Silver Dollar City announces largest investment in park history. Here's what to know

Silver Dollar City unveiled a "historic announcement" on Thursday, outlining the next decade for the amusement park.

Earlier this year, Silver Dollar City broke ground on a portion of its 1,200 undeveloped acreage for the new Silver Dollar City Resort, expected to open at the end of 2026. The seven-story resort will be located to the west of the amusement park, overlooking Table Rock Lake. It will feature 260 themed rooms, an indoor-outdoor pool, a full-service restaurant, 1,700-square-feet of meeting space and a special entrance to Silver Dollar City, President Brad Thomas shared to eager media and guest on Thursday afternoon.

Silver Dollar City Resort is just one piece of the Silver Dollar City Parks and Resort investment. Over the next 10 years, Herschend Family Entertainment, Silver Dollar City's parent company, will invest half a billion dollars into the undeveloped acreage that it purchased about a year and a half ago. Of the total $500 million, about $100 million will be utilized for the Silver Dollar City Resort, Herschend CEO Andrew Wexler told the News-Leader. Thomas said in the coming years, the company will announce further developments.

"People don't really know the Herschend name. It's not like Disney, where you kind of know what that means," Wexler said. "For us, it's about the local brand and local community. Silver Dollar City is about the Ozarks."

Though specific details were not shared, Wexler said guests can expect Silver Dollar City's crafting element to make its way into the resort.

Ahead of construction, significant landscaping must be done to the area where the resort will sit. Wexler said ground was broken on the project about a month ago.

More: Silver Dollar City will debut a new spring festival next year

"It's an aggressive construction schedule," Thomas said, of expecting the resort to be ready for guests by 2026.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was one of several guests at Thursday's announcement.

"When they told me they were going to do this resort, to me, it's like sticking a flag in the ground and saying, 'We're here to stay. We believe in what we do when it comes to family entertainment and we're here forever,'" Parson said at the construction site on Thursday. "What a great statement to make."

The discussion of opening a Silver Dollar City resort has been in some sort of talks for nearly 20 years. Wexler said when he was hired as a consultant by Herschend Family Entertainment in 2007, he was brought on specifically to create a hospitality strategy for the company's theme parks. But just a year later, in 2008, the financial crisis sidelined those plans. Fast forward a few years, in 2015, Herschend was able to open Dollywood's DreamMore Resort & Spa in conjunction with Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Following the DreamMore's success, the company began exploring other, new ideas.

Herschend Family Entertainment owns several well-known attractions throughout the Midwest, including Silver Dollar City, Dolly Parton's Stampede, Showboat Branson Belle, Dollywood, Kentucky Kingdom & Hurricane Bay and Pink Jeep Tours.

The past 12 months have been busy for Silver Dollar City staff and fans. In March, the amusement park unveiled its brand new Fire In The Hole roller coaster .

Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. She has more than five years of journalism experience covering everything from Ozarks history to Springfield’s LGBTQIA+ community. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@news-leader.com .

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Silver Dollar City announces largest investment in park history. Here's what to know