Silverwood Theme Park is expecting its ninth consecutive annual increase in attendance during the upcoming season that starts May 3.

Season-pass sales and group business are up over previous years, which is a good indicator for the upcoming season, says Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood’s marketing director.

“We would be happy with a 5 percent increase, but we expect it to be more,” DiGiammarco says.

The 2013 attendance totaled 679,000 people at the North Idaho theme park, about 30 miles north of Coeur d’Alene via U.S. 95, an increase of 3.5 percent compared with the year-earlier attendance.

A 5 percent increase in 2014 would put the total attendance at nearly 713,000.

“We would love to be over 700,000,” DiGiammarco says.

Entrepreneur Gary Norton, founder of former Spokane-based high-tech concern ISC Corp., opened Silverwood in 1988 as a working museum of sorts to display his historic airplanes, antique automobiles, and a vintage steam train.

Since then, Silverwood has grown into the largest theme park in the Pacific Northwest, DiGiammarco says.

For 2014, Silverwood will offer nearly 70 rides, slides, and attractions, including four roller coasters and the Boulder Beach water park.

The family-owned park adds attractions every year or two, which helps keep attendance on the rise, DiGiammarco says.

The new amenities this year will include a Puppy Go Round giant puppy ride, and the Krazy Koaster spinning family coaster ride, following last year’s addition of the Spin Cycle swinging and spinning open-seat thrill ride and a milder Barnstormer simulated biplane-motion ride.

The new rides will be located north of Garfield’s Summer Camp and east of the Butterflyer and Frog Hopper attractions, which the parked added in 2011.

The new amenities are part of a two-year, $1.2 million project that will expand the park’s family entertainment area by three-quarters of an acre, nearly doubling its size.

As part of the family entertainment area expansion, Silverwood also is preparing space this year for the planned 2015 opening of a kid-friendly “hot-air balloon” ride.

Silverwood also will open a new food venue to be named the Kidz Café in the family area, adding to the 26 food venues throughout the park, which include the full-service Lindy’s restaurant.

Silverwood also is constructing new restroom facilities in the family area and in the courtyard near the main park entrance. It also will open a special entrance for groups that purchase early bird tickets to Coaster Alley for exclusive use of the roller coasters an hour or so before the park opens to the general public.

Silverwood expects to employ 1,400 people throughout the season, DiGiammarco says. Most positions were filled following a recent job fair hosted by the theme park.

“At our first job fair this year, we hired more people than the previous year,” she says. “We had good attendance by well-qualified applicants.”

Silverwood still has some job openings for lifeguards, food-and-beverage employees, and cleaning staff, DiGiammarco says.

On a peak day in August last year, the park had about 775 employees on the grounds, she says.

Silverwood has a year-round staff of nearly 100 people, DiGiammarco says, adding that the permanent staff has doubled in the last five years.

“Now, there’s 11 of us in marketing and sales,” she says.

Silverwood is scheduled to open weekends in May and to begin daily operations on Memorial Day weekend, when Boulder Beach is scheduled to open.

The regular general admission price at the gate will be $46 per person. Prices for children aged 3 to 7 and for seniors over 65 will be $23 a day. Individual ticket prices for 2014 are up about $2 from last year.

Silverwood’s RV park, which has 132 full hookups, often fills to capacity during the summer. “If people are interested, I suggest they make reservations immediately,” DiGiammarco says. “It’s already sold out for the Fourth of July weekend.”

Silverwood’s Boulder Beach water park has 19 cabanas, which often sell out at $135 a day.

The cabanas overlook the park’s two wave pools while offering some privacy and shade.

They can accommodate six people comfortably, DiGiammarco says. 

Boulder Beach is scheduled to close after Labor Day, while the remainder of the park will continue to operate on weekends through September.

Since 2009, Silverwood has extended its year by converting the park in October to Scarywood, a Halloween-themed amusement park.

Scarywood is scheduled to open on Oct. 3, and operate on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through Nov. 1—a total of 14 dates.

“This year, I believe, we will gain a day,” DiGiammarco says. “Scarywood will be open on Halloween for the first time.”

DiGiammarco claims Silverwood is the most attended attraction in Idaho, drawing more than 200,000 visitors annually from the Seattle area.

Silverwood doesn’t disclose revenues, but the Idaho state Department of Commerce reported that Silverwood’s economic impact in Idaho totaled $79.5 million in 2011.

Diane Norton, who manages the tourism division of the Idaho Department of Commerce, says the department has contracted with Longwoods International, a Toronto, Ontario-based, tourism and travel research company, to conduct a study on travelers in Idaho.

Longwoods will present results of the study, which will update Silverwood’s economic impact data, later this spring, says Norton, who’s no relation to Gary Norton, the park’s creator.

“Silverwood is a huge draw, and it keeps expanding,” she says.

As well as attracting visitors from throughout the Pacific Northwest, Norton says, “Silverwood is popular with our Canadian friends to the north, who like to come down and experience it as well.”

Silverwood partners with several hotels that offer ticket and lodging packages in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area, including the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Hayden. The hotel is attached to the Triple Play Fun Park, which has its own water park and amusement attractions.

“We love Silverwood,” says Jennifer Ross, marketing director at the Holiday Inn.

Ross says 80 percent to 90 percent of the hotel’s summer guests go to Silverwood.

“We offer Silverwood packages on our website and also through a banner on the Silverwood website,” she says. “We get people from Seattle, Portland, the Tri-Cities, Montana, and Canada.”

The hotel and Triple Play likely wouldn’t exist without Silverwood, Ross says.

“A facility like ours usually needs a larger population base,” she says. “Because Silverwood is right up the road, it was a huge factor in the decision to build here.”

DiGiammarco says Silverwood eventually will develop a hotel within the park.

“A hotel has always been in the plans. At some point it will be Silverwood Resort,” DiGiammarco says. “It’s a matter of waiting for when the economy is at a point that we feel comfortable with moving ahead.”

While the concept for such a hotel is in flux, DiGiammarco says, “I believe it will be a substantial-sized property.”

Meantime, Silverwood has more attractions just over the horizon, DiGiammarco says. “I know Gary (Norton) is working on new ideas at this moment,” she says.

The park has plenty of room for more development, DiGiammarco says. “We’re only using 221 acres. The park has just under 600 acres.”