Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri, launches its 50th anniversary year in 2010 with a new interactive water ride from Mack. There will also be special birthday events, entertainment and a $50,000 prize giveaway.
Debuting in early spring will be Tom & Huck’s River Blast. Dubbed “America’s biggest water battle,” the ride is inspired by the adventures of fun-loving, mischief-makers Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Theming will be completed in-house.
The ride will be located in the park’s former Tom Sawyer’s Landing play area and feature eight rafts and water guns. Riders will negotiate a 570ft channel battling water from raft-to-raft and raft-to-shore. Each passenger will spend five minutes on the raft and the ride promises an hourly capacity of around 800.
When the Herschend family opened Silver Dollar City in May 1960 it featured a town square, blacksmith demonstrations, a general store and ice cream parlour. Guests numbered about 125,000 that first year, but now the park entertains around 2 million guests annually and features 100 craftsmen, 30 rides and attractions, dozens of theatres and restaurants and six festivals throughout the season.
