Explore Silver Dollar City: Hidden Gems in Branson

Silver Dollar City! My home theme park, and crown jewel of Branson’s tourism offerings. This unique 1880’s theme park is known for its wholesome reputation, the best Christmas light show, its stellar coaster line up and its unique entertainment throughout the season. It was the first theme park I fell in love with when my family moved to the region in 2013. A must visit at least twice a year for cinnamon bread, pumpkin soft serve and the Homestead Pickers. I personally am partial to the Harvest Festival, but of course, Christmas at SDC is unmatched. Its a park I’ve visited year after year and never get tired of.

Silver Dollar City opens for the season 3/13 with their Spring Break offerings! Lots of exciting things are happening at America’s Number 1 Theme Park (according to USA Today readers) including classic holiday celebrations. Silver Dollar City also recently announced a huge 10-year plan that will include a resort hotel and park expansion in their signature style. But before that big hairy audacious plan gets underway, we get some new fun for this year!

SDC will open up the plaza area that previously was only open for Pumpkin Nights in the fall for every festival. There you’ll be able to find festival specific food offerings, performances and decor. This will double the size of the “Grand Exposition” area that has turn of the century touring carnival theming. At Christmas, this plaza will host a huge new tree and tree lighting ceremony, adding a secondary spot to view a similar show to the extremely popular tree lighting on the Square. I think this is the great first taste of what’s to come and will create space in the park. Crowds have been growing and this is a great first space-making move.

With all of that in mind, let’s talk about some of the offerings I love at Silver Dollar City. If you’ve been following for a while, you know that I don’t ride scary rides. SDC has a world class group of 6 coasters that draw everyone from local fans to coaster nuts… I have never ridden any of them. Though, I recommend them all to those who can handle those g forces. Despite my fears, I never feel like my time is wasted here. I’ve learned that the things I do often get overlooked or even not noticed by many park goers. So I’m calling this the hidden gems of Silver Dollar City, with a grain of salt, because is anything truly hidden at a nationally recognized theme park? Let’s see! Tell me on the Facebook page (Wonders of Life Blog) if you knew that all of these existed!


Homestead Ridge

The Homestead area of the park is to the left of an entering guest at the top of the park, tucked behind the leatherworks shop and McAffie’s Homestead (where the Homestead Pickers play in warm weather) It features a replica one room schoolhouse, Oak Ridge School, and Homestead Animal Barnyard. This location holds a special spot in my heart, because it's where I worked! I briefly provided animal care and package pick up services at SDC and this was my home base. In warm weather you can meet goats, mini ponies, a mule and other creatures and learn about the vital purpose of animals on a homestead. You can tour the school and sometimes hear traditional Ozark stories here too. It's a fun, shaded activity and perfect for younger kids. Times to see the animals can vary based on weather and animal care needs so please be patient! The people who work in this area also love to chat with guest and are some wonderful humans in general. It's always worth the stop to me, and a unique attraction among theme parks. Speaking of the homestead…

The Homestead Pickers are what I’d call the “house band” of Silver Dollar City. This improvising, multitalented group of jovial pickers are at the top of my list of things to see at the park. At their casual shows they’ll take requests, banter, tell stories both folkloric and personal, and play songs from Americana Standards to hymns to original and comedic tunes. One of my favorite traditions the Pickers uphold is inviting other artists playing at the festivals and even park guests to join in on the music making as their masterful ears pick up their guests’ melodies and they begin to play along. The recent addition of the marvelous singer Emalee Flatness has truly complimented the stylings of the more senior members of the group we all love as well. This show is not a high thrill event, and kiddos that need to run out their park day energy may not have their attention held. However, something you can only see at SDC and will leave you with a huge smile on your face every time. Visit the Pickers enough and you may find yourself with a band of new friends akin to your quirky mountain dwelling uncles, only with more dulcimer skills. Not only is this band a great pick me up, they are just good people, a trait you're sure to find throughout the citizens of the city.

Craftsman Presentations

Silver Dollar City is also known as the Home of American Craftsmanship and has many craftsmen-in-residence you can catch practicing their crafts in live demonstrations. You can catch glassblowing demonstrations, blacksmithing, candy making, lye soap making, a duplicating lathe, woodcarving, pottery, leatherworks and more. Some of these offerings are seasonal or intermittent but the candy makers, pottery and glassblowing tend to remain very consistent. You especially don’t want to miss the candy making presentations at Brown’s Candy because you will get to sample the freshly made wares! I recommend the brittle! It would be so easy to miss these experiences if you’re busy trying to get on every ride, so I recommend using the app or the park map to plan to see at least one of these experienced makers do their thing. Don't be afraid to ask questions either! These artisans are experienced in their crafts and also presenting them to guests and will be happy to tell you about them.

This bastion of craftsmanship extends even further in the fall at the Harvest Crafts Festival where artists, craftsmen and local food producers come set up on the Square. These artisans are often demonstrating their crafts as well, and they run the gambit from dried gourd art, basket weaving, jewelry making, cowboy cookery, and even tanning and taxidermy. Beware though, once one finds out that the souvenirs at SDC are often handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces being made onsite by the people you just had a friendly chat with, I find that my money just…blows away. Though you might leave with high quality goods that will last a lifetime, so it's a pretty awesome trade off.

Character Meet and Greets

Meeting princesses at the Disney Parks or Universal Monsters at Universal Studios are an almost certain experience for parkgoers. These character meet and greets have become synonymous with theme park experiences because of course guests want to meet classic characters in their own worlds! Silver Dollar City is a park mostly made of original content and storylines though, so it’d be easy for guests to overlook the abundance of original characters you can find here! Trust me they are just as cool as those other characters too.

You might run into the foreboding Undertaker who measures you for your coffin with his measuring stick, the wacky and whimsical Time Traveler who invented the coaster of the same name or any of the other 3 characters local legend, Terry Wayne Sanders plays regularly in the parks. At Christmas you can meet Santa and characters from the classic Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer movie, as well as old English carolers. In the spring you may find yourself witnessing a tussle between the Hatfields and McCoys who take to the streets for wacky shenanigans ending in a duel. You might see Lucky the Firedog, the mascot for kids’ play area Fireman’s Landing. I think there's a few more too! These interactive characters might not be as recognizable as those from branded intellectual properties, but the performers that bring them to life make them just as fun.

Grandfather’s Mansion

I see this on other underrated attractions posts, and it never fails to surprise a few people. This walk-through attraction on Hill Street remains a delightful hidden classic of the park. It combines SDC’s old timey theming, a prototypical “Fun House” experience with a few “Mystery Spot” style spatial illusions. This attraction will warp your sense of space and gravity and leave you a little wobbly, in a fun way! I'd say this is as close as Silver Dollar City gets to spooky. Be sure to look through the windows and listen for the audio to see what grandfather is up to in his mansion or you might miss it. It’s a quick walk, nothing that’ll take up too much time in your day, but holds a lot of charm and history. You can use it as a passageway to attractions further down the hill too. Just be wary that this is not a wheelchair accessible attraction and may be challenging for those with mobility issues in general. It features stairs, steep-ish ramps and some other difficult to traverse surfaces. Kids will love going through and testing out the interactive elements, and this trippy walkthrough makes a fun pairing with the suspended bridge nearby.

Marvel Cave

The cave that started it all! Marvel Cave is what Silver Dollar City sprouted up around. This cave which has been a tourist attraction in the area since just after the Civil War hosts complimentary tours throughout the day. Groups are limited to a certain size, and sometimes weather limits the full tour due to flooding, but if you are patient you’re in for a treat. A guide will take you down several hundred steps and share the history of this landmark and the adventures had there in the past. I don’t want to give any spoilers, it's certainly a must do for those who like an experience on solid ground that comes with a bit of knowledge. A real highlight is the funicular rail car that brings you back up the hill out of the cave. A cave tour is the only way to ride it!

There you have it. 6 things to do in this charming, all-American park that has nothing to do with coasters. Though, those are awesome too. This list also doesn’t include the rotating world class entertainment that offers something new every season, the summer concert lineup, food and shopping, and other festival-based fun. Come around Halloween to see incredible pumpkin sculptures and Christmas for the 6 million lights that festoon every surface of the park. There are also several less intense and kid friendly rides that are worth the trip. My favorite? The iconically vintage Flood Mine shooting game, boat ride combo. I enjoy the train ride and recommend sitting in car 2 if you can for the best view of the onboard show. SDC’s sister attraction, White Water water park, makes summer trips cooler both literally and physically! There is so much this downhome family attraction offers, you just have to see it for yourself.

Silver Dollar City is an attraction I’m proud to call my “home park” as a theme park nerd. It sprouted up out of the Ozarks organically, is filled with totally original content with little to no movie-based attractions and offers something for everyone from kids to grandparents. If you are planning a vacation to Branson, MO this year, I cannot overstate that this park should be at the top of your list to visit. Seriously, if you only have 2 days here, I say spend 1 or 1.5 of them at the park. I'm a huge fan and am eager to see what's next for one of my favorite attractions in the country.

Happy Season Opening Silver Dollar City! I can’t wait to see what fun new memories worth repeating you have in store this year!

If you are planning a vacation to Branson or Orlando, taking a cruise or hitting the road let me know! I’d love to help plan and book your trip at little to no additional cost to you. Whether you’re hitting the Branson or the Vegas strip I’ve got your back. Email me at suzannah@diserella.com and tell me a bit about your dream trip!

If you enjoyed this post please consider subscribing, or following my socials @WondersofLifeBlog on Facebook, Insta and TikTok or just sharing this post with your SDC visit buddy. Every like, comment and share gets me closer to my dreams. Thanks so much for reading!