tntornadox Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 I always envisioned the resort hotel would be placed in that huge barren field alongside the old entrance road across the RR tracks from The Village and Country Fair.. with some sort of direct entrance into the park from that point... I also envision it having some sort of attraction all its own, whether that be an indoor waterpark or something else. They will want something to keep people staying there year-round, not just when the parks are open. Maybe convention facilities? The Smokies could use a hotel with some nice convention facilities... Dollywood could cross-sell passes to prospective businesses and organizations. Win-win for everyone. Basically, pulling a Disney or Opryland type approach.
dragonskeep Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Dolly must be very proud of her place. She seems like a genuinely cool person , I am glad to hear of the future expansion. An indoor water park would be killer. Convention space seems like a good idea too, it works well for us here in Orlando.
SharkTums Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 I would love and stay at a Dollywood Resort! It's actually quite a bummer that more US Parks don't have their own resort hotels.
tntornadox Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 I am trying to figure out the theme it would have, if it would indeed abutt the park like I foresee it will, maybe a nice Victorian style structure would fit in very well with that area of the park?
dragonskeep Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 Dolly will want the theme to represent her roots and the heritage of the area, that would be my guess.
coasterfreaky Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 I always envisioned the resort hotel would be placed in that huge barren field alongside the old entrance road across the RR tracks from The Village and Country Fair.. with some sort of direct entrance into the park from that point... I also envision it having some sort of attraction all its own, whether that be an indoor waterpark or something else. They will want something to keep people staying there year-round, not just when the parks are open. Maybe convention facilities? The Smokies could use a hotel with some nice convention facilities... Dollywood could cross-sell passes to prospective businesses and organizations. Win-win for everyone. Basically, pulling a Disney or Opryland type approach. Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes! Themeing? Hmm, if its victorian like Showstreet, then they can play it up big time with lights and decorations during the christmas season...that area is the most decorated of any.
tntornadox Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) Personally, I envision a structure similar to that of the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris... less whimsical, of course... and larger. But the same basic idea. I also threw together an improvised hotel plan in that area... Edited April 8, 2011 by tntornadox
Shavethewhales Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 If it is indeed a launched coaster, it's bound to have a guano/TNT/gunpowder theme. For anything else, I'd expect some type of bird (eagle or hawk), or a timber/wilderness theme. I for one, am surprised the full resort is taking so long. Seems like it's a sure money-maker to me, so I don't know why it's not being rammed through production. I'm hoping for one in Branson soon as well. ^I doubt they'll go that route though, I'm assuming they'd try for something more log-cabiny similar to Great Wolf Lodge.
coasterfreaky Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 ^^instead of Mickey it will be Dolly and boobie bushes.
10ryansmith Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 I love the idea of a resort on property... I could then not have to drive an hour there from the Cherokee Hotel. For the resort I would assume that it would be similiar to Wilderness Lodge just on a slightly smaller scale.
coasterfreaky Posted April 10, 2011 Posted April 10, 2011 I went this morning. Project 2012....On our way up to the Slidewinder station there is lots of clearing in progress and several markers. The ride op at Slidewinder, actually the scale-guy, noticed i was snapping pictures and he was excited to tell me that this was their new roller coaster. I asked more questions of course, but he was light on info...he said that Dolly wanted to keep it a secret! OK, sure! We also did SkyZip and on our way to the 2nd zip, the first big zip behind/above River Battle, i noticed a couple of pink markers and land clearing has really gotten underway in this area (but no pics while zipping)...things are moving forward. Pictures below! barnstormer from slidewinder queue.bmp Barnstormer from Slidewinder queue project 2012 a.bmp Project 2012 from Slidewinder queue new fencing along the queue from the station trees are coming down, timber! no noticeable changes here from last visit.
Intimidator305 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Good report... If there are markers all the way by Slidewinder, this coaster is going to be pretty big!!! Hopefully they keep as many trees as they can!
tntornadox Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 So, I just made an image overview of the area in question from Google Earth. - The red arrow is where survey markers have been seen. - The light green is the area trees have begun coming down. - The yellow arrow is where construction walls have been placed.
samisthabomb Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Would it even be possible to get out of the park from there? It seems to be right in the middle of the park. This raises more questions about how people could even leave the park! Or maybe you can't leave...
tntornadox Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 There is a service road already there, it leads from Slidewinder to Wilderness Pass. Once they get the heavy equipment into the area, they could begin excavating while the park is open and when the time comes, move track in overnight and begin erecting the track while the park is open. Very doable.
Intimidator305 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 ^^ No, but it wouldn't be very difficult at all to get to because they could just take the maitnenance road and then take the road down behind Adventure Mountain cross the Wilderness Pass path and then they are at the construction site. Of course, they have to do that before or after the park is open or have employees block the path while vehicles cross the walkway. Clearing during the beginning April though... so it sounds pretty large to me!
thrillerman1 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 There is a construction stake located on the ridge above Wilderness Pass on the Adventure Mountain side of the walkway which makes me think something is going to cross over the path. Barnstormer is GREAT!
tntornadox Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 ^ Hmm, just how long is this thing gonna be? It screams B&M to me, very large area here.
coasterfreaky Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 There is a construction stake located on the ridge above Wilderness Pass on the Adventure Mountain side of the walkway which makes me think something is going to cross over the path. I'm thinking they will have to move the second zip line (that crosses W.Pass) and maybe the 5th (the one that goes over Tn.Tornado and BF) zip too...and those stakes may be related to that. I think! the construction area is limited to the center-section of the park. I say this because we already know that they are using most, maybe all of the center-section of the park. In order to use the other side of W. Pass, the incline to go over the pass and go up towards the train upper-loop or off into the woods up there would require another lift hill or a 2nd or 3rd launch and I don't see that happening given the already large space they are working in. Just my opinion! The elevation change on the Adventure Mtn. side is very steep. Not impossible to do, i just don't think so. Wilderness Pass is really wide and i don't see them making it look congested with coaster parts like Cedar Fair might do. Now i do think that Dollywood's long-term plans include building out the train upper loop at some point - just as they've developed the lower-loop. I just don't think this coaster project is part of that plan.
Intimidator305 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 It screams B&M to me, very large area here. At the moment, I'm going to have to disagree. There was that rumor a while back about a launch coaster, and seeing that the area is really big, I could see this ride being kind of similar to Cheetah Hunt with lots of theming, staying close to the ground in the woods, and isn't CH's max height close to the Dollywood 110 feet that was proposed? Hmm..
tntornadox Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 ^ Perhaps, CH is changing the way we view launched coasters.
ernierocker Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 I figured it out. They are moving Eagle's Fortress to Dollywood!
COASTER FREAK 11 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 If that were to happen.... wow. Too bad the ride is gone forever, I miss it terribly. lol
robbalvey Posted April 18, 2011 Posted April 18, 2011 Guess what? Dollywood has a Twitter! TPR says FOLLOW THEM! http://twitter.com/#!/Dollywood
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