RARE TR: Dollywood from my prospective....

[jarmor]

I very rarely write these so consider yourself lucky lol lol...

 

Well last night I decided to take the drive over to dollywood. After waking up at 5 this morning after going to sleep at 12 I finally got on the road at 6. After an awesome drive thru the mountians (at aprox 70 MPH on the winding roads...hey, I needed something to wake me up) I finally got to dollywood around 9:30. When I got there for some reason dollywood always seems crowded from the parking lot so I was like i'll see when I get in the front gate. So I go thru the season pass entrance and discover it seems like everyone in Tenn. must own a season pass! The park wasn't that crowded but it was still a good crowd. First stop was thunderhead....

 

Thunderhead - was still getting ready for a day of non-stop thrills but to my suprise it was only one train running. After waiting for 6 circuits I got in the front seat with a kid since I was a single rider. Man, what an awesome way to start a day. Of course Don was there to hype up the crowd but thunderhead just keeps getting better and better. It seems that coaster has everything anyone can ever want. Great laterals, great transitions nice air (not the "OMG im gonna fly outta this train" air, but enough to lift your ass off the seat long enough to know, that was some aiiiir-time ), and a layout that just keeps getting faster and faster as it ends. If I have to give some advice about this coaster and my honest opinion I would say..."This coaster lives up to the hype. Great layout, smoothest transitions I have ever experienced on a wooded coaster and some steel, and packs a punch from the exit of the station back into it. After my first ride they put the second train on but it kinda had a line half way up the stairs (hey im spoiled and I think thats too long to wait lol lol) so I went on to TENN. Tornado. I came back later on about 1 something when the ride was a complete walk on and got 3 back to back rides!

 

TENN Tornado - is a pretty sweet coaster in my book. The themeing is immaculate and I love the setting of the coaster. Not to mention how smooth the actual ride is But then again how can anyone screw up a coaster w/ only 3 inversions and 2 turns!. To my suprise the kid from thunderhead was over there and was like 1 of I'll say...5 people in the station. yep, this was another walk on ride in the park! So we rode in the front seat of this demented coaster. I really love the lift drop turn drop sequence done on this coaster! The first inversion is just...unreal! The turn looks deadly following it but its pretty nice...but what really gets me is the insane amount of g's you get going thru iron butterfly. I swear it felt like my feet were gonna go straight thru the bottom of my shoes lol lol. After the first ride the kid and me decided to get a back seat ride so we just went walked out of the front seat and went back to the back seat-mistake. Apparently at dollywood there is a "one ride walk .5 miles back around to the entrance and ride again...even if you are the only person in the station!" that some enforce and some dont. The lady was nice and let us stay but told us we had to walk around the next time so I was like...ok. However I did find out why. Apparently they use to let people stay but sometimes when they stayed some people came up to the seat they stayed in and had to wait when if they had to walk around the people would have been able to sit in the seat w/o waiting for the next train...fair enough.

 

Didnt stay for another ride so headed over to Blazing Fury. This is a crazy looking coaster/darkride/ water ride with some props that seems like they havent been updated since jesus flipped the switch for the first ride ever. But still funny none the least! Hummm....I wonder if in 5 years I can sue the park for 5 million, my neck is hurting a little 8) . Went over to mountian sidewinder to find it was closed for season maintance, no problem gives me more reason to go back again. Decided to go over to tour count"R"y fair, yeah I have to stress the "R" because all along I was calling it the county fair.

 

Country Fair - is very well done. It puts areas like the dinorama area at animal kingdom and the amity section in universal studios to shame. The first place I went was the dizzy disk which was also a walk on. Well not really because as I was walking to it , I got stopped 2 people from loading, no prob! This ride was wild! If you havent been on one of these rides just imagine being on a half pipe going back and forward and spinning counterclockwise then stopping and spin clockwise also. Once the ride stop I walked right on lemon twist. Now THAT was some crazy spinning! I was alone but I was spinning that sucker like it was no tomorrow. I couldnt see anything at all while on the ride and kinda got queezy afterwards. Saw the veggie tales coaster was operating and went right on over to it. Today is the first day I felt like a credit whore because I really didnt enjoy the coaster lol lol but I just had to up the count! Alright, left the country fair and headed over the one attraction that had a line...Aunt granny's! If you know dollywood then you would know that aunt granny's is the most popular place in the park. What other theme park has a buffet, a full buffet inside the park for only 9 dollars...im sooo there! But it was still before 12 so they were still serving brunch and I couldnt eat sweet breakfast food after getting off lemon twist unless I wanted to chuck it back up so I headed over to the car ride. I figured since everything was a walk on I might as well ride it.

 

I was quite impressed with this car ride. It had a working audio system in the cars and you actually steered the car! Now it was time to go back to the only place in the park that had a long line, Aunt Granny's. After eating some of the best food around I headed back over to thunderhead, but I already mention that...so then I went to smokey mountian adventure. This is another well themed ride that looks to be very universal-ish in content and you get a good glance at dolly's "dollys" . To my suprise Dolly was actually in the park today having 2 concerts and a parade at 5 but I didnt stick around for that...but I did manage to get my first ever ride on the train ride and after that Im sooo hoping dollywood gets a terrain hyper because the land elevation is pretty steep enough so it wouldnt have to be taller than the trees and it looks like the park is on the verge of making the layout a loop starting w/ timber terror next year.

 

Also this was my first time at a theme park w/o my handy camera equipment :shock: , yeah its that shocking especially if you know me lol lol so I dont have any photos from today, however I am attaching the thunderhead clip featured on my DVD "A Day at the Park" Presents...Dollywood.

 

THUNDERHEAD

 

Thanks for reading and enjoy the video!!

[bluemen]

Very Nice TR! Interesting read... the vid clip is nice too. The lockdown tricks were nice, as was the POV. Way to go.

[ParkTrips]

Great Video! I like the choice of music, it fits the ride and park perfectly.

 

Very good TR and again, thanks for the suprise at the end. Sorry I cam up with the discounts late, I didn't realize you had already gone

 

- Joe, who simply has gone too long between Dollywood visits (last August). Oh how I can't wait for Nov.

[Tomizzle For Rizzle]

Hey Jarmizzle,

 

We were there this weekend also. We did get to see Dolly but was unable to find any ticket scalpers...All 4 shows were sold out.

 

I will post some pics tonight.

 

holla

[Erik Johnson]

I really liked the video you posted, very nice. We hope to get up there next spring.

[PhishyBrewer]

SWEET! Thunderhead video! Prefect song, great editing and angles.

[jarmor]

Hey Jarmizzle,

 

We were there this weekend also. We did get to see Dolly but was unable to find any ticket scalpers...All 4 shows were sold out.

 

I will post some pics tonight.

 

holla

Yeah I knew yall were gonna be there and I was lookin but didnt see ya. Those shows sold out quick from what I heard and it seemed like the park was full of people just for the show so hey, better for me!

[Tomizzle For Rizzle]

That is one good thing about Dollywood...it can be slammed packed and no where left to park, yet the wait for the coasters can be like 15 mins. On Sat, we only had to wait about 5 trains for the front seat on Thunderhead...crazy.

 

80% of the peeps they are there to eat or watch the shows.

[Kroger8]

Dollywood has always been weird like that^ you think its going to be totally packed, and like you won't have to wait for anything. Jarvis, you are truly great at video editing, and that particular one had extremely good quality. Awesome!

 

Daniel "Its been forever since I've been, ThunderRoad was still there..." Gravely

[coasterdude5]

Great TR! I love Dollywood. Did you notice any construction for next year?

[jarmor]

I really liked the video you posted, very nice. We hope to get up there next spring.

 

You should! If you have never been there its a "wowwing" experience. Its something totally different than any theme park I have ever been to. With everything seeming to be made totally in park, while you wait (sourgum is sooo good!)!

 

SWEET! Thunderhead video! Prefect song, great editing and angles.

 

Thanks man, I try really hard to make the song tie into the actual theme of the coasters so it can have that "unique feel" and luckly its almost impossible to get a bad shot of thunderhead!

 

Jarvis, you are truly great at video editing, and that particular one had extremely good quality. Awesome!

 

Daniel "Its been forever since I've been, ThunderRoad was still there..." Gravely

 

I noticed that too lol lol. I was like hummm...it looks like im right there lol lol...thanks for the kind words...

 

Great TR! I love Dollywood. Did you notice any construction for next year?

Well nothing is booming but you can kinda see where its going...also you can kinda see how the park is gonna eventually become a loop!

[JamminJ]

Excellent video Jarvis. Looks like you got a nice wet slippery Thunderhead.. the only thing that could have made it better is complete darkness. (May make it hard to video though )

 

I definitely agree it is one of the best coasters on the face of the planet, so much out of controlness. The airtime, the lats, the positive g's, this coaster has it all. It is just unrelenting madness.

 

The construction for next year is well underway, If you ride the train you can see the construction road leading to the area behind the bathroom. The Thunderhead Gap area is going to look COMPLETELY different next year, its going to be awesome. I have a few pics, I'll post later on.