TR: Dollywood

[N'at Man]

TR: Dollywood

4/15/2007

 

Since my coaster buddies Adam & Ellen kept mentioning a desire to get to Dollywood for the first time I figured why not make the trip happen. They've been looking to front load this season with trips since they have time available now. I was able to make this a weekend only trip as I traveled to Tennessee with our friend Greg from Pittsburgh. It was my fourth trip to Dollywood.

 

Our routes crossed in Wytheville, VA where we spent Friday evening before heading about three hours down the interstate to Pigeon Forge, TN. The forecast was not favorable but we gave it a go anyway. I'm happy to report that the weather cooperated enough to make for a fairly productive and enjoyable visit.

 

We arrived at Dollywood around 10:30 AM to find that the crowds weren't too bad. Traffic around Pigeon Forge was pretty light so that was a good indicator. For those who know the Middle Creek Road short cut I can tell you that it is still a good option although it is constantly changing and under construction.

 

Our first stop was the new Mystery Mine coaster because it's the law to ride the new ride first, right? I was impressed by the exterior theming and the appearance of the ride building. It was very detailed and the mine shaft had the same towering appearance that the Tower of Terror rides have at Disney parks. We waited about an hour to ride but it didn't seem like a bad wait.

 

We rode in the front row to start and after later riding in the second row later I can tell you the front is the only place to ride. The ride ops assign you to seats but it wouldn't hurt to ask for a front row seat especially the first time you ride. I won't give away specific details but the inside theming is extensive with several scenes. There is even fire at one point. The finale has a great setup. It's been a while since I was that clueless about what was going to happen throughout a ride. Mummy was probably the last ride and Mystery Mine does remind me of Mummy in some ways. I knew there were some 95 degree drops but aside from that I didn't know exactly what to expect other than what I could see from the exterior sections.

 

There is a bunch of wobbly track with extreme transitions. For the most part this works well but there are a couple bad spots. The one exterior turn after the first 95 degree drop is probably the most brutal section of track. But the inversion section is quite smooth until you approach the brakes. Overall Mystery Mine is very fine attraction and I found major improvements with this ride over the original Gerstlauer Euro Fighter coaster at Bon Bon Land.

 

Next we rode Thunderhead. I think we were all surprised by how well the ride was running. I was saying that and I'd ridden it before. It has really developed an attitude, one not normally associated with GCIs. I found that the front was the best place to ride since it had the best lateral movement and airtime. But the back was no slouch as it whipped you all along the course at a furious pace. The train really attacked the course this visit. I have T-head ranked around #16 and it may contend for #10 after this visit.

 

We looked for some food after our two coaster rides. There was a Festival of Nations going on so some of the menu items were adjusted but they all had their southern roots. We ended up at the Irish rethemed Miss Lillian's BBQ Pit. The food was excellent and crazy Miss Lillian was running around her place as usual.

 

After lunch we continued up Craftsman's Valley to ride Tennessee Tornado. Again, we were all surprised by how good this coaster was. It didn't seem as rough as I remembered and I forgot how powerful it was. The first drop is hard to beat and is a top coaster moment anywhere. Nearby we rode Fire in the, uh, Blazing Fury. There's some odd attraction we had to this dark ride with coaster style elements. It had us obnoxiously saying "fire in the hole" all day at all attractions, much to the chagrin of park employees who kept correcting us that "fire in the hole" was for another ride.

 

Along the way all day we checked out many of the interesting shops and attractions (insert glory hole joke here). Eventually we ended up in the Country Fair where only Greg and I had enough guts to whore the VeggieTales coaster credit. We had the obligatory stop at the pickle statue on the way out of the Country Fair too.

 

I believe it started to rain around this time so we headed back to get a ride on both Thunderhead and the Mystery Mine where the lines were down significantly. We even rode the Timber Tower topple tower ride. I liked the theming but it's still a stupid ride. It's also a bit nauseating because you a moving slowly in a circle but trying to focus on scenes around the ride like the fountain, beavers, bear and buzzsaw.

 

After our rides lightning was spotted and all rides shut down. This was followed by strong rain. We first hid out in the one skillet locations where I had skillet taters and the others had fresh potato chips. We moved onto the train station to see if we might be able to salvage a train ride. One departure was canceled but we made the next departure after the rides came back up. The train ride up the mountain is very impressive and definitely a must for park visitors.

 

The park cleared out by about 99% so we had the park to ourselves when the rain let up for a short while. We walked onto Blazing Fury and got a double ride on Tennessee Tornado. Then we took a few rides on Thunderhead before the rain made it too uncomfortable to ride. After some waiting the rain stopped enough for us to ride Mystery Mine. Twice. Without getting out. In the front row. That was the benefit of a rainy day. But the downfall of a rainy day was when Thunderhead went down for the day after the one remaining train running was sliding through the brakes a bit too much. The GCI team was on site so the ride was in good hands. But our park day was done.

 

I'm sure you will soon find some details of our post park activities on the beer thread. We stopped at Smoky Mountain Brewing for dinner and drinks.

 

Despite the long drives for all of us and the rainy weather we were all very pleased with our visit to Dollywood. We got to do all of the major rides we wanted and more along with some good food. That was the trade off for the rain at the end of the day.