Jccoasterfan

Quick heads up for anyone planning to go to the park today. Lightning Rod is listed as "CD" or "closed for the day". Hopefully they can get the issues quickly fixed to reopen by tomorrow.

In speaking of speakers (haha), does anyone know when the last time Lightning Rod had the engine-revving sound effects working during the station pullout? I don't recall hearing them since last November (though they only worked during select times). I know that when the coaster opened they had the sound effects working almost every time. Back during opening weekend this season, I never heard them once. Not that its a big deal, it just added a nice little touch to the theming in my opinion.

Maybe this whole transformation is nothing but a huge April Fools prank, and soon they will start the rest of the deconstruction.

Storm Chaser. California's Great America?

I ate at Red's only once last season, but back on Friday we ate at Lillian's for lunch and Front Porch Cafe for dinner right before we left the park. I've always had a preference for Lillian's over Aunt Granny's due to the food tasting a bit fresher. In fact, I thought Miss Lillian's tasted better this year than last year. Front Porch was also really good, I'm so glad they kept some of the favorites from the former Backstage Restaurant.

^Yes, Sideshow Spin is offically gone. Nothing but turf and sitting areas there now. That stinks about the pizza. I ate at Miss Lillians earlier and I found the food there being better compared to last season, quality wise. Unfortunately, the trunks have not returned. Kinda surprising since Pete himself said they were gonna re-install them during the offseason. Other than that, my ride on Lightning Rod was great. I do not recall seeing any rows closed off.

So far I'm enjoying my day at the park. I managed to get one lap in on Lightning Rod this morning shortly after it opened. After walking up to Timber Canyon, I snapped some quick pictures of Drop Line and Whistle Punk Chaser's construction: Drop Line appears to be moving pretty quickly on construction. Here's a closer look Whistle Punk Chaser coming along nicely

It appears that more rides have been added to timesaver this year, unless I'm wrong. I was looking at the list and noticed more rides listed there compared to last year. Let's see how it works out this year. I will be at the park tomorrow for passholder preview day. I'm really looking forward to getting more laps in on Lightning Rod and checking out the changes that were made around the park during the off-season!!

Isn't the park going to have to announce it then? It seems assinine to not be upfront about what they're doing when there's thousands of people filing by every day. They don't necessarily have to reveal the whole layout, and they can still build anticipation by not doing that, but how can they not say RMC is revamping the old Mean Streak structure into a hybrid? Top Thrill Dragster would like to have a word with you. But seriously though, I'm sure the park will have a good plan for marketing the coaster. With Cedar Point Shores opening this year, I don't think we'll see an announcement anytime soon (or at least until mid-late summer). That's fine with me, it will just build more excitement and anticipation!

I know patience can be a tough thing, but keep in mind, it will all pay off when the park makes an official announcement. The truth is, be respectful of Rob's orders; respect the park's rules (and that goes for any park); and be patient. It's that simple. All we know is that this coaster is going to kick all sorts of butt. Unfortunately we had to cut out our trip to Cedar Point this year due to budget limits and time. At least this makes another excuse to visit next year

I remember back during the ACE event in November, LR ran both trains all day. I don't recall ever seeing any downtime that particular day. It was probably the best I've seen in terms of operations for the coaster. My latest visit was in late December and it was down the whole time. I'm pretty sure the reliability will be a lot higher this season, but I wouldn't guarantee anything at the moment. We can only hope.

^ I'm sure the park would appreciate it if we don't share. Plus, Robb clearly stated to NOT post photos of Mean Streak, no matter who took the photo or where it was taken. Rules are rules and it's always best if we respect them.

The Beast Europa Park?

Wicked Cyclone Knoebels?

I have yet to try out Lumberjacks. Typically we're already in the other side of the park when we get hungry for lunch! I will probably try it sometime next season maybe. I saw something that I noticed earlier on Dollywood's website. I wasn't able to post a picture of it, but if you look under "Dining", Backstage is no longer listed. However, It shows a new restaurant coming in 2017 called "Front Porch Cafe". Could this end up replacing Backstage? I just hope their food options don't change then if that's the case.

So Backstage Restaurant is being gutted and redone, according to the video. Backstage is our go-to restaurant whenever we visit the park. I believe Pete mentioned Lumberjack's Pizza being redone as well. I look forward to seeing how those places turn out next season! I have to admit, the restrooms at Backstage were disgusting compared to others in the park. My whole family agrees on that statement.

It almost sounds like sensors to me. I did however read through the comments on one post and someone said a rollback occured before shutting down earlier. Honestly who knows?!

^ Yup. I saw on instagram that the train got stuck on the track in front of the launch hill. Someone else said they got evacuated off of it as well.

There was an ACE event at the park today, which I forgot to mention that was the reason why I was there today. I did participate in the behind-the-scenes tour of LR and it was the highlight of my day. Everyone captured some great shots of the coaster!

I was at the park today and everything was running. We were told that the Dollywood Express was indeed down due to the wildfires. Lightning Rod ran with both trains the entire day and I don't recall ever seeing any downtime with it. In fact, it was running very well but dispatch times were slower due to people with heavy coats having trouble with pulling the lap bar down. The ops repeatedly told everyone that if they're wearing heavy coats they need to take them off due to the "very restrictive restraint system". I was able to get a night ride in and got lucky with riding in the front row. All in all it was a great day.

Does anyone know if PTC-style trains are the only type you can use for wooden coasters? Or is it just like that for the beta? I watched a few videos on youtube and every wooden coaster I saw had the same trains. I was hoping to see GCI Millennium Flyer trains as another alternative (kinda like what they did in RCT3). Nonetheless, everything still looks amazing! I cannot wait for this game!

Tony did say in his blog that people weren't allowed to drive around and take pictures since the park is closed. Once I saw that video surfaced, I knew trouble would come for the person who made it. I just hope everyone understands that park rules are park rules and disobeying them could lead to consequences. Anyways, regarding Mean Streak, I could see this being RMC's best conversion yet!

Are they still only running one train? Out of curiosity, how are crowds today?

My initial thought was the "potholes" being track related, but it sounds like it won't get fixed anytime soon. Anyways thanks for the great info dollywoodmech! I was reading a facebook comment earlier regarding LR and someone replied saying "Oh you won't miss much, the ride is extremely rough for a new ride..." and another reply said something similar. I was just sitting there thinking in my head, "Did the potholes get you?" My guess is they likely got force/intensity mixed up with roughness. Honestly who knows. Although this has been discussed before, LR seems unusually rough for a new RMC, let alone a new coaster. Personally I didn't find it rough other than those two spots. Again thanks to Dollywoodmech (although we can't verify) but also thanks to IOE for the great info!

A lot of us have suspected sensors and computers to be the issue for a while now, no proof of that but I feel it's a fair assumption. and I really do bet that is going to be the spot.. it's already developed for it and in the concept art, you can see the pond from Timber Tower.. They might build a new location for it, but they have been saving that structure and line for something ha-ha Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Agreed. I'm at the point where I will try not to speculate too much on the issues further. I just hope they can get it back open soon. I've always pictured a good drop tower there ever since Timber Tower was removed, and I looked closely at the animation and description and it pretty much confirms the spot. I would be surprised if they do end up building it somewhere else close by. Not sure if its just me, but does anyone think we may see a possible Timber Canyon revamp? Or at least by that particular area by the two new attractions?