Dollywood Discussion Thread

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ You sure have made this thread much more exciting lately!!

[Nrthwnd]

"You can keep your Lightning Rod"....

..."I've got MY Puppies!"

Edited May 18, 2016 by Nrthwnd

[DoinItForTheFame]

^

[Nrthwnd]

^

Are you done?

 

Boo hoo-ing, I mean?

 

She's a framed drawing, NINCOMPOOP!

 

Woof woof.

 

 

 

#ItllopenREALsoon

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ Oh, I'm sorry. I almost forgot. . .

 

#ItllNeverOpen

[coasterbill]

I do think Dollywood has an obligation to make some sort of statement.

 

And they are remaining quiet, hoping people don't cancel trips already scheduled to see their 'innovative ride featuring new technology never before used on a wooden coaster'. Pretty poor form by park if you ask me.

 

Oh for f**k's sake.

 

If you go to the website there's a HUGE orange bar across the top of EVERY SINGLE PAGE ON THE ENTIRE WEBSITE that says " Lightning Rod will not be open to the general public at this time due to extended ride commissioning. Learn More" and then when you click on "Learn More" while you're b**ching about how they're obligated to make a statement you'll see the statement that they made and it says... "Lightning Rod will not be open to the general public at this time due to extended ride commissioning. Lightning Rod is an innovative ride featuring new technology never before used on a wooden coaster. The ride manufacturer asked for additional time to commission the ride. Keep watching Dollywood.com for future updates."

Oooh it's a conspiracy. They're "remaining quiet" except for on every single page of the website.

 

What do you want them to do exactly? Mail you a puppy and hand-written letter that says "Dear entitled enthusiast. Please have mercy on us and try to forgive us for the fact that you assumed an innovative new coaster that's completely unique would absolutely, 100% be open on time and booked a trip for opening day. I completely understand how one ride being closed would be enough to make you cancel your trip to one of the best parks in America even though a year ago when this ride wasn't here you'd have absolutely loved all of our other offerings which we still have. Please send all bills for therapy and tissues to Dolly directly and we'll be sure to reimburse you. We're really sorry we tried to trick you by not making a statement (except for all over social media and on every singe page of the website). Next time we'll send you smoke signals and hire a sky writer.

 

Well - we took our HIGH AND MIGHTY pills today didn't we? Did anyone ask for a puppy - nice extra prize though - Did this person say they booked a trip on opening day - NOPE. The park hyped the heck out of the ride - theres no way with a two month delay they had any plans that it would be open on March 18 and while not exactly a "conspiracy theory" I do think they are trying to not make a "big deal" about an extended delay.

 

So if social media posts everywhere and a huge obnoxious banner on every page of the website isn't enough then what exactly would you like them to do? Pay for TV ads everywhere in the country saying that Lightning Rod isn't open yet in case someone from there was planning on booking a hotel room? Should they have Dolly go door to door?

 

What would you like them to do that they're not doing? But you're right... I'm the "high and mighty" one. Not the people who feel like the park owes them some kind of statement even though they already made one and posted it everywhere.

[VandeSte]

Man card? Man card! Don't gimme that. I eat man cards for a snack. I crap more man cards than most men have to give in their lifetime. Then I eat those crapped out man cards as a topping for my man card snack.

 

A real man can appreciate the awesomeness of a Pug Puppy getting stuck in a toilet paper roll. But it takes a really real man to look beyond a nice rack to appreciate said puppy stuck in tube.

 

That is why I take your man card, eat it, crap it out, spread it on another man card and eat that.

 

And! After all that, I still have the cajones to boldly say...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Itllneveropen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh! That noise you heard. Was me dropping tha mic!

 

Wow! What is your Fark! handle.

/nice

//I larfed

///vigules come in threes

[bachir]

I do think Dollywood has an obligation to make some sort of statement.

 

And they are remaining quiet, hoping people don't cancel trips already scheduled to see their 'innovative ride featuring new technology never before used on a wooden coaster'. Pretty poor form by park if you ask me.

 

Oh for f**k's sake.

 

If you go to the website there's a HUGE orange bar across the top of EVERY SINGLE PAGE ON THE ENTIRE WEBSITE that says " Lightning Rod will not be open to the general public at this time due to extended ride commissioning. Learn More" and then when you click on "Learn More" while you're b**ching about how they're obligated to make a statement you'll see the statement that they made and it says... "Lightning Rod will not be open to the general public at this time due to extended ride commissioning. Lightning Rod is an innovative ride featuring new technology never before used on a wooden coaster. The ride manufacturer asked for additional time to commission the ride. Keep watching Dollywood.com for future updates."

Oooh it's a conspiracy. They're "remaining quiet" except for on every single page of the website.

 

What do you want them to do exactly? Mail you a puppy and hand-written letter that says "Dear entitled enthusiast. Please have mercy on us and try to forgive us for the fact that you assumed an innovative new coaster that's completely unique would absolutely, 100% be open on time and booked a trip for opening day. I completely understand how one ride being closed would be enough to make you cancel your trip to one of the best parks in America even though a year ago when this ride wasn't here you'd have absolutely loved all of our other offerings which we still have. Please send all bills for therapy and tissues to Dolly directly and we'll be sure to reimburse you. We're really sorry we tried to trick you by not making a statement (except for all over social media and on every singe page of the website). Next time we'll send you smoke signals and hire a sky writer.

 

Well - we took our HIGH AND MIGHTY pills today didn't we? Did anyone ask for a puppy - nice extra prize though - Did this person say they booked a trip on opening day - NOPE. The park hyped the heck out of the ride - theres no way with a two month delay they had any plans that it would be open on March 18 and while not exactly a "conspiracy theory" I do think they are trying to not make a "big deal" about an extended delay.

 

So if social media posts everywhere and a huge obnoxious banner on every page of the website isn't enough then what exactly would you like them to do? Pay for TV ads everywhere in the country saying that Lightning Rod isn't open yet in case someone from there was planning on booking a hotel room? Should they have Dolly go door to door?

 

What would you like them to do that they're not doing? But you're right... I'm the "high and mighty" one. Not the people who feel like the park owes them some kind of statement even though they already made one and posted it everywhere.

 

On April 25 Dollywood's PR guy said it would be open in a few weeks. Two weeks came and went, and now its crickets.

Again, I can understand that Dollywood is in a tough spot, but if they are going to start marketing the park as a destination park (like they have been) then they need to, at the very least, give some sort of update. Sure, the banner on the website is nice, but it tells me nothing. They should be thinking about those who are traveling, the same ones they are marketing to with the 3 day passes, DreamMore resort, the water park, etc.

[Shavethewhales]

^They aren't going to come out and say exactly what's happening and what went wrong. It opens them up to too many questions and liabilities and would only hurt their image by calling their equipment into question. The only thing they need to tell their customers is that it is taking longer to commission than expected and isn't open yet - which is exactly what they are doing.

 

As has been said before, if you travel to theme parks you should expect issues like this. Individual rides are never 100% in any case, even at destination parks.

 

I'm still willing to bet money that it will be open for Memorial Day, but that's just me speaking out of my ass.

[knaiwear]

I agree that the park shouldn't be detailing a list of everthing that's wrong. But they really shouldn't be saying "a few weeks" when they don't know. Maybe they had a good feeling about it, maybe not, but the smartest thing to do is post a few things here and there saying "hey we're working hard on LR, we want it open just as bad as you, we just need more time to get it right." No promises, no approximations, but a good faith effort to show that they're engaged and they want us to ride just as much as we do.

 

That's what a best-in-class park would do. Not ignore 99.5% of posts on social media. Even those comments unrelated to LR - I'm constantly shocked at how little they engage with people on Facebook, it's just not how you do business in 2016. They may be getting record crowds now, but the best long term strategy is to build brand loyalty through customer engagement.

[coasterbill]

I think the post on the website covers it perfectly. They don't want to give a timeline if they legitimately have no idea (which they don't). Everyone's going to bitch no matter what they do anyway.

[dstephe9]

I think another issue that upsets some, and I agree with this issue to a point, it's fairly clear now that the issue was much more than a simple issue.. so why did they wait so long to say it wasn't going to open? Maybe they didn't know how bad the issue was going to be at the time? Idk, none of the issues bother me as I am only 35 mins or so away ha-ha.. I visit about three times a month

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Edited May 18, 2016 by dstephe9

[coasterbill]

That's it. I'm out of here. This thread is driving me to drink.

[Wily J]

 

#ItllNeverOpen

[DoinItForTheFame]

That's it. I'm out of here. This thread is driving me to drink.

 

 

Same.

[Dollywoodlover20]

Well I found this. It's from that show I was talking about, the woman looks terrified lol. Now if they would just take those cameras and turn them around the other direction and upload to YouTube, perfect

[Mater]

Woah, bear alert in the red shirt

[DoinItForTheFame]

Woah, bear alert in the red shirt

 

Now that you mention it.... Whoa!! Green shirt!!

[Djwadeknox]

Any day now.

[Wily J]

^

 

[ASE]

"Home & Family" is having a "Dollywood Week" special starting May 30...

 

[Swede]

This is what she said about it:

 

Sheer terror as the homeandfamilytv producers put me on "Lighting Rod" the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world...alone, by myself, front seat... Oh and did I mention it just went thru repairs

 

I wonder what the repairs was all about.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Swede

[Guy T. Koepp]

^^^I love it! Any way I could get a Hi-Res version emailed to me? I want it as a poster for my office.

[SFOG1991]

Woah, bear alert in the red shirt

 

Now that you mention it.... Whoa!! Green shirt!!

[Djwadeknox]

^^^I love it! Any way I could get a Hi-Res version emailed to me? I want it as a poster for my office.

 

 

Sorry cheap meme maker don't do Hi-Res. I'm glad you enjoyed it. puppies make all things better.