Get ready to ride 'Ricochet Rapids'

COEUR d'ALENE - Sure, it's still snowing, it's still cold and it's still winter.

But the staff at Silverwood is thinking summer.

The theme park is spending more than $2 million on new attractions at its Boulder Beach water park. The highlight will be a family raft ride named "Ricochet Rapids" that will flow down a 40-foot hill into a 30-foot valley with a steep drop into a 20-foot diameter enclosed mega tube.

There will also be new family water rides "Butterflyer" and "Froghopper," and a new shooting gallery.

Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood spokeswoman, said Boulder Beach continues to grow in popularity. On a normal day at the park 15 miles north of Coeur d'Alene, 60 percent of the visitors use the water park. Slides including Avalanche Mountain, Velocity Peak and Rumble Falls, and other water attractions like Boulder Bay Beach, are usually at capacity.

"It is becoming more and more popular," she said Wednesday.

She said Silverwood owner Gary Norton believes Ricochet Rapids will gain a strong following this summer when the mercury rises.

"Five to six riders will 'ricochet' up and down the sides of this gargantuan tube before continuing down the sharp turns and drops of the mountain," according to a press release. "On this ride everyone gets wet."

"He thought it would be a great complement to Avalanche Mountain," DiGiammarco said.

Silverwood attracted a record 628,000 guests last year, and continues to look for ways to bring more people to the area, even in the fall. It invested more than $1 million in Scarywood, when the park is turned into a Halloween haunted house.

"We always have new rides on the drawing board," she said.

All told, Silverwood covers 216 acres and has more than 65 rides, slides, shows and attractions. It opened in 1988, and has become the most attended attraction in the state of Idaho. Silverwood has seen growth in both revenue and attendance since the installation of Tremors rollercoaster in 1999.

DiGiammarco said Butterflyer and Froghopper are designed for moms, dads and their children.

"We just felt we needed more children's rides," she said.

The park is seeing kids who grew up in the '90s playing at Silverwood are now returning as moms and dads with children of their own.

"We've hit that second generation," she said.

The new Ricochet Rapids, children's water rides and shooting gallery add up to an investment of more than $2.3 million and will benefit both the park and the local economy, she said. It's estimated that of the guests who visited Silverwood in 2010, 400,000 were visitors who spent about $68 million in the region.

Construction on the newest attractions is scheduled to begin this month. They should be ready for splash down by June 17.