dstephe9

That's the thing, on closing day, the track had not been installed yet. A few places had a little installed but by a whole, most had not been . While we have also had a calm winter so far, we have lots of snow in forecast for the next week or so, can slow progress.

March and April are both good times to visit. Just keep in mind 1.) Pretty weekends in March and April are actually some of the busiest days of the year for the park. Before Covid, they had several record breaking days in years past. Talking , 30+ thousand. 2.) Schools visit a lot during this time. I'm sure that won't be very impactful right now 3.) Weather can swing quickly in March and April. Snow one day, extreme heat the next

Glad I'm not the only person who thought trams were a cluster. My experience every trip was like that. Luckily, most of the time, until like October, Gold Pass got to park between B and handicap. During the Holidays, my wife and I actually drove around B lot or C lot until we found someone leaving from a spot that was walking distance. We actually walked to and from D&E one night Plus side, the parking lot walk in the evening is always nice. dark, not many people. It was always a nice walk my wife and I enjoyed

Another thing to point out during covid-19 1.) Festivals were limited 2.) Live shows were limited even during Christmas when they started live shows back 3.) Unless it was a weekend, a lot of restaurants were closed and so were a lot of shops 4.) Smoky Mountain Christmas seemed scaled down, even with light's. If rides are your only reason for going, you should be happy. My wife and I visited probably 20+ times, not as much as normal but still a lot While a lot of below sounds like complaining, it was mostly a great season with great visits. I just wanted to note some of this Rides: On busy days, rides did back up due to lack of shows and other activities 1.) I actually saw them running double trains on rides such as TN Tornado more this year than I have previous years by a lot and wait times averaging 5 - 10 mins. (This ride is normally a walk on). Some visits they skipped seats, some they didn't Trams: operations here sucked. Skipped rows, long waits, rude drivers. Running the small trams vs longer trams Security Check: they changed this up a few times this year. During the final months I didn't like how they made you place your cell phone and keys on the table but made you walk through metal detectors with your backpack. They almost always make it go off and then holds up the line while they search it. Just search it while walking through. Cost Cutting: For those that visit Dollywood a lot, this got much worse later in the season. French Fries changed from home made chips or large potato wedges to simple frozen fries. Plastic forks were so cheap the broke constantly. Even homemade cookies at places changed to packaged. A lot of our favorite foods felt, looked like, and tasted like they became more processed and less homemade. I'll note this last one BUT please note, this was the final day of the season and it was NOT like this a few weekends before. Even the cinnamon bread that last day was almost like it was premade. None of that cinnamon goop in the bottom of the container they now serve in. Food prices did seem to go up, even with the cost cutting above. We always save our receipts curious how much money the gold pass saved us, and this was confirmed. Prices went up, some even changed mid season Overall though not many complaints as most of the season was great but not perfect

The part that you can visibly see is some of the high stress area. They mentioned that high stress area is being replaced. That final curve into the station is one of the most intense parts of the ride. I personally don't believe all is being replaced no, but who knows Sent from my LE2117 using Tapatalk

FYI: Those who renewed your season pass for next year that have the free mug, ask them to upgrade to the mug that includes free refills. They didn't offer it, but I asked, and they sold me the red mug, free refills all year this and next, for $15. It's normally $30! You might not have the same results as me, but I simply asked and they were like sure!

If it's who I'm thinking of you are correct, he had mentioned several times the launch was working correctly and smoothly. However, it's very possible the launch as in the mechanism that performs the launch works great but the launch as a section of the coaster (including the track) was having issu e Sent from my LE2117 using Tapatalk

I had actually posted and heard of this rumor about a month back. Won't surprise me. Rumor I heard was that it a hybrid track. Some wood and some ibox Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

I'm here today, track is still there Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

PSA: Dollywood fixed their website and tomorrow is the last day (for now) to renew at a hefty discount for the rest of next year. I was able to renew mine now Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

I'm going to give them this week to fix the site. I know they have a tiny IT team, I applied for it a few years back. I'll be taking screenshots everyday I try. Towards the end of next week, I'll start calling and then finally pull out the big guns and contact HFE directly or folks like Pete Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Mines stuck saying can't renewed. Dollywood needs to fix their shit has anyone successfully renewed? Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Rumor around the park is that they are iboxing part of the track but not all of it. Just a rumor and probably very unlikely. I'd say it's very unlikely because they have already been redoing a lot of track this year, unless they found issues while redoing the track they have currently been working on I'd say with the minor trackwork they've done this year, they have found more serious problems and what better time to fix than now? Unsure why they are teasing us though with lightening strikes twice! Ha Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Went yesterday, LR was closed. Another interesting thing I noticed, all theming has been removed from the overhead trestle on mystery mine. All wood, all theming, all everything! My camera batteries were dead and so was my phone so no photo, but it looked bad. Hopefully they will redo it and didn't remove everything due to the incident. It's basically just the track and metal frame now Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

The parks only open four times a week now [emoji14]But honestly I've seen it open once or twice this year and that's it Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

It's hit or miss. On Wild Eagle during one of my visits they made a guest put a mask on before dispatching. I've seen the same on BF. Just like they sometimes enforce the mask policy in the park and sometimes they don't. Sunday, I was there, and they really cared less if you wore a mask. No one said anything to anyone that I noticed if you weren't wearing one. The official policy, at least what I was told, is that mask are required on all rides except water rides this is also what's posted online "For the protection of each other and our guests, our employees will wear masks. Our guests (3 years and older) will also be required to wear a face mask or face covering except for meal times, on water attractions and at designated mask-free break zones at Dollywood." If your experience was different, that was likely one of the days or ride ops that were more lenient. I'm finding these more frequently now The time where they wouldn't dispatch Wild Eagle when a guest didn't have their mask was the first week or two of opening, now they are more lenient, at least during my visits Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

I'm just glad Dollywood changed their view on pass holders! They've been treating us like royalty recently! Especially during the week/evening where it's super dead! Two times this week, they told my wife and I to go park in "A" when we pull in (for those unaware, "A" is handicap and close to the front door). They have also been using A some for preferred parking and with a gold pass, that's where they are sent us Wife and I went two times this week around 4ish. One night the park actually closed at 6:00is because a storm ran nearly everyone out of the park. Even though they closed early they still let my wife and I eat at aunt Granny's (because they still had tons of food, the closing wasn't expected) so we didn't exit the park until close to 8:00 that night. The rides never opened back up after the storm and most shops stayed closed. We stopped another day for funnel cakes and they had very low crowd's! Hit a few rides in a matter of a few minutes and grabbed our funnel cake and went home. LR was closed on this day so no riding it As comparison, when they had the reservation system, evening reservations couldn't be made so wife and I would make them for noon and come in late. They always let us in but put up a fight everytime I believe more parks, aside from Disney who has said they aren't making much from their pass holders, have realized their pass holders are their lifeline right now while the parks are dead. Wife and I have spent at least $80 this week at Dollywood, and while that doesn't sound like much, that's a lot just for two evenings out. PSA: Soon, Dollywood is going to weekend only ops. Well Friday - Monday due to low crowd's. I believe this starts Monday. I don't believe Dollywood has gone to such a slim schedule in the past 15 years or so. If you had trips planned, please check their schedule! Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

The email just came out this morning, at least I just got mine today. My theory is this it to help with backlash when people start noticing the new August schedule To Our Season Passholder Family, Even in these unique times in which we find ourselves, families are visiting Dollywood and having great time. After much careful preparation, we opened Dollywood and Dollywood’s Splash Country on June 15. Since that time, we have welcomed tens of thousands of loyal Season Passholders and general admission guests. Based on our learnings from operating in the current environment, we have made some adjustments we believe will help make things a little easier as you plan your trip. Additionally, this is an ever-evolving situation, and we ask for your patience as we adapt to make your experience memorable while also ensuring we remain socially-distanced. We hope the following changes help provide a more seamless experience for your visit: Reservations are no longer needed for your Dollywood visit. We have learned we can maintain social distancing on most days without Season Passholders making a reservation for each visit, so this limitation has been removed. Additionally, there are no longer any restrictions on the number of times Season Passholders may visit each month. Passholders can visit anytime, subject to capacity limits on some days. To maintain social distancing, Passholder reservations are still required for Dollywood’s Splash Country. One-Day tickets and Multi-Day tickets are now valid for your use during a five-day window following your original selected date. You won’t have to worry if your plans must change at the last minute or if the weather doesn’t cooperate; just come at another time during that five-day window. Your paid ticket guarantees access to Dollywood and/or Dollywood’s Splash Country on the day you choose. While masks are required in Sevier County, we have created a number of mask-free break zones throughout the park which offer a socially-distanced space where you may remove your mask. Additionally, masks do not need to be worn when eating or drinking in the park, or on water rides and high-thrill attractions. At Dollywood’s Splash Country, masks only must be worn when in restaurant queue lines or situations where social distance cannot be maintained. Again, we thank you for your continued patience and ask that you give us the opportunity to navigate this challenging time. We appreciate you and look forward to welcoming you back! Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

I had heard this rumor as well way before the schedule adjusted, I had actually heard it may happen in July but I guess they postponed to August. Due to the very low attendance, especially during the week Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

There are chains hanging around mystery mine as a decoration. Like large mine shaft chain's I'm sure they will be removed now Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Back today! For those who haven't noticed, starting next week they changed the hours and are now closing at 8:00 during the week. They said at the gate that they might lower it even more after the forth Much different experience today, they are enforcing mask a lot more. Still have yet to see a table cleaning and the hand washing stations have been out of water LR is open and running much better crowd today, half of lot C is full. Still a dead day but rides all have waits of 30+ mins aside from wild eagle. More rides running today. Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Good to hear they got LR up and running! Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

One interesting thing I noticed is that the older crowd was way down at Dollywood Local older folks don't really care about the pandemic here, they want to be out. I believe the lack of shows has them staying away You are exactly right that shows are a draw folks and I believe that goes for a lot of parks. I can see a lot of folks using their income to travel and eat at some of the great restaurants in the area but outside the park. See some of the attractions like alpine coasters outside of the park and so on Interesting you mention discounts, yesterday or maybe Thursday the Dollywood app had season passes listed at $99 but no way to buy them. I saw when when making my reservation. It now has them listed at $139 again. I bet, July when the "extended pass" ends, they will drop to $99. Normally this never happens. I'm sure someone pushed something to production on accident vs staging so it popped up in the app early I'm sure other parks are going to start discounting as well, just to bring in income. It's a fine line though, it really depends on crowd level's. If they are having issues hitting their max capacity, then discounts will help. Parks like Disney, I'm sure they will hit their max at least more often than not. Wife was surprised they didn't try and keep us when we cancelled and I told her, I'm sure they are trying to weed people out right now anyway and we helped that. These parks will not want to discount as they already lost a lot of revenue But parks that have to discount the discounts are also going to compound this problem Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

It depends on how long they have to operate at a loss. Parks have been hush hush about drawing on their lines of credit unlike retail and other travel or entertainment companies. I've heard of retail companies drawing down their entire line of credit. That has to be paid back. Six Flags for example, is bad with Debt and always has been. Operating at a lose while better than operating with no income will just "slow" the process if they are bringing in enough money for payroll and non essential expenses to operate vs just paying essential to stay closed And then there is the unknown. If we bring back 75% of our furloughed staff, are we going to have the income to make it worth it or is it best to stay closed and just pay the essential expenses. Personally, I believe this is why a lot of parks haven't opened. They want to see what the crowds look like at places that have opened. I dislike analyst, they are a lot of times wrong, but several have said the same thing about Disney and that they would lose less money by staying closed. Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Economic impact has been bad on a lot of businesses. I work in IT for specialty retail (mall stores). We are in fancy malls where a lot of entertainment venues are (Cesar's in Vegas for example) While the majority of our stores are now open and traffic is around 80% of what it was (better than we expected as mall traffic was already dying) we lost right under 100 Million during the end of March and month of April. That doesn't include May and June. We opened some stores starting May 1st. A little perspective our stores do very well compared to mall stores. The income at our stores is several hundred times higher than stores like American Eagle, Gap, and those places. We have around 100 stores so 100 Million is a lot of money lost. 0 of our stores closed for good as of now, and we are actually opening new stores but several new stores that were planned were scrapped Did this just affect us? Nope, it traveled down to our vendors when we stopped ordering. It traveled down to our cleaning crews that are no longer cleaning I have friends who work for Regal (theater chain based here in Knoxville, I'm sure most have heardbof) and was told if they didn't open soon, they wouldn't open at all ever again. That's how much money and revenue they lost And just seeing the first week of Dollywood. Splash Country had more staff cars in their parking lot than guest cars.. how can you make money if staff is higher than guest? (I only checked them out one day). Dollywood had crowds worse than the crowds they see mid September when school is in session. It's the middle of summer here! Today they show as booked up and so is tomorrow so maybe these early signs are a fluke With that being said, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are slammed packed so people are traveling. That tells me that 1.) Polices are keeping people away from these places (Mask, No Mask, people are afraid that closed seats on rides make lines longer and so on) 2.) The economic impact, people now have less money but still want to travel. So they are traveling to areas like Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and other places that have parks but they are doing other stuff that cost less 3.) Less money so people are traveling local. I was never furloughed, my company didn't do that, but my wife was. This was one reason we cancelled our trip to Disney, on top of several others such as the week were are going, half the parks are listed to be closed the first few days we are there. 4.) Airlines kept cancelling our flights (not Disneys fault but the ripple effect). This is causing people to stay local so while the areas around Dollywood are full, maybe they are all locals and don't spend much time at Dollywood 5.) No guarantee we can even enter a park due to reservations and limits (another reason wife and I cancelled our Disney Trip) My opinion is that many parks won't close, maybe some smaller parks, but projects will be postponed by several years. Example, Dollywood was about to announce their new spending plan that was larger than the last 10 year, 300 million dollar plan. I bet that will be scrapped for several years now and possibly even scaled down greatly. I feel Six Flags will file for bankruptcy again but can probably restructure without closing parks. I'm also afraid if Disney has to operate under the restrictions placed on them they will have serious financial trouble. A lot of their profits didn't come from movies, they came from the parks. With theaters probably doing very poorly, the parks doing very poorly, people not buying DVDs anymore or Blu-ray due to streaming. $10/month for Disney plus isn't going to cut it for them. No sports so ESPN is probably bleeding money and so on and cord cutting hitting new record highs quicker than ever. With hotel rooms sitting empty due to capacity limits, parks sitting at very low capacity, where is Disney going to get money to operate their empire? And please don't say cash that is stockpiled. Companies blew through that by using it for the first few weeks of the closure on payroll. Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk