MidwestInfoGuide

March 29, 2025

Silver Dollar City - Miner's Mountain Express Construction

We realized in our last update that we did not show the actual work walls for the project so here's a look at the walls on the Lumber Camp side of American Plunge walking towards Wildfire.

Looking over the fence, you can see the progress on the tunnel expansion for American Plunge.

It appears that they have begun work on the roof of the tunnel

Forms for the roof are going in. You can see the rebar is already in place

Here is a little better view of that rebar

Elsewhere on this side, you can see they have brought in gravel to help level out the area around the American Plunge tunnel

Here is the work wall on the other side of American Plunge leading down to Wildfire.

It does run all the way down to the back of house gate near the entrance to the ride

While the other side of the pathway has been completely cleared, there are still some inventions on the ride side of the pathway.

Crazy to think that there will be a major ride on the left starting next season.

Now looking over that fence you can see even more clearing has happened since our last visit.

Besides the clearing, there has been leveling happening as well. There in the back you can see the cave that the lift for American Plunge emerges from.

Speaking of American Plunge, the only outdoor part of the ride is the whirlpool scene. This happens between the now longer tunnel and the lift hill cave.

This is really the only unused flume from Jim Owen's float trip that is left. The whirl pool scene is just over that rock formation

We had several people ask for a better view of the back of Lumber Camp Falls so here's the view from the American Plunge side

and here it is from the Powder Keg side

This fence is for the American Plunge whirlpool scene

Looking towards the massive land clearing

Progress on the land clearing. You can see they have started to level out the area

The boards over there is the tunnel expansion

Leveling out the area

The built a safety fence on the existing tunnel

Taking a look at the growing land clearing in the woods between Wildfire and PowderKeg

The construction site now has a dedicated road

This is looking to be a rather large ride with how the footprint keeps growing

The cleared area has more than doubled in two weeks

The construction road. Not sure why it needed a chain and sign saying no trespassing. Must be fore the deer and other wildlife. We'll be back towards the end of April

Silver Dollar City - The Plaza Construction

THE PLAZA

The grand archway from the Grand Expo has received its finishing touches which include the name plate and little golden knobs on the corners

Unfortunately there's not an arch coming from the Fire District going into The Plaza. You can see the new booths and some of the nice new landscaping that's been added

Speaking of booths, let's talk about the major win coming to the area - a drink refill station. Something that has always been a complaint about the parties held back here.

The stage will go in this area, probably close that fence. The black poles will be themed pieces for the area to help break up the negative open space.

The area is still very very open like it was in its previous form. That does make some sense because it is a flex area. But hopefully in the end it will feel less like a former parking lot.

Riding the train you can get some different views into the area. For instance here you can see the other side of the entrance arch has "Grand Exposition" on it. You can also see more of the hardscape walls that have been added to the area

Festival booths have been added on this side as well, which will probably house souvenirs

Where the blue lift truck is located will be where the stage is added. You can see that there's a large area between it and where those black poles we mentioned earlier are located

Something that I find interesting is that unlike in its previous forms, the train will be very noticeable / viewable from the Plaza with only these lower fences separating the guest areas from the train tracks

March 28, 2025

Super Splash USA - Construction Update

Lots of progress has been made since our last visit two weeks ago.

They have put the shade covering up on the load platform and they have completed the railing on the stairs

They have also tightened all the pieces of the slide together

You can see here that they have prepped the surface of the slide, which is why it is white

They have also started on the bottom of the slide, which is why it is mostly blue with only a few spots of the former yellow color peeking through

This slide was sitting behind the wave pool. I think it is a former "shot gun" slide that was part of the former activity pool inside the lazy river area.