Celebration City
The Silver Dollar City folks bought another small park, closer to Branson, a few years ago. Actually, the history of this park goes further back than that. Originally, Celebration City was a small location called Mutton Hollow. Mutton Hollow paid tribute to the age-old story of the Ozark Hills - Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Wright. The park was then quaint. It was craftier, more home-strung.
Somebody had the "brilliant" idea that the sweet and endearing Mutton Hollow would be more profitable as a street carnival. They brought in carnival rides and small roller coasters and plopped them into the park. After a while, the Herschend family bought this Branson USA park and turned it into Celebration City. It was marketed as a sister park to nearby Silver Dollar City, but I don't think many people bought into the idea that they should pay for admission at a "daytime" park (SDC), and then pay a second admission to enter the "nighttime" park (Celebration City). That was just a ridiculous marketing scam all along.
Anyway, the Herschends brought in a wooden coaster from another location and renamed it the Ozark Wildcat. This was a decent little ride for the substandard park and a sizable investment, but it wasn't enough to make Celebration City feel permanent. Let's face it, this would never be a second "destination park" for the Branson area. Other coasters in the park included Thunderbolt, Jack Rabbit, and Zyclon. Again, they add to my coaster count, but they aren't really worthy of more than a mention here.
Carousel Park
Back home in Joplin, Missouri, some folks planted a touring carnival in town for a while. We took our school classes to Carousel Park as reward for their efforts on state testing (Otherwise, I would never have visited.). The two coasters in this park - Tiger Terror and Go Gator - were basically kiddie coasters.
Magic Kingdom
The big leap to Orlando takes us first, naturally, to the Magic Kingdom. For decades, the only coasters Disney touted were Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. I wasn't impressed with the former when I rode it at Disneyland, and I just can't recommend it now, either. I even gave it multiple shots at winning me over, but it failed every time. My favorite thing about it is that the meteors that fly overhead in the queue were actually Chips Ahoy cookies. Them special effects was amazing!
Big Thunder, however, was impressive. Disney does a great job of giving guests an immersive experience, and while Space Mountain carries a pretty good job of delivering the future, Big Thunder is a great "runaway mine train" roller coaster. Others have tried to copy its theme, but none have delivered the National Parks theme as well as this one. The train doesn't just use the existing terrain but is actually a manufactured trip across the U.S.A. through many natural phenomena that beautify our landscape. One does not recognize that he is still in a theme park, but is too busy finding major landmarks.
Hollywood Studios
Stay on Disney property, but head over to Hollywood Studios. I was here on my honeymoon over 30 years ago, and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was fairly new at the time. In fact, the entire park was brand new back then, but was known as the Disney/MGM Studios. We took some great backstage and special effects tours that aren't available anymore, and we fell in love with the "impromptu" characters in the streets.
As for the one and only coaster at the time, the Aerosmith-themed Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was touted as innovative. Completely indoors, this was Disney collaboration that flew through a variety of objects and scenery, but I just didn't understand the purpose. It just wasn't the super ride I thought it should be.
Animal Kingdom
One of our favorite rollercoasters is called Expedition: Everest. Sitting all the way in the back corner of Disney's Animal Kingdom park in Orlando. It is the only coaster in the park to date, but it's well-themed, which is what I love the most about Disney's approach to its attractions. Disney is the master of dark rides which are really my favorite, but they have delved into the coaster world in the past couple of decades where they have demonstrated that a coaster can be themed better than in name alone (Are you reading this, Herschend Family Entertainment?). This one was the most expensive coaster when it was constructed ($100 million), and it shows.
Visitors are greeted in the queue with the setup to the theme - expeditions searching for the infamous yeti. It looks as if you are seeing actual expedition treasures, maps, and campsites. Scientific journals and photographs abound, and I believe some of the evidence in the queue must be from actual studies.
The ride itself appears to be a rickety old train. It climbs Everest - a huge, forced-perspective mountain rising from the wonderful zoo of Animal Kingdom. A series of twists brings riders to an icy cavern. Looking through the translucent wall of ice, riders spot an angry monster ripping out the tracks on the other side. Presumably, that's the track you're supposed to travel on next! Continuing, the coaster storms through more turns until it stops cold at the busted track, which is bent straight up and is clearly disconnected from the continuing route. Suddenly, the train moves backward and finds itself on a new section of track, where eventually (and very quickly), an animatronic yeti roars its disapproval face to face.
| |
Universal in Orlando outdid the money from Expedition: Everest when they built a Harry Potter coaster based on Hagrid's motorbike. Their big draw came at a cost of $300 million. However, in 2022, Disney built something at a much higher price At a half-billion dollars, it reigns as the most expensive coaster in history. The company built its first and only roller coaster in EPCOT.
I wasn't excited about yet another ride in the world that was based on superheroes. I'm not a fan of the Marvel world, but since I was there on the first open day of the ride got me excited about the experience. I an one of only a few people who got a chartered ride on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. I rode it after hours, no waiting, with the creator of the ride, Zach Ridley. Much can be said about this very special ride, but I've already written descriptions and reflections based on it. Find these links for more: