jimmiemac02

Yep, when Dollywood replaced the braking system with magnetic brakes they took the splashdown out. For a few years the ending was dark but recently they have added a few smoke and lighting effects to the ending. Also fun fact, RMC actually retracked the drop a couple years ago.

I have been to the one in Hershey and one in Harrisburg and both had them.

My original favorite was Dollywood, but ever since I visited Tweetsie this summer, their train ride takes the cake (mostly because of the cheesy cowboy and Indian show).

Adam the Woo filmed this recently at Dollywood. The Inventor's Mansion is still standing as of August 16th. See video at 3:14.

According to this article, they are not replacing the other racing mat slide.

Surprise!

Miss Lillian's Chicken House and the Old Flooded Mine ride were not that close to each other. The Flooded Mine Ride was where Daredevil Falls is. Are you referring to the old Inventor's Mansion building that's above the tunnel to the train and County Fair? Most likely that is the location in question. Are there any pictures of the demolition? It must be fairly recent activity, as the building was still intact on my recent August 5th visit. It has been stated by park PR that the old structure would be coming down for a future attraction. If it's for 2017, I will be surprised that Dollywood is ready to make another major investment after the $22,000,000 Lightning Rod addition. I suspect it's being cleared for a 2018 e-ticket and Splash Country will be getting a much needed new attraction in 2017 instead. In addition to that, there is a fence put up in the tunnel under Inventor's Mansion (where the mine gift shop used to be) with some signs on it such as "It all started here." (Don't quote me on that, but it says something to that effect). Not sure how long it has been there, but I did not notice it on my last trip the beginning of May.

Thunderhead wasn't stacking today so don't tell me the ride ops are slow.

Or you could park at Patriots Park for FREE and ride the trolley in for $0.50/person. Drops you off right at the front gate and you don't have to hassle with the huge parking lot. LINK

Hi Knoebels people! I'm headed to the park in a couple weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. Last time I went in 2014, Flying Turns had just opened and had huge lines. Does it still have large queue times? Should I ride it first? Or is there another more popular ride? Thanks in advance!

Yes, it is a family park, still owned and operated by the Robbins family (aka the people who started Rebel Railroad/Dollywood).

I went to the park tonight and go to watch the new show Cirque Imagine. I have to say it is a really impressive show and I wonder how the show got to be at a Cedar Fair park. It's definitely in the realm of a Dollywood or Disney caliber show. Lots of acrobatics and stunts I have not seen before, and it was very impressive some of the stunts they pulled off in the small stage area they had. A solid 9/10 as far as shows go for me. On another note, line jumping is rampant at parks everywhere. It happened to me twice tonight. Anytime it happens to me I call the people out on it. They are usually very nice and let me in front of them. I, unfortunately, have a tendency to get mad at them, and call them out in a very rude manner. So much so, the grandmother of the family that line jumped me got out of her wheelchair and gave me a very "stern talking to." So my question is, how should I/how do you deal with line jumpers politely? Or should I just ignore them?

Some signage and ride pictures for Larry.

It's really not as far away as you would think. Tweetsie is only a 1.5 hour drive from the Charlotte area. So if you're going to Carowinds, it is definitely worth checking out.

When people ask what my hobbies are, I reply that I am a “Theme Park Enthusiast.” When I go to a park, the experience and immersiveness are more important to me than the rides or coasters. Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, NC may not have a roller coaster or super great flat rides, but the experience alone makes up for it tenfold. If you plan to come to the park, set your expectations accordingly as this is a family park and not a thrill park like Carowinds. Tweetsie Railroad opened in 1957 when the Robbins Brothers acquired engine #12 from Gene Autry. The Robins Brothers also started Rebel Railroad which eventually turned into Dollywood. Some of the Robbins family was at the park the day that I went and I got to speak with them a bit. They were very nice people. Speaking of nice people, every single one of the staff members I encountered at the park had a smile on their face and looked like they genuinely enjoyed working there. Each one was more than happy to answer any questions I had about the park. The park is themed around cowboys and Indians and the Wild West. Throughout the day, you will meet the different characters that play a role in the town such as Dr. Abra the magician and Diamond Lil, the owner of the saloon. The park has a few flat rides and a chairlift, but the crowning jewel of the park is the genuine coal fired steam locomotive. Tweetsie owns 2 locomotives: #12, and Dollywood’s sister engine #190. Engine #12 is listed on the national register of historic places! I had always heard about this park as a child, but I never went due to the fact loud noises (such as gunshots) scared me. Last week I went out to lunch at Subway with some co-workers and out of the corner of my eye, I spied a coupon for Tweetsie Railroad. With coupon in hand, I left my house at 7 AM Saturday morning to get to the park for a 9 AM opening. Now onto the photos! I arrived at Tweetsie to a beautiful scene of the rides on the hillside and the train steaming into the station. I arrived promptly at 9 AM when the ticket gates opened. I walked up to the rides but noticed there was hardly anyone around and the ride ops were no where in sight. I had to ask an employee what was going on and I was told "Ain't nothin' don't open until 9:30." So I walked around some more. Here is the park map. The park is situated in the side of a mountain so it is built in tiers. The train is at the bottom and the rides are the next level, some more rides and shows are at the top of the mountain. A shot of main street as you walk in. Some cowboys were roaming the streets at opening. The eatery on main street. Be ready to hike up some mountains when you come to this park. The main mode of transportation to get to Miners Mountain (the top) is a chairlift. Since it wasn't running yet, I decided to walk. This park definitely takes the cake as the most beautiful theme park. Tweetsie will let you bring your own food into the park and you can eat at one of their many picnic tables (like Knoebels). This park is seriously beautiful. After a 10 minute walk, I made it to Miners Mountain. Since I was there so early, the employees were still taking care of a few things (cleaning, taking trash out, etc.) I couldn't have picked a better day to come. Since it was nearing 9:30, I walked back down to the Country Fair area of the park. One of the most unique rides at the park was the Turnpike Cruisers. It's like Autopia without the rail in the middle. I rode the Ferris Wheel next. Most Ferris Wheels I have ridden use a tire driven system, but this Ferris Wheel was driven by a wire. I should also mention that all rides at the park (except for the newer drop tower, scrambler, and tornado) were manually operated and gave really good cycles. Seems like people are just dying to come to Tweetsie Railroad. But seriously, the view from the Ferris Wheel is amazing. An overview of all the rides. They had a Moser Rides drop tower. This was the first Round-Up I had ever ridden. I didn't like it. Since the chairlift was now running, I rode it to the top to Miners Mountain. You can find the parks dark ride there: Mouse Mine. There was a whole story about how Mordecai Mouse found the cheese mine, but I couldn't hear it over all the people while waiting in the station. The train pulls into the dark ride section and stops. Then you listen to a song about mining cheese. WARNING CATCHY SONG AHEAD The park also had a playground for the smaller kids. Since this is Miners Mountain, they had a gem mine and gold panning sluice. Gold panning was free but gem mining was a bucket. They sell petrified wood in the mine gift shop. I'd buy you all a round of drinks, but I'm a miner... It was time for me to go back down. They have a nice lookout at the top of the mountain. Going down Did I mention how beautiful it was? Now for the best ride in the park, the Tweetsie Railroad. Today I got the honor of riding behind engine #190 The Yukon Queen. Dollywood has her sister engine #191 Klondike Katie. Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, she served in Alaska during WWII. ALL ABOARD Looking to the back of the train. I found it interesting they have flat screens on the train. My guess is that they use them during their Ghost Train Halloween event. Also, the best place to sit to see all the action is in car #3 on the right side. Each car has a cowboy/cowgirl on board. For my first ride, we had sheriff coyote. Views from the train. Crossing the trestle. The first scene happens as you pull into town. This is a holdup. The sheriff kept everyone in line. An urgent telegram came in and said Fort Boone is under attack! Headed to Fort Boone. Beautiful day. I can't swim, canoe? Indians attack the fort and the train. Fighting Indians. Lots of fighting and explosions. Finally everyone makes peace. There were 2 different story lines to the train rides. I rode the train 4 times and saw each one of them twice. They switch up the story line every 2 trains. Even though the overall story is the same, each of the 4 times I rode the cowboys lines were different so they definitely ad-lib quite a bit. Usually the ad-libed parts of the show were pretty funny with some pop culture references. Back to town we go. Engine #12 was not in use that day. I did speak with an employee and she said it was a rare occurrence when #12 was used. The video below is a few shots I got of the train around the park. Now it was time to take in some shows. First up Diamond Lil's Can-Can Revue. Lots of singing and dancing. All shows at Tweetsie last 15 minutes, which in my opinion is just right for a theme park show. It does not take too much time out of your day, but it gives you a chance to sit down for a few minutes. You could go out on the balcony of the saloon. I kind of reminded me of the Diamond Horseshoe at Disneyland. As I said earlier, you could bring your own food into the park and this church group did just that. They had a HUGE picnic. Next up was the Tweetsie Country Clogging Jamboree. Any theme park that has a clogging show scores extra points with me! Now lets talk food. Tweetsie has very limited food options. This menu was standard across all dining establishments. It is worth noting that these prices are too bad for a theme park. The only other option for food is BBQ. Excuse the glare. Tweetsie does have your typical theme park food such as funnel cakes, popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream etc. Excuse the glare again Here are a few pictures of the shops of Tweetsie I though these were cute Nope, we're not at Disney. It is worth noting that a lot of the kids were carrying and shooting cap guns. I thought it added to the atmosphere of the park. Tweetsie has a fudge shop where they make their own fudge. The lady was making oreo balls when I was in there. A few more shops. Adding to the cowboys and Indians theme... Very creepy animatronic in the jail cell. Looks like I'm back at Disney. The other mode of transportation up to Miners Mountain was by bus. Ideal for families with strollers since the walk up was rather long and you can't take strollers on the chair lift. It was the busiest day of the season for Tweetsie. They had 4 large groups there the Saturday I visited. It was interesting though that the lines for the rides never got more than a 1 cycle wait, and the park never seemed crowded to me as I was walking around. Seems to be a popular photo spot at theme parks. It's called a Cowch (I can't make this stuff up) This was the only downfall of the park for me. It wasn't even the park, it was the magician. The guy used extreme sarcasm that went over the kids heads, he had to beg for applause, he bragged that he had been doing magic for 16 years yet was worse than any birthday party magician I had ever seen. Even the little kids could tell how each trick was done. Also on Miner Mountain, Tweetsie has a very nice zoo! You could buy an ice cream cone filled with animal feed for Rules and regulations Pot Belly Pigs Donkeys Pygmy Goats Emus I'm always a fan of good yard art I took the last train ride of the day and right before we pulled out, one of the cowboys ran an jumped on the back of the horse. It was funny and quite impressive. At the end of the day, all the performers from all the shows come together and perform in the "Sunset Show." I really enjoyed it and would recommend you stay for it! Time to leave. Overall I had a really great day at Tweetsie Railroad, it was so good in fact that it is now in my top 5 theme parks! Thank you to all the staff at Tweetsie who made my day so memorable! Thanks for reading!

I had the opportunity to go to Myrtle Beach this week and I jumped at the chance knowing one of my favorite amusement parks was nearby. Family Kingdom has gone through a few owners over the years but has stood the test of time and with the Pavilion now gone, it is the last major amusement park on the SC coast. When Hugo (a hurricane that caused a lot of damage in SC) hit in '89, it caused the park to close for a couple years. Fortunately the owners decided to rebuild the park and 2 years later it reopened. Notable rides at Family Kingdom include, Swamp Fox Coaster (a PTC Woodie), The Great Pistolero Roundup (a Sally Dark Ride), and a PTC Carousel. The park opens at 4pm most days since most people are enjoying the beach or the hotel pool in the morning. I arrived at the park right at opening and got my wristband ($27.95 plus tax), they also sell individual tickets. I never had to wait in line for anything, but as I was leaving, the park was getting crowded since everyone had just gotten done with supper. The park is very much like Knoebels in that it is a "free admission" park and that it is a small "quaint" park, it just lacks the "non-touristy area" charm that Knoebels has. Now onto the photos! When I arrived the park was pretty dead. I like this view. Swamp Fox got a nice new red, white, and blue paint job for it's birthday. Some really nice ejector air over the hills. The seats were not padded very well, so it made the ride very painful. From the time the train hits the breaks, it takes a full 90 seconds to bring the train to a complete stop at the unload platform. I'm not sure why they have the automatic breaking that way. Now for the park's other roller coaster, the Twist'n' Shout. This Zamperla wild mouse was relocated from Magic Springs and Crystal Falls. This one was quite slow even though it was not trimmed. I think Mack mouses are best. it looks like they took this backdrop right off a dark ride. I would have to say this is my favorite Sally dark ride that I have ridden. The sign of quality. How it made it to such a small park, I'm not sure. An overview of the midway. Can anybody guess where those magic bikes came from? You'll shoot your cactEYE out. (Pun intended) The Park has a nice PTC carousel. The unfortunate part is that the only original part of the ride is the top portion. All of the horses have a really bad paint job. I guess I'm just spoiled by the fact Knoebels painstakingly paints their horses. Detail The park is split over a body of water. I didn't realize coming in that it was this coaster's 50th anniversary. On a personal note, this was my first "adult" roller coaster I ever rode. Look at these high tech air gates! The train has buzzbar restraints and seatbelts. Why can't they be more like Phoenix??? Speaking of restraints, apparently the ride ops have to check your buzzbar and seat belt twice before dispatch. On top of that, one of the ops made me unbuckle my seat belt and undo the 1 twist that was in it. For all you control panel enthusiasts... The coaster still has its manual breaking mechanism in place but it is not used (more on this later) Nerd Shot Super enthusiastic ride ops here. Also of note, I rode this thing a few years ago while they were still using the manual speed control on the left and man, this thing was fast. Now they have replaced the manual control with automatic controls. Family Kingdom also has a nice train that runs around the park. This was my first ever log flume! It's a Hopkins flume and the drop in the back has an airtime hill. The Midway. The Swamp Fox. I had beautiful weather the day I was there. While Myrtle Beach may be a touristy place, you can still find places to relax away from all the noise. Thanks for reading!

Anybody want to buy a theme park?

The water park was not crowded at all this morning, everything was a walk on. When riding Carolina Cyclone this morning, I saw a kid hop over the air gate to try and ride with his friend. Needless to say, he got an earful from the ride ops. Lots of school groups at the park today.

We tried to avoid the Pigeon Forge strip all together. It looks like one massive trashy tourist trap. We thought Gatlinburg was much nicer. We particularly enjoyed free moonshine tasting at Ol Smokey Moonshine and the Old Smokey Brewery. Kade's Cove in the State Park is neat, but God help you if you visit on a weekend. Not to be too picky.... but its Cades Cove and it is a National Park (Great Smoky Mountain National Park). Speaking of Cade's Cove, we drove around tonight and saw 3 bears, 8 deer, and 1 coyote (oh my).

The only problem I have with Blazing Fury is the story line. There is one vital detail to the story left out of the ride: how the town catches on fire. You're riding through a nice Appalachian town and then BAM it's on fire and no one knows why.

And through the wonders of Windows Movie Maker... My Movie.mp4 My Movie2.mp4

My closest coaster is Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood at only 86 miles, which is weird because Afterburn at Carowinds is 110 miles yet is takes me an hour less to get to Carowinds.

Thank you for posting that! It's amazing that it fills up so fast. I wonder how long it takes to pump the water out.

In addition to the other photos...

It has always opened on opening day in years past.