As if we didn’t have enough to deal with. 2020 is turning into one for the record books. We start off the year with Covid 19, then they shut down Silver Dollar City and now we are facing record floods.

Yesterday the Corp of Engineers shut down the boat launch at Indian Point Marina. With lake levels exploding upwards (pool level of 931 feet and rising as of 29 May, 2020) we just have to shake our heads and ask “God? Is there anything else? If so, can we spread it out a little more?”

With our resort, we go as the lake and Silver Dollar City goes. Yesterday, the governor extended out the phase 1 reopening until the 15th of June, 2020. While this doesn’t really affect us one way or another (since the park is still closed) we can only go along for the ride and observe. 

But, closing the marina at Indian Point is actually a pretty big deal. Not only will it cause us problems for the foreseeable future with families looking to escape to the lake, it also impacts us for fishing tournaments. Just yesterday we had a cancellation for the Big BassTour that was scheduled for the first week of June. This event was originally scheduled to happen in April, then pushed back to June. Now, it has been rescheduled for  30 Oct – 1 November, 2020. 

Always trying to have a backup in place, we did speak to Jim Daly at White Wing Resort and he will help us to get our customers into the water. PLEASE remember this gentleman and his business. Very few direct competitors will help when situations arise – but Jim and his wife Laura are the exception. We always try to reciprocate when possible, but it always seems Jim comes through more for us than the other way around. 

We will do everything we can to offer you the best possible vacation with the least amount of stress for 2020. Give us a call and tell us how we may be able to help you and your family have fun this summer. We ALWAYS appreciate your business – but this year could really use the assist. 

All the best and God Bless to all.

Hunter’s Friend Resort
417 338 2849

We live just 2 miles away from Silver Dollar City and interact with the park quite a bit throughout the year. In the 16 years we have been here, nothing has generated the buzz and anticipation that Silver Dollar City’s newest attraction – Time Traveler – has. And has the wait been worth it.

Both of our kids are quite fearless when it comes to roller coasters. The bigger, the faster, the better. Naturally, going on the newest ride was a given. When we arrived, the lines for the ride weren’t too bad. The park always does well at moving the crowds through quickly and today was exemplary. 

Time Traveler hails itself as “The fastest, steepest, and tallest” spinning coaster on the planet. What that really translates to is “This is going to be fun!” 

Riders come right out of the barn into a 10 story vertical drop and somewhere along the way, a catch releases that allows the carriages to rotate (like a tilt a wheel). So you already have the fear of a typical roller coaster, but now you increase the intensity of the fright factor by allowing free flow turning seats.

30 minutes passed and now it was time for my kids to give it a go and off they went. I didn’t get to put a stopwatch to it, but the total duration of the ride was somewhere in the area of 2 minutes – respectable. The imprint of pure fear on my kids’ face afterwards lasted far longer. Disembarking from the ride, they were almost in a zombie trance for the next 30 minutes and declared it was the single most terrifying ride they had ever been on. Asking them if they were interested in riding it again brought an immediate “NO!” and they meant it. (Money well spent)

I congratulate the team at SDC on a job well done. You have truly made a masterpiece and I cannot see how it will not continue for decades to come to be a park favorite for future generations.

Then came a nice unexpected surprise, Thunderation….

As we have said in our previous blog, Branson has been slowly getting away to be known only as the place for country music shows. What Branson was 15 years ago is definitely not what it has become in the recent years. The new Ferris Wheel that was brought to town from Chicago to Fritz Adventure to zip lining, Branson now offers much more selections when it comes to family entertainment.

One of these new attractions is called “Big Foot” which is scheduled to open on May 1^st. The attraction will be consisted of a 200’ tall Action Tower that have 2 types of rides. One is a free fall ride (yes from 200 ft) and the second is a ride which lets the riders tumble over back to the ground. These two rides are certainly enough to offer a new type of activity for Branson visitors.

The attraction will also offer a “Big Foot Discovery Expedition” where visitors will be able to ride in safari trucks to the Big Foot Farms to search and find the ‘Big Foot”

Big Foot will also offer a miniature golf, arcade, 8D Cinema, an adventure maze and a food truck park.

We are pretty excited to check out this new place and will write more once we visit it.

Cheers,

There is a new ride coming to Silver Dollar City.

For the past 6 months or so they have been constructing some sort of a new ride. Day after day there is no less than 30 to 40 contractors working on this ride behind the scenes with probably 100 (most likely more) cement trucks working their way through. This photo was from last week (April 2017) and we passed these trucks lined up on the side of the road waiting to unload. Cement trucks have been working all winter long so whatever it is they are building is going to be HUGE.

The first parking lot closest to Indian Point road has also functioned as something of a staging area where welders looked to be creating rebar for reinforcement. That took up the better part of the north end of the parking lot.  

To keep lookie loos (like yours truly) out of it, they constructed a wooden fence along Indian Point road to block out the view. I would guess the fence is 100 yards long and it is effective in cutting down on the gawkers as they drive past. 

Silver Dollar City is keeping a tight lid on whatever this attraction is but judging by the size of the crew working it and the amount of materials necessary to construct it, the wait will be worth it. We will post more as we learn more.