Godwyn Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 In 2010, my wife and I went on the TPR IntimidaTour and visited Dollywood. After Chris was talking to one of our friends, they decided that they wanted to make a road trip back there. So I figured since we were driving by, we should stop off at Beech Bend since we haven't been there since 2007 with the TPR Midwest trip. You can tell we aren't in central Illinois anymore. The road isn't lined with corn fields on both sides. Ah, the Wabash River. That means we aren't in Illinois anymore! So that means. Fireworks! While doing some Geocaching along the way to break up the drive, we seen what has to be the coolest Denny's made. Seen this in the parking lot of Beech Bend. There was hardly anyone here. Which was good cause we only had a couple of hours before we had to head out. Not sure if this had anything to do with the lack of crowds. Guess they figured they would go ahead and get wet if its going to rain. The main reason we were here. Kentucky Rumbler. Loved the ride in 2007 and was curious how well it has held up. Still an awesome ride. It rattles a little bit in the back but nothing major. After several rides on Rumbler, we hit up a couple of other rides. Last time I was there they had a pretty good drop tower. They replaced it with this one. I think this is one of the better ones I've been on. It's not the tallest, but you get great air. My butt was off the seat and shoulders hitting the restraint the whole way down. Apparently I'm the only one brave enough to go hands up. He's prepared, rain or shine. Off to the Wild Mouse. In 2007 we spun like crazy. Figured that wouldn't happen again watching everyone else hardly moving. We thought wrong. We both exited dizzy. This ride made me think of Kidtums. Went to the petting zoo there, which was nothing but goats that wanted to eat my shoes and shorts. This little guy was only 3 weeks old. After hitting up the Hauted House, Bumper Cars, and Antique Cars, we headed back to Rumbler for a few more rides before we headed out. Some first drop fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The49er Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Nice TR so far. Never seen Beech Bend... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CpBluestreakCp Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Reminds me a bit of Waldameer. They both have that signature wooden coaster being at a smaller park. Great TR, looking forward to more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hang And Bang Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Great TR so far! Hating that I couldn't go!!! Beech Bend would've been a new park for me, always been curious about it. Nice to hear Kentucky Rumbler held up to the high praise you've always given it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 So after a couple of hours at Beech Bend we headed off on the rest of the road trip to our hotel in Pigeon Forge. Our hotel was located right on the Little Pigeon River. There were even a little rapids section which made a nice relaxing sound while sitting on our balcony. The hotel even had tubes that we could use. Here is Chris and our friend Libby floating down the river. It is time for Dollywood. We actually went on 2 different days, but I'm just going to put it all into one installment. So you know what that means, right? Yep, cinnamon bread! Oh, and Wild Eagle. And here it is! Oh, sorry, wrong eagle. Here's the right Wild Eagle we came here for! It really is a photogenic coaster. I think the guy on the right lost all control of his bottom lip. The rest of the park is really beautiful also. Pot head. KID ON A LEASH! Kind of scary seeing how far you go up on the sides. But its nice to see that the ride ops still smile while riding. The guy in the back. Looks like some happy riders. Of coarse we had to take the train. Yup, that's us on the train. Mmm... Thunderhead. My favorite coaster in the park. Although Mystery Mine is pretty good too. You can catch some pretty good facial expressions from here. Next installment -- From 650 feet underground to almost 6700 feet above sea level. And some credit whoring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Awesome! I was with a bunch of other TPR members at Dollywood in March and loved it! I'm going again in August, as well as the rest of Tennessee so I'll be following this TR in case there's something I want to see/do. What hotel is that in Pigeon Forge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 It was the Creekstone Inn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I think Thunderhead, Wild Eagle notwithstanding, is the best coaster at Dollywood, too. It was running great when I was there last April; unfortunately, I waited too long for cinnamon bread and missed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hang And Bang Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 The view from the balcony looks amazing! It must've been really relaxing. How was Mountain Slidewinder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 I was nice just being able to sit out on the balcony, listen to the water and watch the ducks swim around in the river. Mountain Slidewinder was pretty fun. Not the normal log flume that is everywhere and I liked the racing aspect of it. I told Chris that we had to ride it this time since we missed out on it 2 years ago. We must have walked around for about 30 minutes trying to find it before we found out that it was closed for construction of Barnstormer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hang And Bang Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I think it was closer to an hour lol. I was so disappointed when I discovered it was closed. I didn't know it raced. It looks really fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I think Thunderhead, Wild Eagle notwithstanding, is the best coaster at Dollywood, too. It was running great when I was there last April; unfortunately, I waited too long for cinnamon bread and missed out. Wait a minute, we all shared our two loaves. I think you only missed out on buying an extra 42 loaves to take home with you. Nice TR as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 ^Oh, that's right. I just didn't score any for the office. How unfortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Ok, time to finish this trip report up. On our site seeing day we were planning on going up to Clingman's Dome. After seeing it in Erik Johnson's trip report, I wanted to go see it for myself. Our friends were planning on going to The Forbidden Caverns and then hit up Gatlinburg. So we went to the cave with them and then split up from there. And later on, we ended up meeting with Enjen and her boyfriend to do some credit whoring. Sadly, I didn't take many pictures of that. The Forbidden Caverns The formation on the left looks like a bat hanging upside down with it's tongue sticking out. This part here looks like the surface of the moon. This was looking straight up. This is a river that runs through the cave. Replica of a moonshine still that used to be there. This looks like a dragon or a gargoyle. Heading down 50 stairs to take us over 600 feet underground. Another section of the river. You are able to drink this water out of the water fountain that is located in the gift shop of the cave. And here is our friend Libby drinking some of that cave water. Now it's time to head to the top of the mountain. Long way to go before we get there. After about 45 minutes of really twisty roads, we finally made it to the top. Almost. But we still had a half mile to walk going up this steep path. My gps shows that we are almost to the top. This picture doesn't do justice to just how steep this path is. Although it will be faster walking down the mountain! Almost there! We finally made it! What a view! That's us. Final altitude reading on the gps. Me "bee"ing artistic. Ok... that was bad. Our view from the parking lot... And less that a minute later, this is what that same view looked like. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped off at several places to take pictures. Bad thing is that it was raining so I couldn't get as close to the river as I wanted to without falling in. Woo Hoo! A little bit of credit whoring time! Sadly these were the only 2 pictures I took. We were too busy catching up with Jenn that I forgot to take pictures. I didn't even get a picture of all of us together. Well this pretty much concludes my trip report. Hope everyone enjoyed it. We sure enjoyed living it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Awesome dude, glad you guys a good time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonskeep Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Thanks for posting the report. I just got back from Dollywood as well and I had Thunderhead as easily the best ride in the park with Mystery mine being second. I loved the whole area up there, we satyed about 2 hours away in Brevard and it was killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Nice report, I just found out I have to be in Nashville next May so a side trip to Dollywood is in order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hang And Bang Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Looks like a great finish to the trip! Glad you guys had fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Cades Cove is another nice spot in the national park. I haven't been to Forbidden Caverns--looks like they're worth checking out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 That's why they call them the Smokies. You got lucky to have a clear day to actually the see the view from the observation tower. Great trip report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Cades Cove is another nice spot in the national park. I'll have to remember that for the next time we go there! That's why they call them the Smokies. You got lucky to have a clear day to actually the see the view from the observation tower. Great trip report! It was so eerie seeing those clouds roll in over the mountains, and how fast they moved. We stopped at the gift shop on the way down, and while we were in there, a crack of thunder went on for about 45 seconds. The lady working in there said that she wouldn't want to be up on top of the mountain during this storm. Then Chris said "It's a good thing we are on our way down!". Then she proceeded to tell us how some guy got struck by lightning in the parking lot. That made us feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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