Volume 2, No. 14. July 26, 2002
Cause for Celebration
That general huzzah you are hearing from southeast Missouri is coming from the
talented designers and engineers of Silver Dollar City Corporation. The Branson,
Missouri, company is building a new theme park, Celebration City, in its hometown,
and it will be set in the 20th century as opposed to the 19th century village
look of SDC’s other major properties—Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee,
Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Georgia, and Silver Dollar City itself.
“The
guys are able to do more contemporary things and play with nighttime lighting,”
said Bob Montgomery, the company’s vice president of Branson Attractions
who has been tapped to run the $40 million park scheduled to open in the spring
of 2003. “This has been a real rush for them. They’re looking at colors
they wouldn’t use before.”
Not
that the new park, located on a 112-acre site near downtown Branson on the property
that formerly held Branson USA, will be a departure from the Silver Dollar City
core competency of nostalgic theming. Celebration City will focus on Americana
culture through the first half of the 20th century, with themes pertaining to
such technological advances as electricity and the automobile.
Part
of that culture, too, pertains to the role of the amusement park. Celebration
City, therefore, will be more of a ride park than the company’s other theme
parks, with an 80-foot-tall (24-meter) wood coaster from Great Coasters and
a total of 24 different rides and attractions, many of those vintage in feel
if not in actual age. “We think this is part of the complimentary but differentiated
strategy we’re employing,” Montgomery said. “We have a chance
to do something here that’s more ride-oriented than what we have done in
the past, but still have the charm and heavy theming and landscaping and interactivity
Silver Dollar City is known for.”
Being
located on the former Branson USA site helps. Celebration City not only will
inherit about half of Branson USA’s rides, but also a site developed specifically
to house an amusement park. “We do have the joy of having a good infrastructure
and sound buildings we’ve integrated into our plan,” Montgomery said.
As
for the prospects of success in that market, Silver Dollar City’s management
is “bullish” on Branson, Montgomery said. The new park will be geared
to a family audience, a demographic the tourist city has seen growing the past
few years, surpassing the community’s earlier reliance on the tour group
and adult couple markets. “We’re building on a lot of success we’ve
seen in the past couple of years,” Montgomery said.
The company also has withstood the amusement industry’s economic foundering of the past year, and, in fact, sees this as the perfect opportunity to expand. “There’s no question it’s a buyer’s market for us, and we’re taking advantage of that condition,” Montgomery said. “We believe this park is the key to seeing Silver Dollar City grow. By growing the market and growing our offer here (in Branson), it’s the best thing we can do for all of our attractions.”
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