Silver Dollar City - Miner's Mountain Express Construction

 

Earlier this year, a representative for the park made the announcement that SDC would be adding its next major attraction in 2027.  Late last season we witnessed a crew surveying the area near American Plunge and into the woods.  Everything is lining up.

What you see here is the the flume trough of American Plunge being completely enclosed into a tunnel.  This is an extension of the current tunnel that is featured on the ride.

To accommodate this tunnel extension, they have unfortunately had to remove most of the characters and themed elements that you saw before entering the tunnel

The wooded area that existed between the lift of American Plunge and the Lumbercamp Falls has been completely cleared.  In addition, the land has been leveled.  You can see the new tunnel portion going in on the left side of this photo.

From the other side of the construction area, you can see the original tunnel roof sticking up through the ground as well as the clear-cut removal of the trees and leveling of the land

Earlier I mentioned the Lumbercamp Falls, here is the backside of that façade.  The falls are still in operation and honestly you cannot tell that it is facade from the other side.

Clearing for this new attraction continues out into the woods between Wildfire and PowderKeg

On the Wildfire side of the American Plunge lift, the area is now walled off and the former extended outdoor queue for Wildfire has been removed

The entrance to this extended queue would have been about where we were standing to take this photo

In addition to the removal of the extended queue, the unused remaining flume pieces from the Jim Owen's float trip have been removed from this side.

Out between PowderKeg and Outlaw Run, a new track crossing has been installed.

This is how they have been getting the larger construction vehicles into this area.

Looking through the trees you can see that a large clearing has already been made for this upcoming attraction.

Silver Dollar City - Park Update

 

Some major changes at the Firehouse in the Fire District.

The entrance to all of the attractions is now the same.

Here you can see the former entrance to the ball arena is now boarded up and the walkway that you used to use to get in there is now for stroller parking

So once you enter the only entrance now you can go left to the climbing structure or right to the ball arena

Honestly this was really a no-brainer change and kudos to the park for understanding the needs of parents with younger park guests.

There is now a silhouette stand in the Grand Expo area.

The steps in front of the Antique Photo shop at the bottom of Hill Street have been completely replaced and look great

Flander's Dry Goods across from the Boatworks Theater has been replaced with a new shop that specializes in custom crafts

Here's to hoping it is more successful

A huge update to ALL of the rollercoasters this year is that they have removed almost all of the trees that were close to the track

It really looks weird how open each of the coasters are this year, but we understand this came down from corporate to help deal with liability concerns

Finally the Ozark Market Place has been completely revamped for this season

Registers have been moved to near the park exit (which makes a lot more sense) and that allowed for the entire floor plan to be revamped to be more open.

Splash Country Indoors Waterpark

Welcome to Splash Country Indoors Waterpark located at the Grand Country Resort

The waterpark features two buildings full of water activities

The original building is dominated by a large water play structure that features a tipping water bucket

The structure also features two twisty slides

In addition to the already mentioned activities, there are lots of different water splashing elements that you can trigger to splash other guests

There are two body slides also in this building.  The red slide features a more gentle ride experience while the blue slide features a double down ending.  Both slides are enclosed for the most part and feature light patterns

The final attraction (besides the kiddie pools and hot tubs) in this area is a lazy river which can be found on the lowest level of the original building.

The second building (which just recently opened) features some more extreme attractions.

Here you can see the giant wave pool that takes up a good portion of the building.  Just beyond it is a basketball goal activity pool.

Finally there is a trio of tube slides at the back of the building.  The blue and yellow slides are timed racers slides that have both open and enclosed sections.  The green slide is a completely dark enclosed tube slide.  Riders can ride any of the slides on either a single or double tube

Super Splash USA - Construction Update

 

Time to check back in on the progress being made at Super Splash USA

Since our last time by the park, it looks like they have made significant progress on the new Patriot Plunge mat racers

With the American flag proudly placed at the top, I think we can safely assume that the ride has been topped off

It appears that most of the slide is now in place and the workers on the lift seem to be tightening up bolts to finish off the build

I have to say that this was a great location for the slide.  Very noticeable from the highway and it definitely has the locals talking

Oasis - Construction Update

So the news came out that the park opening is now being pushed back to 2026

Looking at the current state of the park, that doesn't seem like a huge surprise

Progress is being made on the infrastructure still, but it is obvious the focus has shifted

The shift has been to the second peninsula where the former time shares have been removed finally and the retaining walls are stating to go in.  This is where the hotel and indoor waterpark will be located

The latest report is that they are still hoping to have the docks ready to go for the Shoot Out this summer - and that is there pressing "goal" to complete.

According to this same report, most of the rides have actually already arrived and are being held off site.  It will be nice to see them start to be installed hopefully this summer

 

Wheel Park - Construction Update

 

Construction has finally started on the expansion to the ride park at STL Union Station

Banners on the construction fence show concept art and state that it will open this Summer