Silverwood
Driving up to Silverwood and seeing Deja Vu - err I mean Aftershock’s towers is definitely a moment I didn’t expect to be partaking in in 2020, but there I was. My original plans for Silverwood would have been to go at some point in 2021 when I could combo a weekend trip with the tours that RMC gives of their factory. But with 2020 being what it was and with me temporarily staying with my parents in the midst of quarantine I found a really cheap flight out to Spokane a couple of weekends after Silverwood reopened and since most of my trips were AWOL I took advantage of what I could find and pulled the trigger.
I flew into Spokane from Denver on a Friday night and stayed on the east side of the city, which was the closest reasonably priced hotel chain I could find. After waking up on Saturday morning I made the 45 minute trek to Athol, ID and got to Silverwood a few minutes before opening.
My first thoughts of the park was how different the ride and coaster collection was, with tons of classic flats, a couple of modern ones and then an eclectic mix of coasters, 2 CCI woodies, a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang and the OG Knott’s Corkscrew, what a weird collection! I also knew that the park only ran one train on all their coasters and when you combo that with good crowds and social distancing procedures you have a recipe for long lines (which was true all day). So I took advantage of being in the park early and hopped in line for Timber Terror - the CCI I was less excited to ride.
Timber Terror
So I know that you’re not supposed to look up POVs for rides ahead of time but I was too excited to not and it definitely shaped my expectations for this ride. The POVs show a woodie that seems to be disappointingly slow and relatively force less. And that just about matches my expectations. The layout isn’t the most creative essentially just being an out and back coaster with a bonus helix at the end. And it just wasn’t very forceful. A couple of the first hills had a tiny bit of airtime but nothing to write home about. Luckily it wasn’t very rough. But let me couch these findings by saying that I rode on one of the first couple of trains of the day and squarely in the middle. I definitely wanted another ride on it to see if it improves later in the day.
Tremors
Next up was the ride I was most excited to ride. At this point in the day, the line was nearly at the entrance which is pretty intimidating looking especially considering that there really wasn’t much group spacing in the queue. All told, the wait ended up being 30-45 minutes and the line was a good bit longer after I left the ride. So let’s start with the good, this ride is really unique and interesting! I love the tunnels throughout the ride, especially the one you can see from the giftshop. The layout is much more unique than Timber Terror. The first drop and airtime hill were fantastic with great airtime throughout. The rest of the ride, however, felt much more sluggish and devoid of airtime. But again, I rode it fairly early in the morning so I wanted another ride to form a better opinion.
Aftershock
After Tremors was the final coaster in Roller Coaster Alley: Aftershock! Like I mentioned in my SFNE TR, I was really looking forward to getting on a GIB but was thoroughly disappointed by Goliath. I thought that it was rattly to the point of pain and is one of my least favorite coasters I’ve ever ridden. But I was willing to give Aftershock a chance considering that it used the original Vekoma trains instead of newer Premier ones like SFNE. After waiting another hour or so to ride I finally got on. And I enjoyed it much more than Goliath! Don’t get me wrong, Boomerang is still in it’s DNA and there was a healthy amount of head banging in the cobra roll but it wasn’t enough to ruin the ride for me. The vertical drops are airtime full and the inversions are forceful. Getting pulled up the vertical spike facing down is such a strange and unique feeling. Overall I’m glad to finish the US GIB collection and look forward to eventually making it overseas to sample their GIBs!
After riding Aftershock it was around 1:30pm and I hadn’t eaten beyond hotel breakfast so it was time for lunch. Since I already planned on getting some pizza and watching the park owner’s son’s magic show at 7 I wanted something a little different so I went to the all-you-can-eat BBQ place. Or at least it was supposed to be all-you-can-eat in principle but in practice it was one plate because of the 20-30 minute line to get a plate. I didn’t feel cheated or anything since I got a huge plate to start with and wasn’t really hungry after my first plate. Plus the plate was only $13 which is less than a tiny burger at most Six Flags parks so go Silverwood!
Corkscrew
Let’s get historical! I was definitely looking forward to getting on the first modern inverting coaster. Well it’s a good thing that it’s historical because it’s definitely pretty dated. It wasn’t super rough which is never a given with an Arrow ride but it was just so short: a drop, turnaround and 2 corkscrews. Even though I wasn’t super impressed with it, I’m glad that such a historically important coaster is well preserved and given plenty of kids their first inverting coasters!
Krazy Koaster
It’s an SBF Visa 🤷. Funny that the two that I’ve ridden have been in pretty remote places: Dubai and Idaho!
Tiny Toot
I’ll let you guess how intense this ride is based on the name.
After riding Tiny Toot, I was all done with all of the coasters at the park! I went to get a milkshake and work on this TR for a few minutes and then went to get some pictures and video of the coasters around the park! Unfortunately as I was finishing up Tremors, it started raining leaving me to shelter in place in the Tremors gift shop. The gift shop is actually one of the cooler ones in the world given that the spot where I hung out featured the tunnel that the coaster passes through. What a cool spot to sit!
Eventually the rain stopped and I was able to resume my regularly scheduled picture and video taking. Around 7pm I went over to catch the last showing of the day of the park’s magic show but after getting to the venue, I found that the venue was full and I was unfortunately turned away. Oh well, I’ll get to it next time! So instead I headed over to one of the stores on the park’s Main Street where I had some fish and chips.
After eating, I got my last batch of pictures/videos and headed over to Timber Terror where I wanted to get that make up ride after an underwhelming ride this morning.
Timber Terror
Wow, this was a totally different experience! After waiting through another breakdown or two and 40 minutes later I was on in the second to last car. I was treated to a much faster more airtime filled ride. It’s not going to make anyone think it’s Steel Vengeance but it had solid airtime throughout even if the last couple of hills are taken too slowly to give many forces. This ride around was just a little before sundown which is a shame since I think a night ride would make this coaster even better!
Tremors
For my last ride of the day I hopped into line for Tremors. After 45 minutes or so I finally got to the station and boarded the middle of the train. At this point it was completely dark out and I had a feeling that the ride would be a good one pulling out of the station in the pitch black. Just like my first ride the first drop and airtime hill were great but this time around the rest of the course felt much faster and the tunnels were so much cooler (temperature wise) that it was an awesome contrast. The standout moment for sure was the last set of tunnels. The photo flash goes off immediately before diving into the tunnel and blinds you making the normally dark tunnel pitch black. What am awesome way to finish off the night!
Silverwood was a great little park and definitely worth the trip up from Denver. I look forward to visiting again when the park hopefully adds something new (maybe an RMC prototype?)