Dollywood Discussion Thread

[chaos]

Rode Lightning Rod for the first time today (3 rides so far). It's running two train operation now.

 

Can't comment on whether it was faster before. But I can say that there's little to no airtime going over the humps at the top, unless your sitting near the back on the second hump. The rest of the ride was just as good as everyone describes it.

 

Also, after reading this thread, I decided to try the cinnamon bread for the first time. And I think I enjoyed that even more than Lightning Rod.

[bluestreak]

Really good to hear it's running 2 trains now. Hopefully it stays just as reliable as it has been with 1 train.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Don't JINX it by discussing it!

 

[DoinItForTheFame]

Edit: I'm also one of those people that loved River Battle. I've ridden it a bunch since my first visit in 2015. Does anyone know if any other rides like it are still around?

 

SDC still has theirs!!

[LukeFlynn]

To be perfectly honest, I never recall the airtime over the first hump to be that strong in the first place.

[Keetz]

To be perfectly honest, I never recall the airtime over the first hump to be that strong in the first place.

 

This. When I rode it 10+ times last September I remember the airtime on the first hump and drop to be underwhelming compared to El Toro, even in the back seat. That being said, the airtime only gets stronger on the ride with each consecutive hill. I remember strong floater on the drop. Cool strong sideways airtime on the next two elements, and then beautiful ejector on the twist and shout. From that point on is an insane onslaught of ejector.

[Vonni]

Edit: I'm also one of those people that loved River Battle. I've ridden it a bunch since my first visit in 2015. Does anyone know if any other rides like it are still around?

 

SDC still has theirs!!

 

 

And SFGAm as well

[mckayj93]

It's noticeable, but all of the other ride elements keep getting better. I'd rather have a tad less airtime at the top of the hill rather than constant down time and 1 train operations. But just my opinion lol

[LukeFlynn]

To be perfectly honest, I never recall the airtime over the first hump to be that strong in the first place.

 

This. When I rode it 10+ times last September I remember the airtime on the first hump and drop to be underwhelming compared to El Toro, even in the back seat. That being said, the airtime only gets stronger on the ride with each consecutive hill. I remember strong floater on the drop. Cool strong sideways airtime on the next two elements, and then beautiful ejector on the twist and shout. From that point on is an insane onslaught of ejector.

 

Exactly, I honestly think the rumor just made people notice something that was never there in the first place. The launch in general is just a huge burst of speed, and it's really difficult to comprehend unless you go overthinking every moment of it. I love the crest of the actual drop, but I never remember anything wowing about the first crest into the false drop.

[Dollywoodlover20]

Well today River Battle closes. I wonder what will take the place of it? Or wonder when we will hear an announcement?

[DoinItForTheFame]

... Or wonder when we will hear an announcement?

 

Once they get Lightning Rod to run consistently with two trains. . .? #TooSoon?

[Vigil]

I just got back from a weekend at the park, and everything was amazing. I had last been to Dollywood the year Thunderhead opened and was really excited to see how much they'd expanded since then. It is honestly the most beautiful park, I think, and it's setting really just can't be beat. It was drizzling Saturday afternoon into evening so somehow, despite being the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, crowds were almost non-existant. Crowds Sunday were heavier but we just checked out some shows and ate cinnamon bread.

 

All the rides were great. Mystery Mine I really enjoyed despite it being a little jerky. Wild Eagle was really cool up top on the ridge, and Firechaser was a fun not-so-little family ride. Thunderhead was a little less wild and a bit rougher than I remember (13 extra years will do that though), and Tennessee Tornado was just as fun as it was.

 

Lightning Rod was insane. I was just laughing the entire time. It was my first RMC and very, very good. It does seem to be running two trains consistently and had minimal downtime when we were there.

 

On our last ride we had an interesting experience. They loaded the train, and then unloaded them and made people go back into the queue. It wasn't a maintenance issue but a safety one. A guy had gotten injured by a loose item that flew off the ride. (Not even two minutes after I said that if ever there was a ride to have a strict no loose article policy on, a la SFGAdv, it'd be this one.) They shut down the ride for awhile while the medical staff came and filled out paperwork. The guy was fine and walked away, but it took quite a while. They also ended up transferring that train off the tracks to inspect the body for damage. We did talk to a ride op for quite a bit, and he said he sees this happen every single day, specifically people sitting on their phones thinking they'll be fine. I'm inclined to believe him because our first ride we saw a phone fly out on the quad down. I also asked him about the strange not-pushing-down-the-bar policy, and he said it's because they could injure the rider or damage the ride. I mentioned that I had seen ops helping someone on WE, and he said that while it is the policy across Dollywood that because of Lightning Rod's extreme nature, it is the most strictly enforced there. So take that for what you will. As a final comment about the ride there is definitely quite a jerk at the bottom of the first drop that gets worse as you go further back.

 

And regarding River Battle I am not surprised at all they are taking it out. The app never showed anything other than a 0 minute wait while we were there whereas the other water rides were pulling 25-30 minutes. I saw maybe 6 people ride it the entire time I was there. But overall I had a great two days and it definitely won't be another decade before I get back!

[Satans Hockey]

Are both trains red? I did a Google image search and only saw the red one.

[LukeFlynn]

Are both trains red? I did a Google image search and only saw the red one.

 

Yes

[jynx242]

 

Also, after reading this thread, I decided to try the cinnamon bread for the first time. And I think I enjoyed that even more than Lightning Rod.

 

And this is why we like you

[dstephe9]

I just got back from a weekend at the park, and everything was amazing. I had last been to Dollywood the year Thunderhead opened and was really excited to see how much they'd expanded since then. It is honestly the most beautiful park, I think, and it's setting really just can't be beat. It was drizzling Saturday afternoon into evening so somehow, despite being the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, crowds were almost non-existant. Crowds Sunday were heavier but we just checked out some shows and ate cinnamon bread.

 

All the rides were great. Mystery Mine I really enjoyed despite it being a little jerky. Wild Eagle was really cool up top on the ridge, and Firechaser was a fun not-so-little family ride. Thunderhead was a little less wild and a bit rougher than I remember (13 extra years will do that though), and Tennessee Tornado was just as fun as it was.

 

Lightning Rod was insane. I was just laughing the entire time. It was my first RMC and very, very good. It does seem to be running two trains consistently and had minimal downtime when we were there.

 

On our last ride we had an interesting experience. They loaded the train, and then unloaded them and made people go back into the queue. It wasn't a maintenance issue but a safety one. A guy had gotten injured by a loose item that flew off the ride. (Not even two minutes after I said that if ever there was a ride to have a strict no loose article policy on, a la SFGAdv, it'd be this one.) They shut down the ride for awhile while the medical staff came and filled out paperwork. The guy was fine and walked away, but it took quite a while. They also ended up transferring that train off the tracks to inspect the body for damage. We did talk to a ride op for quite a bit, and he said he sees this happen every single day, specifically people sitting on their phones thinking they'll be fine. I'm inclined to believe him because our first ride we saw a phone fly out on the quad down. I also asked him about the strange not-pushing-down-the-bar policy, and he said it's because they could injure the rider or damage the ride. I mentioned that I had seen ops helping someone on WE, and he said that while it is the policy across Dollywood that because of Lightning Rod's extreme nature, it is the most strictly enforced there. So take that for what you will. As a final comment about the ride there is definitely quite a jerk at the bottom of the first drop that gets worse as you go further back.

 

And regarding River Battle I am not surprised at all they are taking it out. The app never showed anything other than a 0 minute wait while we were there whereas the other water rides were pulling 25-30 minutes. I saw maybe 6 people ride it the entire time I was there. But overall I had a great two days and it definitely won't be another decade before I get back!

That's common, a lot of the downtime can be contributed to folks getting hurt or hit due to flying objects. I know a few of us have posted very similar occurrences in this thread and it normally takes about 30 - 45 mins to get the ride up and running again.. Depending on what flew out, they walk the track as well.. they probably did it while u were there to and that could take a few while also..

 

I wish people would just follow the rules or wish Dollywood would be more strict if they catch someone not following the rules.. it hurts everyone when one bad apple doesn't want to let go of their phone!

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

[LukeFlynn]

I wish people would just follow the rules or wish Dollywood would be more strict if they catch someone not following the rules.. it hurts everyone when one bad apple doesn't want to let go of their phone!

 

Let's just hope they don't install metal detectors and require mandatory pat downs! As if LR didn't have bad enough dispatches... just imagine that!

[Vigil]

That was the weirdest thing to me. Dollywood's operations were top-notch for the most part...except on Lightning Rod, where they should be the most on top of things. There were a couple times where people didn't fit, and (partially because of their weird lapbar policy) it took forever to figure out whether they were going to be able to ride. Like they didn't have any time point where they just said "I'm sorry, we need to dispatch the train and this isn't working." They just kept going until it worked or it was very apparent it was not going to. I thought that was really weird.

 

On a different note, does anyone know what these are coming off the track on Firechaser? They're in a few places along the ride.

[dstephe9]

At one point someone said they are a "finger smacker" type device to warn you not to reach your hands out so far.. No idea how true that is but we pretty much stopped talking about it when we got that answer haha..

 

To me they look like sensors but we were told a warning device to warn your hands and arms

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

[dstephe9]

I wish people would just follow the rules or wish Dollywood would be more strict if they catch someone not following the rules.. it hurts everyone when one bad apple doesn't want to let go of their phone!

 

Let's just hope they don't install metal detectors and require mandatory pat downs! As if LR didn't have bad enough dispatches... just imagine that!

They have loc**ers right beside the ride.. I'd be curious if a loc**er policy for this ride would help.. have someone at the door and require folks to use them.. I hate those policies but if you look at the LR downtime it goes down for 30 - 45 minutes two or three times a day.. at least once everyday.. I wonder how many of those are because someone got hit by something?

 

Maybe not having a policy but having an op at the door simply reminding people not to bring phones and stuff on the ride and that are lockers to the side might discourage some of it.

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

[Dollywoodlover20]

In my 15 rides on LR since November how many times have I had to dodge cellphones or flying quarters? About 6 times. The cellphones have flown out on the wave turn, and although it was cool because it floated it in the air for a bit before coming towards my face. I've also seen them fly out many times on the quad down and the non inverted half loop which is when the ride had to be closed for an hour because the phone actually got crunched between the train and the brake fins lol. The quarter incident made it look like bolts flying off the train but it was on the 90 degree top hat. Just out of her back pocket and up in the air they went. Plus if you've ridden LR you know that's a point in which is an "OH SH*T" moment anyway.

[coneyislandchris]

In my 15 rides on LR since November how many times have I had to dodge cellphones or flying quarters? About 6 times.

Only ride in the front row and you won't have to dodge anything.

[DJeXeL]

At one point someone said they are a "finger smacker" type device to warn you not to reach your hands out so far.. No idea how true that is but we pretty much stopped talking about it when we got that answer haha..

 

To me they look like sensors but we were told a warning device to warn your hands and arms

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

 

A warning device is exactly what they are.

[Vigil]

Why do they need them? Is the envelope smaller than normal?

[Keetz]

All these accounts about lose articles flying around on LR has me surprised. Has the loading procedure changed on LR since last year?

 

Last year before you were even assigned a row, an attendant would loudly state something like

"Lightning Rod WILL take any lose articles you have and EJECT THEM FROM THE TRAIN. If this happens WE WILL NOT GO FIND YOUR PHONE. ALL ARTICLES MUST BE PLACED IN THE BIN! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."

 

Then upon loading they would take your articles for you and place them in the bin. The process was a bit extra, but I think it worked.

 

Even if they still did this I can see people being stupid enough to ignore it so they can get a crappy snap chat.