Wildcat to be Demolished at Celebration City
After sitting dormant for six years, the Wildcat roller coaster at former Celebration City is set to be demolished. The process will take several months and will start immediately. Celebration City is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment, the same company that owns Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.
coastergallery.com
The company stated that the only reason the Wildcat had not been taken down sooner was that the funds were not present to do so. They went on to say that there was no way that the coaster could have been relocated due to its unique structure. Many of the attractions that operated at Celebration City have already been moved to other parks or dismantled to use as parts for other rides.
bransontrilakesnews.com
Before Herschend Family Entertainment bought the park, it operated as Branson USA and was only open from 1999 to 2001 (closed due to financial issues). The company had high hopes for Celebration City to complement the nearby Silver Dollar City, but the park failed and closed in 2008. There are no plans as far as what will occupy the land next.
Did you get the chance to visit this park while it was open? Let us know!
My wife and I went to college in nearby Springfield and had season passes to Sdc/CC/WW for several summers. We loved going to Celebration City with the themeing of the 50’s, night time sights and sounds and the amazing Ozark Wildcat. It reminds me a lot of American Thunder at SfSl. They also had a really cool light and water video show that you would lay on a grass hill each night to view that was amazing. Lots of great memories at that park and visit SDC each year from our now home of Peoria IL.
Thanks for sharing Tyson!
I’m not as upset by this as I should be, now if it was the Geauga Lake Big Dipper of the Williams Grove Cyclone on the other hand, I’d be outraged, Big Dipper tuned 90 years old this year (I’m already outraged about Nightmare). The only park in the chain that would be able to fit Ozark Wildcat would be Wild Adventures.
But it does bother me that woodies are fairly rapidly being taken out here in the U.S. without many replacements. Considering that we invented the modern wooden coaster (and the modern roller coaster as a result), it’s just sad.