Dollywood Discussion Thread

[Dar]

Some testing of Mystery Mine's new drop into the turn from Great Ohio Coaster Club's facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/115430945186216/videos/125098112884343

[tndank]

Current LR update:

Been half a dozen people working over the start of the launch. They sent 2 trains about 60 min ago. 

Wouldn't surprise me of this doesn't open today. Rain supposed to move in soon..

 

[dankeykang]

So... any guesses as to when they'll change it to a standard chain lift?

[coasterbill]

This is actually hilarious.

[tndank]

We've seen a few trains cycling recently. Lots of people on the launch working on the very beginning of it. 

 

[tndank]

Got on the first public train. First impression: It's smooth. Really smooth. Didn't seem quite as intense. Still a ton of fun. 

Approx 5000 dead trees all over the backside of the hills.

[IanKgtr]

29 minutes ago, tndank said:

Approx 5000 dead trees all over the backside of the hills.

Saw that on the POV – bummer if they were all upright before, and bit the dust vis a vis the retrack.

Speaking of the POV, it's just the FPS of the video, people. Makes it look slower.

Speaking of the slowed down launch. Please direct your att'n to my avatar. I operated that ride for 3 years (and rode it before and after *thunder crashes* the slow-down)... and it just didn't impact anything but the first drop. Simply no impact. If you want drop airtime, ride in the back just like the old days, and be thankful the ride has been tweaked to run reliable and save you hundreds of American Dollars in re-visits to get the credit.

[tndank]

Man, it's slow going over the launch hill. Looks like it's going to rollback many times. 

 

Second ride was great. I was sitting further back. Great ride.

[TEDodd]

Lap bars would be a welcome add but with the finale I think it would scare off the GP. 

My favorite part of the ride. Truly one of my favorite elements from any coaster.
It just feels Like you hang so long. Watching it it's not, but sure feels like it.

[JJLehto]

I guess another example of why POVs dont do justice..... was that little bit of MM that rough/intense?? Like I know it's our thing "waaahhh GP whining, they had to take out a good part" but like, what about it was so problematic? 

[u4icmusic]

I just got home from Dollywood. Lightning Rod was down until 1 pm. When it opened, I was on the 3rd train full of people. The ride is just as fast and relentless as before, but I thought it was going to be much smoother with I-Box track and to my surprise, it was  ROUGH, really rough. Rougher than I remember it being last year. They were only running one train, so the lines were almost two hours long after I got off. Lines for food and drinks were longer than the lines for rides. Some staff was very rude and they were very understaffed just like they were all last season due to COVID. Mystery Mine was running test cars and it looks just as good as before, and might even be better with the new turn and drop. Lightning Rod though, was a huge disappointment. Just too rough to enjoy.

[u4icmusic]

8 hours ago, Taylor Finn said:

Still have a Season Pass until like June 15th. Hoping to get vaccinated and get out there before then. Looking forward to hearing folks report on what Lightning Rod is *actually* like. And also what Craftsman Alley is like. I'm going to miss the little ceramics shop, but alas. Also, my guess is Cinnamon bread is $10/loaf now. 

Craftsman's Alley is much wider in spots now. The stores are all still stocking mostly Chinese-made junk and very little if anything made by on-site craftsman. They rerouted part of the water flume thing going down craftsman's alley in order to widen it up. It looks much more open and not as congested. It came out very nice.

[JJLehto]

LRod "Just as fast an relentless as before"  

See there we go. All I needed to hear : D

Oof, sounds like not the best visit. Sometimes I avoid start of season openings for that reason, get the kinks worked out. Esp these covid days. Though oof I hope one train ops are not normal! Great photos btw, I think the new little part of MM looks kinda neat myself. 

 

[u4icmusic]

21 hours ago, coasterbill said:

I really can't stress enough how people have been saying since half-way through the first season that the ride has been slowed down, the launch is slower and whatever else. I'm not saying that people should be happy with a diminished ride experience and suck it up so it operates, I'm saying that it's **probably** not diminished and the "I rode it when it was better" crowd is lying to themselves so they feel cool for being one of the six people to successfully ride it when it first opened.

I have no doubt that the day the ride opens and the train is half empty for social distancing and it's cold and crappy out these people will be blowing up the internet talking about how much better it used to be but let's wait and see if that's actually even true. I'm optimistic that it won't be.

PS: everyone also complained about a pothole endlessly that won't exist any more, so maybe it will actually be better!

Now Mystery Mine? That's a different story. lol

I've ridden Lightning Rod when it first opened and I rode it today. Other than the slight slowdown going over the crest of the first hill, there is NO difference in the ride experience. Although, like I said above, the ride was very rough. All my friends that rode it thought the same. Still super-fast, intense and fun, but rough. The ride is very short too, like a minute long, but still one of the best I've ridden just because it is so relentless. Not as good as Steel Vengeance, but I doubt nothing ever will be, but still fun as Hell. Also, there was no social distancing on Lightning Rod. All seats were filled today. as they were on many of the rides.

[JJLehto]

29 minutes ago, u4icmusic said:

I've ridden Lightning Rod when it first opened and I rode it today. Other than the slight slowdown going over the crest of the first hill, there is NO difference in the ride experience. Although, like I said above, the ride was very rough. All my friends that rode it thought the same. Still super-fast, intense and fun, but rough. The ride is very short too, like a minute long, but still one of the best I've ridden just because it is so relentless. Not as good as Steel Vengeance, but I doubt nothing ever will be, but still fun as Hell. Also, there was no social distancing on Lightning Rod. All seats were filled today. as they were on many of the rides.

That is all I needed to hear! Excitement level back to 10 ha  I don't mind rough so that's fine. 

Hmmmm interesting on the end of social distancing, but I get it. We don't need to like it/agree but just factually: people will be returning to parks this year. Maybe not back to normal, but close. Limited capacity will make lines just brutal, with cases down, vaccines up, more ordered etc tough call but I get it. 
I'm driving anyway and will self quarantine when I get back, even if I'm vaxxed, to be safe anyway. 

[tndank]

Rough? Did we ride the same ride? Seemed really smooth to me on my rides. Like any other ibox.  I'll get back this weekend to try it a few more times. 

 

I don't think any parks are skipping rows on coasters anymore. 

[thrillseeker4552]

I am very surprised you found the coaster rough. That would genuinely shock me, since 2/3 of the track is now IBox. The existing wooden parts - that's fair game.

Haven't ridden Lightning Rod, but I've ridden a half-dozen or so IBox coasters and none of them were remotely rough in any shape or form. Not trying to negate your experience (since I haven't ridden), but that is why I would be super shocked!

[prozach626]

Thank God we have an all new "rough or smooth" debate. The Kings Island thread has been dead, lately.

[PKI Jizzman]

If it can run consistently over the next month and MM reopens with no issues, I gotta visit. Really LR's unpredictability was the only thing keeping me from going down there. 

[tndank]

I will say, leaving the loading platform, turning the corner and seeing the smoke and mist on the first launch segment is cool.  

[u4icmusic]

14 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

I am very surprised you found the coaster rough. That would genuinely shock me, since 2/3 of the track is now IBox. The existing wooden parts - that's fair game.

Haven't ridden Lightning Rod, but I've ridden a half-dozen or so IBox coasters and none of them were remotely rough in any shape or form. Not trying to negate your experience (since I haven't ridden), but that is why I would be super shocked!

I totally agree with you. That's why I was so surprised. My friends also found it rough while others at the park though it was smooth. The people sitting in the front of the trains had a smoother experience. I only rode once in row 9 and to me it was rough. Still fast as Hell and super fun though. A top coaster for sure. There were two rollbacks yesterday when I was there, so the ride was down a lot of the time considering the park was only open from 10 am to 6 pm. I left early but I heard the ride opened up again at about 5:30 pm. Ride times were close to two hours in the afternoon, so I'll ride it again when I go next week. They are assigning rows now, so you cannot pick a front row or front of train seat at this time. Not sure if this is a permanent change or temporary because of COVID. The ride operators said the ride is running at the same speeds and 2019 and it sure felt fast to me once we got over the first crest. They also only ran one train yesterday, so hopefully they will get a second train running to help cut down on the wait times.

 

[u4icmusic]

Here is video of a test train on Mystery Mine yesterday.  Mystery Mine Modification

[AmyUD06]

I know you're excited, but you can edit posts, you know.

[oriolat]

I am intrigued: besides construction work, why is it that they cleared SO many trees around Lightning Rod? Is there any other reason why they cut so many?

[A.J.]

16 minutes ago, oriolat said:

I am intrigued: besides construction work, why is it that they cleared SO many trees around Lightning Rod? Is there any other reason why they cut so many?

I dislike it too.

Some are speculating that trees were removed all around the layout to prevent potential clearance issues down the line without having to bring in maintenance to cut tree limbs every year, others are thinking that they are keeping the area relatively clear so that they can replace the rest of the Topper Track with I-Box track at a later date.