Spin, Roll, Scream!

Brad Thomas sounds like a little kid who knows he's going to get everything he wants for Christmas.

Granted, the president of Silver Dollar City Attractions will have to wait a little longer. The Branson, Mo., theme park won't open its new $26 million roller coaster until spring of next year. But Thomas has ridden a prototype at Europa-Park in southwestern Germany, and he knows Time Traveler -- as the new coaster has been named -- will be "a blast."

He might not have said that in January 2016.

Having decided that 2018 would be a big investment year for Silver Dollar City, Thomas knew the park would be adding "something of significance." He and other top SDC brass started visiting theme parks around the world in 2015, looking for the hottest new ride. Then they met with Mack Rides from Waldkirch, Germany, a more than 200-year-old family business that perfectly suited Herschend Family Entertainment, Silver Dollar City's owners. The concept they came up with was a coaster with spinning cars and not just one but two launches. It is the first of its kind, Thomas says, and even a single-launch spinning coaster is rare.

That brings us to January 2016, when Thomas was able to ride the first prototype for Time Traveler. The car was placed on an existing roller coaster track at Europa-Park -- which Mack Rides owns -- and Thomas, who says he usually laughs on roller coasters, admits he screamed. The cars were in free spin -- and the result, Thomas says, "didn't fit our demographic, didn't fit our core customer, just wouldn't be enjoyable."

The solution was magnets, which control the spin of each car as riders start with a 10-story, 90-degree vertical drop straight out of the station, spinning into a dive loop, a vertical loop and a zero G roll, plus the two launches -- 0 to 47 mph in 3 seconds and 30 to 45 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Now, Thomas says, it's a thrill ride with the added dimension of spinning cars. And he thinks the whole family will love it.

Thomas explains that "the whole family" is the demographic he was aiming to please.

"Silver Dollar City is a place where multiple generations of families can enjoy themselves together," he says. "We recognize that our core customer has been and most likely will always be a family unit. There's nothing more fun that walking out on Town Square and seeing a grandfather teaching his granddaughter to play checkers or seeing a grandmother taking her grandson on his first ride.

"By the same token, we recognize that we have families of many different expectations that visit us," Thomas goes on. "What we try to do through our festivals, through our rides, through our shows, through the overall experience, is meet the different needs of that family. We want to balance those who seek adventure -- those that want a destination with some real thrills -- with those who are satisfied if they ride the steam train. That's who we are -- and who we want to be."

The commitment to the Silver Dollar City ambiance shows in the coaster's storyline, which was created by park employees, Thomas says. The tale brings to life Charles Henry, a young scientist, inventor and clockmaker, who lives in Silver Dollar City with his wife, Anna, and their daughter, 9-year-old Emmaline.

Although townsfolk think her dad a dreamer, Emmaline knows dreams can help people make a difference. "Dream big. Do good," she and her father say as their mantra.

"It's going to feel very much like Silver Dollar City but still be so unique," Thomas says.

NAN What's Up on 08/25/2017