teacherkim

I got the survey too and while interesting, I am not sure they will get enough people out in the cold without at least some rides going. I agree with Bert that they really do have to pay more attention to the quality of the surveys though. There was more than once where I answered and then the next question was based on what I did not choose. I pointed this out in the comments.

On the topic of guest experience. I am sure under current circumstances it is not as consistent as they would like, most businesses are not if they are even open. That being said after the excellent support in the previously mentioned lost car key debacle at the ACE event, I had another issue completely (once again) of my own making. Apparently it was my weekend to be stupid. In the panic and then subsequent relief of the key, and the fact that we stayed an hour late for ert and went out the resort gate; I totally forgot that I had sent a package to pick up earlier in the day. I realized the next day on our way home and called the park. Of course got a machine, left my sad tale and offered to pay to ship or in lieu of that possibility could I get a refund. I did not hear back for about 10 days BUT did eventually get a call from a very nice and obviously harassed supervisor who asked for my address so they could ship it to me at no expense on my part. So......maybe just a little patience.

I'm so terribly sad to hear this about Josh. I had no idea he was in such a serious battle. Never wanted to pry when he pm'd me regarding things on the forum. I will forever remember how kind he was to my son and all the help he gave him in getting his first job. He also took the time to message me and let me know how the interview went and reassure me that he was doing well on his first days working. To those in the know, please do let us know if there will be a place to post a message to his family or if there is an organization they are requesting donations for in his name.

And Superman has not been fully operational in........ I cannot even remember how many years it has been.

Hmmmm...................... a little birdie did mention a possible ride removal to me. I was not given a clue as to what ride and apparently it is not confirmed yet but...? What a shame if 2020 results in ride removals to save money versus new ride installations. Even though it appears we are within sight of the end of this damn thing I'm afraid we will continue to see many societal ripple affects for a few years to come. Sigh.

Oh, I am so sorry to hear Josh is going through some struggles, had no idea. I will definitely keep him in my thoughts. He messaged me back at the start of the "delayed" season to kindly inquire about my son's ride placement for the year and how he was liking it; and to correct/confirm something I had posted, which I appreciated immensely.

Lol, I get that a but I do have this annoying job I have to do in order to earn money and my son has this annoying thing to finish called his last year in high school and oh yeah, we left Dad at home, he might notice we didn't come back at some point.

It was not under an NDA , but he did joke about it and a few of the crowd were gullible enough to think he was serious, lol. He never stated anything he said was confidential, I am sure he was aware the info he gave out would be disseminated on social media

Oh and a total loud Thank you shout out to the very very kind Dollywood staff who helped get my car key back to me (and the very kind anonymous person who turned it in after I was stupid enough to lose it from a zippered pocket ) so that my son and I were not stranded 500 miles from home waiting for someone in St Louis to fedex the spare key to us.

"Lloyd" is the name of the character this park official played as a cameo in the Hallmark Christmas movie "Christmas at Dollywood" To be safe (cause I am not sure of the rules here) I won't name him but it's easy enough for you to figure out who in park management this is and this was at an official Q & A session at Saturday's Smoky Mt Coasterfest, which I attended. He did confirm that sections of the topper track would be replaced by I-box, stated that the launch should now be much more reliable, and did not discuss the trains at all. I got the impression they firmly believe the track is the issue not the trains. He also said there will be trackwork done on Mystery Mine and indicated that they were looking at replacing the trains so that over the shoulder restraints would not be needed. Which as I am now sitting here with actual bruises on my shoulders from the airtime jamming me up into the shoulder restraints, I am only 5' 1" not sure how much that factors into it, is welcome news.

Bert we are talking about a little Carowinds, Dollywood, SFOG, run in the summer if Joel can get off work for everything we want to do. Let me know if you start planning something.

I was super excited to try Skyline the first time I was at KI but it turned into a meh for me. I said something that I never though I would ever say in a million years which was "there is way too much cheese on this" I mean the proportion of cheese to chili and spaghetti was so off balance that it was ridiculous. I have no idea if that was an anomaly or how it always is. Tom+Chee on the other hand.................I would drive the 6 hours just for one of those, even if there were no rides open.

Wouldn't that be so cool. At some past FF they put lighted up tombstones or something like that along the back half of the run, wouldn't it be cool to have some Christmas trees lit up back there on a HITP nighttime run on Eagle. They should bring back the ghosts in the tunnel of MT for FF as well and/or Christmas trees in there.

I was at the park on the 10th with a co-worker/friend. Two ladies in their 50's blowing off steam after having students back in our rooms for the first time in almost 7 months. To add to what Dan posted: I think they did a great job figuring out a way to do JL with the line and only one party per car, each person asked to use hand sanitizer right before the ride. The scare zones were kind of lame. More like scare shows, but as a teacher I give the park an absolute A for effort and attempting to keep some of that Halloween atmosphere. I think they did the best they could under the circumstances. They alternated shows on the Palace porch so they happened pretty frequently. Pretty much all rides were open except the obvious, water rides and carousel. A couple things like Superman and Colossus opened a couple hours after park open and Bugs closed at 8, a couple hours early. The only ride that stayed closed the whole time that shouldn't have been was Excalibur. We got awesome night rides on all 3 woodies. Screaming Eagle still running great after all these years. She is the grand dame of the park. About 40 min each from line entry to exit on Eagle and Thunder. Boss would have been easily an hour , but I had two skip the line passes and we used them there. Freeze on one train this night as well and I didn't hike up there to check but the line must have been atrocious. Mine train had an hour wait at one point but as soon as Bugs closed and the people with smaller kids left it dropped down to about 20 min. We didn't mind the crowds and wait times because we were just hanging out with no agenda and didn't really care about missing rides. Just enjoying NOT being in front of a computer. Used the mobile app to order food at JB's and it worked great! Would be happy to keep that feature after the virus that shall not be named. Also, instead of having set times for lunch and dinner they simply had it set that you had to wait 3 hours between the two meals, with snacks being available anytime. Finally! I have been waiting for them to do something like this with the food hours and have never understood why it isn't like this all the time. It totally helps spread out the food crowds instead of having rushes at certain times. Hope they keep this as well.

I get it! Just putting my 2 cents in, lol.

For water rides you can also wear hiking type sandals, they are waterproof and comfortable or water tennis shoes that are designed to be worn without socks and are water proof. Yes, they exist just google them. And if you don't want Zach's all day swamp ass you can also buy water shorts......look like shorts but made out of swimsuit material. Lands End has them for women, men, and kids. Although you do sacrifice getting as many pockets as say cargo shorts. I wear my "water gear" for water ride heavy parks. Of course this is for people who really want to ride the water rides, just not worth it to some.

Yeah that was our presentation during lunch. It was really quite interesting. Interesting enough that all the coaster nuts were asking questions and paying attention.

Sorry. I have no idea. Couldn't drink because I had my seasick patch on so I could ride a bunch. And I just don't have a memory of whether the bar at JB's was open or not, even though I walked by it more than once.

It just occurred to me that I got so sidetracked talking about the horses that I didn't mention anything else about the park that day. It was moderately busy but nothing compared to what it would be on a normal Saturday with perfect weather. Still some of the arcade games closed but all the rides running, including Boomerang and Fireball. In fact I think the only ride that was down was JL which of course was always going to be down, and TR and TS which I assume are done for the season. Batman did have a train get stuck very temporarily on the lift hill, we were stuck out on the break run due to it. But maintenance showed up and got them going within about 5 min. If it went down for longer after they unloaded both trains I have no idea how long. We didn't get back over to that part of the park until about 6 to eat at JR. Two trains running on every coaster! There are decorations going up for the Halloween event and the entertainment crew was rehearsing on the Palace porch for the the Halloween show there (can't think of the name at the moment) There were multiple outdoor stages going up so I think they are really trying to make the best of the situation. I will definitely hit that one night to check it all out. Besides I still have my "Golden ticket" as compensation for the lockdown, so my husband who doesn't go often enough to have a pass can come with me one night. They do have walls up in front of the Tidal Wave sight. I have absolutely no idea if that is because they are going to start working on something or they just wanted to cover up a dumpy looking site or they wanted to make extra sure people don't try to wander around in there. Mask use was pretty good. A few with them below nose and/or chin but definitely a small percentage. Social distancing in the lines, not so much and in places where the queues were out of site of ride ops, like the stairwell of Freeze, way more masks pulled down.

Unfortunately, they don't expect to get it done until sometime in 2022 and we had to work to get that date out or her. That is a current best guess; it could end up being a little sooner or a little later depending on how much damage, and therefore how much restoration each horse needs. But it is historic and I hope the ride and the park staff is given recognition when they complete it. Over 100 years old and built by PTC. There are very few of these left. Bert go have a party! I know you were super bummed at the condition of these guys.

You guys beat me to the punch! I also have pics of the new horse, but no better than what you put up. He looks absolutely amazing in person. Super super detailed and everyone I saw pass by stopped and examined him. We were actually there for a special event and during lunch in the picnic grove; we got to witness horses in various stages and one of the artists detailed the process for us. One horse had just been stripped of all old paint and sanded down, one horse had been painted with primer, and the third had a base coat color applied. Then after each of those steps they paint the detail like the finished horse, named "Abel"; each one is given a name.

Got it. Will keep checking, thanks. IF we ever get on the damn thing it might go down as the hardest to get credit, geez.

Rats! This totally bums me out. We were planning on going down to Dollywood on 11/14 for an event with the "other" club. LR was down a couple years ago when my son was there and he has been itching to get a second crack at it. Keep the reports coming, really hoping they get it back up.

And isn't the ride announcement usually the end of August? Not that I expect new rides for next year but I thought maybe they would re-announce/confirm the delayed stuff for 2021. Or did I miss it?

Glad you enjoyed it. We loved Orion too, and since our home park hasn't had a new coaster in a long time and has no hyper, much less a giga.....I cannot understand the complaining that occurred. Show a little gratitude, we happily drive the 6 hours one way at least once a year to visit. Coasterstock usually hits on my son's birthday and since it was cancelled this year to the virus that shall not be named we missed out on those night rides this year. Although we were happy to at least get a daytime visit in the last week of July. Coasterstock was one of the most fun events I've ever been too, albeit brutal at 16 hours two days in a row.