Dollywood Discussion Thread

[u4icmusic]

21 minutes ago, A.J. said:

I dislike it too.

Some are speculating that trees were removed all around the layout to prevent potential clearance issues down the line without having to bring in maintenance to cut tree limbs every year, others are thinking that they are keeping the area relatively clear so that they can replace the rest of the Topper Track with I-Box track at a later date.

They removed a ton of trees around Tennessee Tornado too. They are still lying on the ground.

[tndank]

If you ride Drop Line, you'll see they've also been clearing trees in the woods out behind the leveled sections behind Wildwood Grove.  This isn't some path clearing for a ride, it just seems like they thinned the woods.  They seem to have cut down trees everywhere around the park.  Did they get a deal on quantity removed?

 

[i305isdaddy]

Wow… those Mystery Mine mods really make the second half of the ride even more pointless. The drop is much less steep and no more vertical turn   

[u4icmusic]

40 minutes ago, tndank said:

If you ride Drop Line, you'll see they've also been clearing trees in the woods out behind the leveled sections behind Wildwood Grove.  This isn't some path clearing for a ride, it just seems like they thinned the woods.  They seem to have cut down trees everywhere around the park.  Did they get a deal on quantity removed?

 

That might be for the second phase of Wildwood Grove?

[dstephe9]

That might be for the second phase of Wildwood Grove?

Pretty positive this is correct

[southpuddle]

Nothing like cutting down a wild grove of trees to create a land themed to a wild grove of trees

[tndank]

2 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

That might be for the second phase of Wildwood Grove?

I mean, could be. But this is even further back from the two huge plots of land they have already cleared and graded back there.

[JJLehto]

 

7 hours ago, PKI Jizzman said:

If it can run consistently over the next month and MM reopens with no issues, I gotta visit. Really LR's unpredictability was the only thing keeping me from going down there. 

Yeah...I mean I pulled the trigger and still made plans but I always made sure I had it "open ended" like I had several days planned for the area just to maximize the chance it'd be open. It will be nice to think I can plan for a single day (which makes my overall trip much easier to plan) and assume it'll be open. 
And yup, despite the original concern I had people have already confirmed it doesn't feel any different so yup, we got the same LRod BUT actually reliable!

Only "issue" now will be the debate about is it wood, steel, or hybrid and I have seen some intense debate already. I'm a huge nerd, but even I don't care enough to get into that one XD

[dankeykang]

Pretty solid Day 2 so far! 

[JJLehto]

I know anything thats new will need some time to iron out, and early season in general always needs some adjustment time, but yeah....... not a sterling beginning to the new reliable LRod XD 

[PKI Jizzman]

5 hours ago, JJLehto said:

 

Yeah...I mean I pulled the trigger and still made plans but I always made sure I had it "open ended" like I had several days planned for the area just to maximize the chance it'd be open. It will be nice to think I can plan for a single day (which makes my overall trip much easier to plan) and assume it'll be open. 
And yup, despite the original concern I had people have already confirmed it doesn't feel any different so yup, we got the same LRod BUT actually reliable!

Only "issue" now will be the debate about is it wood, steel, or hybrid and I have seen some intense debate already. I'm a huge nerd, but even I don't care enough to get into that one XD

I'm 5 hours away, and if I drove down there, paid full price for admission, and it didn't open all day I'd be pissed. I mean is there really a way to find out if it's running then day of other than seeing people post on socials about it? Or is that site posted above dead accurate? Smokey Mountains are cool but hotel room cost is gonna add up if you're just down there literally waiting for the day that it's actually operational. 

[tndank]

16 minutes ago, PKI Jizzman said:

I'm 5 hours away, and if I drove down there, paid full price for admission, and it didn't open all day I'd be pissed. I mean is there really a way to find out if it's running then day of other than seeing people post on socials about it? Or is that site posted above dead accurate? Smokey Mountains are cool but hotel room cost is gonna add up if you're just down there literally waiting for the day that it's actually operational. 

Give it a week or two.  When it's running every day without major problem, take a shot and come down.  There's a coaster event in a month or two.  Not sure which group.  Might be a good time to hit the park, get some ERT and only spend a bit more than regular tickets.  And their coaster event Thrills in the Hills is in June, I think.

This has to be temporary.  I'm hopeful it'll be up and running as much as all their other coasters not named Mystery Mine very soon.  

The site times posted pull from the parks wait time system.  You're seeing what is displayed on the tvs in the park and app.  queue-times.com to look at more parks.

 

 

 

[u4icmusic]

7 hours ago, tndank said:

I mean, could be. But this is even further back from the two huge plots of land they have already cleared and graded back there.

I was hoping they would make the train two stops instead of the loop. I'd like to see a second train station in Wildwood grove. That would save a lot of walking since they don't have sky buckets.

[JJLehto]

3 hours ago, PKI Jizzman said:

I'm 5 hours away, and if I drove down there, paid full price for admission, and it didn't open all day I'd be pissed. I mean is there really a way to find out if it's running then day of other than seeing people post on socials about it? Or is that site posted above dead accurate? Smokey Mountains are cool but hotel room cost is gonna add up if you're just down there literally waiting for the day that it's actually operational. 

I mean yeah, that's the problem lol it was ridiculous, and very annoying to plan for (which for me was basically what you say, watching forums and seeing when it was running generally well, plan a trip and hope) its why Im glad that will no longer be the case. 

 

And yeah tndank I know this ride is a meme by this point but all jokes aside not too worried. Any change is gunna have some kinks to work out, and I generally avoid open of season for this reason. I've had bad experiences at parks in the past not being "up to speed"/well functioning like right at opening, I like to give em at least a couple of weeks. 

[Djwadeknox]

Rollback video from yesterday.

https://youtu.be/IiU2E5dNcDs

[JJLehto]

4 hours ago, Djwadeknox said:

Rollback video from yesterday.

https://youtu.be/IiU2E5dNcDs

eh, more like a failure of the launch system. I was expecting it to get near the top and just fail to make it over. 

[dstephe9]

This by no way means the launch system failed. Someone described it as starting out fine and then felt like it slammed on the breaks.

That sounds more like a failsafe sensor not letting it complete the launch. It's like one of the maintenance guys told me one time, this ride has no other place to "stop" so if it needs to fail, it will stop at the point of launch.

I believe this gives the launch a bad rap

[A.J.]

16 hours ago, southpuddle said:

Nothing like cutting down a wild grove of trees to create a land themed to a wild grove of trees

The implication is that the land will be around for long enough that all the foliage will eventually grow back in.

[u4icmusic]

8 hours ago, JJLehto said:

I mean yeah, that's the problem lol it was ridiculous, and very annoying to plan for (which for me was basically what you say, watching forums and seeing when it was running generally well, plan a trip and hope) its why Im glad that will no longer be the case. 

 

And yeah tndank I know this ride is a meme by this point but all jokes aside not too worried. Any change is gunna have some kinks to work out, and I generally avoid open of season for this reason. I've had bad experiences at parks in the past not being "up to speed"/well functioning like right at opening, I like to give em at least a couple of weeks. 

This is not a new coaster. The retracking to 2/3's I-Box track should not have affected the launch in any way. These kinks should have been worked out during testing over the last few weeks. I'm sure this is embarrassing for Dollywood after they paid so much money to have it retracked. I'd be really pissed at RMC at this point if I was Dollywood and would consider a lawsuit.

[tndank]

Word is it's been running well today. 

 

[AmyUD06]

Maybe nitpicking, but I'm pretty sure that RMC didn't have anything to do with the launch and that it was all Velocity Magnetics out of PA who are responsible for that.  I could be wrong.

Maybe they could bring Intamin in to convert it to a high-speed cable lift like El Toro?

[CP_RULES]

^I was thinking something more along the lines of donkeys to pull it up the side of the hill. That way there's NO debate it has been slowed down. It would fit the theme of the park perfectly!

[JJLehto]

3 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

This is not a new coaster. The retracking to 2/3's I-Box track should not have affected the launch in any way. These kinks should have been worked out during testing over the last few weeks. I'm sure this is embarrassing for Dollywood after they paid so much money to have it retracked. I'd be really pissed at RMC at this point if I was Dollywood and would consider a lawsuit.

I mean....this happens. It is what it is, and that seems a little....much? Esp since as you say the changes should have 0 impact on the launch then why would you thus consider a lawsuit? Unless its for a general "You gave us this problematic ride!" but I mean....no one wants to be Six Flags lol Did Cedar Fair sue Intamin for TTD? And talk about the quickest way to totally wreck your sterling reputation with the coaster community....sue the most beloved manufacturer of our time lol 

[sdcfan88]

On 3/14/2021 at 3:00 AM, Djwadeknox said:

Rollback video from yesterday.

https://youtu.be/IiU2E5dNcDs

Oh boy, Same ol Same ol. Lightning Rod closed down. If they want to stop spending money on refurbing it and have true reliability, they should have admitted it was a failed experiment and just dump the launch system from the equation and have RMC make the main hill taller and add a chain lift while they were in there doing the other modifications and be done with it. They could get away with doing a 200ft drop with that terrain. Unfortunately if this is ongoing, this is not gonna help the ride or the parks image in any way.

 

EDIT: In case I get flamed I was being somewhat facetious in my statement as indicated by the emojis. Lol

[JJLehto]

OK OK I know this ride is a meme, and it's not helping its own legend by being down twice in its first 2 days, but maybe the "obvs failure, shoulda scrapped it, this is gunna wreck the parks image" seems a tad much?

Esp bc it operated all day today
https://www.dollywoodwaittimes.com/ride.php?ride=Lightning+Rod&day=2021-03-14