coasterdude28

Yea, it was absolutely freezing. My feet went numb after about 2 hours which made standing up and walking at the breaks rather difficult. ^^Towards the end everyone in the station was awesome. The cheering and clapping really helped us all make it through the last hour. ^^^I too was really surprised that that many people lasted 8 hours. After about 4.5 hours we all realized nobody was getting off though. They ended up giving one person the grand prize which was the VIP tour and everyone else got an "All Inclusive" pass for four. We all talked about it and decided that pulling a name out of a hat was fair. Luckily.....they pulled mine

So I ended up not taking anything. I must say that was absolutely brutal. I, along with 7 others, ended up making it the whole 8 hours. It was freezing cold and we only got two 10 minute breaks the entire time. SF did a great job of making this pretty difficult. All in all it was a bout 100 laps. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Definitely not going to break any park rules. I made a playlist to listen to in the event they allow iPods that are secured in zipper pockets. I'm off to bed now. Thanks again for all of the tips, here's to hoping I win!

^Those are some really good points you have. It makes sense that taking a blood thinner could be a bad idea. I'm going to look into the ginger idea but do you know if Ibuprofen would be ok? While it does thin blood slightly, it's not technically a blood thinner. As of now I'm probably not going to take anything before hand but might want to have something with me in case I start to feel it.

^That's what I figured. If I can get into a groove and zone out after the first half hour or so I should be ok. I'm wearing earplugs now to see how I do with them, lol.

Yea, I'm not going to mess with Dramamine or anything like that. Tylenol would be as far as I go, lol. That is an interesting point you bring up about the earplugs, Elissa. I'll have to look into it an see what would be best. ^You too have a good point. Just having the opportunity to do this should give me a lot of "stamina" as I am very excited. Bizarro is a great ride which helps as well. As far as the other people competing, I think they all obviously like the park and like coasters, but I'm not sure if they are really "enthusiasts" like everyone here is. I'm hoping they don't have any experience with riding something consecutively. By the way the people post on the Facebook page, that may be the case. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. Thanks again and keep the tips coming!

^Thanks everyone. I will definately try to get a seat closer to the front, but I'd imagine they'll do some kind of seat rotating. I also think they will have the other trains running for the rest of the people there so there will be some stacking.

^^^They did not announce the winners publicly. We were messaged and told we won. ^^It's going to be in the 40's so heat shouldn't be a problem, lol. I'll definately stay hydrated though. ^Bizarro is pretty smooth, which is a good thing. Earplugs are definately a good idea

^^The prize is a VIP tour of the park for four people. My friend and I came in first place in the Scavenger Hunt last year, so we have the chance to defend our title. The prize is just an added bonus I was thinking they may have a problem with headphones. I'll have to ask when we get there. I definately plan on getting a good nights sleep and eating a light breakfast. Maybe a granola bar or something. It should be interesting, lol. Thanks for the tips and any more would be really appreciated.

Hi everyone, I won the photo part of the contest being held by SFGAdv so now my friend and I will be competing in the "Stride-A-Thon" contest this Saturday. Basically it will be riding Bizarro for up to 8 hours straight and the last person standing wins. I'm not sure how they will run it as far as seating, breaks, and all that goes. I am pretty confident that both my friend and I can ride it as long as is necessary to win the competition, but any tips you have would be appreciated. We both have ridden many coasters for long periods of time, but never for 8 hours. I am thinking I'll put some headphones in and listen to some good music. I'll try to block everything out, including the soundtrack on the ride which will start to get really annoying after 20 or so laps. I'm just going to relax as much as possible. Anyway, if you have ever marathoned a coaster before and have some good tips, please share! Thanks!

Here is a picture I took on Saturday of KD's new skyline. I stopped by on the drive home from WDW I have to say that this drop looks like it may be the best out there.

This question may have an obvious answer but I am asking just to be sure. Is the $40 a one time fee or a yearly membership fee? I couldn't find this info listed anywhere on the site. Anyway, looks like a very nice club you have set up. Congrats TPR!

Just my luck that I will be going to Universal next week for the first time in years Always wanted to ride DD but I guess I'll have to wait.

I would just like to say that the Mikestery Card at SFGADv is gone! Unless I was looking at the completely wrong spot, it is gone. So who got it?

Thanks sclisso and tater. As far as lodging goes, we have a timeshare booked for the week. I was looking at Wilderness in the Smokies for the hell of it though and it does look pretty nice. Thanks again for the tips.

Hi everyone. We are leaving on Saturday to head down to Tennessee. We will either go to DW late on Monday and use the return a second day option on Wednesday(not open on Tues.), or we will purchase online to get the free meal vouchers. As for area attractions... We definately are going to go to Hillbilly Golf and maybe another golf place. A tour of SM Vineyard, some hiking and a lot of relaxing. Other than that we are going to play it by ear. Thanks again for the help everyone. Any last minute information would be appreciated.

It's a good thing you didn't plan to leave a few days later. LaGuardia was shut down for a good portion of the day today after some incident with a crazy guy. Not too sure on the details as I just caught the tail end of the report. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

I'm leaving a week from today for my first trip down there. These updates are seriously awesome and very helpful. Thanks so much!

That was a tough one. Robb was featured as an answer or possible answer is a few questions!

Great update. Looks like a very nice little park. I saw 7 (seven) duckies. At least I think I did.

Thanks for all of the input so far. Every little bit helps. There seems to be plenty to do in the area so I can't wait to get down there.

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I am currently reading Dave's TR and it is very good. Thanks for the link. Do any of you know of any good discount opportunities for tickets? Would it pay for one or two of us to get season passes? What's the best bet regarding that? Thanks so much.

Hello everyone. Hope you are all have a great day. I will be on vacation with my family in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area for 7 days in August. I will definately be going to Dollywood during this trip and was curious as to how many days I should plan to spend at the park. There will be four, maybe five who would go the park at least once and two of us who may go for a second day. I was wondering what our best ticketing option are for these circumstances. If you have any tips, suggestions or insider information that might help make our vacation the best it can be, I would truly appreciate your input. Any information on Dollywood and the area in general would be great. What is your favorite mini-golf place in the area? What are the best hiking areas? Any tourist trap attractions that are a must see? I have been keeping up with Electerik's awesome Smokey Mountains thread but wanted to create this as to not hijack his thread. Again, thanks in advance for any help regarding ticketing, what to do and how to enjoy my first visit to beautiful Tennessee.

I haven't jumped over to the site to see the other photos in the contest but I LOVE this photo! Camden Park, right? He meant to say photo 9...it was just a typo on his part. That is a pretty cool picture though if I do say so myself, STR8FXXXINEDGE.

Amazing photographs everyone. I'm very impressed. My picture is #9. It is the shot of Raptor behind the now defunct ball fountain. Can't wait to see who wins. Best of luck!