Today, Toni was taking us to Silver Dollar City. SDC is in Branson, Missouri, about 2 hours from Flippin.
I’ve heard about Silver Dollar City since Clint and I started dating. Visiting this theme park while in Arkansas was a must. The spotlight at Silver Dollar City is on the handmade. A wide array of craftspeople work here; demonstrations are a big part of the fun. Plus, this is the home of the funnel cake. Or so Toni and Clint claim.
We arrived at Silver Dollar City just before 2, and boy was it cold! That didn’t stop people from coming here, which was kind of nice to see. While I don’t love crowds, I did appreciate that the cold didn’t keep people inside. Instead, families were here bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets, gloves and scarves, and babies were covered in thick blankets.
Our first order of business once inside the park was to get a map and some hot apple cider. From there, we meandered through the park towards our first ride for the day: Fire in the Hole. I’d heard all about Fire in the Hole from Clint, and was excited to check out the old roller coaster. There wasn’t much of a line when we got there, and we were on the old cart in just a few minutes.
Fire in the Hole tells the story of a group of Baldknobbers, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Knobbers) who have burned a village down. There is a part of the ride where someone apparently tries to put out the fire with water, so I spent much of the ride crouched down, trying to avoid getting splashed in the face. However, what I did see reminded me of the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Disneyland. There was a saloon, a burning hotel, and a man in red pajamas hanging from an upstairs window, complete with music and voices. We left the ride with only small sprinkles of water on our clothing. As things sometimes go, some of us were a bit disappointed. The ride wasn’t as fun as Clint remembered it growing up.
We decided we had better try a newer roller coaster, and headed to the next closest one. We arrived in time to find that it was being shut down for mechanical problems. While we were disappointed that we would not be able to ride it, we were pretty pumped that we didn’t have to wait in line to find that out. Or worse, find out that there were mechanical problems while we were on the ride.
Time for kettle corn! Most of the food options at Silver Dollar City were cooked outside for viewing pleasure, and of course kettle corn was one of those foods. One man poured popped corn from a big kettle into another large kettle, where the next man stirred the corn, and shook out the small pieces.
The kettle corn was really good, and we ate it while walking around the park. We passed all sorts of craft shops before heading into a pottery shop. Someone was throwing then and there for us to watch, and we were surrounded by pottery made and glazed there by Silver Dollar City craftsmen. After browsing for a while, we decided it time for another ride.
This next ride was an old wooden roller coaster, but had been there while Clint was growing up. We again arrived to find that there was no line, and ran to the next available car. As the cart pulled up and emptied, we noticed we were going to be riding backwards. We fretted about this for a few seconds before deciding that roller coasters were meant to be scary, and this would add to the thrill. Boy was it fun! Riding backwards was especially scary while climbing the long, slow, roller coaster hill characteristic for these rides. None of us had any idea how big the drop would be. It made for a good ride. As we disembarked, we all agreed that we should do it again. After all, there wasn’t really a line. So, Toni, Clint, and I ran back through the maze to the front of the line. We decided that backwards was the way to go on this one. The father and daughter facing us in the back of the car dared us to ride the whole way with our hands up, and we just couldn’t refuse.
The second time around, the ride was just as thrilling, and we considered doing it a third. However, as our feet hit solid ground, we reconsidered. Dizzy and nauseous, we decided it was time to see what else this park had to offer.
Our next stop was the glass blowing workshop. We arrived in time to watch a skilled older man finish a vase. He narrated a little while working the glowing glass into its final shape. Once finished, the vase sets over night in a 900° F oven. We wandered around the adjacent shop before realizing that we were all famished. So we ventured out into the brisk evening on the search for food.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldknobbers ) who have burned a village down. There is a part of the ride where someone apparently tries to put out the fire with water, so I spent much of the ride crouched down, trying to avoid getting splashed in the face. However, what I did see reminded me of the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Disneyland. There was a saloon, a burning hotel, and a man in red pajamas hanging from an upstairs window, complete with music and voices. We left the ride with only small sprinkles of water on our clothing. As things sometimes go, some of us were a bit disappointed. The ride wasn’t as fun as Clint remembered it growing up.
As I mentioned before, much of the food at SDC is cooked outside. As it was so cold, we were hoping to find a sit-down restaurant. Alas, after scaling the park, we found that all of the sit-down restaurants were buffet style. Buffet style isn’t really any of our styles, so we settled on a succotash sauté cooked in an outdoor skillet and a pulled pork sandwich. The food was a bit disappointing, but I assure you that it was better than what you’d find at Great America or Disneyland.
After dinner, we decided it was time for the much anticipated funnel cake. We arrived just in time! The parade was starting and we were able to watch it from the vantagepoint of the slightly raised funnel cake stand.
The funnel cakes were indeed delicious; Toni had traditional powdered sugar on top and Clint had powdered sugar and blackberry preserves. I ate a little of each of theirs, and found myself covered in white powder within seconds. No one else seemed to be having any trouble.
When the parade concluded, we bee-lined it straight to the train. Toni got us hot chocolate and we boarded the train in under 10 minutes time. We were really having good luck with the lines today. The train ride took us around the park, and then stopped for a ‘show’ mid-way. The show was a religious Jesus story due to the upcoming holiday, but apparently there is usually a train hold-up. I was sorry to have missed the train robbers.
After riding the train, we walked around the park a bit more. It was getting late and cold, so we didn’t last much longer. Toni drove us back to Flippin and we called it a night before too long. It was a really fun day.
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