BECCA MARTIN-BROWN

bmartin@nwaonline.com

Silver Dollar City has encouraged guests to celebrate the Fire in the Hole roller coaster this summer, announcing it would be retired after this year.

That’s only part of the story, the theme park revealed at a news conference Aug. 14. Fire in the Hole will be replaced with — Fire in the Hole.

Opening in the spring of 2024, the new Fire in the Hole will cost $30 million and have myriad new bells and whistles — including a new, expanded setting, the Fire District, where Station No. 3 and other family-focused attractions are already located as Fireman’s Landing.

The theme park’s biggest investment in a single attraction, “Fire in the Hole continues Silver Dollar City’s strategic, multi-phased growth plan offering families opportunities to play and stay together in the heart of the Ozarks,” said Brad Thomas, president of the Silver Dollar City Co.

Calling the ride a “sacred cow,” he said a story “so rich and so important” had to be preserved. And he promised Fire in the Hole will be the same rite of passage for families, “where one generation introduces the next generation to this adventure and where the heroes of today spark the heroes of tomorrow.”

Gary Slade, editor and publisher of Amusement Today, praised Silver Dollar City for “reshaping itself” into something bigger than a regional attraction, saying visitors from “Chicago all the way to Houston” will want to come see what is happening in the park. Silver Dollar City is “getting it right,” he added.

The new coaster will offer:

• Three drops.

• A splash landing.

• Updated special effects for 14 “iconic” show scenes.

• A custom soundtrack with high-resolution onboard audio.

• New lighting effects.

• A 2-minute, 51-second ride along 1,512 feet of track at a maximum speed of 26 mph.

And it’s all inside a five-story, temperature-controlled building.

That’s one of the best aspects of the new ride, said Tim Baldwin of Roller Coaster Magazine. When it’s hot outdoors, it will feel good to ride the ride — and when it’s cold outdoors, it’ll feel even better.

“For a year-round attraction, it’s always going to be a great choice,” Baldwin said.

The storyline remains the same: “a fictional account of a real night in Ozark Mountain history when the mining town of Marmaros was burned to the ground by vigilantes called the Baldknobbers.” Riders are recruited to help fight the fire and save the town. Thomas pointed out visitors love that storyline, especially knowing it’s based in truth.

Paul Drabek of American Coaster Enthusiast said Fire in the Hole has “a ton of history,” adding he’s glad that history is being saved.

The coaster will be built in partnership with Idaho-based Rocky Mountain Construction.

“We loved the challenge of engineering, fabricating and installing the one-of-a-kind Fire in the Hole, creating a new ride experience while honoring a legendary coaster,” said Darren Torr, president of Rocky Mountain Construction. “It feels fondly familiar, yet it will be daringly different.”

Rocky Mountain Construction “is known for some of the most intense rides out there,” said Duane Marden of the Roller Coaster DataBase website, rcdb.com.

Fire in the Hole was groundbreaking when it opened in 1972, one of the world’s first indoor roller coasters. More than 25 million guests have experienced the original ride, which will remain open through the end of 2023, according to Dalton Fischer, Silver Dollar City spokesman. A season pass sale for 2024 will start Oct. 9.