Dollywood Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Its been stated before that wheel seats are to be avoided if you are wanting that buttery smooth ride experience on an RMC coaster. I have not ridden Lightning Rod yet but it is apparent on Outlaw Run at SDC which also uses the topper track.

I also have not been on Lightning Rod yet, but in every RMC I have been on, this has held true. Ride in the front row of any car; the back rows sit on the wheels and are noticeably rougher.

[shivtim]

Does anyone know if Lightning Rod is open this week / weekend? I don't see any information on Dollywood's website, and the ride isn't listed in the wait times app.

[bluestreak]

Does anyone know if Lightning Rod is open this week / weekend? I don't see any information on Dollywood's website, and the ride isn't listed in the wait times app.

 

On my phone it is listed with a 45 minute wait right now so I assume it's open.

[anonymouscactus]

Up and down all day long with extended down times... but yes it was technically open. I got my one and only ride in and the thing is insane. I wish I had a chance to ride again to comprehend what happened. Absolutely brutal. In a good way.

 

The ride variety and uniqueness of the rides at Dollywood is fantastic. So glad I got to experience this park and Lightning Rod, just wish we didn't have to deal with the bee issue and many downtimes. Still a great day with practically no lines!

 

Oh. And cinnamon bread? Holy S***

[DoinItForTheFame]

Oh. And cinnamon bread? Holy S***

 

Ahhhh, good ole' cinnamon bread!!

 

[bluestreak]

Oh. And cinnamon bread? Holy S***

 

Ahhhh, good ole' cinnamon bread!!

 

 

[maverickpoint]

with LR up and running and 2016 coming to its end, is there any word on what the 2017 season might bring? new shows, a new flat maybe?

[STDog]

with LR up and running and 2016 coming to its end, is there any word on what the 2017 season might bring? new shows, a new flat maybe?

 

New slide at Splash. Announced in August ( I think).

Was discussed a few pages back.

[DILinator]

Oh. And cinnamon bread? Holy S***

 

Ahhhh, good ole' cinnamon bread!!

 

 

I won't lie... Seeing this after thinking about the Cinnamon Bread, actually made me want to eat it LESS!

[Philrad71]

My friend from work is there with his wife today and he texted me to say that LR was down all day and that they shut Wild Eagle down for wasps.

 

In other words, another typical day at Dollywood!

 

However, I did turn them on to the cinnamon bread there - two more addicts to add to the list!

[Jccoasterfan]

I just hope LR is running tomorrow. We were supposed to be on a cruise this weekend but it got cancelled due to the hurricane, so we made a last minute trip up to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for the weekend. We plan on being at the park for most of the day tomorrow.

[dstephe9]

From what I am hearing, there are lots of last minute trips to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge this weekend.. Fall break is supposed to be next week for schools here.. lots of people I know had trips to FL and Myrtle Beach planned.. all have cancelled and a lot of people are now spending at least the weekend in pigeon forge ha-ha

 

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[tykunkel1031]

From what I am hearing, there are lots of last minute trips to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge this weekend.. Fall break is supposed to be next week for schools here.. lots of people I know had trips to FL and Myrtle Beach planned.. all have cancelled and a lot of people are now spending at least the weekend in pigeon forge ha-ha

 

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Oh just great. Hopefully not many people show up tomorrow then We have timesaver either way though, since we're staying at DreamMore (which is incredible by the way. I've been here for a matter of hours and love it.). So either way, we shouldn't have a problem with lines I don't think. Saturday can just be a day for shows, since they give you two day tickets and lines will be out of this world

[middle_keeny]

My friend from work is there with his wife today and he texted me to say that LR was down all day and that they shut Wild Eagle down for wasps.

 

In other words, another typical day at Dollywood!

 

However, I did turn them on to the cinnamon bread there - two more addicts to add to the list!

 

I would hit LR as soon as you can to assure it will be running then get Wild Eagle before afternoon when the wasps show up. Most of the crowds will be there for the southern gospel so use the Timesaver for shows as well. I'll be there saturday.

[Jccoasterfan]

From what I am hearing, there are lots of last minute trips to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge this weekend.. Fall break is supposed to be next week for schools here.. lots of people I know had trips to FL and Myrtle Beach planned.. all have cancelled and a lot of people are now spending at least the weekend in pigeon forge ha-ha

 

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I've been hearing the same. Gatlinburg itself is packed. Every restaurant there and in Pigeon Forge had long waits last night. I'm expected Dollywood to be pretty crowded today, even more so tomorrow.

 

As far as LR goes, even though the park doesn't open until 10 am, the app already shows LR as "CD". It was the only thing listed so far, but I'm not sure if they left it at that from yesterday or they know it's gonna be down all day today. My guess is that it will be down today but I will go check after I arrive at the park later just to make sure.

 

Regardless, I'm looking forward to a great day at the park!

 

**Update as of 10 am: At the park now waiting for the chain to drop at Thunderhead. LR is indeed closed today.

[tykunkel1031]

As said above, it is indeed closed. However, we've gotten on every other coaster except for TN Tornado. It broke down while we were in line. Lines aren't bad at all, since we have timesaver. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like this, but every single ride has been 0 on the timesaver system, but the actual lines are much longer. Of course I'm not complaining, as we get to walk right on.

 

I also just lost my cinnamon bread virginity. Best decision ever. Now I see what everyone raves about. I'll be having another 30 loaves to myself later on today.

 

I'm hopeful for LR to open tomorrow. I'll be writing a full TR some time soon. This really is a great park! Even without LR, the coasters are pretty darn good. Yeah I'm bummed about LR, but everything else certainly does pick up the slack of it being closed.

[Jccoasterfan]

As said above, it is indeed closed. However, we've gotten on every other coaster except for TN Tornado. It broke down while we were in line. Lines aren't bad at all, since we have timesaver. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like this, but every single ride has been 0 on the timesaver system, but the actual lines are much longer. Of course I'm not complaining, as we get to walk right on.

 

I also just lost my cinnamon bread virginity. Best decision ever. Now I see what everyone raves about. I'll be having another 30 loaves to myself later on today.

 

I'm hopeful for LR to open tomorrow. I'll be writing a full TR some time soon. This really is a great park! Even without LR, the coasters are pretty darn good. Yeah I'm bummed about LR, but everything else certainly does pick up the slack of it being closed.

 

We've ridden everything except TN Tornado as well, but that was because we got too hungry and didn't want to bother waiting too long.

 

The park is pretty crowded today but not awful since most of the folks are here for the shows. I agree about the lines, though they really have picked up over the past few hours.

 

We may try to come tomorrow for just a few hours in hopes of being able to ride LR. It's really no big deal for me since I rode it last month. As you said, everything else makes up for LR being closed.

[tykunkel1031]

LR is open today! With a 2+ hour wait! They also only have one train running. The other is just sitting in the shed, and from what I can see, it's not being worked on. I might be dead before I finally get on, but I'll report back if not

[Jccoasterfan]

^ I was on the second train of the day. That line built up quickly! By the time we got off, it was already 45 minutes and then 2 hours as you said. We only had time to hang at the park for an hour because we had to go visit a relative afterwards.

 

If anyone is curious, I do wanna point out something. I went over to ride TN Tornado while the rest of my group waited for LR to open. TN Tornado's second train is back in the storage shed! Too bad they rarely ever run both trains. It was a walk on when the park opened but quickly went up to 10 minutes. The park is packed today.

[STDog]

LR is open today! With a 2+ hour wait! They also only have one train running. The other is just sitting in the shed, and from what I can see, it's not being worked on. I might be dead before I finally get on, but I'll report back if not

 

I think I waited ~3 back in June. You'll make (well, should have by now ). If everyone in front of me had stayed it would have been 4-5, but many left instead of waiting to see if it would open that day.

[tykunkel1031]

Sorry it took so long to get to writing this, but that ride blew my mind. I just might be the luckiest person ever too. First, the wait was only 1 hour and 15 minutes, and as far as I know, didn't have a single breakdown while in line. However, I think there was one shortly after

 

Amazing luck part two: the first time we rode, we got row one! Munich first opinion was that it was incredibly fun, with some awesome airtime, but I still liked Storm Chaser better. I'll go more in depth with my review whenever I get around to writing a real, full TR.

 

Later on, I checked the app and it was only 45 minutes! We sprinted across the park from Mystery Mine to LR We ended up waiting for about an hour, which was no big deal. Well this time around, we got row 12! What amazing luck. I knew this ride was going to be lightyears better in the back when the launch started. Everything was just balls to the walls insane. This instantly launched it above SC (pun shamelessly intended). However, as the wise Hannah Montana once said, "nobody's perfect"; it was significantly rougher in the back. I really felt that jolt in the second drop. Of course, it was still the smoothest woodie I've ever ridden, but it's noticeably rougher in wheel seats. This definitely didn't impact the ride experience, but I did notice that the entire back car was making that weird grinding sound that SC was making earlier in the season and everyone threw a fit about. This is definitely a life changing ride. I know that was super in depth anyway, but I'll try to do even more in a TR

[bluestreak]

It really is a mind blowing ride. I only got row 2 and row 10 0lus row like 6 and 7 when I rode it labor day weekend a few times. The ride was amazing in those seats, I can't imagine it in the front row or last row.

I can't wait to get back there and ride it again!

[STDog]

I doubt much difference between 10 and 12.

 

1 just has a better view than 2.

[middle_keeny]

I have taken about 12 laps on LR so far. I somehow get lucky and always been row 9 or higher. My theory on the "pothole" is that the train is pretty much on the upstops going down the big drop and the bump you feel is the train coming back down on it's wheels to the roll out of the hill.

 

I'd love to see if upstop media has some under footage of this transition.

[DoinItForTheFame]

...My theory on the "pothole" is that the train is pretty much on the upstops going down the big drop and the bump you feel is the train coming back down on it's wheels to the roll out of the hill...

 

You'd think that the transition from the wheels off the track, to on the track wouldn't be an abrupt "slam" but rather a gradual transition.

 

Just because I'm curious, according to your theory why aren't their "potholes" after every moment of airtime, when the wheels are off the track on RMC coasters??