rosscoe Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 That was such a great week, everyday just topped the day before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 It's a close call, but I would say Silver Dollar City just edged out Dollywood. It's a bit like comparing Megan Fox and Katy Perry though I would agree with this. But really there isn't much in it at all. It really was interesting to visit both parks in such a short space of time, they're actually a bit more different than you'd think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy524 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 I always love to see TRs of Dollywood! Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nice job, Divv, but now I'm craving cinnamon bread! Speaking of Dolly, there's a connection between her and your part of the world that I heard about recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Yeah, I'm hungry for cinnamon bread too now. I guess I'll have to hold onto that craving until next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moinab Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 You caught the spirit of Dollywood well in this TR, but you did miss the amazing berry cobbler we had for dessert at lunch. I actually think it was pretty much the cinnamon bread's equal. OMG that berry cobbler was AMAZING! Totally forgot about that! This was such an amazing day. The ERT and the backstage tour made for one of my favorite park days, ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 DAYS FOUR & FIVE: PIGEON FORGE AND MORE! There were no big parks scheduled for days 4 & 5, instead we indulged in a LOT of other activities (I won't get into them all! ) in the Pigeon Forge area and beyond, including: - Amazing food - Go-karting - Big arse mountains - Booze! - Bungee jumping - Zorbing - Waitresses! and best of all... JURASSIC JUNGLE BOAT RIDE!!! Take a look... This guy puts the pig in Pigeon Forge! Turquoise is the colour of the season. Knives and Dolls – you can’t sell one without the other! This is exactly the type of establishment you’ll find plenty of in Pigeon Forge! We decided to get in the mood the 2011 Japan trip very early! Our chef prepared our food in front of us and entertained us by bouncing eggs. FIRE!!! This place was awesome! Looks delish! TPDave and Steve approve of the Japanese cuisine! YUM!!! DOUBLE YUM!!! A very Dave Thomas approved golf course. Pigeon Forge has many high quality go-karting establishments! TPFail imminent. The next day we headed to Ober Gatlinburg for some non-theme park activities. We started with an aerial tram ride up the Smoky Mountains. Once we got off the big aerial tram a few of us took this chair ride even further up the mountain. Getting high! I’m sure Southern Steve’s been higher! I guess we are pretty high up! Nice view from up here! Hey look, it's a touristy shot! Steve says he just spotted a brew pub! Apparently it’s down there somewhere! This was really funky – a band performing at the top of the mountain! It’s the “Top of the Mountain” crew! We then headed back down the mountain slightly to check out this alpine slide! Elissa and KidTums tested it out for all of us. Brakes - Robb doesn’t worry about those! Naturistic! Back down the mountain to see if Steve’s eyes are as keen when it comes to booze as we expect! What do you know – Steve was right! A few beers for me! And a few more for Steve! We even had some food to break up the beer drinking. Our waitress hadn’t met a Scot before. It was a big moment for her! Our next stop was Colin’s most anticipated stop of the trip – NASCAR Speed Park! This is the real reason the trip is called The Intimidatour! Another Hit and Run credit for TPR has been scored! Now this was something I was VERY excited about! I always wanted to roll about in balls with TPDave and finally I got my chance. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life. The wet zorb was a bizarre experience! The rebirthing process getting out the zorb is crazy in itself! I'm pretty sure there are photos of TP and I being reborn somewhere. Zorb-tastic! That’s another thing I can tick off the list! Our next stop is one of those Pigeon Forge fun tourist traps – The Track! There’s some quality TPFail going on at the dodgems here. Check out KidTums holding on for dear life! Yeah, that’s me jumping off the platform. It’s not the biggest bungee jump in the world but it was fun. I’d love to do a bigger jump in the future. Bungee-tastic. Can cross that one off the list too. Bumper boat takeover!!! TPDave just can’t get enough of crossing streams with Steve. TPMoist. That’s hot. There’s some quality pant-wetting from Tyler going on here. The visit to The Track was finished with a round on the go-karts. You’d think with this we’d have crossed off just about every cool touristy thing that Pigeon Forge has to offer. But you’d be wrong. The greatest and most amazing attraction still awaited us… Woohoo! Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride! TPDave has no idea what amazement awaits him! All your favourite dinos are represented in the boat tour. Brachiosaurus, please sneeze on TPDave! TPDave can’t belive how authentic everything appears. Fresh off of blinding Dennis Nedry, Dilophosaurus is here to get his spray on unsuspecting boat riders. Here’s the ferocious GRANDE FINALE of Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride – terrifying!!! Our included dinner for the Pigeon Forge day was the always fun, TGI Friday’s! Steve was a bit too tired out from all the zorbing and bungee jumping that he needed TPDave to feed him his dinner. This waitress didn’t know quite what to make out of Steve’s photo requests but she was a good sport! Not to be outdone by me, Steve wanted to get his random person photo credit in Pigeon Forge! Steve finished his day by signing up for some high speed go-karting. Yeah, he’s a risk taker. Look at Steve going at BLUR-SPEED! Day 5. Let’s get this show on the road!!! As if we hadn’t had enough of go-karting joints on our travel day we made a special stop at this place! But here’s the reason why! Scott, you’re such a whore! Steve chalks up yet another back row kiddie credit. A worthwhile stop on our travel day in my view! We finished our travel day by visiting one of TPR’s favourite restaurants – Carrabba’s! Steve was trying something unthinkable today - 24 hours without alcohol! Notice the two untouched Jack Daniel’s and Coke we bought for him. There’s a beer from Robb right in front of Steve. How’s your will power now? My dinner of choice at Carrabba’s tonight – lobster ravioli! Amazing! TPDave is loving his Carrabba’s experience! I’m loving my Carrabba’s experience quite a bit too. It’s midnight and that means that Steve can drink again! I can’t believe he actually made it 24 hours! Steve drinking again at this precise moment couldn’t be any more appropriate for a very special reason… Wake up Tyler!!! You’ve just turned 21!!! That’s right, we forced ourselves into Robby & Tyler’s room at midnight and woke them up so that they could start getting drunk on their 21st birthday! Steve was very proud to have introduced Robby and Tyler to beer and spirits! The legacy of SteveC will go on forever! Yeah, feel free to blame us for starting Robby and Tyler’s long road to alcoholism. Or you can thank us for the hilarity that it generates for the world! Okay, that’s this long update done – Busch Gardens is next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckaroo234 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 What an awesome way to turn 21, on a TPR trip! Awesome TR so far bro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 That bungee pic is great! And thumbs up for the Smoky Mountain Brewery too! I'm still disappointed we missed out on the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride with you guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 A very Dave Thomas approved golf course. Hell yes! This was one of the SEVEN mini-golf courses Falafel & I played during our epic visit to Dollywood/Pigeon Forge a few years ago. I love that area. The Jurassic Boat ride is AMAZING. All of ten dollars might have been spent on the effects inside. So glad to see more people experiencing this attraction! dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCo Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 This awesome thread is another great example of why I primarily visit this site while eating. Oh, Dollywood, why must you be so far away...? I'd love to see someone theme a ZORB installation as "The Prisoner: The Ride." Great stuff, looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwm1444 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Pigeon Forge was awesome, as was breaking into Tyler and Robby's room to wish them a happy birthday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 That bungee pic is great! And thumbs up for the Smoky Mountain Brewery too! I'm still disappointed we missed out on the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride with you guys. Actually, Elissa should get the credit for informing us of the existence of the brewery! She clearly knew it would be must-do for Steve and I! It was almost as if Elissa had scoped out the area ahead of time. More people need to experience the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 I need to get myself on this trip next time it rolls around. Pigeon Forge looks amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 ^ You need to get yourself on a US trip full stop! Busch Gardens Williamsburg is coming right up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 DAY SIX: BUSCH GARDENS WILLIAMSBURG This was the only park on the trip that I'd been to before and it's a pretty good place to repeat. Especially when you have a day of extensive backstage tours to start off your day! Seriously, the access that the park gave us to see how things run from a geeky behind the scenes perspective was really cool. The tour of Curse of Darkastle in particular was fantastic! BGW really is a beautiful park with some really solid rides. We had some excellent ERT on all the B&Ms, which was much appreciated! We’re at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and what better way to start than with Apollo’s Chariot ERT?! Looks like Ash had a late night last night. Apollo’s Chariot is one of the better B&M Hypers in my view. Certainly better than what we rode at Carowinds the other day. Look at all those empty seats. I love TPR ERT! After ERT we started our even more exclusive section of the day – here we are behind the scenes at Curse of Darkastle! Layout blueprint! How cool! It was really cool to see such an advanced ride with the lights on. Even with the lights on this wall still looks pretty INTIMIDATING! We got a look at one of the control rooms. It looked very techie and sophisticated. I'm sure TPDave needs to calm down after looking at this again. TPPorn! When Busch Gardens met Lost… Some CRAZY things go on in the Fog Room! TPNerd. TPGeek. DARKASTLE POV!!! This lamppost looked fine before Dave Fudge rode this ride. Nothing to see here, move along… Hey look, coasters! We’ll get to them later! First we’ve got a behind the scenes tour on Escape From Pompeii! We’re special, so special! Layout blueprint! Steve’s probably lucky he didn’t drink yesterday seeing as there was a few ladders to climb on this tour! FIRE!!! And now for a tour of a ride very close to my heart… Loch Ness Wheels! TPDave seemed to be getting aroused in here. Good to know there’s plenty of spare restraints for Loch Ness Monster! TPDave is pointing out something incredibly boring and of no interest to anyone. Don’t miss out on BGW’s entirely authentic Irish Nachos!!! In 2010 BGW introduced You’re Up In The Air! Oh sorry, Europe In The Air! It’s kind of like Soarin’, except that it’s nothing like Soarin’. Europe In The Air also has this nice tribute to Lost’s Swan Hatch. Our next tour was at the B&M Dive Machine, Griffon! Our tour let us get some photos from geeky angles. Steve’s feeling really special right now! TPDave may need to get some tissues looking at this photo. Griffon has some BIG wheels! TPDave looks like he’s just about to reach out and pet the ride. In fact he did! One last shot of Griffon, we’ll be back for ERT tonight! Our last behind the scenes tour was at Alpengeist! The entire ride is built around this gigantic tap next to the station! Looks like all the trains are out in force today! Bad sleeves! Go to your room! Free burns for everyone! At lunch Tyler was struggling with the concept of actually consuming beer. Look at TPDave staring on in pure jealousy. This is new since my last visit! Sesame Street just turned 41 recently. Over the years they’ve added a lot of new characters, like who’s that girl on the top here? She wasn’t on Sesame Street in my day! Sesame Street’s kind of like TPR, they’re both full of puppets! I don’t believe the rumours about these two. (You know the rumours - like Oscar isn’t the only one who likes it in the can.) Our Sesame Street dinner offered a the all-to-common opportunity to eat Elmo’s face! Did you notice that Big Bird walks around bare arse naked all the time? Kind of like Southern Steve. They call him Big Bird for a reason too! His junk is covered in feathers. Kind of like Southern Steve’s! Whilst Tyler and Robby have just turned 21 Cookie Monster has recently turned 41. That’s right kids, C is for colonoscopy! Tyler and Robby are feeling the Sesame Street love! Is TPDave thinking about soaking the rapids riders by pushing this button or by some other method? It’s a lot of fun spraying over a boatload of TPR members! Gotcha! Looks like we got them good! For my money, the BEST named theme park game out there! Hi Scottish Steve!!! Soft toy orgy! Nice! Tyler still hates beer. TPDave is still incredibly jealous. We finished off our day at Busch Gardens with ERT on Griffon! Look at all those empty seats. You literally could sit wherever you wanted each time you rode! At the end of ERT it was up to TPEnforcer to lay down the law. On the bus ride after ERT Scott gave out his renowned Pointless Awards! Thanks to Steve letting down everyone with his 24 hours of sobriety I was able to snag the Booziness Award! Thanks Steve! Thanks to Scott too! This was a fantastic day! There was so much great behind the scenes stuff and we didn’t have to wait in any lines all day! Love it! One park to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paiging_jen Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Divv, it's starting to freak me out how much you look like one of ex's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPDave Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I think I got well and truly destroyed in this update. Touché. The backstage stuff was great here, the only problem was that three hours weren't enough Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I imagine this is what Larry's attic looks like.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 TPDave is pointing out something incredibly awesome that commonfolk just can't appreciate. Fixed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nay Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 That was such a fun day! The backstage tour was awesome and made for a perfect first visit to BG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Thanks for posting this Divv. It's bringing back a lot of great memories. That was such a fun day! The backstage tour was awesome and made for a perfect first visit to BG. I agree. I don't think I ever had that much fun on a backstage tour. The guides were great and I would love to do that tour again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Divv, it's starting to freak me out how much you look like one of ex's.Sounds like a good looking guy! I can't believe I missed such an obvious Larry related caption. I'm so ashamed of myself. Thanks for picking it up, Scott! Thanks for the comments everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Great tr Divv. Brings back alot of memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Divv - always love reading your PTRs a year after the fact. Not really, but they are still entertaining, especially photos of TPSoftDrink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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