Thunderation

Final Season

Get ready to rumble through the treetops one聽last time on the beloved runaway mine train,聽Thunderation, during the 2026 season. For more聽than 30 years the coaster has been a first ride for聽many a young miner and, as fitting, a year of fond聽farewells will be in store.

Opening in 1993, the 80-foot tall, 48 mile-per hour coaster with scenic views of the Ozarks along 3022 feet of track including a 910-degree, double helix into a mine shaft was considered Silver Dollar City鈥檚 first bona fide roller coaster and the start of a legacy of world-class, record-breaking thrills.

At its inception, Thunderation was the fastest聽mine train coaster to date and coaster groups聽like the American Coaster Enthusiasts (some聽of the first to ride it on its inaugural opening聽weekend) have always had a soft spot for the聽ride. Tim Baldwin, Events Director for ACE,聽wrote after riding it that opening year that it was聽a 鈥渟uccessful addition that puts Silver Dollar City聽on the coaster map. Hopefully it will lead to many聽more great rides in the future.鈥� And that it did!

The mine train ride was originally designed in聽Utah by Arrow Dynamics, where the steel track was manufactured and shaped before traveling聽to the park to be constructed together with聽timbers from Louisiana and Arkansas by Silver聽Dollar City, making it a one-of-a-kind attraction聽when it debuted.

Now, the recently reorganized Marvel Cave Mining Company is ordering the closure of the coaster lovingly referred to as TNT, an abbreviated version of ThuNderaTion, to take back this section of the park for geological surveys. They鈥檝e requested that the tracks be vacated to resume mining operations in the depths of The City鈥檚 cave by the end of the 2026 season. 鈥淭hunderation has had its run,鈥� said Marvel Cave Mining Company鈥檚 Foreman, Jedidiah Campbell. 鈥淏ut this mountain was never meant to be borrowed forever. There are still undiscovered sections of that mine and we intend to see what it holds.鈥澛�

Rather than protest the decision, Silver Dollar聽City has declared the ensuing year one filled聽with special celebrations to give聽Thunderation the send-off it聽deserves and hopes to strike a聽payload of fun along the way!