There's a new adventure to put on your calendar!

In spring 2027, Silver Dollar City will open Miner's Mountain Express, a new family coaster inspired by the real Ozarks history surrounding Marvel Cave. The ride will send families racing through the mountains aboard runaway mine cars as they search for a lost entrance to the cave, dodging boulders, rugged terrain and even a flooded mine shaft along the way.

And while there are plenty of numbers to get excited about, the story behind the ride may be my favorite part. The coaster runs 3,553 feet of track (more than half a mile, making it the longest family coaster in the Midwest), lasts 3 minutes and 18 seconds, and climbs two lift hills on its way to 15 moments of airtime, more than any other ride at the park. And if your family's thrill tolerance tops out before it starts, here's some reassurance: there are no inversions. The train never goes upside down.

The adventure is rooted in the history of the Marble Cave Mining Company, which operated on the site in the 1880s. When prospectors discovered that the cave contained no marble, it eventually became known as Marvel Cave, the natural landmark that would inspire the creation of Silver Dollar City itself. (Marvel Cave is actually a U.S. Registered Natural Landmark, first explored by the Osage people centuries before the miners ever showed up.) That connection to the Ozarks is woven into nearly every part of Miner's Mountain Express right down to the 15-story headframe towering over the ride, an authentic working headframe pulled from a real Missouri mine.

The ride lives in Daredevil Pass, a newly created section of the park that connects it to fellow thrill rides WildFire, PowderKeg and the American Plunge — so if you've got riders who want to chain together the big stuff, that part of the park just got a lot more convenient. Families board one of three mine-car-style trains (24 riders each, led by a metal-look car with a mounted pickaxe, trailed by wood-look cars behind it) for the search.

For families, perhaps the biggest draw is that this isn't designed exclusively for the biggest thrill-seekers. With a minimum height of 39 inches (when riding with a companion age 14 or older), the ride is intended to be an adventure multiple generations can enjoy together. As Silver Dollar City Company president Brad Thomas put it:

"This family coaster has been designed so that multiple generations of families can enjoy the mountain-themed adventure together."

If you've ever dragged your young family all over the park looking for something to do, you know that's good news!

Silver Dollar City is calling it a celebration of the grit and determination that helped build the Ozarks. And that feels particularly fitting. The ride's fictional mining foreman, Jedidiah "Jed" Campbell, leads riders on the search for the lost cave entrance with a simple philosophy: where there's a will, there's a way.

The coaster and the new Silver Dollar City Resort are both scheduled to open in 2027 as part of a $150 million investment in the park's next chapter. Miner's Mountain Express will also mark the end of an era as it replaces Thunderation, which closes January 2, 2027 after 33 years of operation. It's a custom collaboration between Silver Dollar City, Herschend Creative Studios and MACK Rides of Waldkirch, Germany, the same family-owned manufacturer behind the park's Time Traveler coaster.

For Northwest Arkansas families, that means another reason to make the short trip into the Ozarks, and another ride that could become part of the family tradition.