When you think of the most famous theme park chains in North America, you likely think of the likes of Cedar Point or Six Flags, but in the theme park world, sometimes the best things come in small packages, and Herschend Family Entertainment, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a prime example of this.
Owning just four theme parks and three water parks, as well as some other attractions, Herschend Family Entertainment dates back to the acquisition of a mountain attraction in 1951 and today offers some of the best themed experiences in the world. Herschend has recently acquired Kentucky’s main theme park, Kentucky Kingdom, so what better time to go back to where it all began and explore the history of this small but popular chain that “creates memories worth repeating”!
From a Holiday to a Business
Back in the early 1950s, Hugo and Mary Herschend, and their two sons, travelled from their home in Illinois to the Ozark Mountains in Missouri on a family holiday, and while they didn’t know it at the time, this holiday was the beginning of something huge. The family fell in love with the area with the enchanting atmosphere and nature the area had to offer, and it wasn’t too long before they had bought out a mountain-based attraction called Marvel Cave, and the process of transforming it began.
Tragedy struck when Hugo Herschend died from a heart attack a few years later, but this didn’t stop the family, and a decade later Mary Herschend, along with her sons and seventeen staff, opened a small 1800s village attraction on the Marvel Cave grounds. The town would eventually be named Silver Dollar City (which soon grew into the park many of us know and love today!), and this formed the basis for what would eventually come to be.
The company began its life as Herschend Enterprises and soon became involved in the crazy and thrilling world of theme parks, starting around twenty years later with the obtainment of a park that may not have been much when it opened, but is now one of the most popular parks in the US.
The Newest Theme Park
By the 1970s, Silver Dollar City was thriving, and, as the theme park business in the US grew, so did the park’s offering. 1972 brought the addition of the park’s first rollercoaster, Fire in the Hole, an obscurely named indoor coaster themed around the burning of a village in the Ozark Mountains in 1800, built in-house by the park themselves. This thrilling adventure back in time was one of the first examples of a ride inspired by the history of the local area, paving the way for a multitude of other locally themed experiences, such as Hex at Alton Towers, and California Screamin’ (now Incredicoaster) at Disney California Adventure!
Nine years later American Plunge made a splash at Silver Dollar City, as a log flume built by Minneapolis based firm Barr Engineering. Throughout the 60s and 70s, and at the time of American Plunge’s debut in the 1980s, the log flume was the ride to have for theme parks across the world, after Arrow Development’s invention of the attraction in 1963, and, although some classic log flumes are closing to make way for newer, more modern ride, the remaining log flumes still remain popular, and American Plunge continues to soak and thrill riders to this day.
1985 meant the opening of another water ride, Lost River of the Ozarks, themed to the local area similar to Fire in the Hole, although the Lost River would only last until 2018, when it was demolished to make way for a new water ride, Mystic River Falls, which opened in Summer of last year.
Silver Dollar City was experiencing a growth in both ride lineup and park attendance as word spread about the park during the 70s, and the park continued to grow and gain popularity in the decades following. Things were looking great for the park, and for Herschend Enterprises as a whole, so, by 1976, it was time for something new.
The Second Silver Dollar City
Rebel Railroad opened its doors as a small park owned by the Robbins Brothers, where guests could travel back in time to the American Civil War, visiting a saloon, a blacksmiths, and general store, as well as experiencing an attack on an old-fashioned steam train. The park changed its name to Goldrush Junction, after being obtained by Art Modell in 1970, and the lineup was expanded- with an outdoor theatre, a log flume, and, somewhat bizarrely for a theme park, a church.
The park was finally bought out by Herschend Enterprises in 1976, who shortened the name from Goldrush Junction, to just Goldrush for that season. A year later Goldrush was renamed Silver Dollar City, and not only did the name change, the park grew to become more and more like the original park in Missouri, but with a Tennessee twist. Just two years after Herschend’s acquisition of the park, they opened the first rollercoaster at Silver Dollar City Tennessee since Scamper’s closure in the early years of the decade: Blazing Fury, an indoor rollercoaster very likely inspired by Fire in the Hole, built by the park’s maintenance and construction team.
Similar to the original Silver Dollar City undergoing growth in the early 1970s, Silver Dollar City Tennessee opened a range of new attractions in the later years of the decade, as well as in the 1980s, from a Waveswinger called Swingmajig in 1980, to Thunder Express, an Arrow Mine Train in 1989, and the park soon became one of Tennessee’s most popular attractions. It wasn’t too long until the the park’s name was changed once again, to Dollywood, in 1986, after Dolly Parton purchased a stake in the attraction.
The well-known country singer grew up in the Pigeon Forge Tennessee area, and had said that if she ever became successful, she would return to her “part of the country” and “do something great”- and she certainly did: today Dollywood is the largest employer in the area, and brings tourists from miles around to explore its retro theming, and thrilling attractions, such as Tennessee Tornado, Mystery Mine, and the revolutionary Lightning Rod!
Not Much to Celebrate in Missouri
While things were going well for Herschend in Tennessee, in Missouri things weren’t as good. Branson USA, a ground-up theme park that opened in 1999, had struggled since its opening, and it was hoped, that the company would be able to help the park rise from the ashes, renaming it Celebration City for the 2003 after a $40 million reimagining of the attraction (not to be confused with Disney’s ‘perfect town’ Celebration Florida, a topic for another post!). The plan was for the new Celebration City to continue the story created by Silver Dollar City, and become a sister park to the original Herschend attraction, but sadly, unlike the original, Celebration City never really took off in the way it was expected to.
The park continued to struggle financially, and, by 2008, Herschend were left with no choice but to complete the 2008 season and announce that it would not return for 2009. Some of Celebration City’s attractions were relocated to other parks, while others simply remained abandoned, now a hotspot for inquisitive locals and tourists alike, wanting to explore what once was.
The Next Expansions
For several years after Dollywood’s partial reimagining in 1986, Silver Dollar City and Dollywood, as well as the dinner show chain Dolly Parton’s Stampede and the water park White Water Branson, remained as Herschend’s only assets, but by the mid to late 90s, the time had come for expansion once again. The company debuted the Showboat Branson Belle in 1995, offering relaxing views of Missouri’s Table Rock Lake, and began management of the Stone Mountain National Park in Georgia just three years later in 1988.
By 2007, Herschend had once again solidified their place in the amusement and water park business, as well as coming back from the financial struggles of Celebration City, which would close a year later. The chain Adventure Parks Group had recently gone bankrupt, along with their various parks including Wild Adventures in Georgia, and Herschend took the opportunity to add the zoo theme park, as well as its sister water park, Splash Island, to its attraction lineup, where they gave them the unique treatment they had given to Dollywood on purchasing- removing some rides, and adding others such as Viking Voyage, Whirling Wildcats and Falcon Flyers. The three new attractions had three things in common: each being relocated from Celebration City, and each having a lot of alliteration in their names!
Over the years, Wild Adventures and Splash Island would continue to see their attraction lineups expanded, and the parks still operate to this day!
A New Kingdom, and a Bright Future
Around a week ago, the theme park world heard some big news: Kentucky Kingdom, along with its sister water park Hurricane Bay, would be purchased by Herschend Family Entertainment, ready to reopen for the beginning of the beginning of the 2021 season.
Similar to some of the other attractions Herschend operates, Kentucky Kingdom has struggled financially in the past, being closed by Six Flags due to bankruptcy in 2010, and remaining SBNO until finally reopening in 2014. The park has been on the path to greatness since its reopening, with the opening of coasters Lightning Run, Storm Chaser and Kentucky Flyer all in the last seven years, and some pretty amazing social media marketing, and there’s no doubt Hershend will add a few extra touches to really help the park in becoming even more popular in the next few years!
What are your thoughts on the announcement? Let me know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article, check out my other posts from theme parks and attractions around the world, and be sure to find us on Facebook and Instagram for plenty of exclusive CoasterDreamers content!
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