Dollywoodlover20

Lightning Rod is one coaster that teaches a lesson on things in your pockets. Dodging flying quarters from a woman's pockets isn't fun. At first I thought it was bolts from under the train because it was on the wave turn and I just seen silver things flying towards me haha. They warned people all day of the woman who got hit in the face with the cellphone, they should keep doing that because once they done that all riders emptied phones at once.

What's the name of the video you speak of? Just go to YouTube and type in "phone flys off roller coaster at Dollywood". It will be the first one. I found it by just trying to find newly added Dollywood videos. What was that someone mentioned about work being done behind TT? Was this actual dozer work or just trucks traveling? Because they have trucks that drive up and around back there.

Mystery Mine is themed after an abandoned coal mine, they can get away with some of the outside wear. But the rust look on the roof of the main building is starting to wear off from sun damage, and with the views from drop line you can see everything growing on the roofs. Which again with the mods growing up there they can get away with that too. The inside...uhm...that's a different story. When I first rode Mystery Mine there was fog in the initial drop, fog in the first section of the ride along with mist. Now from what I've heard you're lucky to have the "bom bom" music to be turned up loud enough to hear. The last half has struggled we know that. The fire is down to one flame now on the side. The inside needs more than the outside lol OH and I think someone mentioned back about things in pockets on LR and then the coaster was down for some time Monday? Well there's a video on YouTube of a man who stupidly put his phone in his front pocket, left the phone on record and once the train hit that pre drop out the phone went and you can see it fly over the rows of riders and it lands and slams a kid then rides down the drop with him where it looks to either tumble down the track in pieces OR bounce off. Either way it lands directly beside the drop and you can even watch another train absolutely fly by.

Nothing is safe on LR. I've been on and had change Flu by my head, had to duck from a phone during the quad down and then caught a mans hat in the wave turn. Something always flys haha

So I've been busy with college and everything and am just catching up. The drop tower looks like it will provide some amazing views of the park including a view of LR, and a gut wrenching free fall. Speaking of LR, anyone know why the bars were added to the lapbars? I liked the feeling of having nothing to hold onto. Made it a bit more intense, which at the end I had to hang onto the sides during the quad down but I feel if you hang onto something with LR it's going to feel as if it's being more "rough" with you. Am I the only one?

If they're doing continuous runs without people they're probably seeing how long it can run without the last problem coming up again. That is if it's fixed. So chances of it being open for the next few days of the season may be a possibility. The weather doesn't look too awful.

Here's a video of what's happening with the launch. I guess you could call this a rollback. It launches from the bottom fin and then one of the fins stops it from going any further as you can actually see.

I'm confident it could still complete the course if it was a speedy lift hill. The experience, though, would change for sure. The two humps at the top of the launch hill both give airtime, and that would be lost. For a first time experience to the park, I also probably would not have been let down by Dollywood if LR wasn't running. This is a kicka** park on its own, and would be made better once the drop tower is put in. Exactly. For the ones wanting them to convert to a fast lift, here are your airtime points on this coaster: first drop directly after the launch, the second drop and it lifts you and throws you forward, wave turn has the sideways air, as does the outside banked top hat, twist n shout, quad down, airtime hill, the top of non inverted half loop. Now all of the airtime moments aren't just pops, you're literally sustained in the air and being pulled out. Especially on the quad down. Putting the lift in I'm sure would reduce speed which would reduce air. The ones majorly effected would be the first two. Plus in general, it's just a fun feeling to go launch up a mountain.

Well a group of coaster enthusiasts came to ride yesterday, got on the first train and the train pulled out and started to launch up the hill only for the train to barely start up then roll back down. Now that's coming straight from one of the guys vlogs on YouTube, plus there's an IG photo of them getting taken off. You can see the looks of shock on their faces or that may be disappointment.

They have lightning rod back in the testing stage. According to IG videos they are doing night runs which caused a line outside.

When I went Black Friday weekend it ran absolutely perfect that Sunday and from what I heard that Saturday. We done Lumberjack Saturday. Anyway the only downs it had on that Sunday were when people would lean on the gates and it made the train stop on the brakes and have to be reset. The ride ops then told people that if they leaned on the gates the ride would shut down. I had never seen grown people jump back in fear so quickly in my life before. Another instance is when the train was coming into the station and a little girl ran through the exit gate to meet her Dad to do a parent swap. That made the train hault. This coaster is SUPER sensitive to everything which is good but it causes headaches. The only other time I can remember it went down was when temps dropped and they ran test runs to see if things were in check then they let people on. That was around 36 degrees. It was before the parade. People were starting to complain of not being able to breathe that night due to the fires which hadn't yet been discovered by everyone. It was later that morning.

In this picture I've taken from a POV you can see the parts that push it into the uphill LSM along with the rollback mechanisms. Again this section is angled down so the train rolls into the LSM's. something I didn't know until I actually rode it.

According to a YouTube video I watched, LR experienced a rollback which was why it was at the bottom of the hill. In the video it shows around 10 workers having to push the train into the station after the rollback system gets the train halfway around the turn. What some may not notice is that straight bit is at a downward angle so the rollback LSM has to push it up hill and around a curve if it can. Not sure if rain or temps caused the rollback though.

Now that the park is back open and all I want to report a bit on my trip Sunday. First starting with my experience with the test seat. I looked at it and had anxiety because the thing looks extremely tight. The padding for your back on the test seat bulks out about 4-5 inches or more from the head rest when in reality the actual seat is maybe 1-2 inches from the head rest with a curve to it. So I tested the test seat, and didn't get a green light. My back didn't feel right at all in the test seat so I observed people getting off. They were larger than me in the legs and stomach so I was confused. So I gave it a go. The attendant placed me in row 2 and the seatbelt fit perfectly and the restraint was kinda tight but not really if I sat more upright. I got 5 rides in and I can't really say if I have a favorite row because there is NOT a bad row on this coaster. Airtime is great everywhere, although I did get slung around more in 8. People saying the ride is rough, it's a smooth as glass coaster. The roughness you're feeling is pure ejector air, and how constant it is. Don't worry about debating holding your hands up, the drop decides that for you. It literally slung my hands up as I slammed into my lap bar. Don't get me started on how in love I am with the air on the wave turn and 90 degree top hat. The wave turn has you out of your seat, on your side, while going back down...it all comes so fast during then you're literally like what the hell. You know then to brace yourself for the top hat because it packs a punch. Don't let the twist n shout fool you because my hoodie came up over my head here and I was sitting on it. How it happened I don't know. The quad down is insane and my eyes went a bit crazy at the bottom haha I think that's where people experience the "rough" and "pain" from. If you're a man, you may be a bit sore after the quad down haha slamming down 4 times is equal to sitting on yourself repeatedly in a wooden chair. The non inverting half loop is a forceful element. Full speed and this element made me a tad bit dizzy but once I hit the breaks I was pumping with adrenaline. It's an absolutely amazing coaster!!!! 10/10 and more!

This makes me scared and sick. For everyone in that area and for Dollywood. I was just there and it was nothing like this. It's shocking. Also makes me worried for Dolly's childhood home back on locust ridge which isn't very far from Dollywood and is in the line this thing is traveling.

In line for my 2nd ride on LR. Doing test runs it went down earlier. Row 1 is closed off but my first ride was in row 2 and this is the best coaster I've been on in my life. Sure packs a hell of a punch! Currently one train ops with a 35 min wait but it's building. Ride op told me earlier they're only doing 1 train ops today.

Is Dollywood 11-9 tomorrow or 2-9? The app says 11-9 but a brochure I have says 2-9?

Im about to head down to pigeon forge for the night and do Dollywood tomorrow/tomorrow night. Anyone know how the traffic and crowds are currently? Hotel vacancies? Yes I know call ahead and we do if it's a planned trip but this was a spur of the moment trip that was brought up last night at midnight.

There was a great periscope on twitter I watched from a backstage tour of LR that shows 3 circuits of riders enjoying their lives on the coaster haha You really get a sense of how fast it goes through the wave turn as well.

We rescheduled our trip for next weekend. Weather is in the upper 50's then instead of low 40's which means less chance of all coasters shutting down on me or having to go through a numbing ride haha.

Yea as far as the cellphone goes I would give it to the ride ops because people have thought their phones were secure and the ride has literally drug them out of their pockets and the phones have hit others in the face. Either that or a guy I know had his phone crushed by the lapbar and said if it was on any other spot on the body it would've busted. I mean with all the force and airtime I don't doubt it at all. If plans go well this weekend I'm going to just place my phone with the hosts haha not risking anything.

So we may going to Dollywood this weekend. The weather seems to be unpredictable at the moment but I wanna be able to go and both see the lights and ride coasters. I'm wondering if the weather would knock me out of the coaster factor? It's gotta be above freezing for them to run and here in the south you never know what'll happen

Yea the Carol of Trees will have to be moved back down to Rivertown next year because Dropline will be in the tree's current spot. Also with the rider being hit, last year when I was on Tennessee Tornado a group of idiots to say the least lol were in front of me and I heard them in the station say "I've got a penny or two in my pocket, I'm gonna let them go on the first and last loops" and sure enough they did. Their ententions were to hurt someone but instead the pennies had too much force upon them and went into the hills. I have been spat on on TT before though. Being LR is so forceful they need to make it a clear warning on signs "THINGS IN POCKETS WILL FLY OUT ON THIS RIDE, NO MATTER WHAT"

Looking at the app right now it says LR has a 25 min wait. What was the tune up for?

Reading IG posts and another girls phone flew out of her back pocket and went all the way to the back and someone caught it. People don't take the airtime and phone thing seriously then complain when they have their phones slung from their pockets. Anyway, according to the app the coaster opened right with the park.