MindbenderManiac

We must have been on the same cycle of Acrophobia as you. I really thought the op was messing with us when we got to the top and he said "Acrophobia is experiencing technical difficulties." It's not too comfortable for the male gender to be hanging 161 feet in the air for that long. Joking aside the VR on that ride is pretty neat!!

Correct, when they run 2 trains the lift runs slower than when they are operating only one. However with 2 train ops the lift hill speeds up just before the train crests the hill. So there shouldnt be much speed difference between one and 2 train ops on the TT.

Just FYI, I think it needs to be a bit warmer for FCE and MM to open. This is likely why you saw everything else open today besides them. I have seen FCE closed due to cold weather before everything else also. Wild Eagle will continue to run once opened until the ride gets "underspeeds." I have seen it operate well below the 36 degree mark. This is just standard cold temperature operating procedure at Dollywood.

Made my first trek if the season to HITP last night. It was chilly, around 40. Park was not crowded, and looked beautiful as always. Good news, all coasters except cyclone was running 2 trains. Mind bender was also running trimless last night, and that final drop hill and loop was just insane!!! It was excellent!

Maintence is currently out working on the ride, one of the trains is sitting at the bottom of the launch. Ride has been listed as "temporarily closed" all day so far today, though it has not yet operated. Waltzing Swinger is reassembled and operating also!

Always stop at one of the Fun Spots while in Orlando, and especially love Fun Spot Orlando since they have "my" Wheelie! I am heading down next weekend and am thinking about buying a season pass since they are so cheap. What are all the perks if the pass? What are "Bring a friend free months?" Someone told me if you bought a SP during their Black Friday sale which ends today you get three bring a friend free passes. Anybody know more?

Here are a few photos from the parade.

We went the Friday after Thanksgiving day. We knew it was going to be busy, but honestly the park had "all hands on deck" and operations were great. People were of course having to park at Splash country. As I expected closing was extended until 10pm on Friday night. They may have staffed well for Friday, since it's traditionally one of their busiest days, but didn't have enough staff to carryover for Saturday. Didn't do much riding since I took a couple "newbies" to the park. We walked around, shopped, watched shows, watched the parade and ate at Aunt Granny's. I thought the new parade was excellent, it's about 10 or 15 minutes long which is much longer than in years past. It's very well done. We rode LR twice, TH and BF once each. We actually got evacuated off Blazing Fury at the top where the waterfall is. It was neat to see what things look like in there with the lights on. Lightning Rod was amazing as always, running both trains with a 60 minute wait throughout the day - was "TC" twice during the day from what I noticed. Once apparently because someone had lost a wallet so they had to inspect the track before reopening. The second time they ran a few empties through, then maintenance was looking at one of the wheels in the front car. Lowered the train and put it into the shop, worked on it for just a but, then put the train back on. Ride was reopened in about 30 minutes. My Canadian cousins were super impressed with the park, and are already planning a trip for August!

Just a couple shots from today. It's a Wonderful Life is great addition to the show lineup, and it's nice to have Christmas in the Smokies back in the Celebrity Theater with the live music again! The park looks beautiful as always.

Double post

The only "downtime" was when they added the 2nd train, but that doesn't count. No rows were closed early, but as the day progressed they closed off row 9, then row 11 was also closed off. Crew was awesome tonight... Ride was barely stacking - they were pumping those trains out!! Kudos!!

Good question. I wonder if it has something to do with cooler temps.

Back in line for Lightning Rod, they just announced they are adding the 2nd train... It's ran well with 1 train today.

Yes, only one train is running today. Crowds are fairly heavy, but many seem to be here for the shows, ride lines are not terrible. Lots of people seem to be coming through the gates still. Thinking crowds will definitely become thicker as it gets dark. Crossing my fingers that they will announce they are extending park hours for 1 hour. Dollywood tends to do that when crowds are heavy.

Just got off my 12th ride on this beautiful creation. No "jolt" felt, smoothest ride I've taken on it.

Just got to the park. She's back up and running with 1 train.... All rows open right now.

^^^I hope so. I think we are going to head up tomorrow. We are definitely going to check out this year's Christmas festival as it starts tomorrow. Would not mind to get another night ride or two on Lightning Rod. From what I can tell, the orange banner indicating Lightning Rod's closure has been removed as of yesterday. Regardless of whether it is open or not looking forward to the revamped "Christmas in the Smokies" and the new show, "Its a Wonderful Life."

Looks like the coaster is going to be in Timber Canyon. Surprised, excited, and shocked by the announcement! A 200 foot drop tower and a credit! Wood junior coaster wood be excellent!

Indeed you are right, but Maverick is like 100 feet shorter than Lightning Rod, and Maverick's speed on the inclined launch is much less than Lightning Rod.

Double post

The launch is a great part of the ride. In my opinion, I wasn't overly excited about it being a launched coaster, but after having experienced it, it highly enhances the ride. Without the launch there would be no air at the top of the first hill, and possible no air at the top of the false drop. And all things considered, this is this first wood launched coaster, and the first coaster that has an inclined lift, launching the train up a 206 foot hill (that I can think of). The project was behind I think. Track was not completed until like 2 weeks before the ride was supposed to open. I think we need to give a little bit of a break to the park and to RMC. I mean they could have just closed the ride down for the entire season, but instead its sporadically open, and people are getting to ride it. Though the situation may not be optimal, the ride is still operating. I think (for what it's worth) that the launch itself is not the problem. It seems to be performing beautifully. I also think that the trains and the maintenance costs to run them are the biggest part of the problem. Does anybody think we will see another company come in and build a different train, like Gerstlauer? That would make more sense to me than replacing the whole launch system. On a side note, I was at the park this past Sunday and the ride ran fine all day long with one train. There were no breakdowns from what I can tell, and we spent quite a bit of time over there. We were about to ride again after the park had already closed, when the ride went down, and not for any reason that has been discussed on here. Lightning Rod closure this week I am almost certain is not related to launch/maintenance issues.

Has anyone taken a look at Dollywood's operating calendar for 2017? At this point it looks like they will have 2 Saturdays where they will be open until midnight, July 1 and July 8 !! But the biggest change from years past is that they will not be closed any day of the week during the month of October, and be operating everyday from 10AM - 9PM . That means night rides in October!!! I wonder why they have changed this? I know its a busy travel time for the area.

My guess is that it will not be operating tomorrow. In fact Lightning Rod was supposed to be the early entry ride for this coming Saturday. It has now been changed to Wild Eagle. Regardless crowds will be light and I'm sure you will have fun anyway!

Great Pictures!!! We were at the park yesterday also. Got 4 more rides on Lightning Rod, bringing my grand total # of rides on it up to 11 (my first wasn't until early August just after the ride reopened). It is certainly my #1 out of 380 coasters... it gets better and better with every ride I take!! Even when only 1 train is running with all levels of the que full, the wait time is only about 45 minutes. Yesterday they were letting about 3 trains worth of people into the station at a time. 2 rides yesterday were in row 11, and 2 were in row 12. Row 11 is smoother for sure, but I like row 12 because it gives you more of that "bumpy" wood coaster feel. The bottom of the first drop "jolt" is still there, though I felt it was less noticeable to me yesterday. Wild Eagle was open yesterday until about noon. Get your rides early as possible as it tends to close around noon everyday. Sometimes the ride reopens before park close, depending on how warm the day has been determines how long the wasps continue congregate on the top of the lift hill. Thunderhead is also prone to closure because of wasps, though it remained open all day yesterday as well. Hit that ride early also! And I HIGHLY recommend the hand battered fried green tomatoes, or the fried green tomato BLT that is being served for the Harvest Celebration near Market Square! DELICIOUS!!!

I'm pretty sure those are for the folks who just bought the daily refill bottle. You can buy a different colored bottle and get free refills the day of purchase, then be able to refill it gor $.99 each fill or buy a writband For refills for the day for subsequent visits throughout the season. Yes, with the season pass bottle You can just walk up and fill it anywhere.