Top 10 lists of the decade are all the rage these days, and we suppose it’s high time we get on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, when it comes to Silverwood, we didn’t have as many things to choose from as say, the average Disney blogger did. Looking back, there are about 10 attractions/additions that came to Silverwood at one point or another from 2010 through 2019. There were definitely some great ones, but not all of them quite seem to be fitting of a “Top 10” list. Yes Barnstormer, we’re lookin’ at you. 🙂 As such we narrowed it down to a Top 5 list, encompassing our favorite newbies at Silverwood and Boulder Beach from the past 10 years.
Note that we also excluding Scarywood from this list. Most of those mazes have since come and gone, as is to be expected for an event like that. While this might seem slightly unfair, we wanted to stick to the “regular season” line-up. Indeed, Scarywood might just warrant it’s own Top 5 or even Top 10 list.
Having said all of that, let’s start the countdown!
The train show has been around for as long as we can remember, but in 2016, the addition of the stunt-show element was added during the “Silverwood Mine” portion. This involved some impressive jumps and acrobatics, that we felt really kicked things up a few notches. From start to finish, the attraction gets better each year, but the inclusion of the stunt show, and all the new characters, marked a solid improvement from our perspective.
Adding a second family water slide to the Avalanche Mountain hill was a great move. Not only did it make perfect use of the other side of the massive mountain, but it rounded out the line-up of waterslides throughout the park. We put this farther down on the list simply due to the fact that, although the initial drop into the giant funnel is a blast, the rest of the slide is pretty “meh”. And, the single-sided loading station at the top can make the queue for this move painfully slow.
Silverwood’s most recent major addition to the “dry park”, SpinCycle is both a blast to ride and to watch. Day or night, its flashy appearance is hard to miss from anywhere in Coaster Alley, and even from highway 95. We find it to be surprisingly tame given the nature of the beast – it hasn’t ever made us feel sick. That said, it’s a tough one to ride more than once or twice in a row. And, as is the case with most flat rides, there’s really no way to theme it or do anything other than just bolt it to the ground and hit the lights. Those are minor musings, however. This was overall a great addition to the park to be sure.
It may seem unthinkable for us to place this higher than some of the rides, but this was easily one of the best enhancements made to the park over the past decade. Silverwood was forced to make some modifications when the highway 95 expansion project was underway, and they took advantage of that time to give a massive facelift to the park entryway. Among the new offerings they added were a beautiful courtyard, an expanded row of ticket scanners, and a gorgeous building with a gift/coffee shop.
The new entryway area is wide open and welcoming, covered with lush flowers and landscaping. Contrasting this to the old entry building and will call stand, makes it easy to see how much better off we all are with this. The highlight for us is the delicious snacks inside the coffee shop, which you can conveniently grab on your way in or out of the park. As we mention in our 2-Day Itinerary, if you’re not swinging by here and getting a cinnamon roll or blueberry muffin top at some point during your trip, you’re missing out.
The latest addition to both the wet and dry parks, Riptide Racer is easily our top choice for the decade. Exciting but not too thrilling or scary, it’s the perfect attraction for satisfying a wide range of ages. It’s got a low height requirement, making it accessible to most of the kids in our families; and the racing element keeps the re-rideability high. Indeed, we have spent many mornings marathoning these slides over and over again, never getting tired of seeing who can win each round. Props to Silverwood for keeping the racing timer working for the past 5 years, as not all parks can say the same.
Are you planning a trip to Silverwood this year? Check out our Silverwood Planning Guide for helpful tips as you get ready to visit the park. Also, our Silverwood Ride Rankings and Boulder Beach Slide Rankings provide our insights on what we think are the best attractions that you shouldn’t miss.
What were your favorite additions to the parks from the past decade? Do you agree or disagree with our rankings? Do you think we did everyone a disservice by snubbing the Puppy Go Round? Let us know in the comments below - we love hearing from you! Last but certainly not least, let us know what other topics you'd like to see covered.
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
