Dollywood Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Nah, no height limit here. They can make the humps as big as they want.

[tndank]

People really think Dollywood might get a giga? That seems laughable to me. Would be cool, but I don't see that happening. 

[A.J.]

On 6/7/2021 at 12:48 AM, middle_keeny said:

Got some Intel from the Dippin' Dots lady today... I think she got a little excited and spilled the beans. 

She pointed at Dragon Flyer and said it will be a bigger version of that in the new expansion area. It will easily be 1000' longer than Wild Eagle . So that would make it at least 4150 ish feet long making it the longest invert coaster. The interesting thing is that it will not have any inversions  but will be a terrain based inverted coaster. My prediction is it will be built by Vekoma.

Also, had a ride op tell me that Lightning Rod will finish getting Ibox this offseason. So everything but the brake run and station will be Ibox.

So, let me get this straight... A larger version of Dragonflier, in the expansion area, that's directly next to Dragonflier.

They have good master planners working for them, I don't think that's going to happen. Willing to eat my words though, a new terrain inverted coaster along the lines of Big Bad Wolf or Eagle Fortress would be killer, wherever it ended up.

[Garet]

20 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

Dollywood cannot keep the park staffed. In addition to several restaurants being closed, now we can add rides to the list of closures due to staffing. It only takes 3 ride hosts to run this ride. Do you really think this is a staffing issue, or do you think Barnstormer will be removed or relocated? It's kind of tucked away and hard to see from Craftsman's Valley, as is Daredevil Falls. Maybe they are going to rework that area of the park. That could also be where the rumored giga coaster may be going.

I don't know why but I love these rides, I wasn't expecting much, and we only did it because the queue was short, but Skyhawk was one of the few flats I made time to get some re-rides on at Cedar Point.

[u4icmusic]

1 hour ago, Garet said:

I don't know why but I love these rides, I wasn't expecting much, and we only did it because the queue was short, but Skyhawk was one of the few flats I made time to get some re-rides on at Cedar Point.

I just rode it last week and I also love the ride. It's way too short, but there's never much, if any, of a line for it. The location of the ride is awful. I always ride Barnstormer when I go. I also don't see ride operators shifted to other rides very often when I go. It seems they are trained on a ride and tend to stay working on that ride. I'm hoping they open up that area or make some changes to make it more user-friendly. The Mountain Slidewinder is still sitting there too, so that entire area could and should be reworked with a major facelift.

[JJLehto]

11 hours ago, tndank said:

People really think Dollywood might get a giga? That seems laughable to me. Would be cool, but I don't see that happening. 

Why not? Apparently they are getting a much bigger version of Dragonflier in the area next to Dragonflier XD

Besides part of the...fun (?) of being an enthusiast is baseless speculation of wild things than being disappointed when it doesn't happen! 

Yeah I love those Skyhawk rides, it is indeed one of the few flats I always make sure to hit. 

[TEDodd]

14 hours ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

Nah, no height limit here. They can make the humps as big as they want.

Funny, but yes there are height restrictions. But they can usually get a waiver.
As I recall Drop Line required a waiver.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Mini TR - Had a great couple of days at the park yesterday and today with fairly light crowds. Everything was open, for the most part, even Barnstormer.  The only staffing closures I noticed were some food places and kids rides.  I'm convinced Dollywood really might be in a non-rain bubble. Over 70% chance of storms all day, both days, and it rained maybe once for 5 minutes, although those 5 minutes just happened to be an absolute monsoon while riding Thunderhead.  I've never even came off a water ride that soaked, but kudos to Dollywood for their rain operations. Lightning Rod ran great both days, never went down, and even ran 2 trains parts of both days.

I did have a bit of a weird experience on Wild Eagle. Almost at the top of the lift hill, and the train starts shaking violently, and I mean very violent.  Throwing us up and down. I'm normally one to be pretty confident in these rides' safety features, but that definitely freaked me out. The ride itself was fine, but they evacuated us on the brake run and shut down the ride for the rest of the day after that. A little later on they also closed some pathways for a bit to bring in a large crane. Not sure what's going on, but it didn't seem good. 

Still an awesome couple days at the park, and can't wait to see how they continue to make this great park even better. 

[prozach626]

For the love of God, let's hope that crane worked its magic so we can avoid any future debates about Wild Eagle being rough or not.

[Djwadeknox]

Crazy that 3 Wing Coasters have had some big issues over the last few weeks. 
1. Holiday World Thunderbird- footer issue

2. Dollywood- lift hill issue

3. Cedar Point- Lift Chain Snapped

Makes you wonder… B&M’s are normally so reliable. 

[JJLehto]

Also it was just bad luck but when I went to KI All 3 B&Ms were done at various points, one for an hour, and one multiple times (at least 3) for the day. Happens but yeah for B&M bit of a rough stretch of bad luck! 

Oh and forgot to say, while IDK if I could see it a giga at Dollywood would be epic! 

[SSL]

11 hours ago, JJLehto said:

Also it was just bad luck but when I went to KI All 3 B&Ms were done at various points, one for an hour, and one multiple times (at least 3) for the day. Happens but yeah for B&M bit of a rough stretch of bad luck! 

Oh and forgot to say, while IDK if I could see it a giga at Dollywood would be epic! 

Could you imagine the view as you crest that lift hill? my goodness

[prozach626]

You'd be able to see every tourist trap for miles!

[u4icmusic]

On 6/13/2021 at 1:29 PM, Djwadeknox said:

Crazy that 3 Wing Coasters have had some big issues over the last few weeks. 
1. Holiday World Thunderbird- footer issue

2. Dollywood- lift hill issue

3. Cedar Point- Lift Chain Snapped

Makes you wonder… B&M’s are normally so reliable. 

I was at Dollywood today. It was more busy than usual. Lightning Rod opened late due to technical problems, but was running with two trains at around noon. The single rider line was SO much faster than the 130 minute wait in the regular line. Wild Eagle is still down. Not sure when they will get it fixed. Lines for food and drinks were BEYOND long. So long that I refused to wait in them and just left the park. Dollywood really needs to step up with their food operations. Other than that, it was a perfect, sunny day and yes, Barnstormer was up and running today too. There was almost nobody wearing masks and I'm pretty sure all those guests were not vaccinated.

[TEDodd]

4 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

Dollywood really needs to step up with their food operations.

Where do you suggest they get employees. Close rides to put bodies in food servIce?

I'm sure they hire anyone that applies right now.

Per the wait time site, WE tried to run Fri (10:00-10:30) but otherwise down since. It did run all day last Thu though. 

[coneyislandchris]

16 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

Dollywood really needs to step up with their food operations.

Show me any park currently operating in 2021 that is killing it with their food operations, because honestly, I've heard nothing but horror stories across the board no matter if you're on the West Coast or East Coast, up north or down south, little independent place or multi-billion-dollar corporation.

[prozach626]

Food operations are a bust at all parks right now. Sounds like you can have a 'Six Flags Day' anywhere you go. Two parks for the price of one.

[FeelTheFORCE]

What I liked about Aunt Granny's was that, while they changed it from a buffet to a family style dining service, you could still ask for more servings if you wanted.  So still sort of a partial buffet.  

 

Also it looks like Wild Eagle is back up again.

[SSL]

I actually applied for and have been accepted to go work for Dollywood guys. Wish me luck!

[betterday85]

New “multi-generational” coaster will debut in 2023, according the The Mountain Press. Any ideas what “multi-generational” means? I can’t see the full article, unfortunately. 
 

https://www.themountainpress.com/news/dollywood-plans-new-multigenerational-coaster-talks-resorts/article_ab781380-8900-57a9-a29d-ad92d4d2ec14.html

 

[michaellynn4]

Beats the s**t out of me. Fun for everyone, ages 8 to 80? I tried finding another article that details a new coaster for 2023, but this is the only one.

Grabbed the picture from that article. Love that they actually have "glamping" as a designated area on the master plan.

[tndank]

1 hour ago, SSL said:

I actually applied for and have been accepted to go work for Dollywood guys. Wish me luck!

Nice.  What are you going to be doing?  I'll try and say hello some time.

 

[SSL]

2 hours ago, tndank said:

Nice.  What are you going to be doing?  I'll try and say hello some time.

 

Joining their Helping hands program. be doing all kinds of things.

[Djwadeknox]

here it is not behind a paywall. Wording for 2023 is family coaster. Also think we will see some parking garages to help with parking closer to the park.
 

https://pigeonforge.news/local/dollywood-plans-new-multigenerational-coaster-talks-resorts-news/

[Djwadeknox]

Just announced Coaster Con 45 will be held at Dollywood In 2023. So that seems to hint at a more thrilling ride.