First Trip of the Season

We made our first trip to Silver Dollar City yesterday....for this season that is. The nice part of summer is that we can go in the middle of the week and it was great. The weather was absolutely beautiful and there was minimal traffic and people. So nice. We ran a couple errands around here and then stopped in Ozark for a quick lunch at Subway and arrived at the park around 12:30ish. We decided we'd like to go through the cave and made that our first stop. The boys were not quite into the cave idea, but enjoyed it. What an amazing site!! It's been close to 10 years or more since Nathan and I have been in it and since we just went to Fantastic Caverns over Memorial Day, we were interested to compare this one. We enjoyed this much more and it was free! (Fantastic Caverns is a little pricey.) After the cave, we were in the town square as they were rounding up kids for a water balloon toss so the boys tried that. Then we rode the old Mine Ride--or the Great American Shootout--a favorite of the boys. Then Nathan and Trevor rode the Thunderation coaster while Cody and I waited--maybe next year for Cody. Next, we headed to the kids area for their rides--including a family trip on the kiddie coaster and then to Trevor's request: Grandfather's Mansion. From there we rode the American Plunge and said goodbye to dry clothes! Cody was reluctant to ride this one and as we waited in line kept telling us he wanted to ride the "logs" below us--the ones that were starting out on the ride--not the ones that were going down the big "plunge". :-) I could tell he was a little apprehensive as we ventured through the ride--scanning to the left and right wondering what's in store. I don't remember if he screamed as we went down the hill--I probably couldn't hear him b/c I was screaming--But, as soon as we got to the bottom and laughed at how wet we got, he clapped his hands and yelled "I want to do that again!" And he then proceeded to ask if we could ride it again and again. :-) After the plunge, we went to Fire In The Hole--a classic SDC ride and a must on every trip. This was Cody's first voyage on FITH and it scared him a little in the end, but not too much b/c he kept asking where those badguys were at. I had tried to explain the ride and the baldknobbers to him..... Finally, the best part of the day--Gyser Gulch. This is the boys' favorite place--they can play with water sprayers, ball pits and get totally soaked!! We spent about an hour here and then decided it was time to head home. We stopped for dinner at Steak-n-Shake before heading home. We were all more than beat!! But we had a GREAT day and look forward to going again!