From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Silverwood Theme Park, Athol, Idaho
Summary: Good theme park
Date: 17 Aug 92 17:47:04 GMT
Organization: WINCO


Just got back from a vacation which included, among other things, a
visit to Silverwood Theme Park in Athol Idaho.  Sit back and let me 
tell ya all 'bout it....

The park is actually a few miles from Athol, Idaho, but Athol is the
nearest town (population maybe 1000?), so it gets the credit.  It's
about 15 minutes' drive north of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the northwest's
home of crass commercialism. ;^)  Coeur d'Alene, in turn, is a few miles
east of Spokane, Washington.  The majority of license plates in the
parking lot seemed to be from Washington and British Columbia. 

Admission is $13.95, plus tax.  Came out to $14-sixty-something.  This
includes all rides and shows (except for airplane rides, which are
extra).

This is a *very* nice park.  The theming is excellent.  Even their skee
ball lanes are located in a nicely themed building.  The theming is a
turn-of-the-century mining town (I know, so original), with an airfield
and air museum thrown in to confuse things by a few decades. 

The air museum is quite nice.  Several old planes, including a Sopwith
Camel.  I'm not a plane buff, so I probably wouldn't be able to tell you
more about what they had, but I did enjoy it.

You enter the park through the Victorian Village, which includes a nice
sit-down restaurant, the train ride (which goes *way* back into the
woods, and includes a train robbery), the air museum, the airstrip
(where you can get a glider or biplane ride for $40 for one or $50 for
two), and several shows.

If you go through the Village, you get to the Country Carnival area. 
This is where the rides are.

Our first ride was the Sky Diver.  I'd never ridden this at the local
fair because it didn't look worth fair prices to ride.  But it was a
blast.  My wife concluded that the real purpose of the ride was to
confiscate loose change from all the riders.  Quite wild.

I'll rate some rides other than the coaster, because the coaster is far
from the highlight of this park.... 

	Sky Diver	*** out of 5

Right next to the Sky Diver was a Tilt-a-Whirl.  I knew I was going to
have a good day. ;^)  I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is
the greatest spinning ride of all time!  I got two rides on this -- one
with four people in the car, and one alone (no one else was up to a
second ride ;^) ).  This ride is definitely better with a point mass
rather than a distributed mass in the car!!! (And I thought I'd never
use that college physics. ;^) )

	Tilt-a-Whirl	***** out of 5 (single rider)
			****  out of 5 (four riders)

The park has a nice log flume (but maybe only nice because I've been
putting up with Lagoon's mega-lame flume for so many years).  Nice
fast, turbulent ride along the channel, with a nice tunnel and
turnaround, then a mediocre drop.  Nicely landscaped all around.

	Roaring Creek	*** out of 5
	(log flume)

There was also a monster (four-car-per-arm octopus).  Not nearly as good
a ride as the one-or-two-car-per-arm versions, which is interesting,
because the Monster *looks* a lot wilder.

The park also has a Scrambler, Paratrooper (run only forward -- Lagoon
runs theirs in both directions), Ferris Wheel, Gasoline-powered bumper
cars (kind of a weird experience sniffing exhaust as you crash into
others), and Bumper Boats.  The Paratrooper is nicely located on an
island in the middle of the bumper boat lagoon.

There are only two kiddie rides.  Silverwood claims to be a family park,
but I wouldn't recommend taking little kids, since there's not much for
them here.  (We left ours with grandma, who lives about an hour away.)

Now for the coaster.  Silverwood is now home of the original Arrow
Corkscrew coaster, the first modern coaster to go upside down.  They
bought it from Knott's Berry Farm when Knott's replaced it with a
Vekoma boomerang.

This coaster is totally lame, but I rode it seven times anyway. 
(There's a potential thread here: You know you're a coaster enthusiast
when ...   The coaster is totally lame, but you ride it several times
anyway.)

In the ride's favor I'll say that it had nice airtime off the hill from
the center of the train back, and the front of the train gets some
decent positive g's at the bottom of the hill.

That's the good news.  The bad news is that this ride is disgustingly
rough.  And with those blasted horse collars, you had to hold on tightly
to prevent yourself from getting a concussion.  No fun.  And the drop is
only mediocre.  And the corkscrews aren't too exciting (though better in
the front or middle of the train, where you can hang on the restraints a
little like you're on a spinning ride).

But, I still rode it seven times.  Why?  'Cause I just couldn't help
myself. ;^)

	Corkscrew	* 1/2 out of 5


In addition to the rides, there are *lots* of shows, ranging from
singing, to ventriloquism, to a magician, to a marionetteist (?), 
to .....

There's also an air show every weekend at 6 p.m.  We were there on a
weekday, so didn't get to check it out.

The park opens at 11 a.m.  Get there at least 15 minutes early so you
can park in the small lot by the main gate.  Otherwise, you'll have to
park across the highway, and cross it at your own risk.  (All parking is
free.)

Silverwood is a nice little theme park.  On the theming scale, with
Disneyland a 5 and the carnival midway at the fair a 0, Silverwood gets
a 4.  And the operators were a welcome relief from Lagoon's.  No
speeches, no endless checks of everything on the ride, no problem with
single riders -- in short, none of the treaded ``Theme Park Mentality.'' 
Just get on it and ride! It's worth going if you're in the neighborhood,
but I wouldn't make a special trip to go to Silverwood.

Geoff-A-Whirl

--
Geoff Allen          \  Please remain seated and keep your hands and arms
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  above your head at all times.  Enjoy your ride.
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \
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