Dollywood Discussion Thread

[dstephe9]

^ It thought it looked like a clone of Avalanche Run. lol

I thought the same thing seeing Dollywood also trademarked the sign for Glacier Ridge just a few days before the meeting on Feb 28th. I thought a bobsled coaster would fit perfectly if they do extend glacier ridge further then the show area

 

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[jarmor]

I think people are focusing more on the "tube" than the grand scheme of things. Vekoma is known for using that style in their renderings. Also, the supports show the tube hanging from them vs supporting them from the bottom. One thing that interest me is if this is gonna be a one way in place like timber canyon was or a complete circuit? I think timber canyon got away with it being it's location of entrance was near the front but it appears you enter this area near the back of the park.

[dstephe9]

A lot of things change over the years but when the 10 mil expansion was announced one enterance was supposed to be around FC.

 

Dollywood gets too packed for "dead ends" instead of loops especially on their 25 - 35k people days. And that area, at least Timber Canyon, gets packed anyways so hopefully they have multiple ways in/out.

 

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[komasixx]

The entrance to this area is right next to mystery mine. A switchback

[dstephe9]

For now but I am sure the area will grow. His question was, is their another way out? Dollywood almost had a riot on their hands last year with people climbing fencing because of a bottleneck in timber canyon during luminights. It would only be smart not to dead end this area and provide another exit, even if it's just an emergency exit (one of the blueprints shows a possible service exit towards the back that might be used for emergencies)

 

When the park hits max capacity, it's packed and slow moving.. only one way in might cause and issue.

 

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[ElvisLuv]

I think it is important to note that HFE appears to be open to doing bidness with Vekoma. This is significant considering the plethora of new products they at producing. Next thing you know is Intamin will make an appearance

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^^ Agreed. The ride just isn't "unique and special" if someone could simply hop on a transatlantic flight and travel thousands of miles to f*cking Denmark and ride the same family coaster. Dollywood needs to "add uniqueness". They need to build something special like Whistle Punk chaser.

[CoasterAuditor]

Based off the quick POV of one of those models I just watched it certainly looks like a fun coaster.

[coneyislandchris]

Sorry to go back a few pages, but clearly this thread moved pretty fast...

 

Fire Chaser is called a family coaster but doesn't look nearly as daunting to someone who is scared of coasters as the one you posted..

For reference, my wife is terrified of roller coasters. She's slowly been getting over it, but even now going into our fifth year of marriage it's still baby steps. I was super proud of her last year when she finally managed to do The Dark Knight and Skull Mountain at Great Adventure, two of the "biggest" coasters she's been on to date.

 

We visited Dollywood about three weeks after that, and I had made mention that well, they had a "family" coaster there that our 2-year-old daughter MIGHT be big enough to ride (spoiler alert: she was about half an inch short at the time). We rounded the corner from Tennessee Tornado, she took one look at the massive, imposing structure high off the ground and immediately noped the f*ck out of it. Yes, it has a 39" height requirement, yes they consider it safe for young children, but given the height and minimal supports she was like "I just don't feel comfortable getting on that right now". The only ones she ended up doing during our visit were Whistle Punk Chaser and Blazing Fury. That being said, she did end up doing the alpine coasters at Goats on the Roof and Ober Gatlinburg, and she felt much more comfortable on those since they were so low-to-the-ground at almost all the spots.

 

There's a vast difference between stuff like wild mice and classic wooden coasters that have 8 million supports, and something like Firechaser, which was quite literally terrifying for her to even look at. If this new suspended coaster ends up being enclosed on all sides, it might be a little less nerve-wracking for her.

[Djwadeknox]

I’m so excited that Dollywood is growing all of the time!

Edited March 14, 2018 by Djwadeknox

[The Geek Mojo]

If Dollywood has 100 more acres to develop, they should open another gated park. They keep mentioning how they want to compete with Disney...It would only make sense to create another park behind Dollywood. I do think Dollywood needs to expand Thunderhead Gap...And if this new 5 acre expansion could create a new alternative pathway to the front of the park, that would be a good thing.

[Shavethewhales]

Yeah... they tried that in Branson and it didn't go over so well. It takes a LOT of new visitors to make a second park work, otherwise you are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

Plus, a lot of that extra 100 acres is incredibly difficult to build on, right? Just look at how finangled this addition is going to be. You have to walk through a bunch of switchbacks to get up to it, and it's twisted around a gully. It's taking them an incredible amount of earth moving to get even this much space opened up. They are no stranger to it at this point, but they can't level the whole place out.

[dstephe9]

If Dollywood has 100 more acres to develop, they should open another gated park. They keep mentioning how they want to compete with Disney...It would only make sense to create another park behind Dollywood. I do think Dollywood needs to expand Thunderhead Gap...And if this new 5 acre expansion could create a new alternative pathway to the front of the park, that would be a good thing.

I see them opening other resorts but not other gated parks unless they bring another small concept to the area.. if this new area doesn't end up being Glacier Point when a snow theme in it somewhere, I see a small snow park possibly opening in the future. Or something with a small idea like that, that will work on it's own. That very well could be it's own attraction and can give Dollywood a year round attraction.. but yeah, during the non summer months, I don't think they have the draw for two theme parks.

 

They just want to be a national destination

 

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[DirkFunk]

A new coaster is nice for me I guess, but I'd rather they have concentrated almost entirely on more indoor stuff for that winter season when there's sometimes nothing open but the train and Blazing Fury. I see a couple buildings there, and hopefully that's what the intent is.

[dstephe9]

A new coaster is nice for me I guess, but I'd rather they have concentrated almost entirely on more indoor stuff for that winter season when there's sometimes nothing open but the train and Blazing Fury. I see a couple buildings there, and hopefully that's what the intent is.

Most flats are open during the cold, so I'd imagine the flats up there being open. Dollywood builds their winter around shows and lights, and they always have.. but over the next 5 - 10 years, while they develop this land and the 100acres (if the develop a lot of it) we can see some huge growth of their indoor attractions. They clearly said, when they announced their 10 year plan, by the end of their plan they want to start their expansion to the train loop. Will they make it all the way to the train loop? No one knows, but this is the start, and I fully see them working their way up the mountain over the next few years.

 

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[ECZenith]

I think it was a great choice that they went with a new Vekoma family inverted coaster, will round out an already awesome variety of coasters the park already offers. I have not ridden Orkanen but I already like the smaller models, so this clone should be a lot of fun!

[Jcoaster]

If Dollywood has 100 more acres to develop, they should open another gated park. They keep mentioning how they want to compete with Disney...It would only make sense to create another park behind Dollywood. I do think Dollywood needs to expand Thunderhead Gap...And if this new 5 acre expansion could create a new alternative pathway to the front of the park, that would be a good thing.

 

As mentioned by others before me, I do not think that Dollywood has the amount of visitors needed for another gated park. On the other hand, I'm curious that if this idea was even feasible what the overall theming of the second park would be.

[Canobie Coaster]

PortAventura is another park that recently comes to mind that struggled with a second gate. They went from a full day admission to an upcharge price by the end of last year. With the quality of Dollywood, it'd take a tremendous amount of capital to build a park with the same theming and enough rides to last a full day.

 

That's why I'm perfectly content with another quality land being added to the park. Kvasten and Freedom Flyer are solid family coasters and this looks like it has a better drop before all the twists.

[komasixx]

The Wonder Wheel isn’t on the website anymore. Take that as you will.

Edited March 15, 2018 by komasixx

[Djwadeknox]

Can’t wait

Edited March 14, 2018 by Djwadeknox

[Dollywoodlover20]

So this is pretty much what we are looking at correct? With the red being the 2019 area including the entrance to the area, and the green being possible 2020 coaster expansion? Plenty room remaining there after this expansion. Plus I don’t see anywhere else for them to go at the moment except on into this current loop. I don’t see them going into the other loop either at all, or for a long time.

[Firechaser]

The Wonder Wheel isn’t on the website anymore. Seems like they have gotten rid of it.

I wonder why they would remove it? I can't think of much else that could fit in that ride spot, but I hate to see it go.

[dstephe9]

The Wonder Wheel isn’t on the website anymore. Seems like they have gotten rid of it.

I wonder why they would remove it? I can't think of much else that could fit in that ride spot, but I hate to see it go.

Because it looks like it could fall apart any minute and it was closed a lot this past season.. I tend to visit a lot, mostly on slow days I'll admit that, but over half those slow days it was closed

 

But not being listed doesn't mean they got rid of it.. could just be a glitch, Dollywoods site has glitches like that from time to time

 

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[ScreaminNewEngland]

The Wonder Wheel isn’t on the website anymore. Seems like they have gotten rid of it.

I wonder why they would remove it? I can't think of much else that could fit in that ride spot, but I hate to see it go.

Because it looks like it could fall apart any minute and it was closed a lot this past season.. I tend to visit a lot, mostly on slow days I'll admit that, but over half those slow days it was closed

 

But not being listed doesn't mean they got rid of it.. could just be a glitch, Dollywoods site has glitches like that from time to time

 

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The ride is in great shape and resembles the classic county fair image perfectly. That would really suck to see it go since it's pretty much the centerpiece of that whole area.

Eli Wheels are awesome, if they did remove it I hope its not getting scrapped.

[dstephe9]

A new pair job might make it look better but there is a reason people say it looks scary on here and other locals

 

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