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And now, for the (not-so-)thrilling conclusion! Dollywood - Day 2, Saturday June 3rd After a relaxing night at the pool, a good nights sleep, and a delicious breakfast buffet at the HeartSong restaurant, I made it back to the park around 10:30, and immediately made my way over to Lightning Rod. With the one-time pass they issued yesterday and my Timesaver wristband from staying at the resort, I had two skip-the-queue rides waiting for me here, and I was determined to get them both. Facing no mechanical issues this morning (thankfully), I succeeded! Front row (10 minutes) and back row (6 minutes) This strange launched RMC was very good, and lived up to the hype...but did not take the crown for "Best Ride at Dollywood" from Thunderhead. This ride was a bunch of firsts for me: RMC without anything on the zero car, RMC with headrests, and the first RMC that I had ever been on that was not the better ride in the back. The back row had a ton of rattles and shakiness that weren't experienced in the front. Quality ride? Of course. but a mid-tier RMC, if you ask me. 9/10. I made my way up the main right-side path, taking in another ride on Tenn. Tornado (2-train wait for row 7). This was still very good, even in the middle of the train. Along the way I snapped some pictures of Barnstomer, and while these type of rides are not my cup of tea, the theming was once again impeccable. With all of my checklist rides at this park, accomplished, I headed back over to Thunderhead for a few more laps. 5-train-wait for front row and 3-train-wait for back row. Still awesome, and still my favorite ride at this park. I then lapped around the park again to take in the Wings of America: Birds of Prey show, but not before grabbing another picture of the historic schoolhouse.... ...and a bite to eat: I opted for the chicken tenders from Hickory House BBQ, which were absolutely spectacular. After that, it was time for birds! The show was quite cool, but came with a bit of a sad story: All of the birds housed at Dollywood are unable to be released into the wild, due to either injuries or issues they've had since birth, but Wings of America does their thing and keeps them healthy here. The show was about 25 minutes long, and featured around 4 or 5 different types of birds, but did have a decent amount of southern "puns" that no one laughed at. Enjoy some pictures of the show! Back to Thunderhead for more laps! 6-minutes for front row and 2-train-wait for back row would close out this trip for me rides-wise (I had an early morning planned for my long, long drive back to Delaware the next day), but I did wander around a bit taking some more pictures... And of course got some Cinnamon Bread from the actual Grist Mill place (and a hoodie and shot glass from the big gift shop up front, in traditional AmyUD06 fashion), and brought it back to my room. Holy crap was that incredible...normally I'm not a huge cinnamon fan, but combined with that icing dip....just wow. I'll close this report out with some videos of the incomparable Thunderhead (which, as a result of TeamFourStar's FFVII Machinabridged series on YouTube, I cannot take seriously). M4H03737 - Trim.MP4 M4H03738 - Trim.MP4 All-in-all, this turned out to be a wonderful trip, and I will definitely be back. Thanks for reading everyone, and I welcome your comments.

I don't think those boats were meant for riders.

As one matures in life they graduate from team Sheetz to team Wawa. Sure, you look back fondly at your party days of getting blackout drunk and then going "YEAH MAN PUT MOZZARELLA STICKS ALL OVER THAT BURGER AND SPELL IT WITH A Z" but there's no shame in not being about that life anymore. Also, I'm sad about that Super 8. I used to stay at shit hotels all the time and now that I've grown up a bit and become a fancy-ass Wawa person my tastes have changed and I'm more of like a Marriot / Hilton / Choice but Comfort Inn / Suites or above person. That Super 8 was always WAY too good to be a Super 8 though and I feel like even now I'd consider staying there if it were still like it used to be. I'm sad to hear that they checked the sign, saw that it said "Super 8" on it and realized that they were supposed to suck. That's a bummer.

Fair point! To be honest the Miler in Kissimmee made me kind of feel the way the Atlanta one made you feel. Biggest difference is those mouse style hairpin turns taken way too fast are about 50 feet higher in the air lol. And then that high speed low to the ground turn that is very poorly designed and seems to exert way too many forces on those janky Miler wheel assemblies.

I mean...someone mentioned the Turkey Hill store above. That might be more entertaining than Sheetz. I've gone back to Team Wawa in the past year so looking at cornfields is firmly back ahead of Sheetz on my list. My other favorite pastime of that area is staying at the Super 8 in Danville, and around 11pm getting a knock on the door saying they have to move us to a different room because it was pouring and our room was probably about to flood. This was about two weeks after the infamous 2018 flood you see marked on the covered bridge at Knoebels. A good portion of the park was still underwater when I was there but it was still open because Knoebels.

I'm sad to see everyone hating on Hurricane at FSA. I was laughing my ass off by the end because of how janky is was. The last two airtime hills have more severe ejector than anything in AF1 and then that sudden 90 degree angle turn before the brakes was so bad that it was good. I understand that kind of jankiness isn't everyone's cup of tea but I loved the damn thing haha.

Okay, time to wrap this up! Before I get to the park, I need to talk about the DreamMore Resort at Dollywood. Now, this is my first time ever staying at an on-property park hotel (the shitty Super8/Travelodge/etc in the parking lot at Kings Dominion does not count), and WOW! This place blew me away. Valet parking, bellpeople for your bags, a great assortment of food options, the spectacular buffet, the incredible pool...everything about this place was stellar. Easily the best hotel I've ever stayed in outside of Las Vegas or Atlantic City. If anyone is questioning it, it is totally worth the money. Here are some pictures of my room: And the view from my room: And the awesome pool, after a biological incident caused them to have to clear it which entertainingly made all of the parents bring their screaming brats back to the room, enabling the pool to be relaxing: Alright, now that that is out of the way.... Dollywood Day 1 - Friday, June 2nd So I hopped on the awesome shuttle service from the hotel to the park, and arrived shortly after opening, and my first stop was the hotel guest Timesaver redemption booth. Did I not mention that by staying at the hotel, you get free Timesaver skip-the-line passes? Yeah, yet another bonus. As this was a new park to me, I took a ton of pictures of everything, so you get to enjoy them too! The entry/ticketing area: This park really is beautiful (this will be a recurring theme). My first stop was the problematic monster known as Lighting Rod: Nope, not waiting in that for it to maybe not open soon. So I continued my way up towards Blazing Fury, taking in the sights. Yes, I am absolutely aware of starting Pride Month in Tennessee, but it was still not a bad time. Jumping out of sequence here, but I had to represent. First ride of the day: Blazing Fury! I loved these screens they had up at the entrance to every major ride showing the wait times as well as those for other rides. Very nice touch! So what did I think of this classic? I wasn't quite sure if it was a coaster or dark ride, but RCDB counts it, so I guess I will too. Cool little ride with a few drops. Half-train wait for the back row, 7/10. Onwards towards Tennessee Tornado! From my notes video: "This is an Arrow? If only they had not gone bankrupt from building X, this would've been an incredible future." The ride was a little on the short side, but was insanely smooth, everything was properly banked/heartlined, no headbanging. This was absolutely incredible, and the fact that it's an Arrow just gets it more points. Three-train-wait for the front row. 9/10. Firechaser Express was not yet open... ...so my next ride would be.... ...yup, Wild Eagle! Admittedly, not very easy to photograph from the pathways, but this was a lot of fun. Not bad ride, through the middle portion I almost thought it would be my favorite B&M Wing, but Thunderbird at Holiday World still holds that title. I noted that this ride was very short, too, just like Tenn. Tornado, but that's not a theme that held on. Five-minute-wait for back row, right outer seat. 6/10, mostly for the length. I liked this little kiddie splash area (at least that's what I think it was) they had set up: I continued onward on the path, admiring the scenery... ...to my next destination, Mystery Mine. While I was thoroughly impressed with the theming and many of the effects in the dark-ride-parts. The ride itself was a little rough, but it's a Gerstlauer, what are you gonna do? Definitely a unique layout which was quite fun. 10-minute-wait (with Timesaver) for the back row, far left. 6/10. I did not ride their drop tower either that I was there, but it did look quite nice...rare to see one of these painted a color other than white LOL. My next ride was Dollywood's kiddie coaster, Whistlepunk Chaser. Learning is fun! Seriously, I had no idea that this was even a thing. It's a kiddie coaster, not much more to say. Got 3 laps, 8-minute-wait for the back row. Next up was.... Thunderhead, which I didn't take any other pictures of during my initial stop here. This. Was. INCREDIBLE. Easily the best coaster of this trip so far, let alone Dollywood. Super-smooth, twisty, airtime, you name it, this coaster has it. 11/10, and found itself a home as my new #2 woodie (ahead of Mystic Timbers and behind The Beast) and #5 overall. There are not enough words to describe how incredible this ride is. After that, I grabbed a personal pizza from the Lumberjack pizza place near Dropline. Sauce wasn't too tangy. $10 for an 8" round pizza (a much better value than CF or SF pizzas), not bad. I then made my way into Wildwood Grove, and took in the sights. I love it when parks have these bounce-around areas for kids...something I wish CF and SF would take the liability risk and put in. Anyway, my next ride was Dragonflier! I really wish that ever park that has one of these Vekoma family coasters would install these mildly-swinging-suspended trains, they absorb so much of the nonsense that you get on the earlier models like Flying Ace at Kings Island. Overall a fun family ride, nice and smooth. 10-minute-wait (with Timesaver) for row 8. 6/10. Big Bear Mountain would not be in the stars for me right now....yep, 90 minute wait at around 1:00 on a Friday, and not on Timesaver at this point. Grabbed another shot of the insane Thunderhead... ...and some more of the awesome scenery and theming at this park... Did I accidentally step in to 2023 Florida or Arkansas somehow? ...and made my way to Daredevil Falls, their log flume. This was a great log ride with some dark-ride-esque scenes, and didn't get too wet at all despite the substantial drop. 8/10. Not now Cinnamon Bread; I'll be back for you later. At this point in the trip, I made a note that the "Best way to describe the vibe of this park is Cedar Point's Frontier Trail, but it's the entire park" and I think that holds up. I admittedly only took in one show (the bird show, which I'll talk about later in this report) after realizing that all of them were country and/or Jesus music, but I will say that the venues were nice. Next up was a ride on the train, the Dollywood Express, the oldest ride at the park, opening in 1961. I was a sucker for steam trains when I was a kid, and still am. That said, the train ride wasn't as entertaining as some others that I've been on. 20 minutes for the ride and 30 minutes for the setup for the ride once we boarded. They literally took half an hour, explaining numerous times that "this is a real coal-fired steam train and you might get embers on you and that's okay, don't panic"...like, seriously? For a lot of the trip, it's just woods, it's just woods, and I know I'm in the south, but the spiel-er was absolutely unfunny despite his best attempts and no one laughed. Like not even a courtesy chuckle. 4/10 just because it's a real steam engine. That said, here are some pictures of the most interesting parts of the train ride. After the train ride, which drops you off where it picked you up, I took some pictures of this section of the park, aptly titled Country Fair, containing some typical carnival-style rides. And fish, And fountains. While riding the train, I saw that Lightning Rod was running, and once I got off I checked the app which confirmed it, so I made my way over, snapping plenty of pictures of the well-themed queue. Which I had plenty of time to do, during my 54-minute wait to not reach the front of the line at the level below the station...when, what do you know, there was a rollback, which for some ridiculous reason requires the train to be evacuated before they can try to launch it again. So they clear the train, wheel it back in to the station, send a few test cycles...and the very next train with people, and it rolls back again. "We're sorry, but Lighting Rod is experiencing extended downtime...." Ugh. So, it was back around to Thunderhead for another ride, but not before snapping this picture of cool old-timey stuff: This time I had a half-train wait for the back row. As expected, it did not disappoint. As I said in my notes "It's Mystic Timbers but longer!" Tons of air, speed, twisties, and laterals...it is awesome in every single way. I then made my way back into the (unfortunately unshaded) Wildwood Grove for Big Bear Mountain, whose wait had substantially decreased. As is typical for this park, awesome theming in the queue. But did I say Big Bear Mountain earlier? Perhaps I should've said Big Bear Desert or Big Bear Deforestation, because this is what you see 90% of the time that you're on the ride: Like seriously, if they built such complex rides in the 1960s to today with the construction technology of the time, they did not need to remove this many trees to build this ride. But how did it ride? Pretty good, a great family coaster! The on-board audio is a little corny, which I guess is to be expected, but the barren wasteland that is the terrain around everything but the station is very out of place for this park, and this ride. 34 minute wait for row 9. 7/10. From my notes: "The Wildwood grove section is as long as the entire rest of the park is, but only has one way in and out. Why did they not do something to make it an additional loop so you don't have to backtrack through the completely unshaded area?" OMG is this day one trip report not over yet? Nope! Onward to another coaster that I had skipped earlier in the day, Firechaser Express! Another incredibly well themed queue and station, including ride-specific uniforms for most of the ride operators. I don't know if it was an intentional design choice, but I loved how the train backs into the station the same way an actual fire engine would. As for the ride itself, it was quite fun, but I was not a huge fan of the backwards-running part. The ride operators also actually helped load bags into the cubbies, which was awesome and something that I haven't seen since my trip to Holiday World last year. Three-train wait for back row. 7/10. I saw that LR was operating again, so I made my way back over to try my luck once again. After 20 minutes of wait (with Timesaver), I was literally standing in the station, at the gate, ready to board the next train on the front row. I hear the entire crowd in the station groan, and see them turn around. I do the same, and see, once again, the train rolling back down the lift hill. After another 15 minutes, there came the announcement: "Extended Downtime." *sigh* So, they were handing out some one-time Timesaver passes, so I grabbed one, confirmed it would be valid the next day, and went back to my favorite ride at the park.... Thunderhead! Which was of course awesome. Three-train-wait for back row. After that, it was around 6:30 and super-hot, so I decided to just hop the shuttle back to the hotel, changed into swimwear, and relaxed down by the pool for a while before hitting the hay. And that, finally, wraps up my Day One report from Dollywood.Stay tuned for the epic conclusion!

I was there this past Friday (TR incoming). The new haunted maze, Ghost in the Shell, was absolutely incredible. The others were not so much, but that's probably because I go to this park every year for their Halloween stuff and not much has changed in the other haunts. The main theatrical show, Conjure the Night, was awesome. Make sure you catch at least one showing of it. I can say that you probably won't need a day and a half at this park, unless you intent to hit every adult flat too, but Friday only will definitely not be enough time to do all of the coasters and Haunt mazes and shows. Note that the Haunt stuff doesn't start until 7 on Friday (not sure what time on Saturday), so if you get there right at opening you will have time to hit Talon, Hydra, and the flats in the main entry midway prior to the Haunt stuff starting. EDIT: Oh, and if you have any bag-carrying-people in your group, note that the bag policy stated on the website (5"x8"x2" if non-clear, 12"x12"x6" if clear) was not what they were actually doing at the park, which was 6.5"x4.5"x2" no matter what.

hey, I'm in shape (round is a shape)

Just got back from my own trip out to KSF for opening weekend. We went on Thursday night as part of the press preview. My thoughts: The Bloodline house USED to give guests toy guns to shoot the vampires. Without this key element, there was a lot of dead space between scareactors. Loved the Cinema Slasher house, BUT they should have stopped with a double feature. The first two slasher send ups (babysitter and camp) worked great, but the third one was confusing. I still could not tell you what it was about. The Music, Monsters, and Mayhem show. As a 35+ year veteran of theme park shows (I have been playing them since 1986 and writing and directing them for decades as well), I speak from a place of experience. The dance numbers were great. High energy, great costumes and lighting, and the required finale with dancers in the rain getting soaked. The MC/host. We saw the first show on Thursday night. He was NOT funny. Now I am all about pushing the envelope and adult humor. Making ONE joke about jerking off (with an audience member named Angel) and then referencing it back over and over and over again was like beating a very dead horse. The joke wasn't clever, wasn't funny the first time, and the bit grew VERY old. It was the lowest of the low and lacked any kind of creativity. And his "impressions" weren't that great. I don't know what Elvira would think of his impression esp when he pulled out his fake boobs to show to the audience. I am hoping the show gets overhauled or at least 10-15 minutes trimmed out of it. Cut the MC/Actor, use voiceovers or the witch videos, and pick up the pace. I really miss the far superior improv show Puppet Up which was WAY more entertaining and had built in repeat viewing value. I cannot see anyone watching this MMM show more then once.