I love theme parks. I write about them for a living, but I have come to terms with the fact I am not a “coaster person.” I love roller coasters as much as anybody, but they are not always my favorite type of theme park attraction. I don’t usually get excited about new coasters more than anything else new coming to any given park.
2024 is still a new year. And for theme park fans, that means a year of new attractions, shows, and events at our favorite parks. Theme parks typically try to open something new and exciting every year as a way to get previous guests to return. And while the big names of the theme park world, Disney and Universal, certainly have some enticing offerings this year, roller coaster fans will need to look elsewhere, as the two most exciting (though not necessarily the most thrilling) new coasters in the U.S. this year are to be found elsewhere.
Roller coasters are often all about creating the most exciting and potentially terrifying experience. But for my money, what makes a roller coaster fun is when it does something creative and original. For that reason the coasters I’m looking forward to this year aren’t in California or Florida, but in Indiana and Missouri.
Holiday World’s Good Gravy
Santa Claus, Indiana is home to Holiday World, a theme park that celebrates multiple holidays simultaneously, regardless of what time of the year it is. Theme park lands and attractions surrounding Christmas or the 4th of July are obvious. Creating them might take less creativity, but a Thanksgiving-themed roller coaster? What even is that?
Enter Good Gravy, a family roller coaster with a show building designed to look like Grandma’s house, and ride vehicles designed to look like…wait for it…gravy boats. Genius. Brilliant. No notes. I hope whoever came up with this got a raise. Make them President of the park.
It’s silly as hell and I love it, but the ride vehicles look fantastic. Good Gravy is a family coaster, so don’t expect any corkscrew spins or other high-thrill experiences, but I expect to be laughing the entire time when I finally get a chance to ride this one.
Silver Dollar City’s New Fire In The Hole
The end of 2023 marked the end of Fire in the Hole, an over-50-year-old roller coaster and an iconic piece of the long-running theme park. So what do you replace it with? Well, Fire in the Hole, of course. Not a simple refresh or refurbishment, Silver Dollar City’s new version of Fire in the Hole has been built from the ground up as a brand-new experience. We expect classic elements to return, yet the ride experience should be entirely new.
I got to ride the old Fire in the Hole during its final season, and I’ve gone on record as saying honestly, Fire in the Hole needed to be retired. It wasn’t the most comfortable coaster experience. I felt it’s age. But simultaneously, I appreciate the decades of history that Fire in the Hole had. It was a ride that took its story from events that transpired in the same area where Silver Dollar City is loved, it was a piece of history in more ways than one.
So I’m excited to see how the new and historic come together in the new attraction. The old attraction only closed in December, but the new version is already in early testing according to Twitter, and it’s going to be fun to see the final result when Silver Dollar City opens up in a few months.
The big guys don’t need to worry. There are plenty of new attractions coming to Walt Disney World and upcoming Disneyland attractions to get excited about. Universal will have an entirely new theme park next year with Epic Universe details set to be released over the next 12 months. But this year I’m very into what these smaller parks are doing and looking forward to these two in particular.
