middle_keeny

I know I'm a little late on the discussion, but as I was looking through the renderings I noticed a lot of similarities between the Wilderness Plaza and the expansion. Notice the roof lines and the truss work over the entry ways. This looks like they are going to tie all both areas together. I could see them changing the theme of the expansion depending on the season like they plan on with the plaza. Wilderness Pass Expansion rendering

Knoxville is the closest airport. Nashville, Chattanooga, Lexington are all 2-3 hours. Not sure of your airline preference but Nashville, is the cheapest of the three. I live in Chattanooga and know there is a direct flight to DFW from there. Shoot, depending on the timing, I could give you a ride.

On busy days, most people are there for the shows. I have been in line 30 minutes early and still was turned away. If the park is busy, you need to be in line at lest 60 minutes early. If you get the timesaver, it would be good to use for the shows also. Typically, I have seen them fill the timesaver seats about 5-10 minutes before the show starts. So even with the timesaver, I would try to get to the show at lest 20 minutes early. Now if we can only convince Dollywood to add a timesaver line for the cinnamon bread.

Even if the line is at the test seat, its a 45 minute tops. So 3 hours would get you a line to Wild eagle...lol

- The Island - there are activities ($$) there for kids. Obviously you'll see the ferris wheel, but there is a ropes course, mirror maze and a few other kiddie attractions there. There is a Moonshine store there that's mainly retail and kids can go in. Couple good restaurants there as well. Dicks Last resort on the Island is not family friendly but the one in gatlinburg is. - Top Jump - its an indoor trampoline park / climbing gym. - Gatlinburg - if you've never been. Plan on spending the day strolling through town shopping at all the little stores. Couple stores make taffy in front of you. There's also a bunch of Ripleys tourist trap stuff there too. - Wonder Works - great place for kids to have fun and learn too. Next door is the Titanic Museum but I've heard its not really for kids. - Go Karts - there's one on every corner. Extreme GO Carts just opened and they have the fastest carts in town. BUt the best value is the NASCAR park, you pay one price.

I was there Saturday and got to see the land clearing first hand. If you ride the right side of WE and/or Fire Chaser you can see this well from either lift hill. The dirt being moved is more for flattening than just clearing for a coaster. Like what they did for WE or LR. The flattening area merges perfectly well with the access road that goes behind/ through Fire Chaser. The construction begins on the hill above the retaining wall where river battle used to be. They are pretty much flattening out the whole area behind Thunderhead to the tracks. So its a significant area being cleared. I don't think they would be clearing that much land for just one coaster. All evidence , including hints Pete has dropped, points to an area expansion. More than likely, we will see them shooting for a 2019 opening. Construction will go on through 2018 on the hill, then between 2018 and 2019 they will connect the area in the off season. A few other items to bring up: LR has not been trimmed. I rode it on day two and its running close to what its designed to. IMHO - in all the downtime issues in 2017, the launch got a little too strong and that when a lot of people rode it thinking that was the norm. I remember the summer of 2017 that I literally got ejector air in the front seat going over the first hump. It didnt float like my first ride. As I have said, after the Dolly humps there is no difference and the ride still hauls donkeys. If you look up in the parking lot of Splash Country, they are storing the parts from River Battle up there. So Hershend plans on reusing them somewhere. So the speculations about it going to Valdosta could be true or they could be planing on putting it up in the expansion area. thoughts?

For the Christmas Event, I believe it is after 6pm. You can always call the park and ask to be sure. I have a season pass so I never pay attention to that.

Weekdays tend to be slow in November. But if its a nice weekend weather wise, you will see capacity crowds like what happened during the Pumpkin Nights

I saw where Carowinds put in a large tree similar to the one in Timber Canyon. I wonder if DW sold it to them or if they have it in storage until next year when the PFKARB (Plaza Formerly Known As River Battle) will be decked out for Christmas.

1.Lightning Rod has been running pretty consistent. On the busier weekend days, they can run two trains. The last time I remember it being down was due to a lightning strike (oh the irony). 2. Season Passes purchased during the Christmas Time are good through the next year. I suggest one of you in your group to get a Gold Pass. It allows free parking and 20% off merch. and food. If you plan on buying your passes inside the park, keep your parking receipt and they will deduct the price from your Gold Pass. 3. Weekday crowds are manageable due to school. If the weather is nice like last year, expect record crowds on weekends. Rides will stay open unless it gets below 40ish. I know it was mentioned a few posts back, but make time to see the shows. I make it a point to visit on Christmas just to see the shows.

I would guess that it will be the 2019 coaster before turnpike because if kennywood were to add the turnpike next year they would have hyped it up a bit at the end of the summer If its anything like the real turnpike, they will start construction this fall. PennDOT will run over budget and it will be two years behind schedule. The blame will be put on crazy PA weather. Then a twitter campain using the hashtag #ItWillNeveropen will have begun on the TPR forums.

I could see turnpike for 2018 and Coaster for 2019

Usually the first weekend in November. The earlier you buy them, the cheaper they are.

Hey! I was thinking last night. That there has been a long rumor that KW will someday bring back the Turnpike. Has it been mentioned before that the old site of the log jammer would make a nice space for a new Turnpike. With a coaster behind it? If you look at on Google Maps, where the Log Jammer was has about the same footprint as where the turnpike used to be.

I was told their capacity (officially permitted for) is 28,000. The last two Saturdays have hit those numbers . 28,300 was what I was told for Oct 7. The only thing is that DW does not count you when you leave, so there really is no way to get a true number of how many inside the park. I was told their record was 40K.

I was there Saturday the 8th. We arrived about 3pm and parked in Splash Country. IT actually turned out to be advantageous because they let us exit the lot out the employee exit of Splash Country right onto Veterans Blvd. They had anyone who parked in A,B,C go out the old way. As for attendance. I have more than one person tell me that Saturday the 8th the attendance was a little over 28,300. The parks capacity is permitted for 28k. Not sure about Oct 2. I'll post a longer report later but the Pumpkin Funnel Cake is almost bettter than Cinnamon Bread

Keep in mind that last weekend was an exception. It was the weekend of Rod Run in Pigeon Forge so the hotels are twice as much and it takes 2 hours to drive anywhere. A lot of people who would typically go to Dollywood on a weekend avoids that weekend. I personally wouldn't pay for a Timesaver in the Fall. The park may be crowded but most are there for the shows. Lines should be no more than 30 minutes. Fall break in TN typically is the week after Columbus Day so next weekend shouldn't be that bad.

If I'm not mistaken. I read somewhere that they couldn't get approval from City Council due to enviromental issues and have to go through a redesign before permits will be issued. Sounds plausible since they have been turned down more than once when they proposed a coaster over Kennywood Blvd.

Back in June I rode it when all the rumors were flying around about them slowing down the launch. This is a review I wrote. At no time did I hear or feel trims after the launch. What people are probably feeling is the deceleration while traveling vertical between the end of the launch and the top of the hill. I have ridden it about 5 times since writing this and I still have this opinion... " (June 19,2017) Ok! Got three laps on it today. Lines were low and did 3 within an hour. First time was row 3, Second was very back and this was row 6 or 7. To give a little background, I have had season passes to DW since 2011 and watched Eagle being built. Last year when I got wind of LR testing, I let my kids skip school and we rode it on the second day of operations. Since then I stopped counting after 20 rides. Every row and day and night. Here's my humble opinion of the launch. From what I remember in the past... On the flat part before the lift, there used to be two LSM's now there is only one. Im guessing its just to get it to the hill. When you watch the train go up from the station, the one thing noticeable is that it does go slower over the first of the "Dolly humps." When the train comes down the quad, its still hauling and you can see the reaction of people being blown away by the ride. When riding it , I felt that the launch seemed more forceful going up but the launch seemed to stop earlier. From the front seat, the airtime was almost non existent on the false drop and you floated down the big drop. From the back seat, it was more ejector through the first two humps. You can tell it was slowed a tad. The wave turn was a nice floater in any seat and the top hat was just as intense as before. After that, the train still hauled through the quad but the difference being is that with a little less speed your thighs dont get bruised and rerides are more enjoyable. My verdict (IMHO) is that they did slow it down. But not enough to affect the ride and a majority of the GP would never notice it. The ride still kicks arse!!! "

I am going to disagree on this. I think there is too much involved with building inside the loop and that idea is scrapped. They need power, plumbing, pathways up the mountain, etc. Plus it would ruin the view of the train ride. I think if they are going to expand a new area, it would go behind the country fair area in the big field. I suspect that they will go with another family area with a few flats and a play area like Fireman's Landing at SDC.

When I was there Monday, the sign was still in front of the ride. I have a feeling that RMC is still tweaking it to get it back up to full speed.

OK... I am gonna be one of those people. I am planning a trip on the last weekend in July. My wife wants to go on Saturday due to scheduling but I want to go on Sunday. How bad will the crowds be? This will be my first full day there in 20 years so I want to maximize the day as much as possible.

During BBQ & Bluegrass one of the cooks told me that people got offended by the roasting pig so they didn't have a grill any meat in the open like they used to do. As to LR, I overheard the Dippin Dots lady say the 17th.

Heard June 14th from the Dippin Dots lady.

They started technical ride rehearsals on May 23rd. Once I found out, I let my kids skip school to go ride it the next day.