bgwfreak Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 So I know this is probably old news by now (LOL) but yesterday was the Media Day for Mystery Mine at Dollywood. We Americans finally got one of those fancy Euro Fighters! Can I call it an Ameri-Fighter? Mr. Gerstlauer won't care. Anyway, this may well be my biggest PTR to date. Enjoy! By the way, I'm not into getting booted out of the park, so nope I don't have any shots inside the "mine". The ride is very fun, but it's not going to kick Thunderhead out of my favorite spot at the park. I thought it was one of the best themed coasters though I've seen in a long time at a regional park. For even more pics and full resolution versions visit my album: This PTR is so Ogre! Hope you guys enjoyed it. The coaster is great fun, but Thunderhead is still my baby at the park. This PTR has been brought to you by the Official Cola of TPR, Coca-Cola! This was the line to catch the tram!!! It was insane! I walked. Pretty! Did I mention it was crowded? Good night my love. We shall meet again. Thunderhead was a very busy queue all day since it's just down the hill from Mystery Mine. Bummer, only 3 rides. Some coaster down the hill from Mystery Mine. Thunder Road??? Thunder Run??? uh... I finally got to ride Timber Tower. It was OK. Not as good as I thought it would be, but still fun. I rode it twice. How's it going Julie? Time for a few quick shots around the park...EXCLUSIVE LOOPAGE SHOT! Lumberjack Lifts looks different somehow. OK I'm not even going to try and use the word now. After the initial rush of the General Public, the line wasn't bad at all to be so busy. About 30 minutes all afternoon. I got 5 rides total. More helix or is it helices or is it helixes..oh nevermind! Uh oh. Someone forgot their boots. This is not a good sign. That there be the entrance to the mine. Watch your head! Yes! They have a single rider line that WORKS!! The view from Thunderhead's queue is different somehow, but I can't put my finger on it. This thing somehow reminds me of the Shreiking Shack in Harry Potter. Grrr!!! I'm the evil Mystery Mine lockers! Give me your stuff or else! Some of the theming on the Mystery Mine. Dollywood did an awesome job with theming! A view of Timber Canyon from Mystery Mine's queue entry (at the top). How's it going Joe? I like your new coaster. Helix goodness, with minimal banging around. One of the cool trains. Thankfully it doesn't bang around much. Just a little over in the helices. (Is that spelled right?) The spelling nazis will get me! -- The two guys on the right are all: Yes! We're going to be on TPR! What in the world are those girls doing!? OK it's time to light this candle! You get about 3 seconds hang time here! That's the back of Pete Owen's head over there by Dolly. He's the head of PR for Dollywood. Just thought you'd like to see the back of his head! He put the "GQ" in Gerstlauer! Mr. Gerstlauer was standing right near me with his son (who I think does their design work). she shot off some confetti and such! The Mystery Mine is offically open! Dolly did a little Q&A with the media, greeted the "first riders" and then... Dolly made it! Black leather and all. So I got a GREAT spot in the station and we waited for Dolly to come up out of this hole, that was in fact the transfer track (a vertical one). Uh...I think you guys can remove the sign now. After getting checked in we make it up the hill and discover a roller coaster has been built! What! I was shocked! The Sun rises on a beautiful (if freezing cold) morning. It was in the upper 30s. Brrrr!!! Well I stepped out from my hotel room door and who would greet me? Dolly of course! Dolly MM.wmv Here's some footage of Dolly at the opening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kraken613 Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 At least you got to ride timber tower it was close on Thursday the 12th for "technical difficulties" thats what they told me. I got to see Dolly on the 12th see got there a day early. I have you beat on amount of rides I have 11. Thanks to Dolly leering people out of the wait making Mystery Mine walk on for about 15 minutes. I got lots of rides on Thunderhead considering it was walk-on Monday and not to bad on Thursday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdave Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Great Tp Wes. Was great seeing you again, though it was only for afew minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USRoadTripper Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 I'm totally digging all the shout outs. Thanks for thinking of me! Looks like you had a better day than I did! At least you had a close encounter of the Dolly kind! -Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I think I rode Thunderhead with you. Awesome day at DW despite the chilly weather and CROWDS. Nice pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Excellent TR! I especially enjoyed a few of the 'distance shots' you took from the MM line itself, looking back to Thunderhead, etc. And that 'start' of the ride looks great, how they themed it, with the shaft timbers and all. Glad you had a good time there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WDWliker Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 What are the degrees of that first drop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 *SPOILER!!!* The first drop is actually a normal drop, they sike you out and you think you're going to go over at 90 degrees. About 20 or 30 ft away though you hit the first of two 90 degree drops (well, I guess the 2nd one is 95 degrees, but whos counting?), not counting the egg-shaped or horeshoe shaped element which is basically 90 degrees or very close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywood!007 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Great photos! I wanna get out to Dollywood, sometime in my life... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 I just uploaded all my pics to my webshots album. There's a ton more than I posted here and a few of different parts of the ride that weren't in the PTR. If you want to check them out go here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnewton34 Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 It's DOLLY!!!!!!! I think I just peed a little. I love me some Dolly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrs28330 Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 The harnesses look a bit snug. Did it look like people with larger waist lines or big shoulders going to fit easily? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 ^ I didn't see anyone really large trying to ride. I'm about a 39 or 40 inch waist now and had no problems at all. In fact I think I had a ton of room. But someone 300lbs+ might have issues like any coaster restraint. The restraints are similar to an Arrow OTSR, which are usually the easiest to fit in. The only weird thing is the way the OTSR is shaped. For someone with bigger arms it could be a bit uncomfortable. But the Germans probably don't have all the overweight people that we do. lol (speaking from experience, I used to be around 300 myself). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted August 5, 2007 Author Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hey guys, I totally forgot that i had bit of footage of Dolly from the opening, so I went ahead and uploaded it to the first post if you want to check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Nice video, I didn't think the transfer would move that slow, haha, she almost ran out of things to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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