Dollywood Discussion Thread

[SFOGdude25]

Golly, poor poor Lightning Rod...

Such an amazing roller coaster, but I sure do hope Dollywood can get it going reliably soon.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

The concierge at DreamMore said this morning the park is waiting for a part that will arrive next week. Take that as you will.

 

How's the trip going so far?

Right now I am super exhausted, but I have had an awesome time. Will have a full trip report starting when I get back, but I'll spoil one thing: Mystery Mine is a new top 5 coaster for me.

[Shavethewhales]

I remember last year I was really worried about them not having the issues sorted out by Memorial Day and that they would head into the summer with a bunch of people disappointed... I never imagined it would happen for the second year in a row. Seriously, if this part doesn't seriously improve the up-time, just go ahead and put a chain on it. I don't think the optics of getting rid of the launch would be anywhere near as bad as having a star ride that barely operates.

 

Anyway though, I'm thinking that before too long we could start seeing some markings for the 2018 addition. If they are indeed adding a whole new area as proposed in the last concept, then they will typically start clearing by August depending on how much excavation is necessary. Keep a lookout!

[golfburner1]

I wonder if Dollywood took in account for seismic activity on the mountain of LR. Could be constantly shifting the supports causing sensors to go out of wack.

[DoinItForTheFame]

I wonder if Dollywood took in account for seismic activity on the mountain of LR. Could be constantly shifting the supports causing sensors to go out of wack.

 

Okay... Not going to lie.... But that seems like a bit of a stretch. . .

 

If seismic activity were a problem don't you think that other coasters in the park would suffer from similar issues??

[coasterbill]

I wonder if Dollywood took in account for seismic activity on the mountain of LR. Could be constantly shifting the supports causing sensors to go out of wack.

 

There are no words...

[southpuddle]

I'm sure they took into account tremors... [youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

My first ever trip next month has been canceled due to the unreliability of Lightning Rod. Cinnamon bread isn't going to be enough for me to spend the cash and use vacation time. Sorry, Dollywood.

[Mastalucky23]

Making my 6th attempt this year for LR for this coming up Saturday. If it's true that the part they are waiting on arrives this week then maybe it will be running by this coming up weekend. I'm still going in with the mindset of not being able to ride. Fingers crossed

[molemaster43]

I'll be there two weeks from tomorrow. Here's hoping for the best with Lightning Rod. I got extraordinarily lucky last year and got to ride Rod the day it reopened after the recall, but we shall see. If I don't get to ride it this year, though, I won't be too upset since Dollywood's a wonderful place without it. It's my second favorite park without Rod, and Rod gives it the slightest edge over SDC to make it my favorite, so either way, I'm satisfied.

Edited May 30, 2017 by molemaster43

[TrippinBillie]

My first ever trip next month has been canceled due to the unreliability of Lightning Rod. Cinnamon bread isn't going to be enough for me to spend the cash and use vacation time. Sorry, Dollywood.

 

Can't say I blame you, there. It is a big void when you go there seeing such a giant, amazing, work of engineering sitting there and unable to walk in and ride. Despite the awesome park and other rides, there's something about seeing it there not operating that drives you crazy and can really put a damper on the trip. I hope they're able to get it up and running before the full-fledged summer season.

[bluestreak]

Each day it doesn't open I feel more and more blessed that I got 4 rides on it last year over labor day weekend.

[dstephe9]

I'll be there two weeks from tomorrow. Here's hoping for the best with Lightning Rod. I got extraordinarily lucky last year and got to ride Rod the day it reopened after the recall, but we shall see. If I don't get to ride it this year, though, I won't be too upset since Dollywood's a wonderful place without it. It's my second favorite park without Rod, and Rod gives it the slightest edge over SDC to make it my favorite, so either way, I'm satisfied.

After the recall it ran very well until winter haha

 

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[LukeFlynn]

The recall wasn't even what made the coaster have all the downtime in the beginning IIRC.

[dstephe9]

Well before the recall it was mostly in technical ride rehearsal. The recall was shortly after it officially opened for real.. So most of the downtime before the recall could always be attributed to the ride being finished late, fine tuning, and all that good jazz. I rode it the first weekend it was in technical ride rehearsal and actually got lucky and got a night ride! It had opened and closed several times when I had been in line.. finally I caught it open again right around closing and it had no line.. it was already fairly dark. It was an awesome ride! That was the only time I got to ride it before the recall I believe.. after that most of my rides were in the Fall after it opened back up

 

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[LukeFlynn]

I had tried multiple times in May-June to ride, but didn't get a ride until late October.

[dstephe9]

Well it wasn't opened much during that time anyways.. Technical Ride Rehearsal started the last week of May (I can't remember the exact date but a Google search shows news articles about it as early as May 26) and the recall was June 17th (another Google search haha)

 

So the actual up time was very limited until after the recall anyways

 

I just remember being frustrated waiting in lines for 30+ minutes only being told to leave and it happened several times until closing on the first full weekend it was in ride rehearsal.. I finally got lucky at closing

 

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[Jccoasterfan]

I rode Lightning Rod for the first time back on June 2nd last year. I remember waiting in line for over 20 minutes to see if they were gonna have tech rehearsals that day. At first they put a sign on the door saying the coaster won't run today, but about an hour later we saw them testing the ride again while we rode Wild Eagle and quickly walked back to the other side of the park. They kept telling us that there is no guarantee the ride will operate. Shortly afterwards, the front entrance doors opened and I happily got my first ever ride in. Since then, my total ride count on Lightning Rod is 13 times.

 

Someone on Twitter recently said that the coaster will be down all week. It sounds about right if they are indeed waiting on another part but we can only take that with a grain of salt. I also heard somewhere that Dollywood's in a lawsuit and that the coaster won't run anytime soon. That last statement seems like a bunch of crap to me at the moment, so I wouldn't believe it yet.

 

Regardless, This is one very complicated coaster and hopefully they can get things working soon.

[dstephe9]

Even though the lawsuit sounds far-fetched, Dollywood isn't scared to go to court over their rides.. we saw it with Timber Tower.. after its first few seasons 100% of it's downtime was due to a contract dispute between Dollywood and the maker.

 

So yeah, I wouldn't believe it just yet but if they continue to have issues I would then believe they are in court with a portion of the maker

 

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[lbeeler]

Just returned From my Trip LR was closed but still had a good Time!!!

[LukeFlynn]

If they were in a law suit and planned to keep it closed, I'd imagine they would announce that it would be closed for the foreseeable future.

[Shavethewhales]

I would not be surprised if there is a lawsuit in the works, but I'm not certain they would file it yet. Probably by the end of this summer if we don't see massive improvement in the ride we should start looking for a court filing. The contracts between ride vendors and parks are surely pretty complicated, but you would expect that there is a provision to recoup losses if the ride provided isn't able to be operated for a certain percentage of time. I'm too lazy to lookup the case they brought against HUSS, but I believe it was essentially breach of contract because the ride didn't work or was ridiculous to maintain.

 

There's been a lot of talk about who is responsible: RMC or the launch subcontractor, but if they have a true main contractor/subcontractor relationship then I worry that RMC is in for some trouble here. The sub will get dumped on obviously, but it's not like the main contractor gets to just pass the buck. I'm sure RMC sold the whole concept to the park based on their confidence that this launch sub could get it to work.

 

In any case, it's about to get seriously messy.

[Mastalucky23]

I would not be surprised if there is a lawsuit in the works, but I'm not certain they would file it yet. Probably by the end of this summer if we don't see massive improvement in the ride we should start looking for a court filing. The contracts between ride vendors and parks are surely pretty complicated, but you would expect that there is a provision to recoup losses if the ride provided isn't able to be operated for a certain percentage of time. I'm too lazy to lookup the case they brought against HUSS, but I believe it was essentially breach of contract because the ride didn't work or was ridiculous to maintain.

 

There's been a lot of talk about who is responsible: RMC or the launch subcontractor, but if they have a true main contractor/subcontractor relationship then I worry that RMC is in for some trouble here. The sub will get dumped on obviously, but it's not like the main contractor gets to just pass the buck. I'm sure RMC sold the whole concept to the park based on their confidence that this launch sub could get it to work.

 

In any case, it's about to get seriously messy.

 

 

Apparently the rumor right now (and according to a couple employees) they are waiting for a "part" that SHOULD arrive sometime this week. Sigh

[MindbenderManiac]

Looks like Drop Line is also listed on the app as "CD" today. Hope it isn't down for a long time also.

[jynx242]

This is just my opinion, so please keep that in mind, but I think that calling the ride a "flop", lawsuits, and already talking about re-doing the lift is just a bit pre-mature. Perhaps we should cool our jets a bit.

 

It's been said before, TTD and Ka were both nightmares when they first opened. Falcon's Fury also comes to mind along with the Drop Tower at BGW.

 

I agree that I would be seriously disappointed if the ride were down during a visit, but these things do happen. I'm sure nobody is as upset as Dollywood about these delays and issues - but I am confident that they will get them worked out.

 

David

 

P.S. In no way am I attacking anyone's opinion, nor am I coming after any particular post - these are just my thoughts about the whole issue and the tone of the thread.

[prozach626]

Emily and I were going to plan a trip back to DW next year, but we want to give Lightning Rod a few more years to get sorted out. We plan on going Monday-Friday in hopes that Lightning Rod will be open during one or two of those days.