Dollywood Discussion Thread

[teacherkim]

I cannot speak to how it rides different than before the re tracking but it was a kick ass coaster. It did go down for a short time on Monday during the day and for a little while had one train ops. Apparently maintenance pulled a train for a while but then put it back an hour or two later. They honored every request for front or back row that we made.

Park was pretty crowded for a Monday, time saver were definitely worth it, about 10% wearing masks at this point. 

All the food festival stuff we tried was pretty good. Wasn't aware it went down at the end of the day on Monday, we left about 6:30 so that really must have been near the end of the day.

[JJLehto]

Oh no taunting taken. That’s just this ride, that said I decided to take a break as I usually hit a wall around 2:00. Figured I’d take some time to relax wait on LR I arrive and...a train tested!!! I’ve done everything I’ve wanted, even a few re rides. I will marathon LR if I can for a bit then duck out! If lines get bad May even do the 8 use time saver if they’re still available lol cheaper than a 2nd day. But yeah waited till it was generally running and still was down for 4.5 hours lol that said I saw a ride op on it so I think it’s soon! Just a matter of how many rides can I get

[tndank]

I'm guessing he ended his break early.  

 

[TEDodd]

1 hour ago, JJLehto said:

so I think it’s soon! Just a matter of how many rides can I get

The real shame is the park won't be open after dark today.

Night rides on LR are amazing, especially if a new moon or cloudy.
You'll have to come back for one  

[JJLehto]

5 hours ago, tndank said:

I'm guessing he ended his break early.  

 

Sure did! The timing was amazing. Right when I got to LR to take said break the testing started. Not long after I posted that,it opened. The break was indeed short lived, but glad it was! Got 5 rides in an hour-ish. I know the joke is on me haha solo at a park but while people were waiting 30-50 mins in line, I was walking on. Huge thanks to whoever said they opened the single rider line. Talk about a life saver.  I did it 8 times total. Hilariously when I was ready to call it a day and do my final, it went down again. I was on the train when they had to scoot us off. I had no will to move, it was first time landing back row so waited it out, wasn't that bad maybe 20 mins? 

Needless to say: Lighting Rod is god damn amazing. It did indeed live up to the hype. Launch was better than expected, the wave turn was just wtf, it was more whippy than I imagined and the quad down just wow. A night ride I can only imagine, but I ofc knew the park was closing at 7 so what can ya do? Hopefully next time, there wont be a global pandemic XD 

As for the park as a whole, yeah was pretty great. Honestly, it was dead from 10 to 12, I was able to do most everything, some a few times by 1:00. IDK what is a crowded day here but I dont think today was. Outside of Firechaser and Tornado that were an hour+ most bobbed between like 5 to 35. I was able to just use the ride time site and time it well. Longest I waited all day was 30 mins for dragonflier ha It was a very solid lineup. No bad ride. Obviously gotta understand some are moderate, but certainly none were bad and weirdly I kind of enjoyed Blazing Fury. Firechaser was pretty fun, Dragonflier eh kinda weak but what can ya expect? I personally was surprised how much I enjoyed Wild Eagle. I think I like the straight drop better than the twisting? In back got some serious pull, as I did through the first few elements. Even felt the helices kind of a bit. Bit of a suprise to me. Thunderhead was awesome, Tennessee Tornado its a crime that ride is so short because it really is something. Back row, that whole dip turn into the drop was phenomenal. Oh, Mystery Mine. Honestly, low expectations and short waits really help a ride lol I enjoyed more than I figured. Dips and turns had a little more oomph than I figured, granted my expectation was 0, and yeah it banged my head a bit I did prepare for worse. Shame the first 80% is kinda meh bc that finale is great. 

What to say? Was a pretty good day, and overall park deff lived up to its hype. Onward to Carowinds and KD, and later CP and KI. Which is good, I need to ride all this stuff again to determine where exactly Lightning Rod falls XD

[tndank]

Great write up.  I think everyone following along in the thread was pulling for LR to open for you.  Single rider line is great.  I sort of feel bad using it when there's a 30+ minute wait and a line on both sides.

[JJLehto]

lol thanks. I mean, not like everyone hasn't suffered I think some here have said they still haven't made it, I'll consider myself lucky I made it on my first trip. And sorry for the wall of text but I don't do elaborate trip reports and since the site doesn't like multiple posts, I crammed it and responses into one XD I didn't feel bad at all personally, I mean the option is there and if Im doing solo riding well, how can I not? Not like I was paying for the TimeSaver, in theory anyone could've done single rider too. But yeah that was a godsend. At one point was 50 minutes, and I managed 4 rides in that time?

But yeah, nice day, nice park. Deff occupies a good middle ground between smaller park and crowded corporate behemoth, but with a quality that beats others, like Lagoon (which I enjoyed still) oh and the ops were superb. Everything was running 2 trains and every ride they seemed to be really moving. Deff seemed like they were trying their max all day. Not sure the next time I'll return, maybe next year we shall see! 

[bert425]

ZOOM ZOOM

 

 

glad you got on. . and congrats to Joel (and Kim) for getting on too.

see?  all that work retracking (or is that "topper tracking" ) was worth it!

[JJLehto]

I do wonder long run if the improvements will pay off. I mean I'm sure it will, big picture, but clearly consistency is still an issue. But I can't speak much more on it as I have no idea what the issues tend to be. It seems it's not track related, least not entirely. I will say, 2nd time it went down all that happened was some maintenance people walked to a part on the breaks, sprayed some stuff, they ran a few tests, then reopened. That said it is only May...guess we'll see what the total down time was for 2020 vs other years. But yeah that thing is a beast. Will ponder it once the year is done and I've ridden the others but surely it will be my top 10, certainly 5. Shame it now has to compete in my steel lineup, if wooden it'd be #1 by a mile. 

Thunderhead will also deff be making my top 10 wood. Gotta say, Dollywood has a damn good lineup. Sure it may not have the largest amount and not as many top tier rides as some others, but it also has nothing bad, I did enjoy every ride and there are some real "upper middle" gems here. With the scenery, ops, breaks to see the birds or shows (for those who are into that thing) the whole vibe...absolutely a top 5 park. Will it be my #1? No sorry Im too much of a CP fanboy, but top 5 park absolutely. I will see how I feel after Hershey and KI but it could maybe slot in at 3. Which I didn't expect honestly, but Dollywood delivered. 

[TEDodd]

11 hours ago, JJLehto said:

 Shame it now has to compete in my steel lineup, if wooden it'd be #1 by a mile. 

It'll always be a woodie to me.

It was designed as such and will never compete with tubular steel coasters. Different design paradigms. 

 

As for night rides, it's s whole new beast. When overcast/no moon, the drop is into darkness and no light til the quad down. 

[tndank]

The quad down at night coming back into a park lit up with Christmas lights is one of the best times for LR.

 

[Djwadeknox]

NEWS: Dollywood announces new resort as part of $500 million expansion

https://wreg.com/news/dollywood-announces-new-resort-as-part-of-500-million-expansion/

https://www.dollywood.com/heartsong

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (WATE) — Dolly Parton announced the construction of the HeartSong Lodge & Resort on Thursday, the first project in a half-billion dollar investment campaign by the Dollywood Parks & Resorts group over the next decade.

The HeartSong Lodge & Resort, scheduled to open in 2023 in Pigeon Forge, is a five-story, 302-room lodge featuring a sprawling indoor/ outdoor pool complex and 26,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor event space. Located next to Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa, its the first expansion of the park since the $37 million Wildwood Grove in 2019 and the first new resort since the DreamMore opened in 2015.

“I’m always dreaming and coming up with new ideas and things I want our guests to experience,” Parton said in the official announcement. “We wanted to talk about this last year, but with everything going on, we knew we needed to pause because it just wasn’t the right time to do it. Things are looking brighter and with the popularity of the Smokies soaring, there are more people than ever wanting to visit our area.”

--

“I’m so proud of this place that we’ve been able to build here in the Smokies,” Parton said. “I always dreamed of accomplishing two things with Dollywood. I wanted to give jobs to the folks who live here, and I wanted to give visitors another reason to come and experience the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. We celebrated our 35th season last year, so I think it is fair to say we’ve been able to do that. I’m so happy with what we are doing to make sure our guests have a great season this year, and being able to announce the new HeartSong Lodge and Resort is just one more way we’re going to be able to help families reconnect, explore and discover together. I truly believe the natural beauty of the Smokies and the warmth of this special place will inspire every guest to nurture the ‘heartsong’ within them.”

Edited June 3, 2021 by A.J.
Added full text and image from local press release

[Djwadeknox]

I think we will see a new Dark Ride for 2022 that goes along with the nature theme. Back in 2019 they sent a survey out with one of the choices being a firefly dark ride. See screenshot below for details from the survey. I think 2023 is the next coaster opportunity. Great way to get folks to book a resort stay to ride the new world-class coaster.  This is just my opinion and I have no inside information from anyone at the park except for the dippin dots guy.  

[bert425]

but Dolly's selling the park to her partners and wants nothing to do it anymore.

the dippin dots guy told a facilities/cleaning guy, who told the clerk at the stand selling the airbrushed t-shirts - and someone overheard while walking by on the way to buy Cinnamon Bread.

so this CAN'T be true !!!

[tndank]

New hotel looks great.  Lots of jobs for the area, too.  I'm all for it.

 

 

 

[Hilltopper39]

Well that resort looks fantastic, it has a very "Disney's Wilderness Lodge" feel to it, which is a good thing! 

 

Ya know, I've never really thought about it but for as comparable as Silver Dollar City and Dollywood area (similar size and style parks, in similar vacation destination areas) it's kind of strange that Dollywood is working on their second resort in addition to the cabins they offer, but Silver Dollar City doesn't have any lodging options other than a camp ground with a few cabins. I wonder why they're willing to invest so much into resort offerings in Pigeon Forge and not in Branson?

[tndank]

I think Dollywood averages about a million more visitors per year.  (~30% more)

Maybe the paid parking helps build resorts?

 

 

 

[xVicesAndVirtues]

3 hours ago, Djwadeknox said:

I think we will see a new Dark Ride for 2022 that goes along with the nature theme. Back in 2019 they sent a survey out with one of the choices being a firefly dark ride. See screenshot below for details from the survey. I think 2023 is the next coaster opportunity. Great way to get folks to book a resort stay to ride the new world-class coaster.  This is just my opinion and I have no inside information from anyone at the park except for the dippin dots guy.  

The park president actually says at the end of the announcement video for the resort that there will be a "record breaking new attraction" in 2023. Sooo coaster? But that could mean a lot of things.

[grsupercity]

the new record breaker infinity coaster lol

[xVicesAndVirtues]

^I think Ride Entertainment said that one is supposed to open somewhere in the US in 2022, so unless the timeline has been pushed back, it's likely not that one.

[coasterbill]

5 hours ago, Djwadeknox said:

I think we will see a new Dark Ride for 2022 that goes along with the nature theme. Back in 2019 they sent a survey out with one of the choices being a firefly dark ride. See screenshot below for details from the survey. I think 2023 is the next coaster opportunity. Great way to get folks to book a resort stay to ride the new world-class coaster.  This is just my opinion and I have no inside information from anyone at the park except for the dippin dots guy.

If I ran a park that operated for 9 1/2 months out of the year in a place where it snows and I was adding another hotel but a lot of the draw is already indoor shows I would just go on an indoor-ride-building-binge and then go year-round like BGW.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

5 hours ago, Hilltopper39 said:

Well that resort looks fantastic, it has a very "Disney's Wilderness Lodge" feel to it, which is a good thing! 

 

Ya know, I've never really thought about it but for as comparable as Silver Dollar City and Dollywood area (similar size and style parks, in similar vacation destination areas) it's kind of strange that Dollywood is working on their second resort in addition to the cabins they offer, but Silver Dollar City doesn't have any lodging options other than a camp ground with a few cabins. I wonder why they're willing to invest so much into resort offerings in Pigeon Forge and not in Branson?

Simple. More people go to Pigeon Forge than Branson. More people live within a reasonable drive of Pigeon Forge than Branson. Spend the money where you can make the money.

 

Very happy about the new resort. Dream More is a fantastic hotel, and I'm sure the quality on this one will be similar. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to start packing....

[SSL]

Pretty neat to see Dollywood expanding by half a billion dollars over the next 10 years... I was worried with the pandemic that it would be hindered, but it seems like they're ready to continue on... I don't think the dark ride idea is a bad idea for 2022, but I feel like if they were going to do something for next year, we'd have already heard it... Likely another expansion to wildwood grove if it does happen...

That 2023 record breaking attraction has my attention for sure though. I wonder just what they might have up their sleeves, but I have a sneaking suspicion if it's a coaster, I know where it is gonna go already. That area around the Mountain slidewinder which we know has been pretty much abandoned for a while now seems the most likely spot for a BIG. coaster. It would absolutely dominate the front of the park, standing tall over the big amphitheater area near the entrance of the park. Especially if you have the entrance for it back near Barnstormer. There's a lot of space up there... lot of terrain too... Course I could also be completely talking out my you know what here, either way, I'm excited to see what they have planned.

[JJLehto]

Wow that is quite an expansion! On top of a park that's already blown up a good bit, and yeah on top of the pandemic. THAT is impressive/dedication. They need to watch out, at this rate it may lose its beloved "smaller gem" status among enthusiasts and become "corporate" XD XD XD 

But nah good stuff, I already want to go back and IF they had some time of record breaking coaster for 2023 pencil me in already! 

[Nrthwnd]

Hope I can hang on for the next ten years, to see what Dolly and her staff have in store for everybody.

The new to-be Resort Hotel looks very nice.  And very 'woodsy'.