 There are a few huge players in North America when it comes to amusement park chains which focus on high-thrill and family entertainment markets. These chains operate numerous amusement parks located across the continent. There is a chain in particular, however, that puts more focus onto far less properties, resulting mostly in more themed experiences and attraction resorts. These properties include three theme parks that offer a good selection of thrilling roller coasters, flat rides, family and kids attractions, and live entertainment, among other things. This chain is known as Herschand Family Entertainment, and I will be looking at each of these three parks and doing my best to predict which roller coaster will get the X first at each of these parks. Before I get into my selection for each of these three parks, I do have a caveat to discuss before doing that, just as I did in the last video of this series with the SeaWorld Entertainment parks. Two of the Herschand parks have been around for a very long time, but even still, I don't believe a coaster removal is necessarily imminent for the very near future at any of these parks. Only over the past decade has Herschand really begun to put more of a focus on high-profile thrill coasters resulting in rapid expansion for their two main parks. As a result, a large majority of these rides are safe, and I had to make very difficult decisions for each one of these parks and deciding which I think will go next based on my perceived popularity, maintenance issues, and other factors that go into determining whether a ride stays or leaves. I certainly do not know these parks inside and out, and these predictions aren't meant to be taken too seriously, just a way to discuss what I think may happen in the future. Let's get into my selections. The first park on the list is Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. For Dollywood, I did have a couple options in mind, and I did consider Mystery Mine, which is one of their earlier thrill coasters they added from 2007. It's the first coaster of its kind that came to the United States, and it does seem to get some mixed reviews, but it is a very popular ride, and ultimately I decided on Blazing Fury. Now, I love Blazing Fury. I actually think it's a really cool, unique ride. It's a mix of a dark ride and roller coaster. This was actually built by Park Maintenance Staff way back in the 70s, and like I said, it opened in 1978, and because of that, you know, it's an older ride. It's over 40 years old. I'm sure it's getting harder to maintain, and it doesn't really seem to be that popular. When I went to Dollywood in December of 2019, it was very busy, and a lot of the time, this didn't have that long of a line. It is kind of tucked away in the park, and it's pretty easy for this to get overlooked, and I think maybe in the coming years, if they remove this, this could maybe be replaced by a modern dark ride and or coaster. I know Dollywood has sent out surveys before asking about a potential new indoor roller coaster, and I've also heard some rumors about a dark ride coming to Dollywood in the future for Phase 2 of Wildwood Grove. So maybe they're looking to add a more modern type of dark ride to the collection in anticipation of getting rid of this. As it currently stands, it does seem like Blazing Fury is popular to go to during times of bad weather, such as when it gets really rainy out, because it is indoors, and this is basically the only indoor ride at Dollywood. So I could definitely see this getting removed in the future due to its age, and it's likely getting harder to maintain and probably needs a lot more work done to it than the other rides. So ultimately Blazing Fury I think will go next at Dollywood. For Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, I selected Fire in the Hole, which opened at Silver Dollar City in 1972. This is pretty much the same thing as Blazing Fury. This opened before Blazing Fury, so Blazing Fury was probably based off of this ride, but they're both very similar, they're both technically roller coasters that function as dark rides, and opening in 1972, that makes Fire in the Hole 48 years old this year. So it's a very old ride, so I'm sure it is getting harder to maintain. I'm not exactly sure how popular it is, but I imagine that it's not one of the most popular rides in the park. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's just how I perceive it. But I'm sure it's also costly and time-consuming to upkeep this ride, and this could also potentially be replaced with an updated dark ride I feel like. I'm sure they wouldn't get rid of the building and infrastructure of this ride, but maybe they could use what is there for a more modern type of ride, or even a roller coaster. The last park is Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia. This park is really interesting. This park was acquired by Herschand in 2007, and it's by far the newest park on the list. And this was the hardest selection for me to make by far. I had several options for this park in mind. I considered several of the coasters including Boomerang, Cheetah, Go Bananas, and Twisted Typhoon. Ultimately, I selected Boomerang, which is a Vakoma Boomerang, and the reason I picked this, ultimately, was because it is the oldest coaster in the park, beating the Vakoma SLC Twisted Typhoon by only one year. This park does have mostly family coasters, and it doesn't get significant investment, unlike the other two Herschand parks have in more recent years. In reality, I believe the SLC Twisted Typhoon could be just as likely to go, but I don't know how popular these rides are for guests in the park, and I don't know a whole lot about the park. The thing about Vakoma Boomerangs and SLCs is that they are actually very reliable rides and hold up for a very long time and are easy and cheap to maintain, even though many guests complain about them. I really think though that the major coasters at this park are probably safe for some time, as wild adventures likely won't see any large investments from Herschand for the foreseeable future. Like I said, Herschand bought this park in 2007, they haven't really put a whole lot of money into it. It's mostly smaller family additions and themed areas and things like that. Certainly nothing on the level of Dollywood or Silver Dollar City. What do you think as far as which roller coasters could potentially be on the chopping block next for each of these parks? As previously mentioned, I think most, if not all of these coasters are safe for some time, but I think some of them could pose a challenge to their respective parks where they may have to make a decision to remove them due to maintenance upkeep issues among other things. Let me know your thoughts, subscribe, like this video if you enjoyed it, and like my page CoasterDaddy on Facebook and follow me at CoasterDaddy official on Instagram. Also, don't forget to check out the other videos available from this series and a playlist on my channel if you haven't seen them yet. Thanks for watching, this is CoasterDaddy, bye.