The Roller Coaster Alley team made a visit to Silverwood Theme Park on May 29th and 30th for the Memorial Day Weekend and the grand opening of the new Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) single rail “raptor” coaster, Stunt Pilot.
May 29th was a day for the history books at Silverwood. Clear blue skies greeted guests, along with a brand new addition to the theme park horizon – the bright white track and stark red supports of Stunt Pilot.
Pre-park opening, a few lucky visitors were able to enter for the ribbon-cutting festivities. Among those present were the Heale family – relatives of Bob Heale – the legendary stunt pilot who, among many other things, flew acrobatics over Silverwood itself, back when the park had an actively used airstrip (It’s that big open area that the employees park their vehicles on today).
The family was able to take a tour of the queue entrance, which pays homage to Bob fittingly, with a plaque, and several photos and videos. Many guests might walk right by without paying much attention. But for those looking for a bit of history, this will always be around as a fitting tribute.
Along with this tribute, the exterior of the ride and its fencing are littered with fun posters in an almost Disney-like fashion. These are great, and we hope they stick around. They really add to the charm of the theme.
There’s a test seat upon entering the first queue building so that you can make sure your body agrees with the seats and restraints. Pretty typical for today’s new coasters.
Our favorite sign in the world has been relocated due to Stunt Pilot. It wasn’t quite done being landscaped, but it will surely continue to be a popular photo spot, especially with Stunt Pilot closeby.
Emotions ran high as Gary Norton, the creator and owner of Silverwood held a giant pair of red handled scissors, and was introduced to the crowd by his son Paul.
Paul went on to say that the project had been finished “about two minutes ago” – and it was obvious from the very fresh landscaping (and several places where there isn’t any landscaping yet) that this was the case.
A real bi-plane flew overhead, making dives and loops with a tail of smoke, and just like that, Gary Norton cut the ribbon, and Stunt Pilot was opened for its first train of riders. These were a handful of 10 folks who had bid on their seats, with the $3,944 raised going to Children’s Village. Shortly after queuing up, these riders found themselves strapped in, and heading up the lift hill.
It was a gorgeous sight to behold.
We’ve been on over a dozen RMC coasters across the globe, and the way these things are designed is almost as impressive as riding them. There is a beauty to their twists, turns, and bends, almost as if an artist had a hand in creating them.
After the Heale Family was allowed the second ride of the day, the Roller Coaster Alley team was next to board.
Inside the load station – and to our delight – we found not only the first Silverwood roller coaster in existence with multiple trains, but also a continuous-moving load station. This latter feature is not found on Railblazer, and it does wonders for throughput to the two 10-row trains.
There’s also a single rider option – a first for Silverwood. We found that the single riders were typically put in the very back row – our favorite seat on the ride. The single rider line was hit or miss in terms of being a time-saver. It obviously separates you from your party, so there’s that to consider.
Add to this the fact that Silverwood’s crew was firing on all cylinders – as if they had been operating this ride for years already. We were ushered into our seats quickly, and with little time at all, we were facing the lift hill.
The lift chain functions with a safety feature so that it does not pull the train up at full speed until the other train has moved past a sensor near the station. Sometimes this means that the first few seconds of your climb are taking even slower than usual – and this was the case for us. However, once the other train clears the sensor, the lift kicks into full speed, and we were moving quickly to the top of the 120 foot lift hill.
The views from any of Silverwood’s tallest attractions are among the best in the world – with the towering evergreen filled mountains of the Athol area surrounding in every direction. Stunt Pilot provides an exceptionally unique and impressive vantage point, as the 180 degree turn made at the top not only gives plenty of vistas of these mountains, but also all of the theme parks other rides and attractions.
But there’s little time to think about all that.
Soon, our train had entered the first drop, a mind numbing 90 degree dive which leads directly into a massive diving loop. It’s pure coaster bliss, and the extremely comfortable seats and fitted chest restraints meant zero head banging.
Imagine that: a steel coaster at Silverwood that doesn’t give you a headache. That’s something this park has needed for decades.
From that point, the coaster enter a series of twist, turns, inversions, and drops that leave riders breathless. It’s almost hard to comprehend everything that is going on. Somewhere in there we remember a couple of golden rings, seeing the world upside down a few times, and…a barn?
Hitting the brake run, the coaster has so much momentum that it could easily be double this length. But it doesn’t need to be, and that’s the beauty of it. It leaves you longing for more, and yet completely satisfied with all that it delivers in a mere 60 second trip.
We heard several guests clapping loudly as the train hit the brake run. Not only on our ride, but throughout the entire two days we were in the park. That applause is well-deserved This coaster is near-perfect. And it’s exactly what this park has needed. Stunt Pilot has singlehandedly taken Silverwood to the next level. And it’s a level that is going to set high expectations for the future.
The exit of the ride leads directly into a gift shop with opportunity to purchase the on-ride photo, as well as a handful of fun Stunt Pilot souvenirs.
We find it impossible to believe a person could experience Stunt Pilot and not want to immediately get back in line and do it again. That’s exactly what we did. Over. And over And over again. It seems this one can’t be ridden too much.
Add to the fact that for most of the day the wait rarely exceeded 30 minutes. That’s just slightly better than Railblazer’s regular 4-hour queue during summer season. Another point for Silverwood.
We did, however, force ourselves away from this RMC masterpiece to check in on other areas of the park during our visit. First up was the new-and-improved Tremors coaster.
The entire section of coaster from the exit of the second tunnel, to the “low bridge” bunny hills has been replaced and rebuilt with RMC’s infamous i-box steel track.
Couple this with the turnaround near Stunt Pilot that was re-tracked with RMC’s Topper Track a few years ago, and we’re not sure if Tremors is still technically a wooden coaster.
Regardless of whatever it is now, it’s never run better. The coaster roars around the i-box section in a way it never has before. Riding is a pure joy – even the very back car is comfortable again – and that’s something we haven’t been able to say confidently in nearly two decades.
In other “new” offerings, Caselli’s Pizzeria has popped up underneath the Corkscrew’s first inversion. We didn’t try this place, but later in the day it did command quite a line.
We’ve been riding this guy since 1984, when it lived on a “farm” in SoCal and was painted red, white, and blue. As pure a piece of roller coaster history as there ever could be.
Ice Cream at Silverwood. That’s it. That’s the statement.
Garfield is gone from Silverwood effective this year. The Fat Cat had a nice run. We’re big fans of his comic strip since childhood, but we get that he’s probably lost a bit on anyone under 30. Obviously he wasn’t worth the licensing fee, so out he goes. We’ll miss him, but the best part of having him around vanished years ago when Silverwood removed his classic 80’s cartoons from the Main Street Theater.
The High Moon Saloon is now offering a magic show of its own. We stopped in an were pleasantly surprised. Silverwood is becoming the magic capital of the theme park world.
On that note, have we mentioned that Nick Norton is the best magician at any theme park in the country? Forget theme parks, this guy rivals anything we’ve seen in Vegas. Charismatic, humorous, and inspiring – he’s the real deal. Seeing his show is the #1 attraction in this park. Stunt Pilot included.
The Silverwood Railroad is much improved this year. The recorded narration was completely gone, and the live narrator did a great job. There were plenty of breaks in between all of the talking, which was very welcome, and slowed down the pacing nicely.
Coupled with this was a much shorter mid-ride show with a new Sasquatch animatronic. We liked this change. It felt like just the right length. And the sasquatch was funny and a bit unnerving with his robotic movements.
The train also removed several of the fairytale forest and bigfoot props. It had been overdone in recent years, and these changes dialed things back just enough to where they didn’t feel like overkill.
Aftershock was running Saturday at least for a bit – we didn’t pay much attention. But when we went to ride it Sunday we were met with this sign. Unfortunate. We hope its days aren’t numbered, but these Vekoma GIB’s are a dying breed.
Speaking of Aftershock, do you ever stop and pay attention to the purposefully-cracked pavement leading up to the ride? We see what you did there, Silverwood.
All of this is good.
This too.
The Ferris Wheel got a new paint job and yet it still seems to only load about half of the seats. Silverwood and the surrounding mountains are just begging for a Giant Wheel. We give Silverwood full permission to steal that idea and incorporate it into the park immediately.
Props to Panic Plunge. Still the scariest ride in the park.
It would be a crime not to call out Silverwood’s continued A+ job on landscaping. It’s something that can easily be taken for granted, yet it never fails.
So there you have it: our initial visit to the park for 2021. We just can’t praise Stunt Pilot enough. It is the perfect addition to the theme park. It rounds things out so nicely that it will be hard to ever imagine the park existed without it. Silverwood and RMC have created a masterpiece.
But all our words and photos don’t really do it justice. Get out here as soon as you can and experience it for yourself. Unquestionably the best roller coaster, in unquestionably the best theme park, in the Pacific Northwest.
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
Coaster looks great — but shocked that people are not wearing masks when there is still a pandemic going on. Yikes.
With a few small exceptions, the entirety of Silverwood (including this new ride) is outdoors, where its been known since last summer that the rate of viral transmission is extremely minimal. Also, every other major theme park chain (Disney, Universal, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, etc.) has effectively dropped their outdoor mask requirements, so Silverwood is in line with the rest of the industry. We understand that not everyone may be personally comfortable with these changes yet – everyone has to make their own judgements and decisions when it comes to risk tolerance. We’re simply stating our position that there’s plenty of evidence to support that this situation is definitely on the lower end of the risk spectrum.
You did a great job on the review!!!!
Thanks,
Annie
Thanks Anne! It was really fun being able to be there for the grand opening.
Stunt pilot was fantastic. A little dizzy at the end of the ride but it was well worth it.
Best ride in the park, hands down. Totally agree it’s worth the dizziness!