Dollywood Discussion Thread

[jarmor]

^That's why they can't find the damn bear, that track gives them away lol.

[mikeykaise]

22 minutes ago, jarmor said:

^That's why they can't find the damn bear, that track gives them away lol.

But Hunter Orange for safety, don't want any accidental shootings.

[TEDodd]

31 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

they never replaced the exposed and ugly Mystery Mine supports and then left the unused track just sitting there, Wildwood Grove is ugly, etc.

The left over MM track fits ok. Old abandoned mine with lots of "junk" around.

 

I've read/heard many comments on how good WWG looks.  I don't think it's that good but many do.

 

As for BBM, I'm hoping for a lot around the station. Time will tell.

[Shavethewhales2]

It's a great looking ride and obviously the park is really developing well for the younger kids/family demographic which is really smart. Really like the idea of a bigger coaster that is still appealing to non-thrill seekers. This is a great encore to Firechaser, which is a very popular ride. 

I second everyone's disappointment about the apparent theming budget cuts though... the second half of the ride looks... odd, especially with Dragonflyer right there. It's going to look very Six Flags back there. I was kind of hoping HFEC would keep pushing the bar on theming, but I understand that things are too damn expensive right now. SDC poured a ton of money into rockwork for Mystic River Falls, and it looks fantastic, but I'm sure the ROI is questionable. At least in SDC's case it was a central location and affected a wide area of the park. 

[megan]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

"Hey, people really like Firechaser Express but it has low capacity. Let's build another one but budget cut the theming."

I mean, it's fine. It seems redundant and it's in an open field but it adds capacity and has an ultra-low height requirement so that's never a bad thing.

Agree. Was loving the story. Not at all impressed with the execution. Was hoping for motorbike to at least claim a totally unique seating style. Theming or I should say “theming” looks terrible. I mean at least they are being honest and not faking non-existent trees and such, but seems like they totally cheaped out on more rock work. It would’ve been amazing to have built up a berm with trees and rocks that really encircled the grove and gave it a closed in feeling. This just… is. 

[megan]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

Yeah, I just really don't like the direction that the park has been going in aesthetically lately. They've cut down tons of trees, they removed the cave thing for a giant path with nothing on it, they never replaced the exposed and ugly Mystery Mine supports and then left the unused track just sitting there, Wildwood Grove is ugly, etc.

I'm trying not to judge this thing from a rendering but I feel like this is kind-of more of the same. The ride itself seems fine, I just wish it wasn't a bright orange unthemed coaster sitting in an empty field. I don't expect Disney quality here, just Dollywood-10-years-ago quality.

AMEN. You nailed it. I feel like ever since Hershend moved to Atlanta and had some shifts in leadership, things have gone south (no pun intended) I concur with the examples you cite. I feel like Mystery Mine (v1.0) was a tease of what they were capable of, then the came close again with firechaser. You can balance awesome theme with awesome thrills (wild eagle and Lightning Rod that were lighter on in-ride theming) but I feel like this was their chance to really “play with the big leagues” and they blew it. I was ready to trade in my KI passes for Dollywood again until I saw this. I can have a lightly themed queue and a coaster in a field 15 min from my house. 

[PKI Jizzman]

SWO lookin at Big Bear then Ice Breaker and then back at Big Bear

[TEDodd]

2 minutes ago, PKI Jizzman said:

SWO lookin at Big Bear then Ice Breaker and then back at Big Bear

BBM is twice the length (3990 ft) of Ice Breaker (1900 ft).

 

 

[coasterbill]

I'll admit that I immediately thought of Ice Breaker when I saw this. I haven't been closely following this project so at first I thought it was a Premier. The colors have a lot to do with that. The level of theming does also.

[thrillseeker4552]

I do wish it were a bit more themed (or really, just landscaped/wooded) but a long, custom family coaster with a very low height restriction is never a bad thing. It will make Wildwood Grove a bit more complete and add some nice capacity to the area so I'm totally on board. Looking forward to *finally* visiting for the first time next Spring - after axing plans on multiple occasions.

[u4icmusic]

1 hour ago, Shavethewhales2 said:

It's a great looking ride and obviously the park is really developing well for the younger kids/family demographic which is really smart. Really like the idea of a bigger coaster that is still appealing to non-thrill seekers. This is a great encore to Firechaser, which is a very popular ride. 

I second everyone's disappointment about the apparent theming budget cuts though... the second half of the ride looks... odd, especially with Dragonflyer right there. It's going to look very Six Flags back there. I was kind of hoping HFEC would keep pushing the bar on theming, but I understand that things are too damn expensive right now. SDC poured a ton of money into rockwork for Mystic River Falls, and it looks fantastic, but I'm sure the ROI is questionable. At least in SDC's case it was a central location and affected a wide area of the park. 

I was hoping for spinning cars, like Time Traveler. I guess there's always 2025, lol.

[Shavethewhales2]

50 minutes ago, megan said:

AMEN. You nailed it. I feel like ever since Hershend moved to Atlanta and had some shifts in leadership, things have gone south (no pun intended) I concur with the examples you cite. I feel like Mystery Mine (v1.0) was a tease of what they were capable of, then the came close again with firechaser. You can balance awesome theme with awesome thrills (wild eagle and Lightning Rod that were lighter on in-ride theming) but I feel like this was their chance to really “play with the big leagues” and they blew it. I was ready to trade in my KI passes for Dollywood again until I saw this. I can have a lightly themed queue and a coaster in a field 15 min from my house. 

Yes, we noticed shifts in priorities at SDC when the corporate move to Atlanta happened and it has picked up steam over the years. A lot of it is simply generational though. All the old timers who kept the unspoken rules of the parks are gone now. Current leadership more or less follows conventional business practices and doesn't care so much about the nuances of the parks. It's all so corporate now. Even within the parks you have different departments that operate like separate companies almost. It feels very cutthroat and political, and has led to a lot of people retiring and leaving the parks. That's one of the major reasons you hardly see any of the people that work there for 20+ years anymore.

 

A lot of people will say "no one cares about theming" or "I'll take 500ft of track over some extra theming" or some such things, but in this case especially the ride would actually be made by the theming. The ride experience itself will be quite mild (not a bad thing). The theming would have made it into a complete experience, but now it's just another kids ride that will be fall to a mid-tier ride at DW in a few years when they add the next rides and the novelty of being new wears off.  That whole back corner just seems unappealing compared to the rest of the park. Some trees at the very least would go a long way at bringing the smokey mountain ambiance back. 

 

Also, this addition really does make the loss of all those trees feel even more ridiculous. It's not like they are using all the space they flattened and cleared off at all. There's so much empty void space between this and the train tracks. 

[TEDodd]

13 minutes ago, Shavethewhales2 said:

The theming would have made it into a complete experience, but now it's just another kids ride that will be fall to a mid-tier ride at DW in a few years when they add the next rides and the novelty of being new wears off.

FCE is still packed most of the time. Longer waits than bigger coasters like WE, TT, and TH.
DF too. This will take some pressure off those and I expect all 3 will be very busy for years to come.

The comments on FB seem to be overwhelmingly positive.
A few coaster fans like here and a few that want something indoor, but mostly people glad for rides they and/or their kids can/will ride.

Unlike the big coasters, they have long term appeal.
I remember the lines in Nov 2012 after WE opened. I haven't seen anything close since 2013. That huge cue is virtually unused now, just like the one for TT and TH. 

 

13 minutes ago, Shavethewhales2 said:

ll those trees feel even more ridiculous. It's not like they are using all the space they flattened and cleared off at all. There's so much empty void space between this and the train tracks. 

I'm hopeful they do more theming and décor than the renderings show.

The rest of the area cleared will be filled in over time. I kind of expect some surprises there next year.
2020-2022 really screwed with the plans.
 

[coasterbill]

9 minutes ago, TEDodd said:

FCE is still packed most of the time. Longer waits than bigger coasters like WE, TT, and TH.
DF too. This will take some pressure off those and I expect a;l 3 will be very busy for years to come.

Unlike the big coasters, they have long term appeal.

I remember the lines in Nov 2012 after WE opened. I haven't seen anything close since 2013. That huge cue is virtually unused now, just like the one for TT and TH. 

I don't think the issue is "long term appeal", I think the issue is that every coaster in the park has surprisingly terrible capacity other than the three that you just mentioned (assuming Tornado has 2 trains running). Wild Eagle has short lines, but it also has the highest capacity of any coaster in the park by far.

[megan]

9 minutes ago, TEDodd said:

FCE is still packed most of the time. Longer waits than bigger coasters like WE, TT, and TH.
DF too. This will take some pressure off those and I expect a;l 3 will be very busy for years to come.

Low capacity has a lot to do with that, plus the great visual of a red train shooting backwards out of a burning building helps. But hey. We have jeeps on orange track in a field. 

[AmyUD06]

Seriously?  No one's made a joke about a launched coaster at Dollywood yet?  Wow....you all disappoint me haha.

[MartinU]

^ They are slowly absorbing Cedar Point's launch coasters. CP loses one, and at DW another one rises. 

[megan]

1 hour ago, TEDodd said:

FCE is still packed most of the time. Longer waits than bigger coasters like WE, TT, and TH.
DF too. This will take some pressure off those and I expect all 3 will be very busy for years to come.

The comments on FB seem to be overwhelmingly positive.
A few coaster fans like here and a few that want something indoor, but mostly people glad for rides they and/or their kids can/will ride.

Unlike the big coasters, they have long term appeal.
I remember the lines in Nov 2012 after WE opened. I haven't seen anything close since 2013. That huge cue is virtually unused now, just like the one for TT and TH. 

 

I'm hopeful they do more theming and décor than the renderings show.

The rest of the area cleared will be filled in over time. I kind of expect some surprises there next year.
2020-2022 really screwed with the plans.
 

Concept art almost always gets CUT more than ADDED TO. I think this is it. I mean, yeah, if they don’t cut the grass after it grows we will have some “infill” 

[TEDodd]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

I don't think the issue is "long term appeal", I think the issue is that every coaster in the park has surprisingly terrible capacity other than the three that you just mentioned (assuming Tornado has 2 trains running). Wild Eagle has short lines, but it also has the highest capacity of any coaster in the park by far.

Could be partially capacity.  But at the same time I'd expect TH, TT, and WE to have longer lines than they typically do. Quite often they are walk on to less than 10 min.

 

[TEDodd]

3 minutes ago, megan said:

Concept art almost always gets CUT more than ADDED TO. I think this is it. I mean, yeah, if they don’t cut the grass after it grows we will have some “infill” 

Well trees are out. They like to blow over or loose branches that damage rides. That was the impetus for cutting them back.

We don't have much showing the station area and the path from old WWG to the ride.
The B&W photo shows 3 buildings other than the station. Some new trees down near Till & Harvest. And thicker trees near the train tracks.
As the new WWG section grows they could add around BBM. I'm not sure how they will get past BBM. Not much room to the west before you hit the train tracks. Lots of room down by Till & Harvest and MM, but how to get there?

[megan]

From my 7 year old (target demographic) I show him the video. First comment “wow I can’t wait to see it go through the woods” then “I thought this was supposed to be a “MOUNTAIN” roller coaster, then “are there loops? Because if there are loopys I’m NEVER riding it” then finally at end “what’s the point of that? It never went in the woods. I thought it would be cooler” so, yeah… I’d say a break even at best. Not a home run for the target.

[rachelmadcow]

Is this their version of big thunder mountain? If so you cannot skimp on a ride like that. 
 

Dollywoods biggest issue is the fact it wasnt circular until very recently. which is the whole point of wildwood grove. 
 

As someone who is familiar w thw smokies and appalachians wild wood grove is cool and makes perfect sense bc thats how the smokies and appalachians are. Heavily wooded mountain tops and valleys with natural clearings in the low lying plains. 
 

Park needs a showcase b&m hyper really since wild eagle didnt really move the needle. 

[A.J.]

Hey folks, I just removed a bunch of posts from this thread. Please be respectful to each other or we'll have to take further action. Thank you!

[jarmor]

I have had some time to think about why i not that impressed/thrilled about big bear mountain.  I think it is because the story is really good but the execution (so far from what we see as far as the layout thematic elements) doesn't seem to live up to the story.  I feel if the trains were a little more unique, other than a retrofit normal train, that could have helped. Now, a blue sky idea I have is  to cut the first half by some and have it launch into a cave leading into a building like verbolten.  Then have elements as if Big bear were stalking you and as soon as it is revealed, the track drops and you can have a small launch to meander back to the station.  That's just blue sky at this point but I'd be more partial to it than the current version.

[redfoot12]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:35 PM, redfoot12 said:

Cool. I fit on TT a few weeks ago but it was tight. 

Success!

Just got off Lightning Rod !

No assistance needed!

Fun ride. Wish I could  have ridden it in its "heyday".

For any riders of "exceptional size" out there, stick with a plan. In March I was 332 and was  denied a ride on Pantheon. 42 pounds down later I'm the skinniest man alive.