Summer 2018: Montana/Silverwood Road Trip Part III - Silverwood Theme Park

After 12 years of living in the Pacific Northwest, we finally made it to Silverwood themepark. It's super fun and much more family friendly than our local Wild Waves. It reminded me a lot of Lagoon in Utah. The rides generally have lower height requirements, there are more rides adults can go on with their kids, and several rides allow one adult to share a seat with multiple kids. That's my biggest let down with Wild Waves. The one time I tried going alone with both kids was miserable because there wasn't much we could all go on together. It's really not worth going unless we bring another adult with us. At Silverwood they have a lot more options, so Oscar and I were able to rotate one of us riding with the kids while the other rode the thrill rides.

We started off all riding the Antique Cars, where all 4 of us got to sit in the same car together! Next Oscar rode the scrambler with the kids and I did the tilt a whirl while the other did the Corkscrew coaster. Scrambler is one of only three rides that I can do with both kids at the same time at Wild Waves, so I wasn't too fussed to miss out on it.

Then we swapped off and Oscar rode the Corkscrew while I took both kids on the Tilt a Whirl. They loved it! In each case we finished the coaster long before the other finished the family ride and were able to get cute pictures of each other.

Silverwood has two fun and intense wooden roller coasters, and Tyler could already go on them! You only have to be 42 inches if you ride with an adult. Wild Waves wooden coaster isn't nearly as intense, but you have to be 48 inches minimum. The coasters are popular and the lines were pretty long by then, so Oscar and Tyler went off to wait in line for Tremors while Allison and I checked out some more family rides. Here we are on the bumper boats, barn stormer, and tiny toot coaster.

I also liked that there was a kids' play area, which is something Wild Waves could desperately use. It was small, but Allison ran laps around it at least 20 times before wanting to ride more rides. It was a good way to get her energy out before she went down for nap.

We met back up with Oscar and Tyler at the Kiddie Coaster before heading out of the park. We stayed in a trailer I found on Expedia that evening and the owner was kind enough to let us check in early enough for Allison to get a nap at a reasonable hour.

Just as we were leaving we saw Garfield in the gift shop and had to get pictures.

 I got Allison down for a nap in the trailer bed (where she was later joined by daddy) while Oscar and Tyler grabbed lunch at Taco Bell. We returned to the park and went straight to the waterpark. There were barely any lines by then so Tyler and I went on all their fabulous waterslides. After the waterpark closed Oscar and I swapped around taking Allison on rides, doing coasters with Tyler, and riding thrill rides alone. I really liked doing the Panic Plunge and riding Timber Terror with Tyler in the dark.

Oscar tried to ride Aftershock while I took the kids on our last ride, the ferris wheel, but Aftershock closed and he ended up doing another coaster again. He got back in time to snap these pictures of us. I like that this ferris wheel lets me sit with both kids in the same cart.

Tyler fell asleep in the car on the drive back to the trailer. He didn't even wake up when we got him out.

The trailer wasn't available the next day, so we found a Bed and Breakfast only 2 miles away from the park (unfortunately it's pretty much the only lodging less than 14 miles from the park). They let us check in super early (10am) and the kids were able to explore the farm and pet the animals while we waited for the themepark to open.

They thoroughly enjoyed themeselves, and it was nice to give them a different form of entertainment. The animals were very friendly, especially this one gray cat who kept following us around begging for more affection. 

In the parking lot on our way to the park that morning, Allison got her first bee sting. We were concerned since it was her first one and Oscar's allergic, but she doesn't appear to react any more than most people. She was much more interested in doing rides than ice and comforting. We swapped off doing coasters and thrill rides while the lines were short.

Oscar finally got to do the Aftershock ride he'd missed the previous evening while I did the log flume with the kids.

After that we took the kids on the Train/Wild West show. We really should have just take Allison back for nap because she was super tired and fussy by then, and by the time Oscar did get her back she was overstimulated and wouldn't settle down for a long time. The pic on the left looks like my head is growing out of her tiny body.

Our friends from our old ward live in Spokane now and have season passes to Silverwood, and they were actually able to meet up with me while Oscar took the kids back to the Bed and Breakfast. I was able to do the Aftershock, Spincycle, and several other rides with them while the kids hard their downtime. Then I went into the pizzeria where the magic show takes place to get some pizza for our dinner. Oscar and the kids found me there and we ate before Allison and I went to Boulder Beach. Tyler and Oscar tried to see the 7pm show but had left the building to take some things back to the car and weren't allowed back in when they returned at 6:50. It was already too full. Next time we'll make the magic show a bigger priority. The little bit I got to see while in line to order pizza was fabulous.

Cute Tyler wanted to be measured on every ride.

We let the kids pick whatever they wanted at that point, and the froghopper never disappoints. I also did the Butterfly swing with the kids, which is just like swinging on an enormous playground swing, and we even did the bumper boats in the dark while doing our our best to avoid getting wet.

The kids took one last ride on the planes before the park closed and we went drove back to the B&B.

The next morning the kids had some final fun on the farm before we started our long drive home. Too bad that was by far the warmest day. I wished we'd had another silverwood day to just do waterrides and the waterpark. The extra affectionate cat tried to hide in our luggage and even jumped in the car with us as Oscar was loading up.

As promised we returned to climb the wild horses on our drive home. Allison was less fascinated by them up close than when they were far away and she thought they might be real.

I was sliding too much to help Tyler down the hill (he wanted me to carry him), so Oscar told Allison to sit down on a rock and wait for me while he went back up to help Tyler (who was convinced he was going to die).

 And lastly we stopped at a McDonalds in Ellensburg before the kids spent most of the rest of the drive home sleeping.