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Dollywood Discussion Thread

P. 796 - Ride closing 10/30 to remove launch and install chain lift!

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I was at Dollywood Saturday and got my family of four unlimited timesavers and was only expecting one ride on LR due to what was written on the website, but when I got to the park and got my lanyards, I was informed that it was unlimited on LR and also unlimited on Drop Line too when it opens next week. They said that only the limited timesavers give you one ride on each.

 

Fantastic to hear it is unlimited on LR and DL! And only $10 more than the regular time saver... that's a no brainer and so much cheaper than Fast Lane or Flash Passes that I almost can't even believe it's true. We'll definitely be doing this then when we visit later in the year. Hopefully they figure out the marking system for the lanyard or even get rid of it all together. Thanks for the info!

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LR was up and down very frequently yesterday. They would load a train and then request everyone step back inside the gates just before dispatching... this happened twice to me, and I witnessed it a third time. It was rare to get through an hour without it going down. It's definitely operating more consistently than last year, but I don't think they're quite to the finish line yet.. all of these little hiccups are starting to come out of the woodwork. I'm still keeping a fairly positive outlook on it, the profound negativity from some people (especially enthusiasts from other circles of the inter-webs) annoys me.. Don't get me wrong, I get it... but it's still a great ride either way.

 

'Tornado runs two trains pretty much every Saturday if they have enough people to staff it, it actually had a longer wait than Eagle yesterday... which is odd for a Sunday.

Rumor has it that a lot of the downtime last year was due to a sensor on the gate shutting the ride down when folks pushed on it.. again, only a rumor that was mentioned several times last year.. nothing was every confirmed but your experience does help back that up..

 

Now this didn't lead to day long downtime but some of the 30 minutes or other short downtime was rumored to be caused by the gates

 

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Yes exactly when I went back in November and got my eight runs in each time they would tell guests to not lean or push on the gates that if they did the ride would automatically shut down. I had never seen so many people jump 5ft from a gate before in my life.

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Oh wait you said step back inside the gates, not from the gates! Haha so your saying they loaded then unloaded?

 

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Yeah, they would load a train, get everyone's restraints checked and then they would just tell everyone to step back inside so they could perform maintenance. My guess is the ride is constantly reporting statistics to the PLC system and it gives maintenance warnings to the ops or something, after this happened a 3rd time some maintenance guy came up and started working on the brake run.

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There seems to be a couple of reasons why LRod shuts down that I have noticed recently. When they make people step back inside the gates after they have loaded into the train, its because something didn't trip when the second train hit the brake run. This prevents dispatch of the train in the station. You can hear the brakes reset, and see a fin lower at the bottom of the launch hill once the train passes a certain block on the brake run. Sometimes this doesn't happen causing temporary shutdown. This happened to us the other day, while on the brake run we saw everyone in the station getting from the train back into the line. Once maintenance got to the ride we heard the snapping/resetting of the brakes followed by the dispatch of the train in the station.

 

Saturday it had a couple launch failures as a result of the second train not coming into the station. If you notice when the train in the station is dispatched, before it launches the other train has already made it most of the way into the station. If that 2nd train does not advance - the other train does not launch.

 

I am by no way an engineer or know exactly what is going on with the ride, I merely only posting this for good fun and speculation, but these are the main reasons for temporary shutdowns that I've noticed recently.

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^ I went yesterday and the ride went down near park opening. After a couple of test runs, a maintenance crew member walked out to the brake run and started observing the trains as they passed through. He did this for a handful of test runs before walking back to the station and the ride was back up after the ride crew did their test run.

 

So, this is consistent with what you described.

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^ Went last Wednesday and was in line for the second train of the day so right on the platform just before the final stairs up to the station. It was TC and they where working on the brake run cycling the fins probably 20+ times and spraying which I assumed was a lubricant from a can on them when they cycled. Several empty trains where dispatched and then a few with a ride op then it was operational for the rest of the day with 2 trains running.

 

It was my first ride on it and WOW it was crazy. I remember slamming into the brake run asking myself WTF just happened. I must of watched the POV video 50+ times so the launch, false drop and drop into over banked turn I was fresh but the middle part of the coaster was all over the place and I kinda picked up where I was again on the quad down and final over banked turn. I knew enough to get my hands in the air for the pic but to be honest I was holding on for dear life up until then. 10/10 worth the wait!

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^ I went yesterday and the ride went down near park opening. After a couple of test runs, a maintenance crew member walked out to the brake run and started observing the trains as they passed through. He did this for a handful of test runs before walking back to the station and the ride was back up after the ride crew did their test run.

 

So, this is consistent with what you described.

Saw the same back in March. Wasn't obvious then what he was looking at (and my daughter distracted me some). But specifically recall someone going out to the brakes for a few test cycles before the op went for a ride.

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to be honest I was holding on for dear life up until then. 10/10 worth the wait!

 

No holding on...

 

Get the original experience, before they added the sissy bars...

 

I for one will never use them.

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^ Went last Wednesday and was in line for the second train of the day so right on the platform just before the final stairs up to the station. It was TC and they where working on the brake run cycling the fins probably 20+ times and spraying which I assumed was a lubricant from a can on them when they cycled. Several empty trains where dispatched and then a few with a ride op then it was operational for the rest of the day with 2 trains running.

 

Exactly what happened Sunday.

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to be honest I was holding on for dear life up until then. 10/10 worth the wait!

 

No holding on...

 

Get the original experience, before they added the sissy bars...

 

I for one will never use them.

 

They're much more helpful for securing the restraints IMHO, they're useless on the ride!

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Dropline is in technical ride rehearsal and I was able to ride it a couple of times today. Really great drop tower! I love how it spins you all the way to the top, allowing you some great views. You do a full rotation at the top, before the rotation stops and you go up a few more feet.

 

I suppose you could argue that the ride could be a bit higher, but I think the height is fair and doable for young and old alike. Really an excellent addition to the park.

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230 something foot is much higher than most of us expected a drop tower to be for Dollywood.. I was afraid they were going to do one around 100ft and make it a family tower.

 

And I love how Dollywood has "invented" their own term for soft openings.. but if I were them, Technical Ride Rehearsal leaves bad thoughts in my mind and I am sure it does even worse in a lot of GP.. I feel they should just open it and call it open but don't advertise it as being open since it isn't scheduled to have a Grand Opening until this weekend.. That's what six flags and a lot of other parks would do. I have experienced several soft openings at six flags and it's like "oh crap it's open let's try"

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

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230 something foot is much higher than most of us expected a drop tower to be for Dollywood.. I was afraid they were going to do one around 100ft and make it a family tower.

 

And I love how Dollywood has "invented" their own term for soft openings.. but if I were them, Technical Ride Rehearsal leaves bad thoughts in my mind and I am sure it does even worse in a lot of GP.. I feel they should just open it and call it open but don't advertise it as being open since it isn't scheduled to have a Grand Opening until this weekend.. That's what six flags and a lot of other parks would do. I have experienced several soft openings at six flags and it's like "oh crap it's open let's try"

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

 

Hopefully Drop Line does really well it's opening year and takes some of the heat off LR's issues last year.

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Dropline is in technical ride rehearsal and I was able to ride it a couple of times today. Really great drop tower! I love how it spins you all the way to the top, allowing you some great views. You do a full rotation at the top, before the rotation stops and you go up a few more feet.

 

I suppose you could argue that the ride could be a bit higher, but I think the height is fair and doable for young and old alike. Really an excellent addition to the park.

 

How's the drop? I thought it was a true free fall but Dollywood's blog says you experience -3.2 Gs.

 

230 something foot is much higher than most of us expected a drop tower to be for Dollywood.. I was afraid they were going to do one around 100ft and make it a family tower.

 

And I love how Dollywood has "invented" their own term for soft openings.. but if I were them, Technical Ride Rehearsal leaves bad thoughts in my mind and I am sure it does even worse in a lot of GP.. I feel they should just open it and call it open but don't advertise it as being open since it isn't scheduled to have a Grand Opening until this weekend.. That's what six flags and a lot of other parks would do. I have experienced several soft openings at six flags and it's like "oh crap it's open let's try"

 

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

 

I don't think Dollywood "invented" the term technical ride rehearsal, unless it was a long time ago. I've seen this used by parks across the country for years.

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Not sure, I have just never heard that term before and a lot of folks posted last year that Dollywood was the first time they have heard it as well. But other parks might use it

 

And I am pretty sure it is a true free fall. The lift "let's go" of the carriage and the brakes don't kick in until the bottom (as seen from the fins on the tower).. so unless they have something on the wheels to slow it as it drops, it should be free fall minus the friction from the wheels. (The carriage does have wheels). This is just from my observation on a few test runs that I saw though.

 

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Edited by dstephe9
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Lagoon used it for Cannibal in 2015 and Univeral Studios Orlando used it in 2012, just a couple of examples from other parts of the country. I've seen it a bunch of other times.

 

That's good to hear about the drop on Drop Line. I very much prefer that kind of drop and I'll be making my first trip ever to Dollywood in just over a month! I was just confused about the -3.2 Gs reported on Dollywood's blog.

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Lagoon used it for Cannibal in 2015 and Univeral Studios Orlando used it in 2012, just a couple of examples from other parts of the country. I've seen it a bunch of other times.

 

That's good to hear about the drop on Drop Line. I very much prefer that kind of drop and I'll be making my first trip ever to Dollywood in just over a month! I was just confused about the -3.2 Gs reported on Dollywood's blog.

Like I said, I don't know for sure but I did see two test drops and that's how it worked from what I saw.You can clearly see the breaking fins towards the bottom of the tower and it doesn't look like anything is interfering with the drop, other than maybe friction from the wheels which will be minimal. I might go one evening this week and try it if it's open!

 

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Just to clarify, the ride doesn't officially open until this Saturday, May 6th. The media event is Friday, May 5th.

 

As mentioned, the ride is in a technical rehearsal so you may get to ride it tomorrow and Friday but there is no guarantees. Just want to make that clear, since that article didn't clearly state the official opening day of the ride.

Edited by ernierocker
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Just to clarify, the ride doesn't officially open until this Saturday, May 6th. The media event is Friday, May 5th.

 

As mentioned, the ride is in a technical rehearsal so you may get to ride it tomorrow and Friday but there is no guarantees. Just want to make that clear, since that article didn't clearly state the official opening day of the ride.

 

Any word if the media event with Dolly on Friday will be open to park guests and what time

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The portion of the media event for Drop Line doesn't start until around 1:30 or 2:00. No clue how this will be set up since they usually have new ride openings in the morning before the park opens and let members of the public fill in the back for the ceremony.

Edited by ernierocker
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