Dollywood Discussion Thread

[PCW_Nut]

Very impressed with how this ride is coming along. Dollywood really goes that extra mile with their coasters to make it more of experience and this seems to be right up there with the rest of their lineup.

 

May make it down for opening weekend.

[chickenbowl]

The support looks so strange on the last picture. Is there a reason why Gerstlauer designed it like that?

 

Is it possible that it crosses the train tracks right there?

 

Also this ride looks a lot cooler than what I expected from a "family coaster."

[tntornadox]

The support looks so strange on the last picture. Is there a reason why Gerstlauer designed it like that?

 

There is a service road under that particular portion of track.

[gerstlaueringvar]

I mean this one, it looks like a carnival coaster. So weird. Why don't they just make them parallel instead of letting the bottom part going upwards in both sides?

[Moose]

Thats a pretty standard structural thing to do, deeper where you need it to be and shallow at the ends. Saves material and.... Saves connections. Two parallel chords would need two connections to the columns, this looks like one at each column, much easier to erect.

[Vonni]

FCE is going to be such a fun Ride! I like how its so close to the Midway. I hope to get to DW soon so I can experience it, Thunderhead, Mystery Mine, and Wild Eagle! I need those credits man!

[Randomman295]

This thing reminds me a lot of San Diego's Manta so far. And if its anything like that, I'm not going to be disappointed. Can't wait to see what the final layout looks like, isn't it pretty long?

[A.J.]

Thats a pretty standard structural thing to do, deeper where you need it to be and shallow at the ends. Saves material and.... Saves connections. Two parallel chords would need two connections to the columns, this looks like one at each column, much easier to erect.

To add to this, here's another example of an upside-down truss similar to the one on Firechaser Express.

 

[jimmiemac02]

Dollywood posted an FCE update on facebook today. Things are looking really nice. I'm guessing the shack looking thing is part of the theming.

[scbt]

Wow! I had no clue that they had so much done already, this ride is looking more and more impressive the more I see it.

[DBru]

My friend and I visited last Monday and had a great time. This was our first visit during Christmas and the whole park was absolutely beautiful. Lines for rides were nonexistent--everything was practically a walk-on from the minute the park opened until around 7:30 when all of the coasters finally had to close due to low temperatures (36 degrees, would you believe it!). We only saw a couple of the shows because they were absolutely packed, but they were good despite a few technical problems during both.

 

The aspect I really want to comment on though is the staff. The staff at Dollywood, from ride hosts, to food services, to good ol' folks working in the assorted shops, was simply amazing. Everyone was incredibly nice, helpful, and cheery. And the coaster crews were sending out trains faster than I could have ever hoped. We were very impressed and can't wait to go back next year.

[thrillrider]

The employees at Dollywood are right up there with Disney employees, and sometimes even better.

[Vonni]

The employees at Dollywood are right up there with Disney employees, and sometimes even better.

 

 

From my personal experience DW and SDC staff are astoundingly better than the Disney Staff. It really is awesome.

[tntornadox]

The employees at Dollywood are right up there with Disney employees, and sometimes even better.

 

I'll never forget my first visit to Disney. A friend of mine who used to be a CM put it best at one of the rides: "they aren't here to be your best friend, their only concern is capacity" and boy was she right. I greatly missed the personal touch that I feel we often deliver at Dollywood.

[triggernel]

One of my favorite theme park memories was winding up in the basement of some random wood carving shop at SDC. The husband and wife working there gave me a personal lesson on wood carving into pencils. I spent about an hour in there just going back and forth with the guy, doing different techniques and making different characters on the side of a regular old pencil. It was one of those "did that really happen moments" when I looked back on it later. Totally random, but definitely something that wouldn't logistically happen in Orlando or Anaheim.

[rctneil]

Fire Chaser Express really is looking nice. SDC and DW seem to theme their rides outstandingly so I expect no less from this. When the ride was first announced I wasn't thrilled but as i've seen progress of it's construction it looks really nice and would love to get back there to ride it. Younger people are going to love a ride that's wll themed but not too intense.

[Woodie Warrior]

The employees at Dollywood are right up there with Disney employees, and sometimes even better.

 

I'll never forget my first visit to Disney. A friend of mine who used to be a CM put it best at one of the rides: "they aren't here to be your best friend, their only concern is capacity" and boy was she right. I greatly missed the personal touch that I feel we often deliver at Dollywood.

 

I think the employees at Herschend parks are great, but I think it is wrong to say the ones at Disney don't care about their guests. Of course one of their concerns is capacity, because they need to get the rides moving swiftly in order not to create a huge line. But they also want the guests to feel welcome, and the employees at both Herschend and Disney do a great job at that.

[tntornadox]

The employees at Dollywood are right up there with Disney employees, and sometimes even better.

 

I'll never forget my first visit to Disney. A friend of mine who used to be a CM put it best at one of the rides: "they aren't here to be your best friend, their only concern is capacity" and boy was she right. I greatly missed the personal touch that I feel we often deliver at Dollywood.

 

I think the employees at Herschend parks are great, but I think it is wrong to say the ones at Disney don't care about their guests. Of course one of their concerns is capacity, because they need to get the rides moving swiftly in order not to create a huge line. But they also want the guests to feel welcome, and the employees at both Herschend and Disney do a great job at that.

 

I wasn't calling out the entire organization by any stretch of the imagination! There are great, welcoming employees at Disney, for sure. My point was the ride attendants in general don't even speak to guests aside from giving instruction, as their primary concern is operation and capacity. Nothing wrong with that given their crowds, but it was different than what I was used to in my experiences.

[kidcoaster 2]

Dollywood just posted this to Facebook!

 

UPDATE! Here's the final piece of #FireChaserExpress track being installed. Considering the recent weather we've had, this is quite a milestone. Who's ready to BLAST OFF from "Zero to Hero" in 2014?

 

[triggernel]

That's some crazy looking track work up there in the top right!

[Bobby2889]

It has blown my mind that track work is already complete, it seems like it just flew up.

 

I can not wait to get back to Dollywood next season this coaster looks to be a ton of fun. Should be an interesting ride.

[ArizonaGuy]

Wow!!! That coaster looks like it's gonna be hella fun!

[Mrlittle]

Amazing how quick they put up the coaster. It looks great.

[Vonni]

OMG I'm so excited! I cant believe track work is already complete!

[gerstlaueringvar]

This is a great news! Can't wait to see testing begin soon!