Dollywood Discussion Thread

[chickenbowl]

^I have never had any problems with guest services. Last year we were using our bring a friend free coupons and misread the coupon. We were there a week early from the coupon days. The gate attendant directed us to guest services, and the lady there took our coupons and handed us tickets. No questions asked, no explanation of our mistake. Just took the coupons, and exchanged them for tickets. I was willing to pay for their entry, and they were all like, "No problem, mistakes happen, here are your tickets, have a great day here at Dollywood, praise the Lord and may the Baby Jesus always be with you. Go with God."

 

Guy "Of course I'm paraphrasing." Koepp

 

That's amazing!

[coasterfreak101]

"No problem, mistakes happen, here are your tickets, have a great day here at Dollywood, praise the Lord and may the Baby Jesus always be with you. Go with God."

Dollywood in a nutshell right here.

[KBrylczyk]

"No problem, mistakes happen, here are your tickets, have a great day here at Dollywood, praise the Lord and may the Baby Jesus always be with you. Go with God."

 

The only proper response.

 

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

^

[Nrthwnd]

^^ "That's Sah-teen."

Satine.

[PixelRush]

TRACK ALMOST COMPLETE TWO PIECES LEFT!

[PixelRush]

I'm tired of explaining myself but my phone makes double posts, ignore this as usual...

[SFOG1991]

I am so ready for this. Question is, will it be ready for me on preview day? Is that even possible at this point?

[WOFanatic]

TRACK ALMOST COMPLETE TWO PIECES LEFT!

Yeah there's no way this will be open on Opening Day.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^ Yeah, it'll be open. This is Dollywood we're talking about.

[michaellynn4]

Welp, it's official! Just finalized by cabin rental for 3/27 to 3/30 for our visit to Dollywood! I'm excited because this'll be my first visit to the park. Thinking about doing some hiking / outdoors stuff in the area, too. Hopefully Lightning Rod will be ready to go by then!

[SixFlagsAstroworld]

TRACK ALMOST COMPLETE TWO PIECES LEFT!

Yeah there's no way this will be open on Opening Day.

 

This is Dollywood. Not Six Flags

[SFOG1991]

I really wish the park or RMC would update us on the situation because I am a season passholder and want to go to preview day but only if Lightning Rod is ready, since I would have to take off work and book a hotel. I hope we get news within the next week in regards to the chance of it being ready or being delayed.

[Dollywoodlover20]

They're already doing clearance tests on one end while track is being finished. A crew is finishing up the station, we have seen that all the computers are in place. The company "PettyWelding" is doing all of the gates and railing by the way. If they get everything cleared and get this thing testing, they have 3 weeks and 2 days left.

[kickflipbacktail]

I hope preview day happens but if not I luckily have a group trip there a week later which I think they'd be open by then. Fingers crossed. Also the animations did not do justice to the non inverting half loop. That think looks MASSIVE. You'll probably be cooking some serious speed coming into that last turn.

[Guy T. Koepp]

I for one, am not concerned.

[coasterbill]

I'm concerned but still cautiously optimistic.

[SFOG1991]

They're already doing clearance tests on one end while track is being finished. A crew is finishing up the station, we have seen that all the computers are in place. The company "PettyWelding" is doing all of the gates and railing by the way. If they get everything cleared and get this thing testing, they have 3 weeks and 2 days left.

I was thinking about this. I know RMCs fasted progress from track completion to ride opening was 5 weeks, but they could be doing so many other things in advance like testing clearance on the 90% of the course that has been done for weeks. I am hopeful that this is the case, and that the launch won't be problematic. Really looking forward to preview day happening!

[ZeroGravity55]

I bet the first train is sent over the hill by the end of the weekend.

[SFOG1991]

^I can not wait to see this thing in action.

[ernierocker]

Does anyone know what the minimum hours a ride has to test or if there is a minimum? That would be the only thing, barring issues that arise from testing that would delay the opening. I can tell you the ride was ahead of schedule at the end of the year.

[Sphantom91]

Does anyone know what the minimum hours a ride has to test or if there is a minimum? That would be the only thing, barring issues that arise from testing that would delay the opening. I can tell you the ride was ahead of schedule at the end of the year.

I don't think it's as much hours as it is complete ride cycles. I'm assuming those would be in the 100's. The only problem with that is the LSM system has to go through half launches and roll back testing before it can start cycling too.

[Guy T. Koepp]

I assume it is different from state to state.

 

With that said, I couldn't actually find any specific Tteenneessee ride testing information as far as testing/operating hours, just that the ride has to be deemed safe and signed off on by a certified 3rd party inspector. Along with that and having all it's building permits in order.

 

Perhaps someone else would like to comb through the stuff I found and see if they can find something I didn't see. Granted, I did just glance over the material, and didn't read everything. I was looking for something that caught my eye as far as testing hours goes.

 

https://www.tn.gov/workforce/article/amusement-devices

[ajfelice]

I asked around the Office about testing requirements. The answer is that it varies by the ride and manufacturer. Some flats can be assembled in less than a week, and have people on them within a few test cycles. Others require x-amount of safe cycles without error. Usually the cycle count is more important than hours of testing. If you only dispatch a train every ten minutes as opposed to the moment the lights blink on the control panel, you will have far fewer test cycles for let's say 100 hours of "testing." But what I do know, is that I have never read in any of the manufacturer manual anything that seemed like it couldn't be done in a week when it came to testing.

 

ASTM is the most common standard used for amusement ride Inspection and operation. 32 States, including Tennessee, use ASTM as law for amusement ride inspection and testing. ASTM is like our Constitution; It is very vague and open for interpretation. Usually, ASTM requires a park/operator to inspect/test as the manufacturer deems fit. As for letting guests on a ride, unless a manufacturer dictates otherwise, ASTM says a ride must complete one full, successful operating cycle before allowing riders to ride.

 

So the answer as to how much a ride needs tested varies by manufacturer. If the manufacturer didn't specify how many test cycles are needed before opening (happens more often than you think), ASTM says they only need one successful test cycle.

[Guy T. Koepp]

^Sweet! Run it and let me on!