If you’re a fan of roller coasters, nostalgia and/or the Bald Knobbers, you may want to head to Silver Dollar City in the spring of 2024.
The theme park announced a groundbreaking for a $30 million indoor roller coaster, the new Fire in the Hole. It’s named for the original, which opened in 1972 and will close at the end of this year. The build will result in the creation of the largest indoor roller coaster in the Midwest.
“Signifying our biggest investment in a single attraction, Fire in the Hole continues Silver Dollar City’s strategic, multi-phased growth plan offering families opportunities to play and stay together in the heart of the Ozarks,” said Brad Thomas, President of the Silver Dollar City Company.
The roller coaster will include three drops and a “quick splash-landing.” It will anchor a section of the 1880s theme park known as the Fire District. As its predecessor does, the new Fire in the Hole will tell the story of the mining town of Marmaros, which was set up near what is now Marvel Cave. When it was determined the cave did not have any marble in it and a mining operation shut down, Marmaros became a ghost town. A group of Ozarks vigilantes known as the Bald Knobbers then allegedly burned the town’s remnants to the ground.
Nearly a third-of-a-mile long, the new ride will be housed in a five-story, temperature-controlled building to ensure ridership in any weather.
In the Fire in the Hole version of the story, Silver Dollar City visitors watch as the townspeople band together to fight the fire as they ride the roller coaster. Silver Dollar City is located in Stone County near Branson and Branson West.
Silver Dollar City partnered with Idaho-based Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) to custom engineer and manufacture the new Fire in the Hole. The company also built Outlaw Run, another Silver Dollar City coaster.
“Like Silver Dollar City, Rocky Mountain Construction is committed to creating custom-built ride experiences that haven’t been done before,” said Darren Torr, President of RMC. “We loved the challenge of engineering, fabricating, and installing the one-of-a-kind Fire in the Hole, creating a new ride experience while honoring a legendary coaster. It feels fondly familiar, yet it will be daringly different.”
