Holtskee

Below is Dollywood's 2008 Guide Map. It shows how the loop has been formed for those who have never been there before: hfeimages.aristotle.net/General/DW/08_DWD_Generic_Guide_Map.pdf It seems they had Citigraph do the park's map this year.

Ehhh, I have to agree. Overall the place seems pretty typical as far as water parks go. There is a little themeing but it is nothing great compared to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach. Basically it looks like Wet 'n Wild with a brighter color scheme. (Perhaps more folliage too)

Natatomic, those are great pictures. Thanks for sharing. I love the technical aspects of rides.

When I first saw the big concept painting I thought the setup of the park looked like it was obviously inspired by of Islands of Adventure. Not so much now that we can see what the park will really look like, but in some ways it still has the vibe. Of course it obviously won't have the same level of detail.

Don't forget the Scenic Railway train ride! Perhaps the most pointless ride removal ever...Great America removed the train to make room for Hypersonic XLC, but then Paramount decided to build the coaster at Kings Dominion instead!

The original Six Flags parks were so beautiful and well-landscaped back in the old days...it's almost depressing to think about what has become of them.

According to another page on the Dolly Mania website, the construction is for a new eagle exhibit building. Previously the birds [used in the show] were taken out of the park every evening after the shows were done. Now they will be placed in the new facility so guests can get a look at them after the show. The lye soap shop that use to be there will be moved to the Wilderness Pass area. EDIT: Since this starts page 2, I'll repost the photo links: Pics 1 Pics 2 Pics 3 Pics 4 Screamscape Pics

Thought I would share a link to a truckload of new Dollywood construction pics here, here, here, and here. Screamscape also has some new ones. All the work the park has done over the last few months is quite amazing.

I'm sure it was just a marketing ploy for that season... Looking here it seems that in '78 the park was just called "Kings Dominion". For a while Dick Van Dyke served as a spokesperson for both Kings Island and Dominion. Below are some old commericals: video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5561634199481765657&q=dick+van+dyke+commercial video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4128919941654444732&q=dick+van+dyke+commercial video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5652519913118536806&q=dick+van+dyke+commercial

There's a 1991 brochure on Theme Park Brochures.com: www.themeparkbrochures.net/1991/dog1991.html

Very sad that all these people abruptly lost their jobs. I had read before that the Orlando location had attendance problems early on because the tourists down there didn't care for the concept of the show...however I believe that they were doing great by the thrid year or so. The article states that "the decision to close had nothing to do with a lack of customer interest", so I assume they were given a cash offer on the property that they just couldn't pass up. Hopefully Dolly and crew will build another one there at some point.

Thanks for sharing. I wish I could have visited Kings Dominion back in the day...it use to be a monster as far as regional theme parks go.

I love the retro inspired look.

^Dollywood closes on December 30th this year, so you won't be able to visit on the 31st/1st. Generally the crowds aren't too bad the week after Christmas though, unless you visit on a Saturday.

LOL, can't believe someone else remembers Haunted Golf! Anyway, unfortunately it closed a few years back...in fact, a lot of the mini-golf places have closed around Pigeon Forge. Years ago that was pretty much the only thing that was along "the strip". Now there's only like three or so.

Wonderful photos and trip report, thanks for sharing! Can't wait until I visit Dollywood in a few days.

lol As stated above, the park is just rebuilding that section. The structure of the turn needed some work and they probably decided it would be easier to rebuild the turn from the ground up. Thunder Road is not going anywhere anytime soon. Correct.

Dollywood. You are guaranteed to see at least one ECV/powered wheelchair wreck while you are there. Not to mention the interesting people that visit that park...

^Perhaps Silver Dollar City is leasing out the restaurants to outside operators? That's what Dollywood has done with a few of their smaller eateries.

Wonderful photos. You got some shots that we don't see often.

lol...Screamscape.

Don't forget those other strange mascots Opryland had back in the 70s: Left to right: Yancy Banjo, Johnny Guitar, Delilah Dulcimer, Barney Bass, Frankie Fiddle, and Jose Mandolin.

I always thought Chaos was quite overrated myself, and I rode it when all the 3D special effects were working. Not quite sure why that ride seems to have built up such a large fan following. I remember reading that in 1989 a lot of rival park officials laughed at the Opryland guys during the IAAPA Expo for spending $8 million to build the Chaos dud, because in comparison Cedar Point spent exactly that much on Magnum XL.

This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing all of this great memorabilia! I visited Opryland several times as a kid and I'm still infuriated at Gaylord for closing the park. Hard to believe it's been ten years since the park was plowed down. Opryland never lost money, Gaylord Entertainment just thought that they could make more with a mall. Not long ago Gaylord's current management team even admitted that closing the park was a mistake...if you are able to access the The Tennessean newspaper archives you can actually look up the statement they made.

Improve? lol.