Dollywood Discussion Thread

[PKI Jizzman]

I have not visited Dollywood since LR has been so unreliable and I will not revisit until I'm confident I can go and know it's going to be open. I haven't visited since 2014. 

Hope an act of god or engineering or Dolly can sing to it and get it fixed. 

I'm not paying full price for any park that doesn't have their star coaster running. (Except for BGT but that's different and I did it to get to Velocicoaster )

[ytterbiumanalyst]

4 minutes ago, PKI Jizzman said:

I'm not paying full price for any park that doesn't have their star coaster running.

Tennessee Tornado runs every day, I don’t know what you're talking about.

[TEDodd]

1 hour ago, PKI Jizzman said:

I have not visited Dollywood since LR has been so unreliable and I will not revisit until I'm confident I can go and know it's going to be open. I haven't visited since 2014. 

And I've been more times than I can count in that period and ridden LR 2 or 3 times on most visits since it officially opened.
 

[bill_s]

Parks make the most money when people go in groups. 2 people may care most about the shows, the kids care most about the rides, others may want both. One person may only go if there's a place to smoke, Cedar Fair. Grandma may not get to see her show if LRod goes down for an extended time.

This accident sounds like a worse turn. I was just thinking rollback might be the most complicating aspect of the design. Maybe they just need mechanical ones, think how loud that would be!

 

[u4icmusic]

6 hours ago, TEDodd said:

Um, there's no safety chain to catch. Just the braking from the LSMs.

And does the next train enter the station before the train clears the launch hill?
I didn't think it got in that fast.
 

It doesn't. The second train is held back and doesn't even enter the loading area until the other train is over the first hill. I find that post suspect and it is not showing up on any local news outlets which normally happens when there is a park accident of significance. Show us the video of the crash so we can see what happened.

[Alex26841]

12 minutes ago, u4icmusic said:

It doesn't. The second train is held back and doesn't even enter the loading area until the other train is over the first hill. I find that post suspect and it is not showing up on any local news outlets which normally happens when there is a park accident of significance. Show us the video of the crash so we can see what happened.

I don't think there's any video out there but there's a thread on Reddit from a guy that was in line when it occurred. He didn't seem to have a good view of the incident though, but estimated that the first train was travelling around 10-20 MPH and the "crash" or bump was fairly loud. He didn't think it was enough to cause much damage to the trains or seriously injure anyone, but it seemed to be more than just a gentle bump. 

[sdcfan88]

Can't believe these issues are still continuing. It's quite sad really. DW needs to stick a fork in it and build a B&M hyper or something in it's place. I can't imagine how much money and manpower has been wasted on this thing. Heck they could have built another large traditional wooden coaster for half of what they had spent on this thing.

[PKI Jizzman]

22 hours ago, TEDodd said:

And I've been more times than I can count in that period and ridden LR 2 or 3 times on most visits since it officially opened.
 

'Most' isn't good enough.

[IzzyB]

On 9/24/2021 at 1:24 PM, TEDodd said:

For sure not happy. I doubt RMC is happy either (might be a black mark for them). But a black eye on the whole park? Nah. And outside of enthusiasts it's an annoyance but not that big of a deal. For every complaint I see about it being closed on FB/Instagram there are 2 from people that rode it and it was too much for them.

 

It's extreme and too much for the majority of the park visitors. I'm still surprised they did it (glad, but surprised).  If WE wasn't so smooth, it'd probably be in a similar boat. Too much for a majority of guests (might be anyway, but I don't see it mentioned as much).

My 6 year old goes on it, so I mean a lot of people do want to go on it and all ages too.

Ironically every single trip I make it is open so far.  I guess I am lucky.  It is a great ride.  I don't think it is a black mark for the whole park as there are times we skipped it due to long lines and we enjoyed our trip that day just as much as other days.

[u4icmusic]

1 hour ago, IzzyB said:

My 6 year old goes on it, so I mean a lot of people do want to go on it and all ages too.

Ironically every single trip I make it is open so far.  I guess I am lucky.  It is a great ride.  I don't think it is a black mark for the whole park as there are times we skipped it due to long lines and we enjoyed our trip that day just as much as other days.

If you want to get on faster, just use the single rider line. It works wonders for getting on quickly.

[IzzyB]

14 hours ago, u4icmusic said:

If you want to get on faster, just use the single rider line. It works wonders for getting on quickly.

Doesn't really work with a 6 year old.  She isn't going to sit next to a stranger very well.  Now my 10 year old goes on Eagle by herself and has since she was 8.  But she is not shy and my 6 year old is very shy.

[prozach626]

There's no way only enthusiasts are people who notice, or care about a really fun ride being frequently down or unreliable. My friends and I weren't enthusiasts when Mr. Freeze (SFSTL) was new, but we certainly noticed and cared when it was commonly not operating. It's not good to have a signature ride out of operation, no matter the park. We can all be a little too defensive when it comes to standing up for parks. They shouldn't get a free pass on everything.

 

-Safety chain: People don't know what components are on roller coasters, but clearly they understand some sort of fail safe did not work. If they use the term "safety chain," who cares. LSM/Safety chain/magic, it makes no difference if the mechanism failed.

[tndank]

9 minutes ago, prozach626 said:

-Single rider lines: Not everyone wants to ride with a stranger. I don't.

 

So you wait longer in the normal line and then get a single rider placed next to you? 

 

[AmyUD06]

7 minutes ago, tndank said:

So you wait longer in the normal line and then get a single rider placed next to you? 

 

No, he probably rides with his wife haha.

[Garet]

42 minutes ago, IzzyB said:

Doesn't really work with a 6 year old.  She isn't going to sit next to a stranger very well.  Now my 10 year old goes on Eagle by herself and has since she was 8.  But she is not shy and my 6 year old is very shy.

To each their own, but I wouldn't let my 6 year old ride on any big ride without me. I'd rather wait longer and be able to keep a hand on his harness and check and buckle him into the ride personally and be safe than sorry. I've suffered a lot of motion sickness riding with my head sideways checking on him on some rides. Pretty sure even at 8 years old I won't be letting him go into a single-rider line and line up and ride alone either.

[TEDodd]

9 minutes ago, Garet said:

To each their own, but I wouldn't let my 6 year old ride on any big ride without me. I'd rather wait longer and be able to keep a hand on his harness and check and buckle him into the ride personally and be safe than sorry.

So you trust the ride ops to ensure you're in properly but not him?
You think your hand on him is going to hold him if there's a failure in the system?

Helicopter much?

I was so happy when my daughter jumped to a short line up front without me on WE.
(She came back around and rode with me too)

Or when she ran from LR to Drop Line to get one last ride before close, then back to LR for the last train of the night with me.
 

[robbalvey]

5 minutes ago, TEDodd said:

So you trust the ride ops to ensure you're in properly but not him?
You think your hand on him is going to hold him if there's a failure in the system?

Helicopter much?

I was so happy when my daughter jumped to a short line up front without me on WE.
(She came back around and rode with me too)

Or when she ran from LR to Drop Line to get one last ride before close, then back to LR for the last train of the night with me.
 

I'm just going to say this once.  You really need to clam your attitude down or you won't be a member of our forum for much longer.  Have I made myself clear?

[Garet]

44 minutes ago, TEDodd said:

So you trust the ride ops to ensure you're in properly but not him?

Even before my son was born, I would check my own harness when strapping myself into a ride, isn't that what most people do, even with a ride op also checking? The only difference now is I make sure he is fastened in before me.

[TEDodd]

24 minutes ago, Garet said:

Even before my son was born, I would check my own harness when strapping myself into a ride, isn't that what most people do, even with a ride op also checking? The only difference now is I make sure he is fastened in before me.

Sorry if I offended in anyway.

[IzzyB]

10 hours ago, Garet said:

To each their own, but I wouldn't let my 6 year old ride on any big ride without me. I'd rather wait longer and be able to keep a hand on his harness and check and buckle him into the ride personally and be safe than sorry. I've suffered a lot of motion sickness riding with my head sideways checking on him on some rides. Pretty sure even at 8 years old I won't be letting him go into a single-rider line and line up and ride alone either.

I go by each kid and how they behave and their personality.  My 10 year old is super responsible and has proven time over time she can get on a ride and do all checks by herself.  We live in Orlando so we get lots of practice.  She is also not shy and doesn't mind being next to strangers.  Now when she was 8 I dropped her at entrance and waited at exit with my sleeping at the time 2 year old son.  Didn't really have a choice because he clearly couldn't ride Eagle and my middle daughter was with my husband.  She wanted to go on and I knew nothing would happen to her if I put her in line and grabbed her at exit.  

Now my 6 year old is different, she is responsible and can get on rides safely with no help, but she is shy and wouldn't want to be by strangers.  So she goes with me or my husband.  And therefore rides that we go on as a family or me and the girls we would never do single rider.  But again, my kids have grown up going to theme parks and have been going on coasters since they were 1 or 2.  The girls were tall enough at 2 and my son was tall enough right before he turned 2 to get on barnstormer at Magic Kingdom.  So I think for us it is a little different as they have the whole safety stuff down pat by age 6. 

[prozach626]

 

20 hours ago, tndank said:

So you wait longer in the normal line and then get a single rider placed next to you? 

 

 

Heh. When you put it that way...

I was speaking about the people who love going through the single rider lines multiple times while their friends wait in the normal line.

[swfan1988]

Hi Everyone!

Here it is! The final TR from my big escape from the coaster desert...Dollywood! (plus a bonus theme park history nerd moment)

Much like BGW, Dollywood has been on my A-List for a long time. It hasn't fascinated me in the way some of my other A-List parks have, but it's always been one that I've wanted to visit. And...when your flying across country for 6+ hours...what's another 5/6 hours of driving from Williamsburg to add another amazing park (plus the Smoky Mountains as a bonus).

And...I have to say of all three parks I visited on my grand escape (Knoebels, BGW, and Dollywood)...I think that Dollywood was the one that surprised me the most. Going in I had a good idea of what to expect, but I wasn't as excited for it as Knoebels or BGW. I'm glad to say thought that I walked away very impressed, and I can see why so many people love this park! So...here we go again! Buckle in cause it's a bit of along one!

Ahhh Dollywood....the park I've heard so much about. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with this park. I mean, I knew what the park's lineup was, it's layout, it's history, almost everything about it...but still I wasn't sure what I'd think of it. This was a park that I had heard so much about, and after BGW was easily an A-list park. So let's see if it lived up to it's reputation...

Upon entering the park I made an executive decision to make a left and head up the hill towards Mystery Mine...

...which turned out to be simultaneously probably the best decision of the day, and a fatal mistake. When I made this decision I knew that it was probably a risky one, since I might be passing up a shot at Lightning Rod, but I subscribe to the strategy of hitting low capacity rides (jokes about LR's capacity aside) first. Little did I know that Dollywood posts the wait times for all of their rides on every wait time sign (Pro tip for anyone planning a visit!). When we reached Mystery Mine, Lightning Rod was already listed as "Closed for the Day"....wah wah wah.... While this was the upside of going to MM first, you'll find out about the mistake later...

Anyways, back to Mystery Mine! After a 15 minute maintenance delay, we were off in the back seat! And...um...how do I put this? This ride was like Two-Face. On the one hand it is very well themed (for a regional theme park coaster), all the effects seemed to be all working, it has a solid finale, and it has an AWESOME theme song!  Mystery, Mystery, Mineeeee!!!  (Seriously, how come people don't talk about that theme song?) On the other hand, it's rough, had uncomfortable restraints, has a queue that floods (What's with that big puddle in the middle of the stairs?), and has an...uuhhh...interesting layout? I didn't notice the new section of track vs. the old, but it seemed like they made one less place for me to bang into the restraint (Whoo Hooo!) The whole ride seemed to shuffle a little (not terrible but noticeable), and the OTS restraints just made it plain uncomfortable. Giving this ride lap bars I think would help, but finale aside I thought the layout was kinda weak and felt like it was meandering around for the sake of meandering around. Perhaps the joke Mystery "Meh" is pretty accurate after all...

After bouncing around like...I mean "making memories worth repeating" on Mystery Mine we made our way over to Thunderhead! (I know, I know you are probably screaming at the top of your lungs...) Now having not been to CGA, and passing on InvadR at BGW, this made Thunderhead my very first GCI!

And...it was fun! I think that's the best way to describe this ride, fun. I would NOT call it the best wooden coaster in the world, nor would I consider it top 20 or anything (If I'd actually ridden 20 wooden coasters...), but it's a good solid ride..."Great" if you will... I don't think it's layout is perfect, I sensed that GCI was still trying to find their formula, but that they were getting close here. If Gold Striker and Mystic Timbers built on this formula and the lessons learned from Thunderhead, then I am very excited for those rides. The biggest weakness I found was that none of the elements really popped or stood out. No crazy airtime hills, no wicked lateral turns, no surprise elements, every element was just "good". There was a little shuffle in a couple spots, but nothing that I could complain about, which was better than I was expecting. I was especially impressed with the length, but I could tell that it was running out of steam on the last few elements, which was a bit of a disappointment. All in all, solid and fun, but certainly not the best.

Now let's talk about those Millennium Flyer trains a sec. I've heard about these things for years now, and I've heard them simultaneously proclaimed as both the best and worst wooden coaster trains out there. So I was really curious to see what I thought. And you know something, I don't know what to say about these. They just didn't impress, nor disappoint, they were just kinda there. Maybe I'm just so used to battling bad wooden coaster trains, that I don't know what good ones look like? I just felt that they didn't have anything special about them. The only true pluses that stood out to me were that the lap bars were slightly more comfortable then PTC's individual bars, and that there were no seat dividers with one shared seat belt (which I like!). Other than that, I don't see why people make them out to be so special. Could someone please help me to understand what makes Millennium Flyers so special? That would be greatly appreciated.

Next up was Wild Eagle....(now your really screaming at the top of your lungs...I think I can here your now....)

This is where I'm really gonna get in trouble...I think Wild Eagle is the best coater at Dollywood (Remember, Lightning Rod was closed...) Now, now here me out. This could be a side effect of the fact that there are no B&M Wing Coasters west of the Mississippi (Why are all the good B&M's in  the east again?), so there could be some novelty to it. However, for me, with the smoothness, inversions, unique layout, and great views, Lightning Rod aside, there really is no context. And...don't say it's forceless...I'll be the first to admit that I greyed out at the bottom of Wild Eagle's first drop. Every time, in every seat that I rode (front, back, and middle). IT IS NOT MY FAVORITE STEEL COASTER, by any means, but at Dollywood I think it's the best in the park (minus LR).

After passing on a 45 minute wait on Tennessee Tornado (lol, bet your still screaming...), we decided to head for lunch. We thought about Aunt Granny's, but the health conscious part of our group won out and we ultimately settled on the steak wraps at the giant skillet.

This was good! Definitely better than Trapper's, although not quite enough to top the All-You-Can-Eat BBQ at my home park IMO. It was very fresh, and tasty. Highly recommend!

After lunch I decided to pay my respects at the almighty church of the broken RMC...Lightning Rod. While this was a hard one, I had a mind set going in that it would probably be closed, because that's just how my luck works (See Knoebels switching to tokens at Fascination, and Verbolten missing it's fake roof). So I wasn't entirely surprised or disappointed to see it closed...but bummed none the less.

This is now my new favorite sign...even better than my home park's "This is a slow moving line".

Lightning Rod does look like an awesome ride, and I'm (almost) sure that it's the parks best coaster. I hope RMC and Dollywood figure this thing out, and fix it for good. I think it would be a huge bummer for everyone if they gave up on it.

After leaving the church of the broken roller coaster...we rode the train!

I've heard a lot of about the Dollywood Express. I've heard the praises, and the awards. However, my home park's train (when it was at it's prime, which it sadly no longer is...) seems to me to be a high bar to clear. A bar that in my opinion the Dollywood Express failed to surpass. It's not that I didn't like the train (because I love trains as much as I love theme parks), it just didn't live up to my expectations. I knew that there was no on-board show, but I was under the impression that the DE was a scenic 30-40 minute journey through the woods with banjos playing, and maybe some wild life or a shenanigan filled vignette scene along the way. Instead it kinda felt like a short 20 minute trip past "The future site of Wildwood Grove Phase 2", to a random loop around a field and back. The only interesting thing that that happened was what wasn't supposed to happen...the train couldn't make it up the hill. For whatever reason it stopped just past the crossing by the Dreamsong Theater/Owen's Farm, then proceeded to back up all the way to Lightning Rod, and HAUL up that hill. Almost legit scary haul up that hill (Lightning Rod's launch has nothing on that train engineer, memories worth repeating right?). It was actually kinda hilarious, but other than that I just found the experience kinda underwhelming. It made me think, that maybe, just maybe, my home park might actually have a world's best on it's hands. Although I think a certain other Herschend park might have something to say about that...

After the train ride, we headed back up the hill too...Daredevil Falls! (You've probably lost your voice from all that screaming by now...)

I thought Daredevil Falls was a fine log flume, but nothing special. A little short maybe...wait...maybe I shouldn't talk about short log flumes... I wish it had some animatronics or something, that would at least give you something to look at besides the pretty scenery....you know what...let's just move on from log flumes...

...to...Blazing Fury!

Blazing Fury is great. There I said it. It's great. I love semi-cheesy old school dark rides (like Black Diamond...), and Blazing Fury fits perfectly in that category. Some people in my group thought it was tacky, and weird, but I liked it. I do wish that Dollywood would bring in Garner Holt and let him do his thing. I think that would really make this ride go a long ways towards being great. The only complaints here were I thought that the cars traveled a little too fast for my liking, and the splashdown...or unsplashdown I should say. Now, I know why the splashdown was removed, but couldn't they come up with a better replacement then some blue Christmas lights and an air compressor? It was like the ride was going "Alright, were barely gonna escape the fire! Oh, look lets escape by dropping into a big ole hole, filled with some cheap lights and a blast of air! Impressive escape huh?" Why couldn't they drop you into a cave or something or just add one more scene of the firefighters being victorious? I think that would of been much better.

After Blazing Fury (which for some reason had the best ops at the park that day) we finally got to Tennessee Tornado!

And to be honest, much like Tempesto I can't remember too much about Tennessee Tornado. Unlike Tempesto though, I can say that I liked it, but the only things that I remember were that it was smooth...and short. I greyed out on the second loop, but I remember being very impressed by how smooth this ride was. I think that if Arrow could have built more of these smooth multiloopers, the theme park industry would look very different today. I was reminded of how short it was though, and I found myself wishing there were just a few more inversions. For that reason I think I prefer the Loch Ness Monster in the race for best Arrow looper, for the length and then the unique layout.

After another ride on Wild Eagle...we know come to the mistake I mentioned earlier. FireChaser Express is a coaster that means a lot to me. When I was first getting into theme parks and roller coasters, Dollywood was in the middle of building this and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. The mistake I made was not going here first or second after Mystery Mine. I had been watching the 50 minute plus wait time all day, hoping it would die down but it never did. So, sadly I choose to cut my losses and skip it... I thought about sucking up and doing it, but I just couldn't bring myself too. That being said, it looks as fun as I imagined it would, so I definitely have something (besides Lightning Rod...) to look forward too next time I go to Dollywood. But still...

After giving up on FireChaser Express, we went for a few more rides on Wild Eagle before deciding to do the real reason people come to Dollywood...CINNAMON BREAD!!!! And...OH MY GOODNESS!!! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THEME PARK DESERTS OUT THERE, IF NOT THE BEST!!!! I thought the sundae at Knoebels was good...but this cinnamon goodness just obliterated it. So so good, you have to get it when you go to Dollywood!

We also saw a turtle in the pond next to the Grist Mill. So next time your headed there, be sure to say hi to Earl the Turtle (or whatever the TPRers shall name him/her/it?)! I hear if you don't he starts to chew on the power cord for the Cinnamon Bread machine...

After the Cinnamon Bread, we checked out the Dolly Parton museum and some of the other cool little things on that side of the park. I thought the Dolly Parton museum was nice, but a little cluttery and disjointed. I'm not a Parton superfan by any means, but it was fun to see her story.

After that we finished up the day with another ride on Mystery Mine (this time in the front), and a couple more ride on Thunderhead because...why not! And then ended our day at Dollywood!

A couple random tidbits and thoughts:

- We went back into Wildwood Gove...I mean Concreteland, towards the end of our day and while I thought it was nicely done and very imaginative, it didn't exactly feel like a grove... I've seen pictures of what the area looked like before they put in WG, and I wish they could have left those trees up. That would have made the area so much better. We were there on an overcast day that wasn't overly hot, and it still felt like a sauna back there. I can't imagine what it would be like on a hot summer day...

- Passed on Dolly's Magical Butterflying Coaster (i.e. Dragonflyer) and Whistle Punk Chaser, mostly because I'm not a credit whore person. Dragonflyer look fun, but I thought Thunderhead looked more fun so I did that instated. As for WPC...well...I just couldn't do it...

- Didn't have time (or desire) to venture into Country Fair or Owen's Farm. Barnstormer looked cool, but totally forgot about it in the grand scheme of things.

- Did I mention that this park is pretty? I didn't? Well, it is! I honestly have a hard time deciding if Dollywood or BGW is more pretty. I think I have to give it to BGW for now, but Dollywood is certainly in the hunt. I could tell that they had removed a lot of trees in the park lately, which to me is a shame. I'm not a tree hugger, but removing trees that take 20+ years to reach a decent size for no apparent reason really bugs me. My home park has been doing it recently too, and I hope they stop it. I think nice trees really add to a park's beauty.

- They were doing some construction in Craftsman's Valley in between, what I presume was, the old blacksmith shop and the candle making shop. I don't know what the building was used for previously, but looked like they were going after it pretty well. Must be where they are putting that new strata coaster for next season...

 

- Lastly, what is the deal with this park and hair bands? Could someone please explain this to me? There were a whole bunch piled up on the fake rocks in the queue for Daredevil Falls, at the base of the lift for Wild Eagle, and a few other places. I've never seen this at any other park so...do the people of Tennessee really like hairbands as lawn ornaments or something? Please...someone explain?

All in all, I think Dollywood is an amazing park. You can tell that they have spent a lot of money on this place, and that they take very good care of it. I thought it was interesting that when I initially walked into the park I was a little underwhelmed. I'm not sure why, I just felt like something was missing initially. However, as the day progressed I found myself warming up to the park, and loving it more and more. I don't know if I'd call it my favorite park, yet, but it is one of my favorites for sure. I hope they keep up with the good improvements (and plant a few more trees along the way...), as I think they have done well so far. I don't know when I'll be back to that part of the country, but if I ever am I'll be sure to go back!

Looking towards the future...I'm not actually sure what this park needs. When I was there I kept thinking "This park is like BGW, it justs needs that one stand out ride.", but I think Lightning Rod IS that ride, so it doesn't need that. Personally I'd like to see a B&M Dive Coaster themed to a  flooded mine with an elevator lift, be put into the area where Daredevil Falls, the old Mountain Slidewinder (RIP), and Owen's Farm are. That would add another major ride at the front of the park (which the park definitely needs), and it could be really unique and a GP crowd pleaser (Does Dolly read these forums?)! Other than that enthusiast pipe dream...I'm not sure. This park has almost all the boxes checked, and I just don't think a B&M Giga would be a good fit here. Oh well! I'm sure they'll think of something fun to spend $300 million on...

 

And...with that all my TR's are done for my latest coaster desert escape! (Whew...I thought I'd NEVER get them done!)

I want to say thanks to tndank, CoasterBill, SSL, teacherkim, BitterOldHag, and TEDodd for their advice on planning a trip to Dollywood and the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Smokey Mountains area (Plus, anyone else I might have forgot!). The advice was much appreciated and made for a great trip! Thanks to the moderators and contributors, your hard work also helps make TPR such a special place!

I'd also like to give a big special thanks Robb and Alissa, you guys have done an amazing job with this site and forum. It is such a fun place to visit and read peoples comments and thoughts. Please keep up the great work!! I don't think I'm alone in saying that it is very much appreciated by everyone who frequents your site! THANK YOU!!!!

 

Oh! I almost forgot! The bonus theme park history nerd moment...

Our (unfortunate) return to the coaster desert from Pigeon Forge, necessitated a flight out of Nashville...and I'm sure you can guess what happens next...

When the country music fans in your group decide to kill time by going to see the Grand Ole Opry House...and your a theme park enthusiast who loves history...you have to ask yourself...

 Can you tell me how to get, how to get to, Sesame Streeeeeeet Opryland!! 

It's kinda hard to believe that a parking lot and an old house are really all that remain of the park. How could such a pretty, lush, and fun looking (at least in the pictures) park be reduced to this? Who thought a silly mega mall would be cooler than an amusement park themed to music! (Come to think of it...didn't someone else try that?) Oh well, I guess I'll never really know how great Opryland was. Sometimes I wonder what the park would look like today, and how it would hold up against the modern Dollywood? What could have been...?

When flying out of Nashville, I looked out my window and we happened to fly over the Opry and it was pretty cool how you could kinda see how the park would just "fit" right into the space where the parking lot and the north end of the mall is. Maybe someday Nashville will get a proper successor...Storyville Gardens, anyone?

Lastly...I think this sign might challenge Lightning Rod for the best sign award... Any ideas who thought this one up?

Thanks everyone for reading! I really enjoyed sharing, and I'm grateful for the fun environment that TPR has. See you next time!

P.S. Hey! There's no random photos at the end! Whoo Hoo! I finally figured it out!!

[TEDodd]

59 minutes ago, swfan1988 said:

 

 

I knew that there was no on-board show, but I was under the impression that the DE was a scenic 30-40 minute journey through the woods with banjos playing, and maybe some wild life or a shenanigan filled vignette scene along the way. Instead it kinda felt like a short 20 minute trip past "The future site of Wildwood Grove Phase 2", to a random loop around a field and back. The only interesting thing that that happened was what wasn't supposed to happen...the train couldn't make it up the hill. For whatever reason it stopped just past the crossing by the Dreamsong Theater/Owen's Farm, then proceeded to back up all the way to Lightning Rod, and HAUL up that hill. 

Cinderella (#71) has a lot more power  (25,200 lbs traction force) than Katie (16,000 lbs). But Katie dates back to Rebel Railroad. Herschend brought in #71 (and #70 at SDC), but she wasn't restored to operation until '87.

Katie often has trouble, especially with full cars. And they engineer probably just misjudged things.


The ride was better before WWG and the removal of ole Rebel Rail Road buildings in the upper loop.
I never saw much wildlife though. 

FWIW, WE is my daughter's favorite coaster while LR is mine.

I haven't seen all the trees cut, but I heard a lot were for safety, adding clearance around the coasters.
 

TT is great, probably my #2. The fake drop at the top then the real drop into the hill. Always catches new people off guard. Just as they start complaining about the fake you hit the real drop.

[BitterOldHag]

Outstanding TR's swfan.  Great pics as well.  Felt like I was right there! 

I have been to Dollywood 3 times as of 2019 and the park is definitely in my top 3.  I think I love the "Frontier Trail" (CP) vibes that the whole original part of the park gives off.  It's nice to duck into a shop and browse, grab a bite to eat, or hop aboard a ride surrounded mostly by trees.  Plus, the staff has always been very friendly on each of my visits.  I was honestly surprised by that, but definitely not complaining.

My lone sin though is having never tried the cinnamon bread (where is that screaming coming from all of a sudden??!).  I know, I can turn in my theme park enthusiast now.  I promise next time I will... or if I get to SDC first, I'll definitely make time for it.

Thanks for sharing your trip details and glad you had a great time. 

[teacherkim]

Glad you had fun and sorry about LR. Took my son 3 tries to get it  As a short person I HATE the restraints on MM, there is so much space between my shoulder and the restraint that it jams me up and actually gives me bruises on the tops of my shoulders. Don't pass up Dragonflier next time though, no joke, it is a very very fun coaster. Hope you got to see some of the Smokies and the surrounding area.