Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Salvador City is back for another season, and with it, a much anticipated new incarnation of the theme park's classic roller coaster ride, Fire in the Hole. We're going to talk about that on this week's edition of the Know the news podcast.
Hi, everyone. I'm Dave Perozyk, managing editor of the Northwest Arkansas Democratic Gazette and your podcast host this week in this weekend's what's up? Section of the Northwest Arkansas Democratic Gazette. The COVID story by Becca Martin Brown is all about the new fire in the Hole Ride, a $30 million investment by Silver Dollar City. We've already written about it, but Becca goes into a little more depth for this weekend's what's up?
And joining me today, I'm pleased to have Brandy Clifton, public relations manager for Silver Dollar City. Hi, brandy here.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Thanks for having me.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Thank you for spending the time with us.
So I got to ride the original fire in the hole probably about a year and a half ago for the first time. And admittedly not much of a roller coaster guy, but that was probably my favorite thing at Silver Dollar City. And that one had been around since 1972, is that correct?
[00:01:29] Speaker B: A 52 year run it had. So I'm glad you got on there before we were. We said so long to our old friends.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
So tell us why, if Silver Dollar City decided a revamping of the ride was in order and why now?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So, like I said, the original fire in the hole was the first roller coaster ride for a lot of folks. A lot. 25 million riders during its almost 52 years. And so. But every thing needs an upgrade. Right? You know, a refrigerator doesn't last that long. And so it was a hard decision to make, but we wanted to hang on tight to the tradition and give folks the gift of a new version that still had that same nostalgic feeling. Um, it's the same three drops that you'll remember this, but the story comes alive a lot more. And I don't think a lot of folks know that the story of the fire in the hole is, is a story of a real night when the bald noubers tried to burn the city to the ground and the citizens jumped in to help to put the fire out. So we hope the new version does a better job of explaining that story. Like I said, it's going to have that same nostalgic feel as the old one, but it's just new. And the innovation and technology with this thing is just really, really wow.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: And I assume you've done the ride yourself.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Yes. And I was a fan of the old one. So I had been coming. I grew up in Kansas, and fire in the hole was the first roller coaster that I had ever been on. So it was a very special ride to me as well. And so I was hanging on tight to that and it was hard to see it go. But when I got on the new one, it had that. I got that same, you know, childhood magic feeling. And Red Flanders is still looking for his pants, and the bald noggers are at it again. And so I love that we were able to update and innovate and start a new tradition for families, but still hold tight to that original story.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you were telling me that it started, you opened. It kind of had a soft opening last month.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah. So dollar City, for our 2024 season, we opened for spring break on March 9, and we didn't want to with any new ride, you know, it's not like you buy it at a store, you just plug it in and that thing goes right. Every new ride has little nuances that need to be worked out. So we didn't want to over promise and tell folks that it would for sure be up and going for spring break. So we, we said, you know, you might be an early recruit and get on that if you're here over spring break days, but a lot of folks got on and got to do that first ride. And then we had the official grand opening on Saturday, March 30. And so the ride has done lots of cycles now, and we're getting all those little kinks worked out. And it was just a joyous day to celebrate our new ride and had live music and allowed folks to start a new tradition with their family.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: How would you describe the impact of this new attraction, new, old attraction on silver dollar? Yeah.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: So iron hole is, it's a $30 million attraction, which to date is Silver Dollar City's largest investment for a single ride to date.
So we really did put a lot of thought and time because a lot of, we understand that a lot of folks come to silver dollar City and they're not necessarily thrill seekers that like the big roller coasters that do the loopy loops, but they still want that wow factor and something fun to hold tight to. So we have a lot of folks who come and enjoy the music and they come for the food and we hope that they'll come for the new fire in the hole. I mean, it's kid friendly. You know, 36 inches is that height requirement. So we have little bitties on there that just have the best time ever. Like I said, it's very family friendly. It doesn't go upside down. It's got the three smaller drops. But the thing about it is the stories inside of the ride. You know, you could ride the ride 100 times, and everywhere you look, there's something new to look at and a new story to tell. And there's onboard audio this time. And so the sound of the scenes going on follows you through the ride on your train car. And so you can really hear what those bald knobbers are saying and hear those stories unfold as you travel through there.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Have you seen a noticeable attendance uptick this year over last?
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, we had a really good spring break, and the weather certainly helped us, knock on wood. We haven't, didn't have a lot of rain. You know, last year we had a lot of rain. And so we're hearing from a lot of folks that they're, they're traveling to us this year, earlier in the season to get on a ride before the summer boom hits. But we really are hoping that our new fire in their hole will help us have a strong 2024.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: And this is one of, is it seven roller coasters there?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, I would have to count. So we have wildfire, outlaw run, powder keg, thunduration, fire in the hole time traveler. So, yeah, you're right about six or seven. I have to admit, though, I'm not a loopy loop roller coaster rider, so fire in the hole is more my style. And I have a first grader, and he got on it and was a little scared because it was the old bar in the hole was his first roller coaster ride, so he really enjoyed the new one, too. And so it really is a good pace, you know, for, for grandma and grandpa to get on there and see the beauty of that ride. So we're really excited to have it open.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's definitely my speed.
Anything else new this season that you want to talk about there?
[00:07:04] Speaker B: So starting April 11, coming up very, very soon is going to be our final year of street fest. And this is our spring festival, and it's filled with all kinds of beauty and colorful things. We have Christy Sellers, who was on America's got Talent. She was the finalist, and she is an aerial acrobat. Who does she. The strength of this lady is crazy. She does this amazing, huge production with the graphics and digital display behind her, and it makes it look like she's walking on the clouds. All kinds of fun there. The return of the Anastasia circus from Italy. And so lots of fun for the kiddos there. And then our living garden. And these are folks that look like marble statues, but they come to life. And the living fountain, she has water that cascades from her fingertips. It's just very magical and lots of good food. Listen to some of these food offerings. Let me look this year for street fest. We have barbecue shrimp and slaw and spinach, artichoke dip, potato cuban sandwich, oreo waffles. Okay, I could get behind that. Bacon jam and fries, honey and peach barbecue sandwich, smoky corn chowder. So we just have lots of new food offerings, and we just really want to make sure folks can join us for the final year of street fest. A new festival will replace it in 25, but we're not ready to share that yet. But we hope folks will come in the spring. It's going to be gorgeous weather for the next couple of weeks, and hopefully we won't be dodging raindrops.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: And bring your appetite.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Sounds like bring your appetite. And we have. The great thing about our food offerings is we have a tasting passport. If you're not quite sure what you want to eat at street Fest for dollar 35, you get a lanyard and you can pick five of the festival foods from all of the eateries around the park. So you really get, and you can share that tasting passport with your family. And so we'll have a lot of families who, you know, pick their five treats out and share them. So it's just a really affordable way to try all of our new festival foods. And our food team really does an amazing job because you think of theme park food is like cotton candy and things like that, that we just really go above and beyond to think of those really creative flavors that folks will love and enjoy, like cashew chicken in a waffle cone and all kinds of fun flavors that you can carry around as you're enjoying your day.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Right? Well, I'm already looking forward to my next trip there.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: Well, you know, you can come anytime. We'd love to have both.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Brandy, thank you very much for joining us. It's been a pleasure to talk to you.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: You're welcome. Enjoy this beautiful weather, and we hope to see you at the city.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: If you're interested in reading more about Silver Dollar City and fire in the hall, check out Becca Martin Brown's story in this weekend's edition of what's up.
[00:09:46] Speaker C: If you're enjoying this podcast, consider a newspaper subscription to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette or the River Valley Democrat Gazette. We have a special offer for our podcast listeners, so visit nwa online.com nwapodcast to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nWA online.com and rivervalleydemocratgazette.com. Or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now back to the show.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Before I go, I want to mention some other stories we have coming your way over the next few days, developers across the country are investing in northwest Arkansas's hotel industry, as seen with the growing number of boutique hotels in the area. Our growth and development of water. Lydia Fletcher will have that story.
The state and federal Environmental Protection Agency are negotiating an agreement to reduce phosphorus flowing down the Illinois river in Arkansas, according to state regulators. Doug Thompson has that story for us.
Education reporter Al Gaspine will tell us about a new agreement that allows Northwest Arkansas community college graduates to transfer all of their associate degree credits into reach university's liberal studies degree program as a pathway to earning a teaching credential.
The city of Fayetteville hopes a new program will help create more affordable homes in the most desirable part of town. Stacy Ryburn reports.
And from the river Valley, Monica Brick reports. Fort Smith and Barling city officials have decided to recommend the dissolution of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority due to concerns the authority is not cooperating with them.
And Sadie Lacicero brings us a story about a group of friends who plan to golf for 24 hours straight to raise money and awareness for Phelan McDermott syndrome and set a world record in the process.
Are you hungry? Check out Ben Collins let's eat column, which publishes each Friday.
In today's column, Ben writes, among other things, about area farmers markets. Starting up.
All of this and more will be available to our subscribers on our tablet and smartphone apps and on our websites, nWA online.com and River Valley democratgazette.com.
Know the news is a weekly podcast brought to you by the newsrooms of the Northwest Arkansas and River Valley Democrat Gazette.
Again, I'm Dave Perozyk, your podcast host this week. Thank you, as always, for listening. And don't forget to check us out next Friday for the next know the news. Until then, have a great weekend and take care everybody.
