History of the Park

Silver Dollar City is more than a theme park, it’s actually a vital piece of history for the Ozarks Region. The park we know now was built by Hugo & Mary Herschend around a cave, Marvel Cave, a natural limestone cave discovered by Osage Indians in the 1500s. The cave went back into obscurity until the 1800s when it became a cave for mining, & eventually cave tours started in 1894.

In 1950, the Herschends bought the cave & the land surrounding it, started giving cave tours, & started developing the 1880s Ozark mountain village that is now known as Silver Dollar City. The park eventually opened May 1, 1960 & the Herschend family incorporated shops, demonstrating trades like blacksmiths, & various attractions for the park around an 1880s village that once stood near the cave. One of their first amusement rides was a horse drawn carriage around the land.

Throughout the 1960s & 1970s, Silver Dollar City expanded with the additions of rides, shows, & festivals. Due to their commitment to authenticity in recreating the 1880s Ozark village, along with preserving crafts & entertainment, the park gained widespread popularity.

Today, Silver Dollar City features over 40 rides & attractions, including roller coasters, water rides, & family friendly entertainment. The park also hosts numerous festivals & events throughout the years, like the National Harvest & Cowboy Festival and An Old Time Christmas. The park is particularly well known for its family-friendly atmosphere & unique blend of history, commitment to trades of a bygone era, Ozarks culture, & entertainment.

How to Visit the Park

It’s best to check the Silver Dollar City park calendar to know the times for the park for the season. The Theme park right now is open 7 days a week from 9:30 AM to 10:00 PM.

Ticket prices range from $40 a person to $89 a person ages 12-64 depending on the pass you buy & how many days you plan on attending. Ages 4-11 are $10 less per ticket. Age 3 & under is free.

On the day of this posting, Silver Dollar City is in the middle of their Summer Celebration where you can get 2 days of tickets for the price of *ONE*! This runs through August 4, 2024.

Season passes range from $165 + tax per person to $285 + tax per person depending on which package you prefer to purchase.

You can read more about TICKET PRICES & SEASON PASSES by clicking the links highlighted.

Things to look out for: Food Passports & the Trailblazer pass. The trailblazer pass allows you to skip ahead of line on eligible rides including 1 skip of Fire in the Hole & 1 skip of Mystic River Falls.

Two Most Famous & Popular Rides

Fire in the Hole

“Fire in the Hole” has been a famous ride at Silver Dollar City since 1972! In 2024, the much-anticipated attraction of the new “Fire in the Hole” ride opened. The 2024 ride is a modern reimagining of the classic attraction & is an indoor family roller coaster, blending storytelling with thrilling ride elements.

Riders will experience a combination of drops, turns, & special effects designed to immerse them in a storyline. The ride is set to recreate a night-time adventure through a burning Ozarks town. The special effects of the ride with the fire, water hoses, enhance the realism of the excitement of the ride!

The storyline of the ride follows the adventure of volunteer firefighters as they attempt to save the town from a blazing fire. The Baldknobbers gang has wreaked havoc on the small town & the riders are out to rescue them all from the bad guys!

The ride is a family-friendly ride for all ages & is the most popular ride at the park. Expect long lines during peak hours. If you purchase a trailblazer pass, you can use it to skip the line one time for this ride.

Mystic River Falls

Mystic River Falls is a river rafting ride that opened in July of 2020. The ride features a 4.5-story drop, which is the tallest raft ride drop in the Western Hemisphere. It includes an 82- foot fall lift tower that raises rafts to the top of the drop. The ride’s course is 2,100 feet long, with twists, turns, & rapids designed to mimic a natural river expedition.

The Mystic River name is also steeped in deep Ozark History. There is a river deep in Marvel Cave that has never had the end of the river found, cave explorers are still searching for it to this day. The ride includes detailed rockwork, lush landscaping, and elements that evoke the feel of an Ozark river adventure.

The river is suitable for families & riders of various ages can enjoy the adventure. Be prepared to get WET on this ride! It took me 9 hours to get dry after riding it & then of course my kids asked me to ride it as the last ride of the night.

Pro-Tip: In the summer, wear sandals, & fast drying clothing. Don’t make my mistake of wearing ALL cotton!

Other Roller Coasters

• Outlaw Run: famous for being a wooden rollercoaster, known for its steep drops & inversions, & is one of the fastest coasters in the world!
• Wildfire: A steel coaster with multiple inversions, be prepared to twist & turn!
• PowderKeg: A launched coaster that provides high-speed thrills.
• Thunderation: A mine train coaster with a combination of speed & scenic elements.
• Time Traveler: A unique spinning coaster with vertical drops & multiple inversions.

Water Rides

• American Plunge: One of our favorites! This is a traditional log ride with a grand finale that splashes down!
• Mystic River Falls: Detailed Above
• Flooded Mine: A kid friendly ride where you go through a tunnel & fire laser guns at targets.
• Tom & Huck’s RiverBlast: A kid friendly boat ride through a canal shooting water guns at targets. My younger kids enjoyed this one!

My Kids’ Favorite Rides (Ages 9 & 12)

• Fire in the Hole: Detailed above
• Firefall: An exciting drop tower ride located in the Fireman’s Landing area of the park.
• Thunderation: A classic mine train roller coaster located in the Frontier City area. Has thrilling roller coaster elements & captures the charm of an old-fashioned mining town.
• Mystic River Falls: Detailed Above
• American Plunge: Detailed Above

My 15 Year Old’s Favorite Rides

• Time Traveler: Detailed Above
• Mystic River Falls: Detailed Above
• Fire in the Hole: Detailed Above
• Outlaw Run: A premier wooden roller coaster known for its intense thrills and innovative design. It opened in 2013 & is famous for its steep drops, airtime, & unique features.
• American Plunge: Detailed Above

Food

There are so many different places to eat at Silver Dollar City! Everything from homemade Cinnamon Rolls to Ice Cream to BBQ & more.

We had 2 Tasting Passports which allowed us to eat the specialty food items throughout the park. We enjoyed ice cream from Hannah’s Ice Cream Factory, cinnamon rolls & cheese pizza sticks from Eva & Delilah’s Bakery, Pizza from Crossroads Pizza.

Pro-Tip: Purchase the souvenir cup. There are 2 price points, $17.99 for the All-Day Mug or $29.99 for the All-Season Mug. The $17.99 option allow for you to have free fountain drinks all day the first day & then drinks for $1.99 for refills every day after. The All-Season mug allows for you to have free refills all season.

Definitely budget for food for the park. The food passports start at $35, get you 5 scans on specialty items per passport at listed restaurants. We used our passports for ice cream at Hannah’s Ice Cream Parlor & for Dip N’ Dots ice cream.

We bought a cinnamon roll, 2 souvenir cups, a large cheese pizza, & 2 pizza sticks for $94 on our own.

For the future, I will budget around $200 for food for my family of 5 if we plan on eating all our meals there + another $90 if all 5 of us get souvenir cups. The food is really good, don’t think because it’s a theme park it’s not of value. Silver Dollar City has commitment to providing quality, delicious food, & they deliver! So if you can get meals in your budget, it’s worth it.

Lots of families bring in strollers or wagons with ice chests for lunch & supper, this is allowed. So if you’d like to pack some of your meals & snacks, you can do this too.

Some Restaurants to Visit:

This is by no means a comprehensive list, there are so many great places to eat in Silver Dollar City. One of my favorite things that stands out to me about the park is their commitment to cooking homemade food. Some examples of this are all the ice cream at Hannah’s Ice Cream parlor are made in house & the cinnamon rolls & bread made in Eva & Delilah’s Bakery are made from scratch. I was told people love to stop in at the end of their visit & buy bread loaves from the bakery to take it home, it’s that good!

• Time Traveler
• Crossroads Pizza
• Eva & Delilah’s Bakery
• Rivertown Smokehouse
• Tater Twist

Some Dessert options:

• Hannah’s Ice Cream Parlor
• Farmer’s Market
• Fanny’s Famous Funnel Cakes
• Cokes & Floats
• Cakes & Cones

Visit Marvel Cave

You can not go wrong with a cave tour of Marvel Cave! This is where the heart of the history of Silver Dollar City begins, it’s a must visit! When visiting in the summer months, this is a great way to cool off from a hot day of adventuring the park.

The Cave has gone by many names, from Devil’s Den to Marbel Cave. The cave was thought to have natural marble in it, but it turned out to be limestone. Tours eventually started in the cave in 1894 & have been going ever since.

The main room of the cave, the Cathedral Room, is large enough to fit the entire Statue of Liberty inside of it & it made the papers when 5 hot air balloons were flown INSIDE of it! You can learn all about the geological formations of the cave & it also has a unique ecosystem which includes rare cave-dwelling creatures & bats.

• Your cave tour is included in your ticket.
• Schedule it in the Hospitality building as you enter the park.
• Go the bathroom before you go.
• The tour is 60 minutes long.
• There are a LOT of steps to go down to get to the bottom of the cave.
• You can take your souvenir cups down there with you, but you can’t have them open or drink from them.

Pro-Tips

1. Don’t wear cotton in the summer months & wear sandals. This will get you dry after the water rides!
2. We were at the park from 10:00 AM to 9:30 PM. We did have trailblazer passes which allowed us to skip the lines for Fire in the Hole & Mystic Rivers. We went on a weekday. If you can plan your day on a weekday, it’s a lot less crowded. My BIGGEST piece of advice would be to stay at the park all day & start riding the most popular rides around 7 PM, the lines were virtually non-existent for us on a Tuesday evening.
3. Do the souvenir cups, it’s totally worth it!
4. Don’t skip over the mining village, there are all sorts of amazing traditional crafts & Ozarks history to explore. You don’t think that will happen at a theme park, but it does!
5. When going in the summer, plan your day around a cave tour. Spend time in the park in the morning & early afternoon. Schedule a cave tour for 3 PM, it will give you an hour to cool down & learn about the park’s history at the same time! You will come out refreshed & ready to ride more rides & explore the park!
6. I was worried about carrying my backpack & wondered if I needed to rent a locker. They do have cabana & locker rentals if that’s what you choose to do. There are cubbies at each of the rides where you can leave your purse, bag, or loose items. These are very handy! See the picture of them below!
7. Bring a portable phone charger for charging your phone for taking photos, videos, & for using the park’s app for exploring. See details below.

Download the Silver Dollar City App

Download the Silver Dollar City app for your best way to travel the park. It has EVERYTHING from dining restaurants, rides, ride wait times, Summer Celebration details & activities, & your tickets & passes.

The app was the most helpful with the map so we could adventure around the park to find the locations of our favorite rides. We also used it to look up the line times for the most popular rides so we could navigate the park by choosing where we wanted to spend our time the most.

Silver Dollar City, Worth the Visit!

There is so much to do in Silver Dollar City, it really requires more than one day to see & do it all. We only got in a fraction of the park in 12 hours. The day we spent at the park was one of the most fun days we’ve ever had & we absolutely loved it.

Silver Dollar City says they want to create memories for families worth repeating; we will for sure be repeating our time there very soon!

I was given 3 tickets with trailblazer passes & 2 tasting passports by the park in exchange for advertisement. All opinions on the park are my own. It was truly, truly the best experience! Can’t recommend it enough!