Dollywood TR, perspective of a first timer.

[slither37]

I usually try to take my daughter on a trip every summer, this year we planned to go to Dollywood, a park that neither of us have been to.

 

Since I had already bought season passes for our trip in June, I decided a quickie trip would be no problem.

 

After a 3 hour parking tour of I-75 South between exits 160 and 141 on Friday night, I got to drive through Pigeon Forge at around 1130pm. Wow, my initial thought of seeing Pigeon Forge in all of its neon glory was that Las Vegas had thrown up and it had landed in Tennessee.

 

Lucky for me, my hotel was in Gatlinburg, slightly better.

 

But that is not why I drove for what ended up being 9 hours. Dollywood and Wild Eagle awaited the next morning.

 

ERT in the morning on Wild Eagle was a great way to ride this nice coaster. First ride was in the front seat and it was great. Best view from a lift hil. Ever.

As many others have said, nice ride. Most thrilling? Fastest? Most force? No, but it was a fun ride.

 

After a few rides on Wild Eagle, we headed for the next big attraction at Dollywood which of course can be found at the Grist Mill. My first taste of cinnamon bread lived up to the great expectations I have read about endless times. Metformin is my friend, but sure that even metformin did not keep my sugar that low.

 

I live in Columbus Ohio , right in between CP and KI. Dollywood in appearance, ops, food, friendliness of staff, all make CP look like a parking lot carnival. i still like CP for the rides, but every other aspect....welll, if you have been to both, is there really a question?

 

Highlight of the trip? Having already told you I go to CP and KI frequently, and of all the woodies in the state, with the best IMO being Blue Streak, was of course Thunderhead. After our first ride on this gem, my daughter and I looked at each other and both said, "Hey, we just rode a wood coaster and we are not in excruiciating pain!Lets ride this all day (with the help of Qbot, we did ride a whole lot of times) It was really great to ride a great wooden roller coaster. And before all the KI and CP fan boys go nuts, I grew up going to these parks and while Beast was great in the day, it too is now spine jarring rough. I have a feeling not to many people will rush to the defense of Mean Streak, other than the chiropractors who want everyone to ride it.

 

Another highlight was running into some TPR peeps. Saw the Irish show, which was meh, and the Argentinian dance show, which I enjoyed.

 

I am not a very good photographer but here are some photos....not as many as I thought that I had taken.

We got there early for early entry. I felt like Clark Griswold.

I heart early entry.

Kayla about to enjoy her first taste of cinnamon bread.

My blood sugar is about to go up faster than dragster at CP. Well worth the trip!

TPR People!

This struck me as funny, Q2Q entrance, but do not enter!

Sunday morning we drove up to Newfound Gap, so very nice.

[slither37]

Oh forgot some. I DID take some pics of Wild Eagle as well.

[Erik Johnson]

It was cool to randomly run into you guys that day. I agree that Wild Eagle was a lot of fun. Thunderhead was running really great this weekend as well.