Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho is a Family Favorite

Silverwood Theme Park is located on Highway 95 just North of Coeur D'Alene Idaho. Since moving to Northwestern Montana 3 years ago, Silverwood Theme Park has become a favorite family summer destination for us. The elementary school that my daughter attends offers the children the chance to earn a free ticket for themselves just by reading 10 hours over the course of a couple of months. Plus, we've found that Costco offers advanced purchase, discounted tickets as well. This really helps defray the costs quite a bit. At regular price, a one day pass will run you $36.99 plus 6% tax for anyone 8 to 64 years of age, 19.99 for Kids 3 -7 and Adults over 65, but kids under 3 are still free. A huge parking lot is across the highway and is just $4.00.

The biggest attraction for Silverwood has got to be it's 2 gigantic wooden roller coasters and 140 tower ride. Just spying them from the road is enough to make one sweat a bit. The first roller coaster, Tremors, tops out at about 65 miles an hour as it plunges you in through a dark tunnel. There is a camera set up to take pictures at this point to show you just how much "fun" you're having. And of course you can purchase copies of this keepsake item at the Tremors gift shop after your ride is through. The second roller coaster, Timber Terror, does just what the name says, it terrorizes you while the speed and velocity lift you off your seat a few times over the coarse of the 90 second ride that feels like about a day and a half. A new attraction Silverwood Theme Park added last year is called Panic Plunge. Panic Plunge slowly lifts you and about 10 other fellow thrill seekers over 100 feet in the air and then plummets you down at a rate of nearly 50 miles an hour before coming to an abrupt stop. Truly a heart stopper if I ever felt one.

Besides the over-the-top rides, Silverwood offers other more main stream carnival type rides as well. We have several family favorites in this section of the park. One of our favorites is Thunder Canyon. On Thunder Canyon, eight people ride a huge inner tube down a slow to medium flowing river. The bumpy terrain and surprise fountains make for 100% chance of getting soaked, so be prepared. Another wet ride is the Log Flume. One can actually stay kind of dry on this ride, unless someone at the bottom drops a quarter in a machine at the right moment so as to activate a huge water gun soaking all passengers pretty well. Another favorite is driving the Antique cars and the old fashioned Merry-Go-Round. Both rather tame and demure rides but a nice change of pace to say the least.

Of course the water park called Boulder Beach has got to be the best hangout on a hot summer day. It seems if it wasn't cool enough, this area of the park will be almost doubling in size this year with 4 new attractions. Boulder Beach features a great young children's play area called Polliwog Park, a huge wave pool, steep and curly slides, and even a more relaxed, slow moving, lazy creek. Silverwood is adding 2 more high intensity water features this year. One will be another huge wave pool and another attraction called Avalanche Mountain. Sure to be yet another thriller.

But besides all the rides and attractions, one would be remiss if you didn't stop to check out all the fun on Main Street. The original 1915 steam engine train ride through the woods is always a favorite for the young and old. You'll usually find Garfield, the cat, and his side kick Odie making an appearance now and then along main street. . The daily magic show and ice shows are spectacular. Main street even has a theater, but we have never had enough time (or energy for that matter) to take in a flick. There are also plenty of eateries, gift shops and games to play too.

I have to admit, with over 65 rides and attractions plus the water park, it's hard to do it all in just one day, but we manage to pack in as much as we can and still drive the hour and a half home, late at night, happy yet exhausted. However, if at all possible I would suggest either staying overnight in the RV park or a local motel or hotel and doing the park in a couple of days. Besides the one day pass, they do offer 2 day passes and season passes as well. And It seems all of the lodging partners do offer special package rates too. All in all, Silverwood Theme Park, just outside of the scenic Coeur D'Alene, Idaho area is real winner when it comes to good old fashioned/thrilling family fun.