bgtgwazi
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Posts posted by bgtgwazi
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^^ Lightning Rod is particularly awesome at night. If your June visit is towards the end of the month, you should be able to get at least one ride in after sunset.
The unlimited option isn't written very clearly on their site, but Lightning Rod and Drop Line (not that you need it for this one) can be ridden as many times as you want with the Unlimited Timesaver. I would buy it in advance since Dollywood does sell out of these. You can actually keep track of how many are left if you try to put it in your cart and pick a specific day.
Has this definitely been confirmed for this season? I know it was the case in 2017 (unlimited included LR) when I went but the language on the website has gone through a couple changes this season, making it less clear.
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Wait we're actually considering these credits?
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I went to Holiday in the Park last night (Sunday 12/7) as well and was pleasantly surprised. One train ops on Goliath, Georgia Cyclone, and S:UF was annoying but I couldn't really complain since all three rides were no more than a 2 or 3 train wait throughout the night. By 8pm when we left, all rides appeared to be a walk-on or close to it. However, I have heard that Saturday nights are far more crowded and drew 1+ hour waits on Goliath and Cyclone, so YMMV.
As previous posters have indicated, the lights and atmosphere were well done. I did not get a chance to ride the Polar Express train but it seemed pretty popular. I hope they continue the event and open up more of the park in future seasons.
As an aside, to those who haven't ridden Georgia Cyclone this season because of bad rides from previous seasons, I highly encourage you to give it another try. The first two drops and turnaround have been completely replaced by RMC Topper Track, making the beginning of the ride glass smooth. The rest of the ride has also seen a great deal of retracking (but not with Topper Track) and it's a completely different ride from seasons past. There are still a few shaky spots but nowhere nearly the gut punching roughness the ride had been known for. Putting topper track on the entire ride would make this a truly superb ride, but it's not longer a defensive ride, IMO. Just my two cents.
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Visited the park this weekend for fright fest! Great fun like always
Enjoyed the new haunted houses. All rides where great. Purchased a gold flash pass to ride rides in the dark.
Had a lot of fun like always
I also want to say thanks to Dale, the park president, who responses personally to an email about a defective T-shirt that I didn't see a problem with until I got home. Sending a replacement to me!
Who says six flags doesn't have good customer service
Great time at the park!
Anyone who is planning a trip six flags was very very busy at night just like last year. Need a flash pass if you plan on doing night time coasters and a fee haunted houses.! The haunted houses are getting much bigger and better than the past.. The new zx1 or whatever was very enjoyable
Curious, did you go on a Saturday or Sunday that weekend? Just wondering what Sunday crowds are like. I went on a Saturday in late September while Frightfest was going on and it was pretty busy, and trying to gauge whether a Sunday visit would be worthwhile this weekend.
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You remember how SFMM's employees used to be under the leadership of Jay Thomas? You know, the guy who would spend time IN THE PARK with his staff and motivate them? You don't see that happen now, and you didn't see that happen before Jay got there. It is SO TRUE that your senior management needs to lead by example. And if you have a guy on top that is willing to come out in the park, and work along side the front line staff, you bet your A$$ you'll have a staff that respects that and is much more proud to work at the park.
When you have a park president that just sits in an office, and walks through the park head down, making a bee-line to wherever it is they need to go, not talking to anyone, why should your park staff be any more social than that person?
More parks need to be led by people like Jay Thomas. Makes total sense why Six Flags got rid of him.
I have to say this really struck me the last time I went to SFMM, which was in August 2008. It was 100 degrees in the shade, and my friend and I had stopped to pull out our map to find an indoor, air-conditioned place to eat lunch. Within a few seconds we had an employee stop to ask if he could help us find anything. Sure enough, I look at the name tag and see that it was Jay Thomas, Park President... Walking in the park in the sweltering heat and stopping to talk with guests and answer their questions. It really left quite an impression.
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^lol probably. they close rides when it's barely sprinkling outside so they will probably do the same with wind.
I was at the park yesterday (Sunday, 3/30) and all rides were open.
I recommend everyone get on Georgia Cyclone if you've been avoiding it in years past due to the discomfort of riding. It's running better this season than ever. It's not longer a defensive ride for me, even in the back seat. The first two drops and first turnaround are still smooth as glass with the RMC Topper Track, and it seems like they keep adding new wood. The fourth drop is actually enjoyable now, and there are only a few spots with some mild jackhammering at the bottom of a couple drops. I rode in the front seat of the back car, so it's possible that made a difference too (it has in the past).
The park was fairly busy. One of the area school districts started spring break this week, and there was also a large cheerleading competition going on. The front gate was a bit of a mess at opening, with several hundred people lined up trying to get in. It took us over 20 minutes to get through the gate. I suspect a lot of that was due to the cheerleading competition, as I overheard someone saying it started at 11 (park opening was 10:30).. so I'm guessing there was a big rush of people trying to get in all at once. The new finger scanning probably slowed things down a bit too. Once inside, waits for the rides (Goliath, Batman, Superman) were all in the 30-45 minute range by mid-afternoon. Cyclone, GASM, and Mindbender were 10-15 minutes, DDD looked to be about an hour. Scorcher's line didn't look bad either mid-afternoon, maybe 15-20 minutes.
Most of the ride crews were doing a really good job, especially Goliath. The two lapbar checkers were really moving quickly, and stacking was rare with two-train operation. All of the rides had two trains on them. Someone else I believe noted that a lot the rides have new restraints on them.
For anyone with season passes, just FYI you no longer get physical coupons. You can see all the bring-a-friend discount days online, and then you just show your pass at a ticket window and let them know you're buying a discounted friend's ticket. Same for food and merchandise discounts - you just show your pass (I was surprised and pleased to find out about a buy one get one free deal on meal baskets).
Overall, a good day at the park.
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^Sundays aren't too crowded this early in the year. Try to arrive before opening, since Sunday mornings are comparatively dead and you should have time to get in a lot of rides before noon. If you haven't been here before and you're trying to make sure you hit all of the credits, I'd head straight to Superman. It often has the longest lines and agonizingly slow loading procedures. Then you'll already be at the back of the park, and can hit Scream Machine and Ninja with no wait. You shouldn't have a problem riding all of the coasters at least once.
Agreed. Sundays in March, April, early May, and September and October are almost always when I visit. The only exception are the two weeks that straddle spring break week, which can be easily determined by looking at the calendar and seeing the only week the park is open outside of weekends before the summer season.
I, too, recommend getting there at opening and heading straight to Superman. You'll have the opportunity for at least couple of walk-on rides, and Superman probably has the slowest operations of the park, leading to very long waits later on. Then you can hit Scream Machine and Ninja as suggested above (Ninja is always optional for me as it's always a fairly uncomfortable ride, but it rarely has a line). From there, hit Sky Screamer, as that generates a long wait even on a slow day, if you like those sorts of rides.
After that, you have a few options. I usually wait til after lunch to head to Goliath, which by that point should have, at most, a 15-20 minute wait. I tend to head to Dahlonega Mine Train to get that credit, then head to ride Acrophobia, and then to Gotham and ride Mindbender and Batman. Batman typically does not get terribly crowded on slow days at the park. At that point, get lunch, then start hitting the rest of the rides. The alternative is to head to Gotham first then back to Dahlonega and Acrophobia later. Georgia Cyclone typically doesn't have more than a 2-3 train wait in the afternoon, nor should Georgia Scorcher (but scorcher suffers from usually terrible and slow operations). And like I said, Goliath typically does not have a long wait thanks to decent operations and capacity after lunch. Basically, if the line extends down the stairs from the station through the first set of 4-5 switchbacks, that ends up being about a 15 minute wait with 2 or 3 train operation.
Your main long wait is likely going to be Dare Devil Dive, which will run 45-60 minutes. Also, Monster Plantation is a really good dark ride but will typically have a 20-25 minute wait. It's always a must-do for me though.
Hope this helps.
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Dragon Challenge. It has a suuuper long queue line, but surprisely it's one of the most empy ride in the park.
Back before Harry Potter stole the show, Dueling Dragons used to get substantial lines. Never as long as the Hulk, but I've waited 45 minutes to ride on a busy day. On a busy day the line would begin outside the castle (sometimes substantially outside, like halfway between the castle and the entrance to the queue), and the entire castle would be full, including the switchbacks you encountered in the fire dragon's lair portion of the queue.
The crazy part is that when the park first opened, the entire area where the Flight of the HIppogriff/Flying Unicorn now stands used to be a massive area of switchbacks. My guess is that it was capable of holding a good three hours' worth of queue (on a ride that, when operating at maximum capacity, runs six trains total). I don't think it ever got used, even when the park first opened.
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How come every time I go lines are hours long? Someone let me in on the secret! Is there a day this week I should go if I want to avoid lines or did I miss the boat?
Sundays during the spring (except during spring break, which you can figure out because it's the only time before summer that the park is open daily instead of just weekends), and sundays in the fall are usually the best days. I usually go in late march or mid april, then again in september. Avoid the summer at all costs. Once you get past mid-May it starts getting pretty busy even on Sundays. If you can shell out the 50 bucks, the gold flash pass is pretty nice on a crowded day.
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GASM's. I mean, unless a park specifically asks for those cars, PTC doesn't make those trains since most wooden coaster manufacturers have their own cars for their own tracks.
GASM runs PTC trains with 3 rows per car. PTC still makes those. While it's true that the two most popular (currently) wooden coaster designers in the U.S. do make their own trains (Gravity Group and GCII), PTC still manufactures its own trains for other customers, presumably, including those still on GASM.
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As for Ninja and it's broken lift, dear God let this be the straw that breaks the camels back, PLEASE!
I second that wish! I get that in some ways the Ninja checks off the park's need for a reasonably big multi-inversion coaster, but when I've been at the park recently, ridership has been consistently VERY low and I just don't see it improving. Among the GP I know, the ride has unsurprisingly garnered an awful reputation for a painfully unpleasant ride experience and it seems that with every year the ride is getting progressively worse... I'm not one to just bash a ride, but this ride has kind of earned it over the years. Here's to hoping there are plans somewhere for possible replacements.
In my opinion, this would be a perfect space for a compact GCII woodie
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Very nice trip report. It's great to see Mindbender and the Scream Machine doing well. With all these great things coming in about the Cyclone, I may need to try it for myself when I go!
Just wanted to add my two cents about the Cyclone. I've been coming to the park for years and my ride yesterday (Sunday 3/17) was the smoothest ride I think I've ever had on it. The topper track they installed last season makes for an incredible first two drops which you can now enjoy without bracing yourself, and they replaced other track on some of the most notorious offender portions of track, including the third drop as mentioned, as well as the second turnaround and 4th drop. Besides the topper track, I really liked that they re-tracked the 4th drop. It's wicked in the back seat but there used to be a nasty jolt that slammed you back into your seat really hard when riding in the back that knocked the wind out of you. That's gone now. There was also new track on the all of the other turnarounds except the last one, if I recall. If they keep up the maintenance and retrack the rest of the ride, you're going to see this jump up a number of spots on people's lists, in my opinion.
Dollywood Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
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Awesome, great to know. This was affecting planning of a possible summer weekend trip. Thanks!