Jccoasterfan

Has the Dollywood Express not been running today? I noticed that while looking at the wait times on the DW app, it says it's closed for the day. It also said the same thing back on Wednesday.

There was a time a few years ago that I was the last rider of the night on Mystery Mine at Dollywood. I rode it all alone. The rest of the family didn't want to ride again so I went up there by myself. It was a walk on and they were getting ready to close down for the night. They quickly got me on since I was the only guest in the queue. After arriving back at the station, I saw a few other guests get turned away because the ops were in the process of shutting the ride down.

Yeah you're probably right. Since there still seams to be a bit of problems with the ride, I just can't see it being fully open anytime soon. Let's just hope it's sooner than later!

I saw someone on twitter say that LR did not open with the park today, but eventually did open several hours later. That was about an hour or two ago. I am not sure if it's still open at the moment. We may be making a day trip to the park in a few weeks, but may cancel if the coaster hasn't fully opened yet. I would rather not take the risk during technical rehearsals since there is always a good chance that the coaster may be closed at anytime. At least I got lucky with it back in early June.

From Kings Dominion's instagram page: Hmmm.. Interesting. Thoughts?

It looks like they updated their website/app to where it no longer says that it's closed. Now it just shows the tech rehearsal part only.

^ Yet they still have the "Lightning Rod is currently closed......" notification up on the website. I've heard from others on twitter saying that it is running today. Not sure at the moment, though. Someone also said that were only running one train.

I highly doubt it. First of all, they just added Valravn this year, so I don't see another coaster until at least 2018. Second of all, Cedar Fair's good relationship with GCI is just telling me that they will be the ones to touch Mean Streak, IF it happens. Of course, you never know. I could be wrong. An RMC Mean Streak would be pretty sick though.

^ It looks more like the train was either leaving or entering the maintenance shed. You can kinda tell by the position of the elevator/transfer track. Or the actual thing wasn't moving when the photo was taken.

I honestly think that all of the markers on the supports and the stakes in the ground are all just a red herring. I mean, Cedar Point just added Valravn this year, don't you think they will focus more outside of Ohio next year (other than Kings Island's 2017 project)? I wouldn't be surprised if all those stakes around Mean Streak are gone by the end of the season. I guess its more of Tony Clark messing with us, haha. The most I think will happen to Mean Streak sometime in the future is a major GCI retrack, considering their relationship with Cedar Fair recently. However, I still wouldn't completely knock an RMC transformation off the table. Anything is possible.

I have yet to try out Lumberjack's. We always eat at Backstage whenever we visit the park. We have tried some of the others (Aunt Granny's, Red's, and Miss Lillian's), but nothing comes close to Backstage IMO. They have a great menu, but I always end up ordering a burger. They also have some of the best fried green tomatoes out there. Aunt Granny's has been just okay in my opinion. I've had better buffet experiences out there, but it's still pretty good. The rest of my family didn't care too much for the restaurant.

^ Probably just too optimistic. Other than that, I honestly had a great time at the park. It was a bummer that LR was closed all day, but that didn't stop me from enjoying my day! The fireworks were awesome and nothing could beat the view from Wild Eagle's lift hill during the fireworks. It made that particular night ride even better! That was definitely a highlight of my night. I still consider myself lucky for being able to get a ride in on LR last month during the first technical rehearsals. All I can say is WOW. What an amazing coaster. Hopefully they can get this thing up and running again very soon. We always get season passes every year because they are so worth it. Dollywood's only a 4-5 drive from where I live (outside of ATL) so traveling is never a hassle. Can't wait to be back this Fall! Or maybe sooner... *Edit: I did happen to walk by LR twice during the late afternoon/evening and no acitivity could be seen anywhere in or around the station. The lights in the station were all off as well.

I'm also at the park today. I have been seeing several LR ops around the park still in their LR uniforms helping out at the other attractions. As far as LR itself, it has been quiet most of the day, but as mentioned already, there was some activity around the station at one point. Not sure at the moment, though. Overall crowds aren't that heavy today. Most of the coasters have very little wait times. The most I had to wait was for Fire Chaser, and that was only for about 15 minutes.

^ Good point there. Since the article mentioned that the ride will only take a few acres of land, it could very well be either of the two. Hopefully we will see a few more teasers in the coming weeks.

http://www.ajc.com/news/lifestyles/six-flags-gets-ready-for-new-ride-coming-in-2017/nrtGJ/ According to this AJC article, it's sounding more like an S&S Freespin. They mention how the ride 'won't be a first of its kind' and that 'similar rides exist elsewhere in the amusement park land.' *Edit: That's just my guess though, but it seems to make a little bit more sense now.

They do look like BFM cars. However, I did notice that on one part of the picture there appeared to be something under the tarp that looks a lot like stacked wood. It's really hard to tell, though. It could very well just be regular construction materials.

What does DOTD even mean? I'm assuming it means "Deal of the day" but not entirely sure. I had to look it up, but anything's possible.

Six Flags over Georgia posted a little teaser for their 2017 project over on their twitter page:

We just got off Blue Hawk a few minutes ago. It's definitely a MUCH better ride now. The new Vekoma trains with the vest restraints were pretty comfortable. There's still some shakiness here and there, but it's nothing to worry about. I'm sure others will have different opinions, but I find it a more enjoyable ride now.

Has anyone else realized that Dollywood changed the name of their Summer festival? I remember it being called "Great American Summer" before, but now it is called "Summer Lives Here". Not sure why they changed it. http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Festivals/Summer

It looks like the new trains have arrived!

^ Me and the family already discussed making a day trip on a weekday sometime after the coaster opens. I'm still guessing towards a mid-may opening. I have finals next week and going on a cruise in a couple of weeks from now. We really don't care if the coaster opens during that time, as long as we can find a day to attend the park afterwards, we're all good. At least our next "planned" trip will likely be sometime in July, usually two to three days.

Well, I guess I was WRONG about testing only occurring at night. So glad to hear! I'm sure it will be ready by the middle of next month, but that's ONLY my guess.

You also have to take in the fact that the park likely WILL NOT test the coaster in the daytime during operating hours. This makes me think it will take LONGER than 2 weeks for more testing and training to take place so an April opening is VERY unlikely.

The only differences I see are those gray "boxes" or whatever that appeared to have been installed adjacent to the LSM fin. Not sure what they will be used for, maybe something anti-rollback related? PCU Cabinets maybe, but that Cable Tray looks awful barren. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk ^ Probably. I didn't notice them before. When it comes to that cable tray, I agree. It actually looks worse the further away you look at it.