tndank

I believe they are all wristbands now. I know resort TS are wristbands. Don't recall seeing any lanyards a week ago but very possible I just wasn't paying attention.

Get there an hour before posted opening. You can knock out all the coasters by 1 or 2pm most every day. Then hit monster mansion, acrophobia and other flats, rerides, etc. Food ops are generally terrible here. Be one of the first in and head to TC. Get it and Scorcher done before they rope drop the rest of the park. DDD, Goliath, Superman, GASM, Blue Hawk, Batman, Mindbender, mine train is the best order/path to knock everything out quickest. Flash pass may be useful later in the day but that's all on your phone now. No reason to buy in advance. This my plan of attack on Saturdays because I hate crowds. Been doing it for years.

Strange. The other vortex is in heart of 5 Points, the hippie/artsy part of town next to a huge thrift shop. And looks more cool on the outside. Homegrown in a great morning spot in Atlanta. Home cooking, thrift store in the dining room, and usually someone playing music. It's unique.

2 days with timesaver at Dollywood seems excessive unless you like watching all the shows. I'm guessing no interest in Carowinds? Seems like it would be easy to hit on your way. I'd recommend hitting Fun Spot when you get into Atlanta. It's great at night in the dark. That 9-10pm hour is prime. Fox Bros has great BBQ. We love Ponce City Market with the variety and access to the beltway. That's a great way to walk around downtown.

Big crane showed up at Cedar Point last night. Parked at Top Thrill and is being erected today. Seems many believe they will be working on the top hat very soon. Some rumors say new track on the structure. I'm excited to see some work happening and enjoy following along. Those things aren't cheap. It's going to be doing something soon. Update to add: hydraulic system is now being removed and can be seen on site.

LR has been running well since it reopened a few weeks ago (knock on wood). Only problem is they typically run one train. It's very likely the park will be fairly dead on June 1. Besides LR and FC, everything should pretty much be a walk on most of the time. Thunderhead is in great shape right now. Lots of new wood on it again this year. It's my favorite in the park and it's running great now days.

Grizzly is supposed to open this weekend. Employees who have ridden it say it's great!

Now official. May 25 - First Riders and Passholder Previews May 26 - Opens to the General Public

They had Big Bear testing all afternoon today. Trains have working headlights and tail lights. Area and station look nice. Trains look small. Park was not crowded at all today. Most everything outside of LR and FC was a walk on.

They had one last year. Ticket options change periodically throughout the year. Might see it at some point this year.

No indications this was true. Lots of talk a few weeks ago. Nothing seen at the rides yesterday or talked about again.

Park emails announced T3 has been retired and will not reopen.

Big Bear opening May 12. Passholders that purchased early can sign up for exclusive time slots starting earlier that week. https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/festivals/big-bear-mountain-preview-night/

You went to Phish at the HB? Awesome. I'm jealous.

Sounds like a good trip. Hate to say it, but LR finally reopened today and ran all day. You'll get it next time.

Quick report here. April 21-22 Drove down Friday. Got to the park quarter til 8. AF1 was down. They sent a few test trains then had us load. Sat down on the train, but seat 3 wouldn't lock. Watched several workers on phones run around the station for an hour and half before they called it for the night. Didn't think we'd get shut out after sitting in a locked train ready to go. Got off in hopes they would fix it but that didn't happen. It had been running fairly well the first hour or two that day, I'm told. Went back around 4 on Saturday. Got a few rides on AF1 without issue. Then someone barfed and they closed the ride, evac'ed the train on the brake run and cleared the station. 45 minutes later I got one more ride and took off. So, roughly 5 hours at Fun Spot the last 2 days. AF1 was running for a little over an hour of that. Probably more bad timing on a new coaster than anything else. Dispatches are still pitiful here, but the workers are fun and nice. As for the ride. No way this is in my top 5. It's a hell of a ride and 80% is fun as hell, but the ending and awful RMC trains really detract from the overall ride. It takes too much speed through the last hills and the brakes are just brutal. It hurts too much. Riding with a few different people and talking with others, I kept hearing 'the end hurts'. Lots of people were saying this. The coaster needed more length to burn off speed. That aside, I still had a blast riding it half a dozen times today. Park was active and looking good. Been to this one a few times but never during a beautiful, busy Saturday. The park seemed to be doing well. First part of today was at SFoG. That park was also having a good day. ps. The budget Orion station they built for AF1 is great. Also just learned after I left, it overshot the brakes again and they were doing another evac off the brakes. This seems to be happening a decent amount. Can't imagine warmer weather is going to help that.

More info has come out now. Seems to be about 25% will be retracked. First turn after the inversion has now been cut out and tossed in a dumpster.

The park removed I305 from the ride closure list this week. People are optimistic it opens soon.

The track photos yesterday are from a reliable source in the industry. And it seems to match their 208 Retrak product. This should mean it's going to keep its layout. This could end up being really good. Love the layout.

Not a fan of this move. Wish they'd retrack it with wood.

LR was running today. So, there's some hope for you two.

Been down since last Wed or Thurs. Dollywood's excuse for removing the LR single rider above is weak. If they didn't run the line so poorly there wouldn't have been a problem. The way they have the grouper a floor down with no control of the actual lines is just dumb. And yet they have been doing it for a year+ now.

Phantom Theater show is returning. They have also added a new webcam on International Street. You'll be able to watch the fireworks when they happen.

Poseidon's Fury closes forever May 10th.

I will say this looks like an amazing event. I tried to figure out a cheap way to get down there. Meals, walk backs, ERT sessions and 2 days of flash pass for $60? That's crazy.