Thanksgiving is this week…obviously. As a result, I find myself kind of thinking back on the past year about some of the highlights of our year. If you were to ask the kids about their highlight though, I’m fairly confident that both of them would list our three trips to Silver Dollar City high on their list. Yes, I did say three trips. While that probably seems like a lot, the fact that we purchased season passes makes all of those trips make a little more sense.
The last of our Silver Dollar City trips for the year took
place two weekends ago on Veteran’s Day weekend. We woke up bright and early on
Saturday morning, hopped in the car, and set off for Branson with the expectation
of being there as soon as the park opened at 11:00. Never fear as we actually
made it with time to spare.
As soon as we made it into the park, Ellie and Ethan were
pretty adamant that the first thing they wanted to do was ride the iconic “Fire
in the Hole” one more time. If you didn’t know, Silver Dollar City is in the
process of building a new version of the ride that will open next season. Over
the course of our multiple trips this season though, the kids have fallen in
love with the ride. I have to say that it’s actually one of my favorite
amusement park rides as well and has been for a long time. While it’s
relatively simplistic in nature, it’s just a fun little adventure with a good
story to go along with it. After a relatively short 15-minute wait, we boarded
the ride for the final time and said our goodbyes to one of our favorite rides.
After that, we began winding our way through the park in a
quest to take in all of the Christmas sights that lay within. Of course, it
wouldn’t be a trip to a theme park without riding a few more rides along the
way. I have to say that I’m proud of the kids. Over the course of the year,
they conquered their fears about “big” roller coasters and were more than ready
to ride. Before we knew it, lunch time had arrived and we headed to the park’s
pizzeria to enjoy a pie.
After we finished our pizza, one of our next planned stops was to head to the Opera House to watch a production of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Truth be told, there was plenty of bellyaching and complaining from one of our little friends about taking time away from the park to watch a play. However, those concerns ceased once the play began. Both kids were totally engaged and hanging on every scene of the play. Ellie was especially intrigued by the way the set opened up and spun around to show the interiors of homes.
Once the play was over, we wandered over to the train to
take a quick ride through the woods which was highlighted by “Grandpa” sharing
the story of the birth of Christ during a brief stop at his cabin in the woods.
Once we finished our trip, it was obvious that both kids required a bit of individual
attention. Therefore, I took Ethan to go play at the children’s playhouse and
explore Grandfather’s Mansion while Bethany took Ellie to one of her favorite
areas, the Grand Exposition.
When our family came back together, it was over in the
Rivertown area of the park where we met for a live nativity. After that,
Bethany and I decided that it was time to start making our way to the parade
route for the lighted Christmas parade. We found a spot rather quickly but
found ourselves with about 30 minutes before the parade would begin. Ellie, for
her part, was still less than agreeable about things so I decided to take her
for a brief stroll around the area to enjoy some Christmas lights. Our brief
stroll led us right by “Fire in the Hole” where we decided it was time for our
last, last ride ever!
Once the ride ended, Ellie’s personality shifted
dramatically. She was much happier and excited by the prospect of the lights
getting brighter and brighter in the darkness of night. We headed back to where
Bethany and Ethan had been holding our spot on the parade route where we
watched Rudolph, Santa, and others ride through the park on ornately decorated
floats. This was honestly my favorite part of our trip because I was able to
see the intense joy on Ellie’s face as she watched the lights parade by.
Once the parade ended, we decided to go and grab a quick
dinner at the Rivertown Smokehouse and then spent some time just exploring the
park and enjoying the beautiful lights. Before we knew it though, the kids were
getting tired and it was time to leave the park and head to our hotel for the evening.
However, we did let them talk us into a couple of rides on the lookout balloons
at Fireman’s Landing before it really was time to leave the park.
Overall, I’d say that our year of trips to Silver Dollar
City was a ton of fun. While we’re not sure that we would want to do something
like this every year, Bethany and I were also in agreement that we’ll
definitely do this again a few years down the road. After all, there’s an
entire world of adventures out there for us to find first.
#DaddyWrite
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