Californias Great America
vs
Silver Dollar City

On a typical day Silver Dollar City queues less: about 22 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America, a difference of roughly 20 minutes on every queue you join.

See both right now Compare other parks

01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Californias Great America and Silver Dollar City compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Californias Great AmericaUnited States	Silver Dollar CityUnited States
Average wait per ride	42 min	22 min (best of the two)
Rides with recorded waits	13	28 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Tiki Twirl78 min	Hugo & Mary's Carousel95 min
Shortest typical queue	Whitewater Falls6 min	Fireman's Flyers9 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	Not recorded	93%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Californias Great America and Silver Dollar City compared on live queue times
Right now	Californias Great AmericaUnited States	Silver Dollar CityUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day On a typical day Silver Dollar City queues less: about 22 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America, a difference of roughly 20 minutes on every queue you join.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Californias Great America if…

You will accept a longer queue - 42 minutes a ride here against 22 at Silver Dollar City - for what Californias Great America has that Silver Dollar City does not
Tiki Twirl is on your list - it is Californias Great America's longest typical queue at about 78 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Californias Great America's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Silver Dollar City if…

You want shorter queues: Silver Dollar City averages 22 minutes a ride against 42 at Californias Great America
You want more to do: 28 rides here have recorded wait data against 13 at Californias Great America
Hugo & Mary's Carousel is on your list - it is Silver Dollar City's longest typical queue at about 95 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Silver Dollar City's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Californias Great America

California's Great America sits in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's a mid-sized park with a solid coaster line-up: Gold Striker (a highly-rated GCI wooden coaster), RailBlazer (a single-rail raptor coaster), Flight Deck inverted coaster, and The Demon. A Boomerang Bay water park operates on the same site in the summer.

Bay Area locals keep Great America steady year-round, with US school holidays and the WinterFest event driving the biggest crowds. Weekdays in April, May and September are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Gold Striker and RailBlazer on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a quieter day - the park has been undergoing ownership and site changes that can affect operating patterns.

Californias Great America live queue times

Silver Dollar City

Silver Dollar City is a 1880s-themed park in Branson, Missouri, sitting above the famous Marvel Cave. It mixes a traditional craftsmen village with a strong modern coaster line-up: Outlaw Run (one of the world's best wooden coasters), Time Traveler (a record-breaking spinning coaster), Powder Keg, and the newer Wildfire and Mystic River Falls. Live music and period crafts are core to the park's identity.

Silver Dollar City's peak periods are the US summer break, the extremely popular Pumpkin Nights and Old Time Christmas events, and weekend visits from Branson tourists. Weekdays in May, September and early December stay calmer. Check live queue times for Time Traveler and Outlaw Run first thing, and use our crowd calendar to plan around peak event weekends.

Silver Dollar City live queue times

05 · Questions

Californias Great America or Silver Dollar City?

Which is better, Californias Great America or Silver Dollar City?

If you are judging on queues, Silver Dollar City: it averages about 22 minutes a ride on a typical day against 42 at Californias Great America, roughly 20 minutes back on every queue you join. Californias Great America has 13 rides with recorded waits against 28 at Silver Dollar City.

Which has shorter queues, Californias Great America or Silver Dollar City?

Silver Dollar City, by about 20 minutes a ride. On a typical day Silver Dollar City averages 22 minutes against 42 at Californias Great America. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Californias Great America best time to visit and Silver Dollar City best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Californias Great America and Silver Dollar City in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Californias Great America and Silver Dollar City for the full ride lists.

Is Californias Great America bigger than Silver Dollar City?

By rides we track waits for, Silver Dollar City is the bigger day out: 28 rides against 13. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Silver Dollar City is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Californias Great America calendar Silver Dollar City calendar Compare other parks