u4icmusic

I don't believe the mask requirement will be removed until 2022. I wear mine at Dollywood from open to close without any issues. I don't even know it is on. It actually helped keep my face warmer in the colder months.

I've never had a problem with the restraints. I'm 6 feet tall, 200 pounds. I've seen many people that couldn't get the restraints pulled down though and had to get off the ride. It seems like the ride operators used to push down on the restraints to get the lights to turn green, but not anymore, maybe due to COVID or other safety reasons. I really didn't notice it being rough last season, but some people did complain.

Are you going?

They were not sure until today that they were going to have the season pass holder's day. I guess with COVID it took them a while to determine if they were going to do it this year or not. I can cancel my Saturday reservation now. No need to go two days in a row when the weather can still be cold.

A Dollywood employee posted on Facebook today that the park will be having a season pass holders exclusive day on the Friday before the park officially opens to the public. I've tried to make a reservation for that day, but the reservation website has not been updated yet.

The good thing is that if they keep this pace up, Lightning Rod should open on time or fairly close to opening day, which would be great.

That's because they are identical tracks, except for the stacked wooden supports under the Topper Track. The only way to tell for sure would be if they were painted different colors. You can tell when looking at the track from a side view because you can see the wood stacked up under the track.

I have not heard anything from the staff about them replacing the last the LSM that was removed to slow the trains down. Personally, I think it is fast enough with that last LSM removed. I've ridden it both ways and there's not much of a difference other than the first hill.

If you are talking about not being as rough, then yes, it won't feel the same. Other than that, you probably won't even notice any difference, in my opinion since it was a topper track to begin with. Would you notice a change on Thunderhead if they switched to I-box track? For sure.

Really, that's not too bad. There were rumors going around at one point that it wouldn't open until summer. I'll take April, for sure.

Some staff at Dollywood has said they are replacing approximately 2/3's of the Topper Track with I-Box Track. They said depending on the weather, the repairs may or may not be completed on time for opening day. I'm sure they will have to do some testing on it too, before it opens to the public again. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

It's going here, but I'm not sure what building that is. Maybe other readers know what it used to be.

Dollywood did, at first. Every time I went it was more and more lax. They stopped making you use hand sanitizer before boarding the rides. They starting filling up more seats on the rides and people were too close together. They never did enforce social distancing in the queues, like other parks did. Let's see what happens when they reopen in March.

For those that visited Dollywood after they reopened from the COVID closure, what did you think about operations, ride wait times, food and beverage wait times and your overall feeling of either feeling safe or not with the COVID restrictions. I think Dollywood will reopen in March with the same or very similar restrictions due to COVID-19 at least until the vast majority of the US has been vaccinated. I'm even thinking theme parks may ask for proof of vaccination to allow entry or to allow you to not have to wear a face covering. Any other ideas about what you think might happen going forward?

I disagree. I think that people that are going to possibly ride that coaster in the future would like to know what happened and will the coaster be safe to ride when it reopens. Being honest about a major derailment or lift failure, or whatever happened would not be a black eye on the hotel or the city as a whole. Hiding what happened is a problem though.

Just for information since they know pictures have been posted all over the internet showing the damage. Some PR for a city in ruins because of COVID.

Did they ever come out with a statement explaining what happened during testing?

I don't believe half the crap in this video. There is no way their attendance levels were that high with state-mandated COVID attendance and capacity restrictions.

I would tend to agree with you that new park management had focused more on cutting costs, saving money and losing much of the magic that Dollywood used to have. It's turning into another Cedar Fair styled park now and that is a shame.

I loved the original Gwazi and actually rode it on opening day when I lived in Tampa. This looks so much better. Can't wait to ride it.

From my recent visits and photos being posted, does anyone else believe that the entire track on Lighting Rod is going to be replaced? It was originally reported that only certain rough sections of the track were going to be replaced with I-Box track, but I'm no longer sure this is true after seeing so much topper track being removed. Maybe lightning will strike twice with no more topper track?

A lot of people complained that this coaster was rough. I always liked it, but it has been years since I've ridden it. Maybe it got worse over the years.

Don't you think maybe it is because of their uncertainty with park operations and the COVID situation? Maybe in 2022 we will see some semblance of normalcy with Lightning Rod running consistently and all the traditional festivals back. We can only hope.

I'm here now and the crane is still up and they are working on the retrack. There are large sections of missing topper track that have been removed. Maybe they will get it done in time for the spring opening.