Celebration City: Branson, Missouri
My family has fond memories of Celebration City. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to take the kids there occasionally, when they were little. Celebration City, which opened in 2003, was a sister theme park to Silver Dollar City. The theme park took the place of Branson USA, which had opened on the site in 1999 but closed in 2001 after a short struggle to thrive. The Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation purchased the property in 2002, and reformatted the property into a 20th century themed park, based off of Route 66 and small town America. The endeavor cost about 40 million, and featured a laser, water and fireworks show, a large, wooden roller coaster called the Wildcat (demolished in 2015), and other rides and shops. In October of 2008, Herschend Family Entertainment announced it would finish the season and then close the park’s doors, due to unmet financial expectations. A huge THANK YOU to Paul Drabek/Negative-G.com for permission to use these wonderful images!
