Mystic River Falls is set to splash down at Silver Dollar City in 2020. In the last decade a series of record-breaking, industry-changing attractions have opened at Silver Dollar City, and they won’t be stopping anytime soon. Debuting in Spring 2020, this will be an exhilarating ride taking theme park water experiences to the next level.
Mystic River Falls
Here are the highlights of the much-anticipated attraction, proving once again that a 60-year-old theme park can teach the industry new tricks while setting an ever-higher standard for guest experiences.
- Mystic River Falls, itself a $23 million investment, will be a river adventure that is themed to the history and legend of the great Marvel Cave, which was the catalyst for Silver Dollar City six decades ago.
- The adventure will last more than five minutes.
- Adventurers will ascend a more-than eight-story lift tower (82 feet, to be exact) in eight-passenger rafts, and will be exposed to the open air as their raft rotates during the climb.
- The rotation elevator lift of four platforms is unique to this ride and will be the only one like it in the world to go up so high.
- The rafts will connect to an elevated river channel suspended in the air 66 feet high and travel within the channel for 180 linear feet.
- Riders will splash through nearly a half-mile (2,100-foot) scenic journey, navigating hairpin turns, high tides and a hidden mine shaft.
- Racing down and through the ride’s queue building, adventurers will brave Mystic River Falls’ grand finale, dropping 4.5 stories to the wettest splashdown in the park’s 60-year history.
- This final feature will make Mystic River Falls the tallest raft ride drop in the Western Hemisphere.
Mystic River Falls will be the highlight of a new themed area of the park called Rivertown, which represents Silver Dollar City’s largest investment in its long history. The entire project will cost an estimated $30 million, even surpassing the investment made in Time Traveler, a ride that debuted in 2018 as the world’s fastest, steepest and tallest spinning roller coaster.
The attraction will open during Silver Dollar City’s diamond jubilee, celebrating 60 years of the Herschend family entertaining the millions of families who have made this Ozark Mountain park a favorite vacation tradition. And to think: It all started with a hole in the ground.
Mystic River Falls calls upon that rich history for its theming and backstory, intermingling fact and fiction to arrive at an attraction that celebrates the spirit of adventure that’s part of the culture of the Ozark Mountains. An underground body of water that seems to come from and go nowhere, “Mystic River,” truly appears on the park’s historical maps as discovered and documented by botanist S. Fred Prince in the late 1800s. For the new ride, guests will be transported back to the 1880s in a storyline that revolves around a fictional character named Pearl Brazen, an intrepid explorer who’s eager to take them on a bold quest to find the headwaters of Mystic River.
From the very start, Silver Dollar City has followed a philosophy of building itself around nature rather than the other way around. That commitment to preservation has resulted in some interesting twists and turns in ride construction, but it also means that if a tree must be removed, it’ll be replaced by two. Being good stewards of the environment is at the very core of what Silver Dollar City is about … and the new ride’s mine shaft pays tribute to Marvel Cave, which has always been home to endangered bats and rare salamanders. The park sees this as one more opportunity to teach its guests about the preservation and protection of the Ozark Mountains and all that lives among their stunning park.
If you have never been to Silver Dollar City believe me when I say the heart of the park is the history surrounding it. Every detail is tied to a story from the family and the parks original days. This park will surely blow you away, I cannot wait to experience this new attraction!
