HowieP Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 (edited) On the same spot where Race World in Pigeon Forge, TN once stood, a new theme park/shopping complex is being built and will open this year! It is called Belle Island Village. It will feature a spinning coaster called Twister Mountain. It's part of the Carnival Cove section of the complex where the amusement rides will be. The website is here: www.belleisland.com/ Share your thoughts! P.S. The former Race World was home to the wooden coaster Thunder Eagle. Edited November 22, 2011 by jedimaster1227 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Belle Island has been under construction for over three years now. I wish I could be more hopeful--but last I checked, they had filed Chapter 7. Work has stopped because they are no longer able to pay their contractors. To my knowledge, there is still no amusement equipment on site. /Not trying to be a jerk here. Just don't want anyone to get their hopes up on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastermoosh Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 ^JERK! (just kidding, Eric!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 ^ Dude, my name is right in my screen name! And I sign every post with my full name! It's ERIK!!! /Good to see you, moosh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFanatic Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Oh no. Not at all. With a little paint, some Miracle Grow and Napalm ... this place would make a nice masoleum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 I'm heading to Dollywood on Friday, and being the credit whore I am, I'd love to stop by any nearby parks and ride an extra coaster or two. I'm already planning to stop at NASCAR SpeedPark for the Speedway Drift coaster. While browsing RCDB, I found that Twister Mountain supposedly opened on 3/1/09. Is this true? Any updates on this place? Also, does anyone know how much it will cost me to just pick up the credit at the SpeedPark and leave? Their website says $3.00 for individual tickets, but doesn't say how many tickets are required for each ride...strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidcoaster 2 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 No the Twister did not open. I saw it RCDB when I visited I went looking for it only to find a Pile of Dirt where it supposidly opened. Hopefully Nascar's Coaster will be open for you, they had been having problems with it. Have Fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbear30 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Sorry to drag up an old thread but as I was reading through a book on coasters tonight, I find that there was an old park called Winston Cup Race World in Pigeon Forge. They apparently had a woodie built in 2000 called "The Intimidator" and it was named after Dale Earnhardt. Way to go Cedar Fair for ripping off an old idea.... Guess this place turned into the Belle park discussed in this thread. Interesting to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 ^ That woodie sounds like it was Thunder Eagle from Pigeon Forge's Race World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbear30 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 ^Yes, I guess they renamed it before it opened, but I thought it was interesting that it was supposed to be called Intimidator and named after Earnhardt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 ^Well, "Intimidator" is a better name for a coaster than "Dale." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/30/buyer-for-belle-island/ An unfinished entertainment project in Pigeon Forge may have found a buyer. Bankruptcy documents filed in California indicate that Regions Bank has reached an agreement to sell Belle Island Village for $19.5 million. The document is part of the bankruptcy case of the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum, which is home to the memorabilia collection of actress Debbie Reynolds. The museum was slated to be a centerpiece of Belle Island, an attraction that went into foreclosure last year. The museum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2009. The document filed last week said that on Jan. 27, Regions reached an agreement to sell Belle Island to Tennessee Investment Partners LLC, which is owned by Matisse Capital LLC and Southern Venue Development. The latter firm and its president, Glen Bilbo, originally helped spearhead Belle Island. In a brief telephone interview on Monday, Bilbo said he was aware of the effort but would have to call a reporter back. He did not respond to a subsequent call. The filing said the sale is scheduled to close on or before March 31. The deal was reported last week by the Wall Street Journal. At the August foreclosure sale, Regions submitted a credit bid of $23.9 million for the retail portion of Belle Island, including the partially finished Hollywood memorabilia museum shaped like a steamboat. FirstBank offered a credit bid of $5.76 million for the hospitality portion of the project, which comprises a partially completed 132-room hotel above the island's retail shops. The status of the hospitality portion of the project is not clear. The bankruptcy document states that Tennessee Investment Partners and museum president Todd Fisher are negotiating a term sheet for establishment of the museum, and that TIP understands that a non-negotiable component of any agreement is an upfront payment large enough for the museum to pay a specific claim in the bankruptcy case. If that advance payment is not received by July 31, the filing says, the museum will engage an auction house to conduct a series of sales of the memorabilia collection. Centered around an 18-acre island between the Parkway and Teaster Lane, the idea for Belle Island was unveiled in 2003. Besides the Hollywood Museum, it was also slated to include a NASCAR-themed attraction called the Darrell Waltrip Racing Experience. At one time, the project was slated to open in fall 2008, and in November of that year project officials announced plans to hire more than 1,000 employees. But a firm behind the project filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2009, and a pair of foreclosure auctions happened later that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/nov/21/belle-island-sale-finally-goes-through/ A new owner has bought part of the Belle Island property in Pigeon Forge and is planning an attraction whose centerpiece will be a 200-foot skywheel. On Monday, LeConte Village LLC paid $10 million for the retail portion of Belle Island, an unfinished project near the Parkway that includes a steamboat-shaped museum shell and has been dormant since Regions Bank took the property at a foreclosure sale in 2009. Darby Campbell, the Knoxville-based developer who has partnered with Bob McManus to spearhead the deal, said several potential tenants are looking at the project and predicted the eventual tenants would invest around $75 million. Campbell said his group plans to demolish the steamboat building, which at one time was expected to house the Hollywood memorabilia collection of actress Debbie Reynolds. Campbell said his group paid cash for the site, and expects to invest another $13 million in improvements, not counting the skywheel. He said the $13 million includes $5 million that will be provided by the city of Pigeon Forge for infrastructure improvements, including a road connecting the Parkway, and a planned $45 million event center that also will be developed by Campbell and McManus. Campbell estimated the island attraction will open in the spring of 2013. "The concept now would be mainly entertainment and restaurants and the hotel and things of that nature, with some retail infill," he said. "The main draw, I would say, would be entertainment." Campbell said the skywheel will be the tallest structure in Pigeon Forge and will include cars that are heated and air-conditioned. The purchase does not include a partially completed hotel on the island, but Campbell said his group has that property under contract. The developer estimated that three years ago the land his group just purchased would have appraised for $12 million, not including the 250,000 square feet of buildings on the site that he estimated are 85 percent complete. Regions submitted a credit bid of $23.9 million in acquiring the property at a foreclosure sale in August of 2009. Campbell acknowledged concerns about the economy, but said that was why he and McManus put together a group that paid cash for the site. "If the economy were to take a turn for the worse, we could just sit and wait," he said. The Campbell group's plan to buy the property was announced in February, but the deal took months to finalize. The developer said it was one of the more complicated deals he has worked on. "Once (Regions) realized that we were one of the few (buyers) that could pull it off and could afford to, that was when we came together," he said. Belle Island is between the Parkway and Teaster Lane and at one time was to include a NASCAR-themed attraction called the Darrell Waltrip Racing Experience, a hotel, and retail stores in addition to the Debbie Reynolds museum. Much of the construction for Belle Island was completed but a firm behind the project filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Reynolds has since begun auctioning portions of her collection. According to the Los Angeles Times, the famous subway dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" was sold in June for $5.52 million, including fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Interesting but they only have tenants that are interested and MAY invest 75 million. If this thing flys, I don't think it will be as big as they are hoping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I assume the once planned Wild Mouse has been officially scrapped from the plans. I'm honestly surprised that one of the entertainment centers on the strip hasn't built a small roller coaster since Speed World. I know about Nascar's coaster, but that isn't exactly walking distance from the main part of the Pigeon Forge strip. Thunder Eagle operated for a short time, but I assumed that was more to do with struggles of Race World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Did anyone on here actually ride Thunder Eagle when it was open? It was open for such a short period of time that I don't think I've ever read a review of it. I was in Pigeon Forge a couple of times while it was SBNO, but never actually had a chance to ride it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I was fortunate enough to. The best comparison would be one of the junior woodies like Ghoster Coaster at KD. Was fairly smooth and had a couple of decent drops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 ^ Any chance you got the Dania Beach Hurricane credit for comparison's sake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 ^Nope, never been to Miami. I just don't remember anything special about it to think it was a comparable ride to the Hurricane. I do remember the pacing being a little off as it seemed to lose a lot of momentum around the turns. It just seemed more like an oversize Junior woodie to me. Here is a couple of pictures of the layout from RCDB: You can get a good feel for the layout in this photo. If I remember correctly those bunny hills weren't very comfortable. And here is the part you can't see in the photo above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Edge of Beast- Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hmn... interesting idea. Although it's not very "Pigeon Forge-esque". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 It's funny that that Coaster Works only built 2 coasters, one was more of a family coaster and the other was a fairly well reviewed full sized woodie. If I remember correctly Coaster Works was also the company that had the LIM launched woodie advertised on their website at one point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks to someone on facebook, I'm now looking around for any footage of this coaster (Thunder Eagle). Can't seem to find any... anyone? It's former trains are running incredibly on Zippin Pippin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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