Dollywood Discussion Thread

[middle_keeny]

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3) Am I absolutely insane planning 1 day for Dollywood? I have never been so I might try to squeeze 2 (or 1 and a half) days in, but I also want to do some of the other things in the area. I want to be home on that Sunday for Easter, so if I stay another day I would either have to drive through the night or maybe drive halfway, get a cheap motel room, and drive the rest on Sunday.

 

 

Thanks.

 

In the spring Dollywood has the "Festival of Nations" going on. Other than Christmas, this is my favorite festival. The shows are top notch and they bring in performers from around the world. I would plan on a full two days to see everything. The Steel Drum Band from Trinidad / Tobogo is amazing. The change up their shows so not every one is the same.

[Hilltopper39]

Quick question about the Time Saver Pass if anyone is familiar with how they operate it, it looks like the pass itself is essentially a punch card with 10 slots for 10 redemption's (but only one for Lightning Rod and Dropline), but my questions is can one pass be used for multiple people until the 10 punches are gone, or is it strictly enforced as 10 passes per person? I'm going with my two younger kids next week and would love to use some of my passes to take them on Fire Chaser but don't really want to buy them their own Time Saver since that's pretty much the only ride on the pass that they're tall enough for.

[Canobie Coaster]

When I bought it, they gave me a necklace with 10 punches. It'd be easy to transfer between people but I do not know if one TimeSaver could be used to admit multiple people with multiple punches at once on the same attraction.

[Hilltopper39]

When I bought it, they gave me a necklace with 10 punches. It'd be easy to transfer between people but I do not know if one TimeSaver could be used to admit multiple people with multiple punches at once on the same attraction.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking, I mean 10 punches is 10 punches no matter who uses them right? I'll check it out though, I'm not trying to break their rules or anything but maybe we'll get 2 passes and take turns on Firechaser (then bonus rides for me!).

 

We're also going on a Monday so crowds might pretty light anyways.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Everyone who is in the Time Saver line needs to have their own lanyard, but no there's not a way for them to know which lanyard belongs to whom.

[neilnky]

I liked the name "Sycamore Swing." I wonder why they are changing it to "Great Tree Swing?" I like that name too but not quite as much lol

[Thunderhead01]

I would honestly love to see a Gravity Group Family Coaster in Owens Farm in place of Slidewinder but wouldn’t see that happening for awhile considering they are adding a family coaster this year as for 2021 I could see a Mack or B&M Dive Coaster or a Hyper

[Jdprince45]

Wildwoog Grove May 10. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wjhl.com/amp/local/dolly-parton-announces-opening-day-for-wildwood-grove/1851158198

[mckayj93]

Season Passholder Day went well. To my knowledge LR was up most of day, 1 train operation. Went down once, but stayed a fairly low wait. Mystery Mine never opened today. Mountain Sidewinder had signage removed and from the map. Festival of Nations food major step up from last year. All the drinks were good in my party, I had poutine (Canada) which was great. The Cuban food was also highly rated, as were the South Korean nachos. Wildwood Grove from Wild Eagle / Drop Line looks like all the rides and structures are about in place, looks like mostly landscaping is left.

[middle_keeny]

I would honestly love to see a Gravity Group Family Coaster in Owens Farm in place of Slidewinder but wouldn’t see that happening for awhile considering they are adding a family coaster this year as for 2021 I could see a Mack or B&M Dive Coaster or a Hyper

 

The "landing area" for Slidewinder is big enough for a decent flat. just a matter of which one. That hillside would make a neat spot for a small mountain coaster. They could be the first park to have a mountain coaster inside the park.

[Voyage]

Hey everyone. Question about Dollywood’s TimeSaver Unlimited Pass... does it include unlimited rides on Lightning Rod? Or is it limited to one ride only on LR like the regular TimeSaver pass. Thanks!

[bluestreak]

When I had it last year it was unlimited on everything including LR.

[Voyage]

When I had it last year it was unlimited on everything including LR.

 

Thanks! Hopefully it’s still like that this year.

 

Anyone know what’s up with Mystery Mine? I haven’t seen it open on any of the Dollywood wait time websites this whole weekend.

[Canobie Coaster]

How cold was it? That one seemed to have the highest start up temperature from my Smoky Mountain Christmas visit a few years ago.

[Bobby2889]

I feel like Mystery Mine rarely operates smoothly at the season opening. I saw it testing on Friday. It definitely wasn't temperature related though.

[dstephe9]

Was at the park today! Festival of Nations food is excellent and on par with Disney! Even had drinks (non alcoholic though but still great) It used to be great and then went down hill for a number of years. I was glad to see qty and quality back! It actually made me want to pick u the passport and try things from every Country they offered! Still have two countries to try before the festival is over.

 

LR ran most of the day as far as I could tell, still only one train. Mystery Mine was down most of the day, and actually I never saw it open but they had OPs there like it was planned to open it had been open at one point

 

The park was clean, full of improvements. They repaved the roads but not parking (still need to repave parking lot Dollywood!!!!). Put up some new fencing in various places..

 

Park OPs were great for opening weekend. Plenty of trams running, plenty of people at the food booths and so on. I know lines are a thing at parks but when only one person is running a food booth or booths are closed, creating long lines, I get frustrated because parks can help that. None of that at Dollywood this year so far so that's a great sign!!

 

One question anyone know why they have a checkpoint before parking now? Maybe it was just for today but they had two people before the tolls splitting up cars between gold pass and paid. I felt this really really really slowed down parking. They only had two tolls open and then two folks telling everybody what lane to be in. This created two bottlenecks. First, three lanes had to merge into two for the precheck people and then only two booths open. Why not send the two precheck people to their own booths? Again, this might have just been something for today but it was really my only OPs complaint and I saw no reason for it, although I'm sure their is one in Dollywood's mind. If they are trying to give gold past people their own lane just open one up and say it's for gold pass only using signage.. yeah others will still use it from time to time, but much quicker than someone stopping traffic to split everyone up.

 

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Edited March 18, 2019 by dstephe9

[dstephe9]

How cold was it? That one seemed to have the highest start up temperature from my Smoky Mountain Christmas visit a few years ago.

Been close to 60 all weekend except in the mornings. Water rides open, so I doubt coldness had anything to do with it personally

 

But as I said in my other post, it was closed all day today as far as I could tell.

 

Oh and on another note, not sure if it has been posted but zip lines are gone, at least that's what my wife said. I didn't notice, but she told me on the way out they had been removed. But it is no longer on the website. I never look up haha!

 

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[Bobby2889]

^^ They are gone, my boyfriend actually pointed it out or else I never would have noticed. Didn’t think I had seen anything about their removal either.

[Djwadeknox]

Kinda strange to see them selling Time Traveler type hats at Mystery Mind at Dollywood today! (Maybe a hint) jk..... A time traveler type coaster would be nice for the slidewinder location. They could use the train of the mountain to get some huge drops. Also with the next thrill ride being 2021 it would give them time to work on it and even make a connection to the timber part of the park so it doesn’t dead end up there. Just thinking out loud!

[DollyWould]

When I had it last year it was unlimited on everything including LR.

 

Thanks! Hopefully it’s still like that this year.

 

Anyone know what’s up with Mystery Mine? I haven’t seen it open on any of the Dollywood wait time websites this whole weekend.

 

Did Mystery Mine open today? The app no longer has wait times available if you are outside the park, obviously. Just curious, what is the url for the site that still list wait times?

[DollyWould]

^^ They are gone, my boyfriend actually pointed it out or else I never would have noticed. Didn’t think I had seen anything about their removal either.

 

I suspected the ziplines were being taken away once all the signing was removed from the kiosk, as well as when it's web page was pulled.

 

I still "wonder" why the Wonder Wheel was ever removed at the end of 2017, too. :**-(

 

Could it be that phase 2 of WWG will bring a new ferris wheel to the park? Hmmmm....

[Voyage]

When I had it last year it was unlimited on everything including LR.

 

Thanks! Hopefully it’s still like that this year.

 

Anyone know what’s up with Mystery Mine? I haven’t seen it open on any of the Dollywood wait time websites this whole weekend.

 

Did Mystery Mine open today? The app no longer has wait times available if you are outside the park, obviously. Just curious, what is the url for the site that still list wait times?

 

I checked a few times today and still haven’t seen it open. Here’s the website: https://queue-times.com/parks/55/queue_times

[dstephe9]

I'd say zip lines were removed due to recertification. They have to be recertified every 10, 15 years or so (I forget). I just remember this from working at a camp and when recertification came up it was expensive due to parts having to be retired. Probably felt it wasn't worth it.

 

Just my guess.. also with the new area being about exploration and stuff, they might move the zips there. Or it's also possible they will open a zip line off park, around dream more or something to grab everyone, even those without Dollywood Tickets.

 

With Dolly's company buying up all the theaters on the area, it's clear she is trying to get money from those who don't come to Dollywood

 

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[drummermattk]

This past weekend I was able to visit the park all day Saturday (opening day) and half of the day on Sunday for the first time since my first visit in 2017. As much I would love to say that i enjoyed my visit I..........................................LOVED and enjoyed my visit. Despite the somewhat chilly temperatures all weekend (other than Sundays heatwave of almost 65 degrees) the park was still as beautiful as always and the rides where running amazing (minus Mystery Mine).

 

Here are some of my thoughts on my visit:

• The new retrack on Thunderhead looks amazing! sadly i did not get to ride it this weekend but alas i still have the credit
  
• the former area of splash battle really opens up the area and gives some good shots of Wild Eagle, Firechaser Express and Mystery Mine
  
• Wildwood Grove continues to look amazing (despite the green grass and giant tree centerpiece) However there is something that I will show in my photos that has myself and some of the people i was hanging out with curious.

 

This visit I did not miss out on Cinnamon Bread haha and it was the best $10 spent

 

Please enjoy these couple videos i put together from the weekend as well as some pictures:

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Entrance to Wildwood Grove taking shape

Thunderhead gliding along its new retrack

Lightning Rod was open all weekend with no problems, the trains are still missing their zero car though (which front row rides are insanely cool without the zero car installed)

Now this........................this is what I was referring to above. This land is behind Wildwood Grove and can more than likely be for an expansion onto Wildwood Grove and HOPEFULLY maybe a new coaster! One can hope and dream and time will tell.

another photo of some of the land clearing

A construction worker filming the guests on the train as we rode by haha

[ripleybl]

Awesome trip report!

 

I just booked a weekend trip to Dollywood for June 7th through June 9th and this will be my first ever visit to the park (Saturday June 8th will be spent at the park). I have 4 questions...

 

Best restaurants at Dollywood? Go!

 

Best shows at Dollywood? Go!

 

Best seat on LR (front or back)? Go!

 

Cool things to do outside of Dollywood? Go!

 

I appreciate the feedback ya'll! Thanks!