Holtskee

North Florida is part of the deep south. South Florida is part of New York. Orlando in the middle features the worst of both worlds, along with the unwanted crap from various other cultures.

Given their financial shape I don't think Ford will last much longer either...at least as a independent entity.

I like WDW Big Thunder Mountain's bat cave prior to the first lift. Love the deafening clanking sound when the train hits the anti-rollbacks echoing through the tunnel.

These rides look cool, but I'd miss the actual element of rapids on a rapids ride. Perhaps they could build a hybrid version where you encounter a section of the standard rapids at the beginning of the ride, before climbing the lift hill onto the waterslide section. As for uphill flume sections on water rides, The Powderkeg Flume (or whatever they are calling it now) at Carowinds use to have a small upslope after the first drop. It was removed at some point in the 80s. You can see it in the pic below, where the red arrow is pointing: members.aol.com/K9660R/aeriala.html Just saying it can be done without a coaster track involved...

This is the exact same "top 10" amusement park list that MSN had on their website like 5 years ago. It's awful. Citysearch just copied it.

I think the open space looks beautiful now that the grass has grown in, like an old mountain farm. (Especially in that 3rd pic of the loop) Still kind of sad they cut all the trees down though. Back when I was a kid it use to feel like the train really left the park and went way out deep into the woods...not anymore. In all honesty I would rather they build something more line with the steam train ride up there rather than yet another roller coaster. Maybe they could try to recreate a bit of how Silver Dollar City use to be with a saloon or a mountain village - something of that sort. They had an online survey for something like that several years ago, like in '03 or '04. It was around the same time they did the survey that had you vote for either Mystery Mine or the Ice House coaster.

Perhaps this is actually for the better? Maybe WDI will begin to focus on the overall story and the concept of new attractions again rather than the technology behind the rides/shows. A while back I recall some official from within the Walt Disney Company even admitted that Imagineering had gotten too far off course from the storytelling element of rides and was more about trying to amaze people with advanced designs and engineering these days. Take Lucky the Dinosaur for example. Yea, it's impressive, but overall the whole thing just seemed kind of pointless. It was like Disney was just using it to brag about the technology the company developed. I had much rather they spent those millions on some new ride concept instead of a single one-trick audio animatronic.

Did you know that Dollywood use to have a working FM radio station? It was called WDLY. It broadcasted throughout the region from a small building in the park near the fountain at the Celebrity Theatre, playing country, gospel, and bluegrass music. Guests could walk up to the DJ booth and watch the live on-air broadcasts taking place through a large window. Sometimes the guests were invited in to talk with the DJs or pick the next song to be played.

Actually it is. I've had several. My April '07 visit was a nightmare, from the ticket booths at the beginning of the day to the tram line at the end of the day. You have to accept that on some days things just don't work out, no matter what park it is.

^Yea, I understand what you mean. Whenever I see pics of the Delta section of the Opryland Hotel I just think about how it ate up all the theme park's remaining expansion space. Seems like a lot people that visit there now just know Opryland as being the hotel. They aren't even aware of the theme park that use to be next door where the name originated. Nice photos though.

Overall I would say YES to the poll question, however there is no denying that the quality level of the attractions they have pumped out over the last decade or so has slipped. Their newer attractions just don't "feel Disney" like the older ones do. Seems like Imagineering took a turn for the worst in the mid-90s. I've always felt that Splash Mountain and the (WDW) Tower of Terror were the last truly great Disney rides with the so-called "magic" or whatever you want to say it is. That said, I'm not really one to bitch about minor insignificant changes around the parks that don't really effect the grand scheme of things.

Great photos. I'm a big train nerd so it was nice to see something like this on here. Pretty cool that Disneyland allowed the Fred Gurley to be taken offsite for a little while.

Actually, that's not new. The hole is the space where the monorail use to run:

Agreed. That's why I cringe when people suggest they should build "a really tall drop tower" or anything of that sort. It would look horrible sticking up out of the hills.

Shoot the Rapids was located where Maverick is today. White Water Landing replaced it in 1982(?). Then of course Maverick replaced WWL last year. Put simply three different rides have occupied that spot: Shoot the Rapids -> White Water Landing -> Maverick

Not really. The Dolly Museum and that shop they've got there (whatever they are calling it this season) can stay. The motion theatre building is just too dominating over the entrance area. Just get rid of that and plant some trees there, so it will look like it did before '96.

I'd rather Dollywood stick to highly themed rides & attractions rather than just throwing up a bunch of coasters. I don't want to see steel supports sticking up all over the mountains. If they do add another coaster sometime soon I think something like the "Ice House" ride from the surveys a few years ago would be more appropriate than a hyper coaster.

The park supposedly looked at buying Zippin' Pippin from Libertyland and putting it where Rockin' Roadway is. I don't know if there was any truth to that or not. As far as I know the B&M rumors have always been just BS. That stuff has been on Screamscape since pre-Thunderhead.

I like Thunder Road better than Wilderness Adventure. I actually loved it when it first premiered in 1996, but at that time I didn't know any better. My real opinion is that the park should get rid of the motion theatre entirely. The building is ugly, the ride as a whole just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the park. I don't think many people even ride it anymore since it is tucked in that corner off the main walkway. Simulators were just a fad anyway. That said, I've enjoyed Dollywood's two films more than any of the ones the ex-Paramount Parks use to run (Days of Thunder, James Bond, 7th Portal, etc). Dollywood's seats are the problem.

Cool photos. I'm going to the park in about two weeks, these pics are getting me pumped! Was the train ride still closed while you were there?

I think that all the former Paramount Parks suffered with their half ass attempt to create "movie parks". From what I saw they pretty much ripped out Carowinds' soul. All the Carolinas themeing left, all the trees left, we lost the Riverboat, the Monorail, the live shows, etc. The park doesn't even feel the same when you walk through the gate...the atmosphere is gone. Great America and Kings Dominion didn't seem to fair much better either, both lost many of their signature attractions in favor of new coasters and whatnot. When you compare Kings Island to the other three it has actually done pretty well trying to keep itself intact. At least that park still has some dignity. They still have their train ride, for example. I can't really speak for Canada's Wonderland as I'm not too familiar with that park's history and what has changed there over the years.

Assuming that this is the spot (between the big drop and the rollover) where the car eventually slowed to a stop at, I imagine they could simply remove it from the track with a forklift or something without bringing in a crane. The track seems to be right on the ground at that point and I'm sure there is enough room to squeeze a small vehicle back in there.

Great photos! Thanks for taking some pics of the new walkway between River Battle and TN Tornado...I think I was actually more excited about that than the new ride. I read elsewhere that Mystery Mine was closed because it vallied before the dive loop during testing. Don't know about the other rides though...I'm kind of under the impression that the park wasn't ready to open for the season yet.

Yikes! I remember when Lake Buena Vista still had some swampland around it...none left now! Nice photos though.

One of the rides at Neverland was a steam train that use to be at Carowinds (Charlotte, NC) in the 70s: members.aol.com/K9660R/train1.html