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Dollywood Discussion Thread

P. 796 - Ride closing 10/30 to remove launch and install chain lift!

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The only thing that makes this funnier is when you realize that 4 of the "Top 10 rides" in his signature line were Intamin coasters that were slowed down or modified in ways that reduced their intensity and are pretty much exactly what happened here.

 

[attachment=0]lol.jpg[/attachment]

 

Intimidator was "slowed" by a minuscule amount. Lightning Rod is reported to be a highly noticeable difference.

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Intimidator was "slowed" by a minuscule amount

 

No, they trimmed the living sh*t out of Intimidator. That trim bites harder than any non-midcourse trim I can think of, but guess what... the ride is still awesome.

 

Lightning Rod is reported to be a highly noticeable difference.

 

Every single time this happens the initial reports are that the ride is now ruined, the sky is falling and life is no longer worth living. Generally people then ride it and realize it's not a big deal and everyone was overreacting.

 

You should probably ride it before freaking out about how you refuse to accept mediocrity or whatever. I highly doubt there's anything "mediocre" about Lightning Rod even if they slowed down the launch a little

Edited by coasterbill
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So basically you're going to accept mediocrity? Sorry but I don't.

 

 

Agreed, I will not accept mediocrity ... IN YOUR POSTS. You keep speculating as if your speculations are fact. People call you out for being hypocritical and you intensify the argument.

 

Take a 3 day break!

 

I do not expect to see any other members piling on in this argument during his absence. The moderators (or those quiet members who are only looking for information) have to read through too much crap. This could have made for a good discussion about altered rides and it was for a while, but then things get out of control.

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The only thing that makes this funnier is when you realize that 4 of the "Top 10 rides" in his signature line were Intamin coasters that were slowed down or modified in ways that reduced their intensity and are pretty much exactly what happened here.

 

Intimidator and Maverick I'm aware of, but which other two coasters in that list were modified to lessen their intensity? Not challenging your assertion, just curious, informationally, because apparently I'm not aware of whatever modifications were made (I'm assuming Skyrush and Volcano? I know MF very well, and am pretty sure it's never been modified.)

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Skyrush and El Toro used to maintain their lift speed through cresting the apex. Those situations are quite similar to the Lightning Rod rumor, while I305 and Maverick are different.

 

I have a few thoughts about the rumor.

1. CRUCIALLY, we don't know that it's true.

2. If it is true, it's quite reasonable to see it as mildly bad news.

3. Lightning Rod has a 165ft drop, meaning that the crest speed would be 21mph to reach the reported 73mph. If the crest speed were decreased to 11mph (for example), the top speed would be 2.2mph slower, not 10mph.

4. Unlike with the Intamin modifications that have been mentioned, any decrease in speed of Lightning Rod (probably) is not to lessen the forces.

5. If the goal isn't to lessen the forces, any decrease in speed could be a temporary solution to get the coaster running while a long-term solution is developed.

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For what it's worth, I rode Lightning Rod about a dozen times in the past couple of days, and nothing about it seemed slow or forceless. Still hauling ass from the main drop right through to the brake run.

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Considering the significant amount of downtime LR has had in its year of life, only a small percentage of people have actually ridden it at all and at "normal" speed. Let's pretend they did slow the lift down. The majority of people who will ride it from here on out will never know the difference since only a small amount of those folks will have ridden it before now.

 

I'm making my first trip down to DW in 6 weeks solely for LR. We cancelled our trip last year due to it being down and if they did/do not get it working somewhat reliably before this trip we'll cancel again. However, if they have to modify the lift speed and make it go freaking 5mph to get it working consistently then HELL YES I'll be down there riding it! I'd rather have it functioning "slowly" than not at all. Who knows, if they did slow it for the rest of the year then maybe in the off season with the rumored modifications they'll be making they'd be able to increase the launch speed again too. All I know is I am excited as heck to get down there and ride it no matter how fast or slow it goes! I just want to ride the dang thing and it seems a fairly safe bet to me that 95% of people visiting Dollywood would feel the same.

 

For what it's worth, I rode Lightning Rod about a dozen times in the past couple of days, and nothing about it seemed slow or forceless. Still hauling A$$ from the main drop right through to the brake run.

 

^ Sweet!! Are they still assigning rows?

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For what it's worth, I rode Lightning Rod about a dozen times in the past couple of days, and nothing about it seemed slow or forceless. Still hauling A$$ from the main drop right through to the brake run.

^ I'll take your word for it. I made an offride video of the coaster when I was last there and posted it, and someone commented that he was disappointed seeing the launch slowed down in the video... but... the ride was still nuts!!! I still had airtime over those two humps and insane ejector through the rest of the coaster!

 

Plus, at this point I would much rather take a floater or airtime-less dual-hump for higher running time, rather than a full force launch with constant downtime. At least for Dollywood's sake. (not assuming this was the problem in the first place, I just want to hear this coaster's running more consistently).

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If it is indeed true, I'd surely hope it's temporary.

 

When I saw it testing a little over a week ago it didn't look slower.

 

I haven't ridden the "slowed down" version yet, but I absolutely LOVED Lightning Rod, despite how quirky it was. I'd hate for it to be dramatically less intense, the intensity is what made it great. I'm trying not to let the opinion of one kid on instagram effect me too much. I'm pretty sure it was mentioned this was his first time riding.

 

People are now saying that the ride isn't slowed down, but trimmed at the top... we've all heard that before. LR has always had a noticeable slow down cresting the lift hill, so maybe this is just a misunderstanding.

Edited by LukeFlynn
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I've ridden the slowed down version, the launch is still as fast as it is usually but there is trims at the end of it. The ride is still super intense though, so don't think it's going to be a horrible ride now.

 

I didn't see any trims at the top of the launch when I was last there about a week ago. Did you ride the original?

 

It's always felt like it was trimmed at the top, the launch only goes about 2-3/4 of the way up.

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I find that some powerful launches feel like they are trimmed, even when they are not, due to the abrupt end to acceleration. I have noticed it on Rita and Stealth, but not other weaker launches (Kanonen). It could be perhaps this reason why it felt trimmed at the top. In my eyes, it is pretty dumb to use up so much energy, just to trim the hell out of it. The energy savings with reducing the current so it does not have to trim would be enormous over a large time.

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This is the only video I've seen post reopening: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVfJDzAl-OJ/?taken-by=ohiovalleycoasters

 

Video I took last June:

 

I see no difference. It has always slowed a bit at the top, because the launch ends well before the peak.

 

As long as the quad-down is unaffected, I don't care. But even if it is noticeably slower, I'd rather ride a noticeably slower Lightning Rod rather than stare at a closed Lightning Rod.

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But even if it is noticeably slower, I'd rather ride a noticeably slower Lightning Rod rather than stare at a closed Lightning Rod.

 

Amen to that! If that is what they have to do, even though I don't think they do, then it is a good thing.

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I asked IOE on Facebook, they said nothing has changed with the ride that would involve them and they haven't been informed of any changes either. If trims were added, I would imagine they would've been asked to come in and add the required programming.

 

This is not confirmation, but just a nice chat between some nice people who run a great company.

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This is the only video I've seen post reopening: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVfJDzAl-OJ/?taken-by=ohiovalleycoasters

 

Since there are no leaves on the trees I don't believe that's a new video. I think they just re-posted an old one.

 

As I said earlier I'm sure the ride is still awesome and I'm not that concerned with this, but I figured I'd mention that little tidbit.

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Anyone there that can give us an updated video/new opened ride report? One that we can trust besides these teenage enthusiasts lmao

 

I'm in line now, I've ridden it extensively before so I think I can give a good statement. They are only running one train.

 

It still whips through the quad down and half loop from what I see

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I have been thinking this over, and there is no way...I repeat: NO FREAKING POSSIBLE WAY, that the recent refurbishments ruined or slowed down Lightning Rod to the extent where it is now a "forceless" coaster. My theory is that one of Taylor's friends happened to get a bad ride on it when it just opened to the public and the rumor snowballed from there. Many of the younger online enthusiasts are the same ones who told me last year that El Toro was running rough, which it was not. I mean, it's possible that Dollywood is pulling an I305 and running the ride cautiously until the off-season, but I refuse to join the lament-fest currently going on with this ride considering that I still see several comments saying that the ride still kicks ass.

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