Dollywood Discussion Thread

[cparkes92]

Folks the LSM's are working fine. The rollback videos have all been failure to launch by a censor before the launch. This censor issue is also happening at the break runs. It seems the more wait the train has the more censor problem ls they are having. That is why the train works so well when testing and then shuts down with a car load in it. The only times I've heard of real rollbacks have been in testing when they made it rollback. I have a feeling (could be gas) but I think it is totally a train and censor problem and having RMC their seem to back it up. A good point has been made that RMC has never built trains to launch and these are one of a kind that seem to have a issue playing nice with the LSM's and the censors. That is why it's been so hard to keep it up and running in my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

If this is the real reason, I'm surprised Dollywood hasn't shortened the trains. How long are the trains?

[BigBad]

The trains are on the short side: six 2x2 cars.

[LukeFlynn]

I had witnessed a real rollback earlier this season, that said, they got it back up in under half an hour.

[KingRCT3]

Well, if it's a PLC/electrical problem, that's up to Irvine Ondrey Engineering (but they didn't shared anything in that regard, and usually they do. I think they are not in charge of the after sale service).

 

Anyways, it's RMC fault for Dollywood because they bought the coaster from them, and I guess they are responsible for their subco. But in reality it's hard to really tell who's at fault.

 

Glad to hear the LSM are working fine, I wasn't up-to-date it seems. I was also assuming this was a launch problem because all the other RMC seem to be working fine.

[MidwestThemeParks]

The trains are on the short side: six 2x2 cars.

 

But every RMC has those same 24 passenger trains, so I wouldn't think the train length would be an issue.

[BigBad]

Oh, sure, my point, is that removing a car would diminish the capacity, which isn't that high to begin with.

 

(Though current capacity is zero riders per hour...)

[Henry M]

Uugh! This discussion is soooooo last season. Get with the times people, it is no longer 2016, it is 2017. We now live in an age where The Smiler is no longer judged, Vekomas are smooth, China's coaster industry is booming. It is a great time in the world of coasters. Just because two RMC coasters are sitting unused, it is not the end of the world. Some day Wildfire and Lightning Rod will fire up their engines and be thrilling riders, but not today, nor tomorrow, nor even this week. There is nothing we can do to help the situation, nor do we know anything about the details of the situation. It could literally be anything which is causing LR to not run. It has pushed so many boundaries, so this was obvious that it could happen.

 

To try and change the subject, I was wondering (and legitimately was before that little detour/rant) if the cinnamon bread is changed over the years to make it better, or if it stays the same?

[Shavethewhales]

The folks at IR Engineering have been on these very boards to defend their work. Based on their explanations and how forthcoming they are, I doubt there stuff is the issue. It is probably a combination of various things not playing nice together. But we're back to making assumptions about what could possibly be going wrong again... We haven't figured it out yet, and I'm sure we won't until someone who actually works on it comes out and states it.

 

Funny, I was just at Adventureland in Iowa the other day and their old wooden coaster Tornado still operates on manual squeeze breaks with seemingly no sensors anywhere. They don't even have station gates to keep people away from the tracks. Sure makes things simpler to run...

[dstephe9]

Folks the LSM's are working fine. The rollback videos have all been failure to launch by a censor before the launch. This censor issue is also happening at the break runs. It seems the more wait the train has the more censor problem ls they are having. That is why the train works so well when testing and then shuts down with a car load in it. The only times I've heard of real rollbacks have been in testing when they made it rollback. I have a feeling (could be gas) but I think it is totally a train and censor problem and having RMC their seem to back it up. A good point has been made that RMC has never built trains to launch and these are one of a kind that seem to have a issue playing nice with the LSM's and the censors. That is why it's been so hard to keep it up and running in my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

If this is the real reason, I'm surprised Dollywood hasn't shortened the trains. How long are the trains?

Last season they ran it a lot without a full train.. they kept 4 - 6 seats empty per run and it was running fine.. also, as it has been said several times, Pete said that RMC was going to be reworking the trains during the off season which should fix most of the problems.. he also said the trunks would return and neither has happened yet..

 

The more you look at it, the more interviews you watch, and everything else, it does come down to trains being the main issue.. now other issues might be causing the train issues but everything DJWade says does line up with what park management has "hinted" at in various interviews and also explains why they always had 2 - 3 rows blocked off last season when the coaster ran fine.

 

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[dstephe9]

Oh, sure, my point, is that removing a car would diminish the capacity, which isn't that high to begin with.

 

(Though current capacity is zero riders per hour...)

Like I said, last season when it was running fine they had one car blocked off most of the time anyways, running at least 4, sometimes 6 seats empty.

 

It's a good theory, take off a car and see what happens.. might also be why they removed the trunks

 

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[coasterbill]

Uugh! This discussion is soooooo last season. Get with the times people, it is no longer 2016, it is 2017. We now live in an age where The Smiler is no longer judged, Vekomas are smooth, China's coaster industry is booming. It is a great time in the world of coasters. Just because two RMC coasters are sitting unused, it is not the end of the world. Some day Wildfire and Lightning Rod will fire up their engines and be thrilling riders, but not today, nor tomorrow, nor even this week. There is nothing we can do to help the situation, nor do we know anything about the details of the situation. It could literally be anything which is causing LR to not run. It has pushed so many boundaries, so this was obvious that it could happen.

 

To try and change the subject, I was wondering (and legitimately was before that little detour/rant) if the cinnamon bread is changed over the years to make it better, or if it stays the same?

 

While the highly speculative nature of this discussion can be sort of annoying, it's completely reasonable for the primary topic in a discussion thread dedicated solely to Dollywood to be the fact that the park's star attraction is experiencing massive amounts of downtime to the point where park has made a statement about it on their website and outside the front entrance of the park.

[dstephe9]

Uugh! This discussion is soooooo last season. Get with the times people, it is no longer 2016, it is 2017. We now live in an age where The Smiler is no longer judged, Vekomas are smooth, China's coaster industry is booming. It is a great time in the world of coasters. Just because two RMC coasters are sitting unused, it is not the end of the world. Some day Wildfire and Lightning Rod will fire up their engines and be thrilling riders, but not today, nor tomorrow, nor even this week. There is nothing we can do to help the situation, nor do we know anything about the details of the situation. It could literally be anything which is causing LR to not run. It has pushed so many boundaries, so this was obvious that it could happen.

 

To try and change the subject, I was wondering (and legitimately was before that little detour/rant) if the cinnamon bread is changed over the years to make it better, or if it stays the same?

As for the cinnamon bread, so far it's one of the few things that hasn't decreased in quality food wise at Dollywood.. I know it's hard to believe, but this season especially, Dollywood had lowered the quality of a lot of their food.. Yeah a few things have become better, like Front Porch Cafe, but a lot of things decreased in quality.

 

Cinnamon Bread so far hasn't changed much in my 15+ years of eating it..

 

Some batches are better than others, one day this season they were training new bakers for it.. my slice was extra buttery and not as pretty but still tasted fine but wasn't Dollywood star cinnamon bread.

 

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[Djwadeknox]

At Dollywood now and they are running water dummies on both trains every 4 minutes or so. Praying things are looking up!

 

Edit one train has water dummies and the other train is empty.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Djwadeknox

[LukeFlynn]

Please keep us updated on testing!

 

I'm considering going tomorrow, doubtful LR will be open.. but still interested nonetheless.

 

I'm gonna get hate for this.. but I just don't find the cinnamon bread as amazing as a lot of folks here. I mean, it's good (and I love it with apple butter!), don't get me wrong.. but it's just frozen bread with some butter and cinnamon.

[Canobie Coaster]

Awesome to hear Lightning Rod is testing! I'll be in the Pigeon Forge area for the next week so I'm hopeful it can be open for at least part of one day.

[Jcoaster]

Welp, testing is better than no testing. At least they are actively trying to fix the problem. Come to think if it, someone posted jacked up prices on their resort page for a later week in June. That could be the re-opening of the coaster.

[BigBad]

Come to think if it, someone posted jacked up prices on their resort page for a later week in June. That could be the re-opening of the coaster.

I thought that for a moment, but I do not think it is planned that way. For people to be willing to pay the higher price, we would have to know that the park will have something special for those days.

 

Or maybe the goal to to keep the prices high for those days so people won't book them at low prices, and then when the coaster reopens, Dollywood can charge the higher prices. But I still think those higher prices are for the beginning of summer.

[dstephe9]

Please keep us updated on testing!

 

I'm considering going tomorrow, doubtful LR will be open.. but still interested nonetheless.

 

I'm gonna get hate for this.. but I just don't find the cinnamon bread as amazing as a lot of folks here. I mean, it's good (and I love it with apple butter!), don't get me wrong.. but it's just frozen bread with some butter and cinnamon.

Frozen? It's not frozen, they make it from scratch.. Early in the day they are always making it were it can be seen.

 

Maybe they don't make it from the grist at the Mill anymore but it's still made pretty much from scratch. It's nothing frozen!

 

They flatten the bread, they cut the slits in the bread, they dip and soak in butter, the add cinnamon.. yeah, the dough might not be 100% fresh but it's still mostly made from scratch.. and the dough might be fresh, idk, I have never seen it being made.. I do know they don't have large freezers in that building to keep a bunch of frozen bread though

 

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Edited June 6, 2017 by dstephe9

[Shark]

At the park today/tomorrow from Australia, was watching it test earlier. Hoping for a miracle for tomorrow.

[Djwadeknox]

In other news... I do find it a bit racist that they are only using white water dummies. sorry couldn't help it.

[LukeFlynn]

So where do they keep the huge mixers for all that capacity?

 

It's definitely fresh baked, but the bread tastes like frozen bread loafs you can buy at any grocery store. It's still great once you load it up with cinnamon, butter, and sugar though.

[Djwadeknox]

At the park today/tomorrow from Australia, was watching it test earlier. Hoping for a miracle for tomorrow.

 

 

G'day mate, welcome to Dollywood! Let them know who you are and maybe they will put a shrimp on the Barbie for you.

[dstephe9]

So where do they keep the huge mixers for all that capacity?

 

It's definitely fresh baked, but the bread tastes like frozen bread loafs you can buy at any grocery store. It's still great once you load it up with cinnamon, butter, and sugar though.

It might be and is probably frozen dough at some point (Most restaurant stuff now is) but it's usually made to the specifications of the maker or the maker always uses the same vendor with a "secret" twist. bc like I said, they roll the dough out, cut the dough and everything.. you can watch them do it on a busy day, especially earlier during the day.

 

It's definitely not frozen when they start working with it and preparing it for baking.. haha

 

I'm sure the raw dough is prepared somewhere else and possibly frozen. Yes probably off-site to Dollywood specifications. but it is prepared for baking on site in the Mill

 

With that being said, you can make copy cat cinnamon bread with frozed loafs.. but I have yet to find a copy cat that taste like Dollywoods.. I have tried a few.

 

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[Dollywoodlover20]

How's the testing going? Still happening? If the trains are doing one with dummies and one without it's the same as last year. Something about too much weight, someone did tell me when I was riding back in November that LR trains were heavier trains due to the added things on the bottoms. They also just seem to be built different, or it just may be me.

[dstephe9]

How's the testing going? Still happening? If the trains are doing one with dummies and one without it's the same as last year. Something about too much weight, someone did tell me when I was riding back in November that LR trains were heavier trains due to the added things on the bottoms. They also just seem to be built different, or it just may be me.

Like DJwade said earlier, weight could very well be the issue.. it's not an issue with having enough power to crest the top though. Whenever they ran the trains with empty cars, it always seemed to be cars towards the rear that were empty.. and it did run better when they had empty cars.

 

But like previously said, most of the "shutdowns" happened before the train even attempts to launch.. it sounds like there might of been a few true rollbacks here and there, and that is bound to happen with any launched coaster but from post, most of those issues we're fixed in under an hour.. heck 20 minutes of the downtime then is probably due to maintenance making their way to the coaster and then retesting before hy open it back up lol

 

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