Dollywood Discussion Thread

[moinab]

^Check out BeemerBoy's Dollywood report. He has lots of photos of the menus and prices.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55251&p=895111#p895111

[coasterguy11]

 

A teaser has surfaced!

[tntornadox]

I think Dollywood's food prices are pretty much on-par with SF and CF pricing, except... well, the food is so much better!

[thrillrider]

Actualy, cedarfair prices are the worst. Six flags and Disney have them beat.

 

The prices for a soda at Disney, are half of what cedarfair is charging for a smaller size. Six flags is almost $100 cheaper than cedarfair when it comes to soda prices.

They took the drink away from the "deal".

Since I took this picture on opening weekend, the price has gone up another 21 cents at cedarpoint.

Here is a six flags menu from this year.

Disney soda prices.

[Intimidator305]

Disney makes up for the "cheaper" drink prices by that $82.00 admission to get into the parks!

[thrillrider]

Not really.

 

That $82 goes towards the next 90 million dollar attraction.

[coasterfreaky]

I went to Dollywood Nights tonight and managed to snap a few pics to share. What a great event! The park was pretty crowded and thunderstorms did not keep folks away. Based on what i saw tonight, this looks like it could become an annual tradition. Most rides were open, exceptions were Zip Line, Daredevil Falls and Slidewinder...they closed at sunset. This event is the only time you can ride Smoky Mountain River Rampage and River Battle in the dark since Dollywood is usually not open in the dark in the summertime, so this was the opportunity to do it.

 

Smoky Mountain River Rampage - i have to say i was a bit dissapointed that they had the entire course covered in these lights you see in the photos. There was barely any darkness to it at all. And on top of that they had at least a half dozen extra workers with flashlights staged throughout the course. Not sure why this abbundance of caution was necessary...or what these extra workers would have been able to do - so that was very odd to me. That aside, it was plenty hot enought to be wanting to ride the water rides at night. And even with the lights it was still fun to ride it at night.

 

River Battle - did not ride it at night. Again, they had a huge HUGE floodlight placed on top of the ridge next to the ride that illuminated the entire area, so not exactly in the dark.

 

Adventure Mountain was the same way. Along the perimeter were these very bright lights - for this attraction I think that makes sense.

 

All the coasters were in total darkness - AND AMAZING! Thunderhead in the dark is incredible, same for Tennessee Tornado and Mystery Mine.

 

Overall it looked to be a successful event. Other cool things - there were smoke machines placed all around Mystery Mine, River Battle and Adventure Mountain, so there was a fairly dense fog around those attractions. And I noticed in the Country Fair area they had music blasting...mostly top 40 songs, but in all my years of going to dollywood i have never seen them do that - so something out of the ordinary to make this event a bit different. Most of the food vendors were not in operation past 5 or 6pm. The Dollywood Nights brochure had a listing of the open food vendors, many with discounted meals. Several of the ride operators were pretty enthusiastic too, which was great to see. "Who's having fun at Dollywood Nights?" Hoops and Hollers and Screams would come from the crowd - it was a lot more festive than your typical day, in my opinion.

barnstormer sign.bmp

Barnstormer sign in dreamland forest

future site of Barnstormer

xmas lights.bmp

Christmas lights are beginning to be put up...some were on for Dollywood Nights.

smoky mountain river rampage 1.bmp

Lights Everywhere on Smoky Mountain Rampage

smoky mountain river rampage 2.bmp

smoky mountain river rampage 3.bmp

smoky mountain river rampage 4.bmp

adventure mountain.bmp

Adventure Moutain IN THE DARK!

River Battle.bmp

River Battle IN THE DARK!

Edited August 6, 2010 by coasterfreaky

[thrillrider]

Those lights are weird.

 

Was this a special event? I am not sure if the park is normally open after dark with the exception of christmas. Still not sure why they would need them though. I have been on thunder canyon at cp at night, and it was pretty dark.

 

Thank's for sharing your pictures.

[coasterfreaky]

They're trying out being open until 10pm for one week, August 2 - 8th...so outside of christmas at dollywood, this is the rare opportunity to be in the park after sunset.

 

I have no idea why they would be so overly cautious about the rapids ride. I thought it was odd they had their log ride closed down after dark too....maybe an insurance or liability issue??

 

I grew up with Opryland and it was always open past sunset, so i never would have thought that this would be a unique thing to be at a park in the dark, but i guess times have changed. And gasp! Opryland even operated their rapids ride without all that crazy lighting and the world kept turning.

 

Anyways, just thankful that i have a home park close by that is super cool. I Love Dollywood!

[Dollywood Pete]

Interesting input on Dollywood nights. We are open normally until 8PM in the summer. Hopefully if we deem DWN a success we can extend the longer hours in the future.

 

BTW - the propencity of light on the Rampage has to do with lifeguarding rules. if someone were to exit a boat and get into the water we need to be able to see them for a rescue. That is the reason Daredevil Falls closes at dark during DWN.

[coasterfreaky]

Interesting input on Dollywood nights. We are open normally until 8PM in the summer. Hopefully if we deem DWN a success we can extend the longer hours in the future.

 

BTW - the propencity of light on the Rampage has to do with lifeguarding rules. if someone were to exit a boat and get into the water we need to be able to see them for a rescue. That is the reason Daredevil Falls closes at dark during DWN.

 

Thanks Pete for taking the time to explain the reasoning behind that. All in the name of safety...i should have known

 

I think DWN was huge success overall - especially great for a first effort! I am already looking forward to DWN 2011!

[coaster mindy]

We just got back from DWN, it was our first trip to dollywood. I will say I'm in love with this place, from the second we got there we had a blast. I just wish we had more time, I didn't get to shop enough. When we got to the park we were welcome by a nice man with a park map we talked for a second then went and got our tickets. We got day tickets, he then came back and offered us free season passes so of course we took it and now we are planning a trip to go back in Nov. I can't wait to go back I just hope it wont be too cold we will be taking our son back with us.

[deguy123]

All this is getting me excited for this weekend. Heading there with my BF from Friday to Sunday! I have heard all great things about this park and have been counting down all month to go! Definitely going to enjoy experiencing a new park after going to the same ones all the time!

[PhilipB]

Hey guys. I'm new to this forum, but an old pro at posting on forums. I used to be a member of TN until things got to be....too much. But, I just wanted to drop in and say hey.

 

Now, on to Dollywood Discussing...

 

I thought DWN's was a HUGE success! I loved being at the park like that. It made things so much better! Except for the fact that it was only dark for an hour before the park closed. Add this in with long lines and you get people running and creating a safety hazard. I think that if they do this again, they should stay open later. Later as in...midnight. That'd be sweet!

 

-Philip

[neovortex2k]

Thorpe Park in England has the same swing and it is awsome! It goes up more than an 90 degree angle to the ground with only a simple lap restraint. You totally feel exposed.

The speed is also great over 50mph!

[deguy123]

So Dollywood is a beautiful park...but Mystery Mine ride has been closed all 4 days for some reason. So right now sitting and hoping it opens before we leave, they say it needed a part and its being fixed now. The park overall is awesome and we have been having a great time. The food is awesome and the Mountain Adventure was really fun. Hoping to get on MMR Before we leave!

[alilstronger]

So Dollywood is a beautiful park...but Mystery Mine ride has been closed all 4 days for some reason. So right now sitting and hoping it opens before we leave, they say it needed a part and its being fixed now. The park overall is awesome and we have been having a great time. The food is awesome and the Mountain Adventure was really fun. Hoping to get on MMR Before we leave!

 

 

I am sooooooooooooo glad we waited!!!!!!!!!!!! Mystery Mine is a pretty cool coaster. The second drop and end is the best part.

[Guy T. Koepp]

^Mystery Mine is up and running. I rode it yesterday. As a matter of fact, my little girl January rode it for the first time ever. She loved it!

[deguy123]

Yeah It did finally open up around 1-1:30(rode 3 times), the operators said that's the longest it's been down for a while. It was GREAT and I'm so glad it opened before we left to come home.

[Intimidator305]

http://www.dollywood.com/land/barnstormer/index.html

 

THE NEW BARNSTORMER WEBSITE IS UP! It includes many great features including a video annimation and construction pictures! And... a countdown until it opens, 192 DAYS!

[robbalvey]

^ It says "Owens Farm!"

[coastered]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7u5OVb9nNI

[KDcoasterMAN]

So Screamscape is reporting this...

 

2012 - Possible New Coaster - Rumor Only - (10/26/10) The latest Dollywood rumors suggest that the park is toying around with a couple of ideas for new coaster projects for 2012. Apparently they’ve asked S&S and Premier for a few different ideas for their next coaster, which to me says that they may be looking into something with a launch. Given the popularity of S&S’s PowderKeg at Silver Dollar City, it could be that Dollywood may be hoping to add a similar ride to their playbook. With all the focus going to the back end of the park for the last several years, I’m hearing that they are looking to breathe some new life into some of the more older areas that could use a little new traffic like near the train station, or in Jukebox Junction near the car ride, or perhaps along the hillside where the Mountain Slidewinder sits. Again, no plans are final yet… though I would suppose they would try to narrow it down very soon, perhaps at IAAPA in November.

 

Dollywood Page on Screamscape.com

 

What kind of coaster would you suppose Dollywood is going for? My guess is either a "Sky Rocket" style system which would be a nice addtion to the park. But one could only dream of seeing one of the new S&S launchers that are popping up in China. (Yes I know Powder Keg is technically "one of those China style launchers).

 

But when it comes to the type of launch coaster, hopefully Dollywood would go with the more reliable LSM launch system instead of air powered.

 

Or may be we could be seeing a new style of coaster like the...

 

S & S Free Fly

[ernierocker]

While I would love for Dollywood to get a powered coaster, I really, REALLY hope it doesn't come at the expense of the Mountain Slidewinder. Besides with the new ride placement, I think it will help drive more traffic to that area especially with the new kids area. The more logical area to place it would be over in Thunder Canyon or Wilderness Pass, but they may get creative in squeeze in somewhere else.

Edited October 26, 2010 by ernierocker

[SharkTums]

PLEASE don't get rid of Mountain Slidewinder!!!