Silverwood Theme Park | INW Partnership & Project for Emerald Forest

A staple for locals and families in the Idaho panhandle, Silverwood theme park is in Athol, Idaho, near Coeur d’Alene and just a short drive from Spokane, Wash. Since its opening in 1988, the park has steadily grown in both size, popularity and attractions. After the 2023 season ended, Silverwood embarked on one of their biggest projects yet —the addition of the first ‘Water Coaster’ slide in the Pacific Northwest. The new slide, Eagle Hunt, was announced at the start of 2024 assuring the 750,000+ yearly attendees that the new slide will be well worth the trip to Idaho. Silverwood has worked on and completed numerous projects over the years, many small and intermittent in terms of individual scope. The 2024 project was an exception to the typical style of work.  A heavy pipe project, including 33 pumps, HX’s, boilers, chillers, along with HVAC. The project spans four acres and is the first dueling water coaster in the west and the longest dueling water coaster in the United States.  

The mission was simple: the water park becomes exceptionally busy during the summer months, with temperatures seeming to climb higher and higher each year, and the park knew they needed to expand the operations of its waterpark to meet the increasing demand. Further, the allure of a new park attraction is a surefire way to continue to appeal to crowds – both locally and regionally – as people are generally looking for new attractions when selecting how they spend their summer days.  

As the team began considering ways to grow the park and its offerings, they decided to focus on the Waterpark. Forget one slide, how about eight kiddie slides and one water coaster? The team’s wheels began turning and the desire for this addition came more starkly into view, with an added urgency to open before the 2024 summer season. What’s more, they needed a partner that could both handle the size and scope of the project in a way that would transform this four-acre space into a fully functional water slide.  

The Park needed a partner that was able to work in a highly complex and technical project space while being large enough to handle this challenge. McKinstry was ready to step to the plate, with expertise in both the complex projects and plumbing space and show how our experience results in the best possible outcomes for our clients.  As a consistent figure in the Spokane region and previous winner of work, McKinstry had previously aided Silverwood with crew capacity, engineering and design abilities, in-house MEP and various vendor relationships and resources. Due both to the successful completion of these projects and a growing relationship between the park and company, Silverwood was interested in the input of a trusted professional team. 

Beginning in October of 2023, Silverwood engaged McKinstry in design planning, requiring constant coordination with the site and slide piping system. Keeping in mind the tight timeline and an early June 2024 open date, project timelines became further and further compressed. To ensure a timely opening for Silverwood, McKinstry shifted our approach to include 26 plumbers and 13 electricians working seven days a week. One week saw 27 plumbers and 15 electricians. The final tally of work came in at 15,000 hours, with 13,000 in the final two months, all devoid of any safety incidents.  

Though there are always countless constraints and problems to solve with any project, Silverwood knew that they could trust McKinstry to set the park up for success this season and ensure that park attendees had a stellar new slide to ride. The cherry on top of this partnership cake was a seamless grand opening on June 8th of 2024 and the knowledge that the work we completed in the timeline was in great shape to support the droves of people looking to spend a fun summer day outside with their families. This also has the added benefit of being the longest dueling water coaster in the United States, a truth that will keep the crowds coming back for more all summer long. 

After many hours working through cold temperatures, snow, rain and sun, the Slide was completed on-time and Silverwood opened its doors to thousands of excited park attendees! In one of the last meetings with the owner, they shared that they’ve not seen an operation like what they witnessed on this project. We had a dedicated team that worked well together and took a great deal of pride in their work, and gained a great customer and will be there “For the Life of Your Building” (and slides).