DBru Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hey everybody! Well, I just got back from our spring break vacation. For the first time ever, I have taken my digital camera and prepared a photo trip report. I've never done this before, so bare with me... *Please note: I write in detail, and I will include most of the review in words. So I'd suggest to actually READ everything, and just enjoy the photos as we go along. Thanks! Myrtle Beach Every other year, our varsity baseball team travels to Myrtle Beach for a tournament and vacation. My brother, who is a freshman this year, pitches for the varsity, so Mom, Dad, and I decided to tag along. We began the 14 hour journey at 6:00 on Monday morning. It was a long drive, and we arrived at the Myrtlewood Villas around 8:00pm. Our villa. Each villa contained 15 condos, and there were more than 100 villas. They were pretty nice, but there was absolutely NO cell phone service inside... Our pool. It looks nice, but I didn't get the chance to experience it The main reason we were here is baseball. And there was plenty of baseball, lol. This is the entrance to the facility, which was HUGE! There must have been at least 10 fields! Griffith Field (I think that's what it was called...) My brother pitching. We won 4/5 games. So I guess the trip was a success... I just thought I'd include a photo of the WORST UMPIRE EVER. I'm not just saying this because he was the cause for our one loss, but he really didn't seem to have any clue what was going on. I just hope he doesn't belong to this site And what is a Myrtle Beach trip report without pictures of... The beach! A seagull! There were really only 2 days that were nice enough to enjoy the beach. So we took advantage of those days. Walkway to the ocean! I'm in the foreground, walking away from the FREEZING water... The pier provided some great photo opportunities. This is the Family Kingdom Waterpark, which wasn't open yet The beautiful horizon... Skyline #1 Skyline #2 With the team up here, of course we had to get in some more baseball activities. Our principal got us connections with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, so their manager gave us a tour! Our first stop was the press box. It was pretty cool to see how much was controlled from such a small room! We then got to go down on the field! The scoreboard. Me in front of the scoreboard The team... Here is the children's play area. It has a nice beach theme. I'm not really sure what kind of field this is, but I thought it was cool, so I snapped a picture... lol Thursday was a complete free day for everyone, and the strip was home to 2 things I had never experienced before. 1st up was the Slingshot! Now, I had ridden all of the other upcharge attractions, such as the Skyscraper, Skycoaster, and Bungee Jump, but never had the pleasure of a Slingshot. This particular model launched you to 300 feet at 120mph. Yeah, I was nervous... What added to the thrill was that the seats were completely open. I had never seen one like this before. So my friend Logan and I paid our $25 (each), and hopped onto the seats. We pulled down the restraints, and without warning, BAM! Off we went into the most INSANE minute of my life! I really didn't know how amazing the experience was going to be, but I ended up loving it. Well worth the price. The next activity I experienced was a TPR must. I had heard of it on here, and when we drove past, I KNEW we had to go. So later that night, I experienced my first meal at Carrabbas! I don't have any pictures, but the restaurant was simply awesome. Our waitress explained the whole menu to us, but I ended up just ordering the lasagna. BEST.MEAL.EVER. I loved everything about it. The food, the service, and the atmosphere. I highly suggest it to everyone! Our time was running short at Myrtle Beach, but I knew I had to get a few more pictures before moving on. So I asked my parents to take me down the strip to Family Kingdom. Well, when we arrived at the parking lot, it started pouring down rain, and there was no use on getting out and looking around. So here are my two photos: Swamp Fox's turnaround. A pic of the main slides from the car... For those of you wondering what happened to the rides from the Pavilion, the coasters (minus HC5) are located here: The Arrow mouse and kiddie coaster are sitting in pieces in Nascar Speed Park's back lot. The pirate, Wave Swinger, and Himalaya are at the Nostalgia Park (located in Broadway at the Beach) and the topspin is sitting in the parking lot behind Myrtle Waves Waterpark. All of the sections are visible from back roads. Dollywood The original plan for Friday night was to travel to Charlotte, spend the night, and visit Carowinds on Saturday. Well, when Charlotte received a 100% chance of rain on weather.com, those plans changed. We had to go through Knoxville to get home, so I suggested we go to Dollywood instead. There the chance of rain was only 60%. Still not too good, but we took the risk. We arrived at Dollywood at 12:00pm on Saturday. The sky was cloudy, but there was no precipitation. We paid for our tickets, and proceeded up the hill to Thunderhead. Thunderhead: Though I believe Thunderhead is overrated, I enjoyed it a lot more today than I ever had before. This GCI woody is definitely a front seat ride. In this seat, there is airtime EVERYWHERE. Even the turns provide some ejector air! In the early afternoon, the coaster was only running one train, but the crews were moving the trains out as fast as they could! They really seemed to be having a good time, and I was very impressed! But things changed when a second train was put on later in the day. The crew slowed down, and weren't very lively at all. In fact, I'm willing to bet there were less pph with two trains than there were with one. Sad... Thunderhead's first turnaround. The 100 ft, twisting drop! Oh look, Timber Tower is down, that's a shock... These seats are the closest anyone got to riding Timber Tower today. Lumberjack Lifts is a fun ride where little kids pull themselves to the top of a spinning tower, then release to fall back down. Mystery Mine: After Thunderhead, we continued up hill to Mystery Mine. MM was my 4th favorite steel coaster last season, and didn't move up or down after this visit. Though its a really fun coaster, and was running even better this season, it still has some headbanging problems. Here is my complete review of Mystery Mine... So we entered the station after about a 5 minute wait and sat down in the front row of the VERY comfortable (IMO) train. After all of the restraint checks were done we were given the "all clear" and took off. The very beginning of the ride starts off with a small, yet gut-wrenching, first drop of about 10-15 ft. Then you travel back up about 10 feet into a unique element in which you turn to the left but are tilted to the right. I was always on the left side so I never received the full effect but it was still cool. Now you turn around past MANY red-eyed crows that caw at you. You enter a cloud of mist that comes right before "the crusher". You drop down under the huge spinning thing, then sharply enter an unbanked turn to the left. BRACE YOURSELF! This turn will knock your head into the shoulder restraint for a very uncomfortable experience. If anything has to be fixed for next season I would say they need to bank this turn! Now, you are stopped in place before the first vertical lift, which is in broad daylight. 2 crows to the left pull down a lever which activates the left and you are hoisted up. This is a VERY strange experience, I actually believe a got some airtime going up the lift! When you reach the top you are pulled into a sharp, twisting 5ft. drop to the left and then another small hill. This is where you reach the top of the trestle. You pass through the mid-course brake and then suddenly dropped 90* about 40ft. into the vertical horseshoe-turn, followed by a quick turn to the right, up into another brake. The first vertical drop was *incredible* to me. After that brake you dive into a sloping helix to the left and then back up into the trestle where you find a nice bunny-hop followed by a banked S-turn back into the station, only to pause for the second lift. After waiting for the canary to "die", the lift starts up and you are, once again, lifted at 90*. Up on the ceiling is a projection of the top of the mine being struck by lightning and falling on you; it's some cool 3D stuff. Then everything goes dark.......it's pitch black and you hear a creaking sound. The train crests the top of the lift and is stopped. A mischievous crow lights a match and throws it down on a pack of dynamite, which explodes and you are ripped down into a twisting 95*, 85ft. drop! Also, your picture is taken while you fall. The train rockets out of the mine and into a 1 1/2 heart line roll to the left! Talk about negative g's! You are now upside down and held there for some intense hangtime for about 3 seconds and then brought back down, into a pop-hill for some last second air and into the STRONG brake-run. Males, beware! Over all the coaster is AWESOME! A little rough in some places, but hopefully Dollywood will fix that. First view of Mystery Mine from the Timber Canyon entrance. MM's highly themed station. Outdoor section! A train full of riders being ejected from the trestle! Outdoor twisty goodness River Battle! I was kind of skeptical of RB from photos I had seen. It looked too fake. But in person, it seemed to fit in very well. It was a little too cold for me to try out River Battle, but maybe next time... RB's station. Tennessee Tornado: I had ridden Tennessee Tornado before, but that was about 6 years ago, so I was expecting it too show some age. To my surprise, it was the smoothest coaster in the park! It was air-filled, and had absolutely NO headbanging! If only Arrow had caught on earlier... We rode in the back almost every time, and I suggest everyone ride there. It was running a one train operation, but the crews were VERY fast! The first view of Tennessee Tornado from Wilderness Path. TT's station. Look at that loop! The entrance and exit were approx. 20 feet apart, so this caused for some weird angles while going upside down. But I loved it! A train going through the HUGE loop. Dollywood also added one of those 3-point shoot out games this year. AKA: License to print money. Me and my brother in front of some of the Tornado's "damage". And last but not least, a photo of the new park map. I'm so glad they FINALLY did it this way! Hey Holiday World, are you watching? This concludes my report. We still hung around for a few more hours, but after TT it started to rain, and the camera doesn't like rain. So that's all folks. I hope you've enjoyed my report, and leave me comments on how I did! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.gumbo Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 So that's all folks. I hope you've enjoyed my report, and leave me comments on how I did! Thanks! I think you did great, while some of the photo's were nothing new you did a good job reporting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Thanks! I was up until 2am doing this... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Ejector air on Thunderhead? Hmm...I really hope to get down to Dollywood again soon. Thunderhead was a good woodie, but I didn't think it was what it hyped up to be. -J "Rumbler " Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfotfreak Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Great TR the start was a bit random but i loved the dollywood pics. The mystery mine explanation was great! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer100 Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Great Trip Report! I really miss Dollywood I've been 4 times and am returning this summer but it (and my home park CP) are the most awesome of parks. Dollywood is just so friendly and down-home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the ghost Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robman97 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great report, I wish I could get to Dollywood some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upfrontjwash Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great TR!!!! I can't wait to visit Dollywood in my spare time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobafett Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great job on the report! I have to get down to DollyWood. It looks like such a cool park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Stratosphere Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great! Carrabbas is an amazing place to eat. Glad you finally got your Carrabbas credit. John Dbru: The next activity I experienced was a TPR must. I had heard of it on here, and when we drove past, I KNEW we had to go. So later that night, I experienced my first meal at Carrabbas! I don't have any pictures, but the restaurant was simply awesome. Our waitress explained the whole menu to us, but I ended up just ordering the lasagna. BEST.MEAL.EVER. I loved everything about it. The food, the service, and the atmosphere. I highly suggest it to everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinciDAWGS12 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great photo TR! My baseball team was going to go to that Cal Ripken Myrtle Beach tournament but it was too expensive. Glad you had a good time. Mystery Mine looks great! I really have to get back down to ride that baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coasterlvr_nc Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Glad to hear that you had a good time and a good TR report for your first. However, maybe next time you will get the chance to get to carowinds, (maybe it wont rain ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 I will make sure to get to Carowinds soon! It really was a disappointment, but at least I had another option (which turned out to be great)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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