If you're looking for the perfect way to immerse your family in the holiday spirit, every sense will be delighted with merriment at Silver Dollar City. The festive season runs from Thanksgiving through New Year's.
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Words (and in this case even pictures) cannot express how magical this theme park becomes during the holiday season. We visited in Mid-December to take advantage of smaller crowds as the park becomes quite the spectacle over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.
What to Expect
Silver Dollar City (SDC) is a theme park filled with rides, shows, demonstrations, shopping, food, and much more. Year-round, this theme park embraces an old time feeling of an era characterized by early pioneer settlers and Victorian-inspired luxury.
That feeling gets a merry holiday makeover, filled with storybook traditions that bring the Christmas spirit to life through light displays, live caroling, and Christmas-themed-everything.
Christmas Lights Everywhere
Hands down, SDC offered the most awe-inspiring Christmas light display in the Ozarks. The theme park illuminated every detail of the park in more than 6.5 million lights strung up on buildings and wrapped around trees.
Festive Food & Seasonal Treats
During our trip, we enjoyed massive cinnamon rolls--which is a nod to our family tradition of enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. And, we ended the evening with a cozy way to satisfy a sweet tooth by enjoying warm, fresh baked cookies and cocoa from a street vendor.
Other seasonal favorites include:
Christmas Prime Rib
Molly's Mill Homestyle Holiday Buffet
Deep Fried Tater Twists Wrapped Around a Gourmet Hot Dog
Country Cooking Skillets
Funnel Cakes in Every Style & Flavor
Massive Whoopie Pies
Cokes and Floats
Caramel Apples
Hot Chocolate
Wassail
Chester's Fresh Fried Kettle Chips
Tip: For $32.50 you can enjoy a seasonal tasting passport that will allow you to try out five select tastes from a variety of SDC eateries.
Family-Friendly Fun for Everyone
We visited the park with our five year old so we were most interested in finding kid-friendly fun for those below the 48-inch height requirement of the thrill-seeking coasters. If you're there for the rides, rest assured that there are plenty of options. And, because of the colder weather, we're willing to bet the lines are quite a bit shorter.
We enjoyed the Fire-in-the-Hole indoor roller coaster experience, the carousel, treehouses in Half Dollar Hollar, and the tea cups (twice). More adventurous members of our party also took a few rides on the Powder Keg.
If rides aren't really your thing, enjoy the large selection of other activities to keep everyone entertained.
Shop more than 60 boutiques throughout Silver Dollar City, each offering a curated selection of perfect gift ideas for the holiday season. I discovered the perfect small sling bag to carry things on day hikes or around theme parks and the most adorable stuffed animals called swaddle babies.
We also briefly stopped by to take a peak at a live nativity scene, but the cold weather kept us moving to warmer (indoor) destinations. SDC provides several Christmas-themed shows like:
Rudolph's Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade
A Dickens Christmas Carol
Coming Home for Christmas
Tinker Jr's Toy Shop
Frontier Fa-la-la-lollies
A Christmas to Remember Quartet
Grandpa's Christmas Story
Planning Your Holiday Trip to SDC
As you plan to visit Silver Dollar City to experience an Old Time Christmas, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the weather can feel comfortable during the day but gets colder as the sun goes down. It is December after all. I recommend packing a hat and gloves (and an ugly Christmas sweater) to stay warm.
Accessibility
If you have mobility needs, plan to rent a set of wheels or bring your own to get around the park. First, SDC is a large theme park and there is a lot of walking. But, what's more is that it's located in the Ozark mountains so there is a lot of walking up and down big hills.
We've also visited SDC with kids with special needs. You can read more about how the park accommodates every kind of need in our post: Experience Silver Dollar City.
Tickets
In 2022, a single day pass for admission is $85 (ages 12 & Up) or $75 (ages 4-11). Similar to the summer season, SDC allows late arrivals (after 7pm) to use their day pass the following day at no additional charge. We actually found the season pass to be the best value.
Tip: Buying a season pass is cheaper than buying two single day admission tickets. It's the best value for anyone within a drivable distance, as well as those who are staying for multiple days.
We visited the park in December 2022 and upgraded our admission tickets to a 2023 annual pass for just $65.
A few add-ons that I think are really worthwhile are the seasonal drink cups which can be purchased for $16.99 for the first cup and $13.99 for each additional cup, giving you discounted refills at dozens of restaurants and drink stands throughout the theme park. I'm also a fan of the tasting passport, which we plan to purchase on our next trip to the park.
If you're interested, you can also get discounted camping and tickets to the Branson Belle Showboat along with your season pass to Silver Dollar City.
Timing
While you can experience the Christmas event anytime between Thanksgiving and New Years, we find that timing is everything. A few years ago, we went the day after Thanksgiving and that was a little too people-y for our liking. I imagine that the week leading up to Christmas and every weekend are also busy. We visited the park on a Wednesday in mid-December, before the local schools let out for winter break and the experience was delightful. The weather was modest, with a high of 51-degrees and sunshine forecast during the day with clear skies and no wind at night.
Is the Old Time Christmas Experience Worth It?
It's not even a question, every bit of the SDC Old Time Christmas experience was delightful. Now that we've seen the 6.5 million lights that illuminate this theme park in December, every other Christmas light display is just a lot less. We didn't even hesitate to upgrade our season passes for 2023 and we're planning a multi-day trip for the next holiday season.
Ready to Plan Your Adventure?
Book a hotel stay for a multiple-day experience here (or check out any of Branson, MO’s other attractions). If you're coming to town, let us help you snag a great deal on your accommodations.
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