from using magnets (LIM or LSM) to hydraulic launch, to more primitive methods such as a winch, weight drop, or tires.

These are the launched roller coasters that we believe are the best in the business today:

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