Silver Dollar City's new roller coaster will drop riders nearly straight down

The theme park west of Branson unveiled the new ride on Thursday.

August 09, 2012|by Emily Wood, KY3 News | ewood@ky3.com

NOTCH, Mo. -- Silver Dollar City unveiled its new thrill ride on Thursday morning. Outlaw Run is a $10 million wooden roller coaster that should open next year. Construction is already underway.

"From anywhere in the park you can see that first hill, and that one's just spectacular," said
Duane Marden, a roller coaster enthusiast from Wisconsin.

Marden compiles an official list of ride info for thrill seekers like himself and publishes it on his website http://rcdb.com.

Outlaw will achieve speeds of 68 miles per hour and feature the world's steepest drop on a wooden roller coaster. Outlaw Run also will be the only wooden roller coaster with 360-degree double barrel rolls. It is the first wooden coaster with the technology to turn riders upside down, and it does so three separate times.

"One of the things I like about this ride, it's going to be very fast. It's never going to let up," Marden said.

The steepest drop in the coaster will be more than 16 stories, 162 feet and 81 degrees, making it nearly vertical. Builders said riders can expect weightlessness at nine different spots.

"We'll have individuals that will come to us from Dallas and Chicago and Little Rock and Tulsa and Memphis, which makes a significant impact on Branson as a whole," said Brad Thomas, the Vice President of Attractions at Silver Dollar City.

Silver Dollar executives are expecting an increase of at least 65,000 visitors thanks to the new attraction. They also anticipate that more people will buy season passes to take part in the experience.

"For the community we needed something, and it couldn't be a better time," said Silver Dollar City Co-Founder Sherry Herschend.

Park executives said attraction will allow the park to hire close to 20 more employees for 2013.
The ride will open to the public March 15, 2013, and Herschend said she will be on board for the inaugural 81-degree drop.

"I will definitely be in the front row," Herschend said.

Construction on the project began in January. The project marks the largest investment in the park in the past decade.

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