Jccoasterfan

Very exciting additions! Can't wait to renew our passes for next year. Finally a drop tower in Timber Tower's old spot (assuming that's correct)! Regarding Lightning Rod, I saw on Facebook that someone this past Monday was at Dollywood and was told that LR is down due to computer issues.

I do believe the current issues are train/sensor issues. During one of my visits, while waiting in line for the coaster to open, one of the ops told me that most of the issues were sensor issues. That was when I rode the coaster for the first time back in June before the recall. It does seem like the train issues are still existent. During my two later visits, they never pulled the second train out, even when lines got super long. When I found out Velocity Magnetics built the launch and the fact that it was their first ever developed launch system, I had a slight concern. I'm glad they were able to figure out most of the issues with it originally. As I mentioned before, I did find the launch fun, but it definitely is the least exciting part of the ride. My personal favorite element is of course the quad down, followed by the reverse top hat.

I personally wouldn't mind a cable lift. However, in the LR documentary, it was mentioned that the original launch system was supposed to be developed using a "counterweight" but they said that as the design evolved, it became too complicated and realized they weren't getting something state of the art. I'm sure this was discussed a while back, but just wanted to mention it in case others didn't know. I do feel like the launch really adds to the ride experience. LR would still be a great ride even without it, but I found it to be a pretty fun launch. Others may disagree though.

If the launch is the issue again, I think changing to a traditional lift would be their very last option. I'm sure that they would look to a different launch system (if possible) first or at least continue to do drastic measures on the current one. That's just my opinion. Regardless, I hope they can get the coaster up and running as soon as possible.

^ I was on the second train of the day. That line built up quickly! By the time we got off, it was already 45 minutes and then 2 hours as you said. We only had time to hang at the park for an hour because we had to go visit a relative afterwards. If anyone is curious, I do wanna point out something. I went over to ride TN Tornado while the rest of my group waited for LR to open. TN Tornado's second train is back in the storage shed! Too bad they rarely ever run both trains. It was a walk on when the park opened but quickly went up to 10 minutes. The park is packed today.

We've ridden everything except TN Tornado as well, but that was because we got too hungry and didn't want to bother waiting too long. The park is pretty crowded today but not awful since most of the folks are here for the shows. I agree about the lines, though they really have picked up over the past few hours. We may try to come tomorrow for just a few hours in hopes of being able to ride LR. It's really no big deal for me since I rode it last month. As you said, everything else makes up for LR being closed.

I've been hearing the same. Gatlinburg itself is packed. Every restaurant there and in Pigeon Forge had long waits last night. I'm expected Dollywood to be pretty crowded today, even more so tomorrow. As far as LR goes, even though the park doesn't open until 10 am, the app already shows LR as "CD". It was the only thing listed so far, but I'm not sure if they left it at that from yesterday or they know it's gonna be down all day today. My guess is that it will be down today but I will go check after I arrive at the park later just to make sure. Regardless, I'm looking forward to a great day at the park! **Update as of 10 am: At the park now waiting for the chain to drop at Thunderhead. LR is indeed closed today.

I just hope LR is running tomorrow. We were supposed to be on a cruise this weekend but it got cancelled due to the hurricane, so we made a last minute trip up to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for the weekend. We plan on being at the park for most of the day tomorrow.

LR rattles a bit where there are two little "thumps", with one located near the bottom of the main drop as well as a smaller one after the wave turn. It's honestly nothing that really takes away from the whole experience itself. I hope those get fixed eventually because it actually was noticeable enough that it felt painful during one ride, however I was in the 10th row (wheel seat) during that particular ride. Other than that, the ride is pretty smooth. A lot of people do mistaken force/intensity with roughness. I did walk off with a bruise on my lower thigh due to the extreme airtime!

When I rode LR back on the 9th, I got hit in the forehead by a pair of broken glasses. Thankfully it didn't hurt, but someone's glasses flew out of the train as we crested the hill after the launch, and somehow they shattered before the main drop. That was when I was hit.

Lightning Rod at Dollywood! Was able to get a total of 6 rides in last Friday...

Even though I've been on Lightning Rod and how incredible that coaster is, I'm still suprised that it won. It had so much downtime and has only been open for a short amount of time. I do feel like Valravn, or even Wildfire or Taron should've won. That's just my personal opinion of course. Anyways, as mentioned above, these awards are nothing to stress over!

It took a little less than 30 minutes before it reopened. All I know is that riders were evacuated after the rollback. I then saw maintenance head towards the train and worked on it. The train remained motionless on the track section right in front of the lift hill. And that is true.

In this instance, it stopped about halfway on the hill while the train was still over the LSM's. It was my first time ever seeing a rollback on the coaster.

Not exactly sure but I do believe they update it pretty often. They have gotten a lot better in terms of accuracy this season.

Currently standing in front of LR and watched a train roll back. Riders are currently being evacuated. Kinda a cool sight seeing it roll back, but not good that it's broken down. Hope they get things up and running again soon! Edit: LR just opened back up about 10 minutes ago and was able to get another ride in!

I agree, especially tomorrow since tomorrow will be Saturday and we all know Saturdays can get pretty crowded. As of now, crowds have picked up a little but still on the light side. LR's wait has gone up as well.

I'm at the park today. LR opened with one train just a few minutes after the park opened. The entire park is mostly empty today. Everything is pretty much a walk on, except LR and Firechaser. I managed to get three rides on LR this morning and waited no longer than 5 minutes each time. Two rides towards the middle, and one towards the very back. It is incredible! I plan to get one more ride or two in later before we leave. *Edit: I did notice that little "bump" towards the bottom of the main drop on LR. Nothing really to take away from the experience, but still very noticeable. You do feel it more if sitting on a wheel seat, which happened to be two of my three rides on the coaster. Other than that, this coaster is easily one of the best I've ever been on!

Glad they finally list the wait times for LR! More proof that the coaster has a two hour+ wait currently:

The issues seem to never end unfortunately. Same here, and I doubt we will ever see the coaster out of technical rehearsal anytime soon, or likely the rest of the season.

^ Nah that answer is fine. Not sure why they took it off the website though. As long as its running next Friday, I'll be good. We're taking the risk and we know we'll still have fun regardless.

Is the coaster still running in tech rehearsal mode? It was discussed earlier how the banner disappeared from the website.

Yea I've never seen Tornado run two trains during the week, it never needs to, but even then you could always see the other train on the track in the storage shed right before the lift hill. I didn't see it at all, so maybe they started early rehab on it?? When I visited the park back in July, the second train was still there. Not sure when they took it off, but it sounds like it happened more recently. That's my guess because I've seen past times where that train would disappear before the season ended. Who knows.

^ The banner was on the website all day yesterday, until last night when I noticed it disappeared. As of now, the banner is still gone. I'm hoping someone on here who could be visiting the park today can confirm. *Edit: I've only seen TN Tornado run both trains ONCE during the visits I had the past 4-5 years. That particular time was on a super crowded May weekend, which happened to be the most crowded I've ever seen at the park. I believe that was back in May 2012.

I didn't see it or hear it all day, so I'm guessing it wasn't. I always skip the train, the soot and the smell aggravates my senses, it's a pretty train ride though. My guess is that it won't be down for too long. I always make it a tradition to ride the train at least once every trip. During the ride I always keep sunglasses on for eye protection against cinders. But anyways, I'll be heading up to the park next Friday and hopefully LR will be running. Kinda hoping the train will be too but that won't matter much at all to me.