Dollywood Discussion Thread

^ Oh cool! They're waiting until the 10:00 closes begin this year so they don't look like this again.

Yeah, they had to have spent a bunch on those fireworks we could barely see. They were big and impressive, but not when there's a giant flaming ball of gas in the sky.

Has anyone heard anything about the progress of the park improvements such as the new venue

With all of the excitement of the bright future of the park. I wanted to look back and share some pictures of the past! We’ve come along way! Would love for others to share some old photos!

Where was the flooded mine located?

Is this area next to Blazing Fury the old Flooded Mine?

Where Daredevil Falls is now

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The picture of the strip makes me long for those days.

Does anyone know what the actual reason that DW removed their Flooded Mine or why they removed the water on Blazing Fury cause SDC still has The Flooded Mine and water on Fire In The Hole

Flooded mine was for space, BF was because they added magnetic brakes.

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Flooded mine was for space, BF was because they added magnetic brakes.

 

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BF also had a lot of wood rotting due to the water being moved through the ride via the train. I heard it would be hard to keep it going in the future unless they removed the water. The water was used to slowdown the trains and with the new magnetic brake it was no longer needed.

The water also made it hard to keep open during the winter.. with no water, it's a good very cold weather ride

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Silver Dollar City hasn't had the same issues with the water, even on an older version of the ride and winters that are just as cold...

I think it was mainly a maintenance decision. Water is hard to manage and is causes a lot of deterioration that you have to stay on top of. Additionally, Flooded Mine is/was full of animatronics and an old-fashioned gun/target system that is/was tough to keep in working order. DW has always been quicker to say out with the old and in with the new whenever they want to "upgrade". SDC seems to be showing signs of getting ready to get rid or completely rebuild their version.

I've also heard they had issues with snakes, which may have been the real final straw. I think we discussed it on here before, but I'm not sure how to look back through hundreds of pages to find it.

Great photos though, thanks for sharing! Love the old photo of Pigeon Forge's main strip.

There is a rumor that they had issues with snakes however I have heard three different snakes that were inside the ride

1.) Water Mocassin - This snake doesn't live in this area if East Tennessee.. there is a snake that looks similar and lives in the water but doesn't have venom.

2.) Cottonmouth which are only west of the Tennessee river

3.) Copperheads which don't really like water. Yeah they will tolerate it but with all the places to live stream Dollywood, I'd doubt they would choose flooded mine

Were there snakes inside the ride? Probably, 25% of homes around here have snakes in them or under them.. it's not uncommon, but snakes are also territorial meaning if one water ride was replaced by another, they would just inhabit it as well

Folks at Dollywood will say the snake story is an urban legend. Dollywood does have snakes, I saw snakes several times this visit but none venomous.

So is it true or an urban legend/rumor? I'm sure we will never know the truth but I'd imagine if it were true, the snakes were harmless

Harmless snakes still = scary though!

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^This may be the third or forth time the snake story has circulated on this forum. It was very simple. The log flume was retired and the maintenance on the flooded mine was too much. They wanted a new water ride. I get deja vu every time I see the urban legend someone was bitten by a snake on the ride.

I to don't believe snakes closed Flooded Mine either, never have, but log flume wasn't retired until 2004 (part of the country fair 2005 remodel) and dare devil falls was opened in 1998. Now I am sure Dollywood knew they were closing log flume a few years before they did but not sure they knew it 6 years before.

The space that Flooded Mine took up, plus it's age just made it a perfect closure for Daredevil Falls in my mind. Plus that was when Dollywood started building more thrilling rides.. Daredevil Falls in 98, Tornado in 99, new area in 2004 (Thunderhead Gap with Thunderhead)

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With all of the excitement of the bright future of the park. I wanted to look back and share some pictures of the past! We’ve come along way! Would love for others to share some old photos!

Do you know what year that picture of the strip was taken? That's incredible

Just putting my 2 cents in since Dollywood is my home park, but I've always heard the snakes were rattlesnakes. However I don't really believe that story and agree that it was just too much on maintenance

I can 100% confirm Dollywood has an infestation of black rat snakes.

May 2017 "From Dollywood to Holiwood" trip

Pretty much everyone here has an infestation of black rat snakes if they know where to look lol

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With all of the excitement of the bright future of the park. I wanted to look back and share some pictures of the past! We’ve come along way! Would love for others to share some old photos!

WOW thanks for this awesome throw back! I grew up going to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for family vacations and remember visiting DW early on when it was still Goldrush Junction. My dad put me on my first flume ride there. I remember also the park had a Mad Mouse coaster unlisted on RCDB. Plenty of park nostalgia over here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46005 .

Pretty much everyone here has an infestation of black rat snakes if they know where to look lol

 

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Fact.

Those things are EVERYWHERE, but hey they help keep the rodent population down

Looks like Dollywood may be getting rid of "Next Day Free"

https://www.pigeonforgetnguide.com/blog/news/dollywood-ends-arrive-after-3-get-next-day-free/

I'd expect the next day after three promotion will still be offered on/off throughout the year as a temporary promo... I have seen this coming for a while and here's why. Over half the season, it couldn't be used anymore!! Most of the summer they are open until 10 and didn't really honor the next day after 3 promo (that's over 7 hours free!). Also, the next day after 3 didn't work during the holidays. Park opened at 2 most of those days. So to stop confusion, maybe Dollywood is just "ending" it and only going to offer it during portions of the year when it's actually usable.

Just a thought

Not to mention the 2 day 1 park ticket for $89 isn't bad especially during the summer and holidays when next day after 3 didn't work. (Although a season pass is a much better deal)

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I used that special as recently as December, it really helped me get some extra Lightning Rod and other coaster rides on night one as the park hours were so short. No way we could have seen everything we did when the park is only open 7 hours and you're also trying to do shows.

Hopefully with that offer being taken away they can at least do like, Noon to 9. or 12:30. We would have liked to do a sit down restaurant at DW but lack of time again since we didn't want to devote 2 full days.

See and you got lucky they honored it.. I had friends try to use it and they simply replied "we opened at 2, if we did the promotion 90% of the guest would qualify"

I guess it really depends on the day

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The rule as I read it online was you could enter at 6, the Front gate persons let us in about 10 minutes early for that as well. We def. didn't have any issues.