Dollywood Discussion Thread

[dstephe9]

Not looking good! I guess something major broke again

 

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[chickenbowl]

Rhonda from guest services explained to me that they've been doing quick maintenance on Lightning Rod the past two days. She says it's scheduled to reopen tomorrow (and that I'll be fine for this weekend!). Still crossing my fingers for good luck to their team - Also kudos for guest services being so kind and quick to answer me!

[dstephe9]

Point is though, this is a brand new coaster.. no maintenance should close it down for two days even if it is just "quick maintenance".. the park is closed most Tuesdays this time of year (except for today because of Spring Break) so quick maintenance should be reserved for those days..

 

Just my opinion on it lol

 

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[coasterbill]

Point is though, this is a brand new coaster.. no maintenance should close it down for two days even if it is just "quick maintenance".. the park is closed most Tuesdays this time of year (except for today because of Spring Break) so quick maintenance should be reserved for those days..

 

Just my opinion on it lol

 

We know absolutely nothing about what they're working on or the intricacies of how the ride works so your opinion is meaningless, but okay.

[dstephe9]

Quick maintenance is Dollywood bring cryptic like always.. to me, quick maintenance, sounds planned.. It probably isn't that simple nor was it planned with the ride being down for two days already. Not that quick either, two days so far.

 

But yeah whatever, plan to close your most popular ride on probably the week that has the potential to be your busiest of the season with Spring Break.. makes perfect financial and business since to me.

 

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Edited April 18, 2017 by dstephe9

[chickenbowl]

double post, sorry

Edited April 18, 2017 by chickenbowl

[chickenbowl]

Point is though, this is a brand new coaster.. no maintenance should close it down for two days even if it is just "quick maintenance".. the park is closed most Tuesdays this time of year (except for today because of Spring Break) so quick maintenance should be reserved for those days..

 

Just my opinion on it lol

 

We know absolutely nothing about what they're working on or the intricacies of how the ride works so your opinion is meaningless, but okay.

 

Agreed.

 

Quick maintenance is Dollywood bring cryptic like always.. to me, quick maintenance, sounds planned.. It probably isn't that simple nor was it planned with the ride being down for two days already. Not that quick either, two days so far.

 

But yeah whatever, plan to close your most popular ride on probably the week that has the potential to be your busiest of the season with Spring Break.. makes perfect financial and business since to me.

 

Who knows, maybe they figured out a way to keep it open consistently by doing maintenance for two-day periods every couple months? You can criticize their operations of this coaster, but it seems to be doing infinitely better than last year. I just hope this new system works for them in the long run. Mystery Mine has been down this season more than Lightning Rod. Also they weren't being cryptic, it definitely sounded like this was planned. Rhonda was were quick to answer me and be as helpful and understanding as possible.

 

And I know you're saying it's peak spring break week, but over the past few days, the longest any queue has gotten was 5-10 mins. The parks seems to be empty. According to the app, Blazing Fury has the longest line in the park right now, lol. The past two days seem like the perfect time to knock out some quick maintenance.

 

Maybe I just can't take your pessimism right now when I'm 4 days away from possibly getting on the damned thing.

[dstephe9]

Point is though, this is a brand new coaster.. no maintenance should close it down for two days even if it is just "quick maintenance".. the park is closed most Tuesdays this time of year (except for today because of Spring Break) so quick maintenance should be reserved for those days..

 

Just my opinion on it lol

 

We know absolutely nothing about what they're working on or the intricacies of how the ride works so your opinion is meaningless, but okay.

 

Agreed.

 

Who knows, maybe they figured out a way to keep it open consistently by doing maintenance for two-day periods every couple months? You can criticize their operations of this coaster, but it seems to be doing infinitely better than last year. I just hope this new system works for them in the long run. Mystery Mine has been down this season more than Lightning Rod.

 

And I know you're saying it's peak spring break week, but over the past few days, the longest any queue has gotten was 5-10 mins. The parks seems to be empty. According to the app, Blazing Fury has the longest line in the park right now, lol. The past two days seem like the perfect time to knock out some quick maintenance.

 

Maybe I just can't take your pessimism right now when I'm 4 days away from possibly getting on the damned thing. [emoji38]

The park has been empty everyday this season during the week it seems.. Nothing like last year, but it's also been raining today.. and yesterday was nasty in the morning

 

We get a lot of visitors at work from people travelling.. so far we have had 14 this week that traveled to the mountains for the weekend.. 1 person visited Dollywood while all of them went to the Aquarium.. why these folks aren't visiting Dollywood, who knows lol.. I want Dollywood to be doing well

 

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[LukeFlynn]

They are probably just doing a lot of various things so they can operate it consistently without having to take it down periodically for an hour or so. Fine by me, I think they picked a fine time to do it. The park has been slow since Monday.

[xVicesAndVirtues]

Take this with a very large grain of salt, as it's honestly on the level of "the Dippin Dots guy told me ___", but while at the park today, an employee who I ended up talking to (whom I do not know) told me that they had an issue with the coaster on Monday that's likely to keep it down for the coming days.

 

Again...I don't know this person, so they could have been talking out their a$$ or lying through their teeth.

[Dollywoodlover20]

I do know that a tree fell near Lightning Rod (not sure exactly where at) I'm thinking near one of the access gates whether that be on the park end or the end towards the actual mid course. They were trying to get that moved and cleaned up and the fence repaired. Also one day this week a small fire broke out apparently causing them to have to evacuate people from the park just for a bit.

[dstephe9]

I saw the small fire on local news.. didn't hear anything about evacuating the entire park though, they just mentioned the "small area" was evacuated..

 

Again, I don't know for sure how much was evacuated though..

 

Edit: Doesn't look like it's opened yet but the park just opened 10 mins ago.. no CD for it though so possibly a good sign

 

Edit 2: Just updated to "CD".. This is why customer service agents shouldn't use words like "quick maintenance" and it will be open "tomorrow".. if I was traveling I'd rather them be honest and say that they are trying to have it open as soon as possible but there isn't any news on when it will be open. At least then a guest can't say "you all told me it would be open"

 

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[LukeFlynn]

At least this time around they're actually acknowledging that it has a problem and not just trolling us with "TC" until 6PM.... I was really starting to get annoyed with them acting like the thing didn't even exist last year.

[TBpony414]

Take a look at what rides the TimeSaver works on. You have 8 uses for the rides other than LR and Drop Line.

So after TT, TH, WE, and FCE you still have 4... There are two Xs that are for LR and DL, but you could use them both for the same ride, so at least in theory get two runs on LR if not interested in DL. (at least as far as I could tell last month they don't track what you used a given tab for). I also just noticed mention of a TimeSaver Unlimited on the website, but no indication of cost or how to purchase.

http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Guest-Services/TimeSaver-Pass

 

I appreciate the additional information!! I'm not seeing the ability to buy Time Savers online... is it only available in-park? I may be the worst google searcher ever but I also can't seem to find a page describing the differences in the DW Regular vs. Gold season park passes. If you have a season pass do you get Time Saver with it? I recall reading somewhere that you don't get TS with a pass, but the wording on the TS page is a bit confusing: "TimeSaver Complimentary is FREE for resort guests with exclusive resort theme park tickets or Season Passes!" Due to traveling with my dog, we aren't able to stay on property. Trying to figure out if it's worth it to buy season passes if we want to go to DW for 2 days.

[dstephe9]

Just click the "purchase" hotlink and this page shows up

 

 

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[TBpony414]

^ I swear I tried to do that and it didn't work for me!! Technology is not my strong suit, clearly

[dstephe9]

Haha well on a side note I was on the mobile site when I clicked purchase.. that might be the difference lol

 

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[STDog]

http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Guest-Services/TimeSaver-Pass

 

I appreciate the additional information!! I'm not seeing the ability to buy Time Savers online...

 

As mentioned, the word "Purchase" is a link to the purchase page.

That page is also presented when buying tickets or passes online.

 

I also can't seem to find a page describing the differences in the DW Regular vs. Gold season park passes.

http://www.dollywood.com/Tickets/Season-Passes/Benefits

Under "Additional Gold Passholder Privileges"

 

Basically, Gold pass adds parking (just show pass at the parking booths), and a 20% discount off merchandise/food in the parks.

 

If you have a season pass do you get Time Saver with it?

 

No. But if you have a gold pass you get a discount on the price.

 

If you stay at the resort and buy tickets (special rates for resort guests) or have a valid pass, you get a TimeSaver for each day of your stay.

http://www.dollywood.com/Resort/About-the-Resort/Included-With-Your-Resort-Stay

 

Trying to figure out if it's worth it to buy season passes if we want to go to DW for 2 days.

 

Just DW? No intention to visit the water park?

Do you think you might be back again this season?

 

Tickets are $67/day if you want a full day at the park while the regular pass is $108.

There is the 3 day/2 park special for $99. Must buy in advance, only valid May 13- Sep 4.

A good option for a short stay with 2 or 3 full days at the parks.

But if there's a good chance you'll be back, the pass makes better sense.

And don't forget about parking ($12/day) though.

 

The gold pass is $52 more than season pass. Parking is $24 for 2 days.

The other $28 would be the discount on $140 worth of merchandise/food.

 

Pretty easy to spend that in 2 days with food and such.

With 4 people, a buffet lunch both days gets me to break even, never mind any merchandise.

You only need one for the group (that person has to be present to use for discounts)

 

And if you comeback later (or more than 2 days) then it's all savings.

[STDog]

Haha well on a side note I was on the mobile site when I clicked purchase.. that might be the difference lol

 

No, works fine on my work PC.

[JJLehto]

I could very realistically hit this park as part of a small road trip up to Kings Island, or possibly to Charlotte.

I may have to try, because I watched some Lightning Rod POVs for the first time (full time work , grad school and moving has kept me busy!) and ho-ly hell. That looks like potential #1 material.

[TB305]

^I rode it 14 times last week; it is definitely worthy of my #1 spot. It was my first RMC and really blew me with incredible pacing and relentless airtime.

[coasterbill]

So you'll never guess what's closed for the day...

[dstephe9]

Man, I was planning a trip there today but will probably still head that way!

 

At least they are posting early that it's closed

 

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[Jccoasterfan]

Too bad we'll probably never find out what the current issue is. I'm guessing it may not be open until at least next week or beyond. Hopefully they can get it back up sooner though. It really stinks how consistently the coaster had been operating this season so far and one day an issue arises causing the coaster to be down for several days. Who knows how long this will last. My next visit will be in early May but I won't be upset if LR is still down. I love Dollywood and all I can say is that I wish the best of luck to the maintenance team on getting this issue resolved.

[coasterbill]

Too bad we'll probably never find out what the current issue is. I'm guessing it may not be open until at least next week or beyond.

 

"Too bad we have no idea what the problem is, here's my prediction on how long it will take to fix based on absolutely no information whatsoever".

 

Seriously, that post is making my head hurt.