Eric's Dollywood Thread!

It's been awhile but it is time for another update! Recently, I met up with TPR during the New Hotness Tour and while I was at the park I finally got a chance to check out the National Roller Coaster Museum traveling exhibit. If you don't know what this is, you can check out all the information on their website here: http://www.rollercoastermuseum.org/

I was actually very impressed by the set up for this, and thought it was very well done! Let's check out some photos shall we?

The exhibit was housed in the former location of the Inventor's Mansion, as well as the original home of the Dolly Parton's Museum.

The set up of the museum was a series of hallways with a combination of posters, models and actual memorabilia saved from defunct rides.

The exhibit started with a brief history of the roller coaster which I am sure we have all read in books a thousand times by now.

And of course it paid homage to the father of the modern day theme park. Love that photo!

Being as the exhibit was being hosted by Dollywood, they of course through in a bit of history of the park and how it got to where it is today.

In case you didn't know, these guys paid a colossal part in Dollywood's history.

A bit on about how the Herschends got their start in the theme park business was included.

Do you know where this ride is located today???

A look at all Herschend Family Entertainment catalog of properties.

Now let's check out the rest of the museum. The arrow points the way.

Like his rides or not, Ron Toomer was one of the most influential ride designers in coaster history. There was quite a bit on him included in the museum.

Who here remembers seeing dirt underneath the original corkscrew at Knotts?!?!

Before there was The Bat, there was this prototype suspended coaster built at the Arrow plant in California. Yes, that is a corkscrew!

I never knew there was kayak ride at Six Flags Over Texas! Best Arrow mine ride in my opinion right here!

Pretty much all the major ride manufacturers were covered in the museum.

And being at a regional park, Dare Devil Dive was the major representation for Gerstlauer.

Some cool artifacts that the museum has collected over the years was also on hand. Doesn't this Vekoma wheel look so innocent on that wall?!?!

R.D., you might want to take a second on these next two photos.

Love me some Shock Wave!

Anybody want to take a gander as to what ride this wheel was from???

The Museum was able to get their hands on a few remnants of one of the more recent popular rides to become defunct, the Big Bad Wolf.

For you control panel geeks!

I appreciated the homage paid to Opryland, as it was my childhood park and home to many of my coaster firsts.

While it didn't have a spectacular collection of rides, you always have a soft spot for these pieces of your childhood. *sniff *sniff

Contrary to popular belief, there was no gravy buffet table at the ACE portion of the exhibit.

They really had an impressive collection of roller coaster history in this museum!

I would of loved to have experienced this ride opening season. After that, not so much...

Another wooden monster that I would of loved to experienced before it tore itself apart.

There were also several of these awesome coaster models spread out through out the exhibit.

Such a terrible and awesome idea!

I just can't understand how that ride got so rough!

Anyone know where this ride is now???

It aint a good roller coaster museum, if you don't have no coaster trains in it.

A little GCI love!

How many have you been on???

This Test Track model was randomly stuck in there, but it is cool so it's okay!

They even showed some love for the dark ride!

While it isn't my personal favorite, it is definitely a classic and I am glad I got to ride it.

Noted!

And we will close this update with Mr. Coat Hanger in action!!! Thanks for reading!

Wow, that display is fairly impressive. I'm kind of surprised a park would allow an exhibit like this to showcase rides from other parks and park chains around the country, but then again Dollywood is pretty awesome. Thanks for the update Eric, I'll have to check it out next time I make up to Pigeon Forge!Just curious but where was this located within the park?

I'm going to take a wild stab at it. Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall.

I was very impressed with the Roller Coaster Museum. We spent about 20-25 minutes in there and I thought it had some great photos and information. It was a great place to go while it was raining as well.

Glad that the roller coaster museum is finally putting something on display! Very cool of Dollywood to host this!

I went to look at the museum after the evening meal but it was closed,so this thread was awesome for me to see what was in there plus it's another reason to get back to Dollywood(not that I really need one!)

Great TR! Is the museum still there? I will be at the park this weekend and would love to see it in person.

Just curious but where was this located within the park?

Great TR! Is the museum still there? I will be at the park this weekend and would love to see it in person.

Heritage Hall. It is easy to miss since it hasn't been used as a public attraction for years. If you have been through the tunnel that connects Craftsman's Valley and the Village (section of park with the train station), than you have been right underneath it.

From what I understand the museum will travel around the country each season with Dollywood being the first stop. I remember seeing an article earlier that the exhibit would only be open through mid September, so it might have already closed. Not positive about that though.

 

I'm going to take a wild stab at it. Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall.

I actually don't remember, so I was hoping one of you guys would!

A most excellent TR of what looks like a genuine good start for the Museum. Some of the items that were shown sent me back 30 plus years to my early days of riding... and the original pics of the Mountain View assembly site.

(You can still see 1775 Plymouth Ave in Mountain View, CA. While the Drive In movies are gone, and things are grown up, the original Arrow site is still there- and as of 2010 had remains of the old testing ground still on site. However, DO NOT attempt to gain entry- it is privately held!)

 

I'm going to take a wild stab at it. Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall.

The wheel that was pictured isn't from WEM's Mindbender, though- as the wheels were intact at the time of the unfortunate accident. In fact, it was the axle/mount that cracked, not the wheel as is a popular urban legend.

Excellent job, Eric!

R.D.

These are awesome. Too bad there is no word if this will be travelling to any other parks on their website.

Was there anything there stating where the exhibit would be travelling to next?

Also, from their FB page:

If you haven't seen our traveling display, "America's Roller Coasters and Amusement Parks" at Dollywood, you have until Sunday, September 16th. It is located in Heritage Hall, a space directly above the cave, near Miss Lillian's BBQ, at the lower end of Craftsmen's Valley.

So unfortunately it closed yesterday for anybody heading to the park the rest of the season.

I honestly had no idea that the National Roller Coaster Museum was actually offering a traveling exhibit! I'm curious to see where it might go next (I'd love to see it come to Orlando at some point)...

This might be the best picture of the suspended corkscrew I've ever seen. I'd seen a blurry one not too long ago, but this clearly shows that crazy element as it was laid out.

Thanks for sharing these with us Eric!

Wow, that was cool to see! Based on the size of the chunk taken out of that wheel, I'm going to have to guess it was from the car I rode on the Cyclone at Coney Island this past summer

I honestly had no idea that the National Roller Coaster Museum was actually offering a traveling exhibit! I'm curious to see where it might go next (I'd love to see it come to Orlando at some point)...

 

 

This might be the best picture of the suspended corkscrew I've ever seen. I'd seen a blurry one not too long ago, but this clearly shows that crazy element as it was laid out.

 

Thanks for sharing these with us Eric!

Whilst you are 100% correct, it is the best photo of a suspended corkscrew...

I wanna see more of the coaster at the very bottom of the photo, it looks interesting...ie fully inverted track by the looks of it....

Anyone know the reason why the corkscrew never made it out of the prototype phase? I looks like it would be quite intersting on a suspended. Great looking museum too I will have to keep an eye out for it.

The Arrow suspendeds, because of the swinging action that made the rest of the ride experience fun, had problems with inversions. The ride's swinging carriages had to have significant momentum to make it through an inversion and not fall to one side or the other, so they abandonded the idea of adding inversions to the suspended coaster design. And the mine train which originally was located at Six Flags Over Mid-America where Ninja is now is located at Magic Springs as Big Bad John.

Eric - What attraction used to be in the building that houses the exhibit?

I know it once housed a Dolly Museum. But I think they moved most of that over to Jukebox Junction.

I had no idea there was a prototype Arrow suspended corkscrew. That looks terrifying.

Eric - What attraction used to be in the building that houses the exhibit?

It used to be a funhouse called the Inventor's Mansion before it became the Dolly Parton museum when the park became Dollywood, in which capacity it served until it moved to its current location. The building hadn't been used in regular service since 2005 up until this exhibit moved in.

Thanks for posting this, coaster history is always interesting.

Did anyone else notice that the GCI list of rides mixed up the dates on the two Roar clones? It listed SFDK's Roar as being the first.

 

If you haven't seen our traveling display, "America's Roller Coasters and Amusement Parks" at Dollywood, you have until Sunday, September 16th. It is located in Heritage Hall, a space directly above the cave, near Miss Lillian's BBQ, at the lower end of Craftsmen's Valley.

 

So unfortunately it closed yesterday for anybody heading to the park the rest of the season.

Yeah, that is what I though I had remembered. I really would recommend anyone to visit whichever park/location is selected next for the museum!

 

I wanna see more of the coaster at the very bottom of the photo, it looks interesting...ie fully inverted track by the looks of it....

Yeah, unfortunately that is where the poster cut off so I couldn't get more of the layout.

And the mine train which originally was located at Six Flags Over Mid-America where Ninja is now is located at Magic Springs as Big Bad John.

You are correct sir!

Eric - What attraction used to be in the building that houses the exhibit?

 

It used to be a funhouse called the Inventor's Mansion before it became the Dolly Parton museum when the park became Dollywood, in which capacity it served until it moved to its current location. The building hadn't been used in regular service since 2005 up until this exhibit moved in.

Supposedly, I visited Inventor's Mansion years ago. The mansion was actually right in front of the old entrance gate of the park before it was moved to its current location and was one of the first things you saw from the parking lot. It was good to see it being used again.

The park has changed just a little bit since Silver Dollar City, hasn't it?

A most excellent TR of what looks like a genuine good start for the Museum. Some of the items that were shown sent me back 30 plus years to my early days of riding... and the original pics of the Mountain View assembly site.

 

(You can still see 1775 Plymouth Ave in Mountain View, CA. While the Drive In movies are gone, and things are grown up, the original Arrow site is still there- and as of 2010 had remains of the old testing ground still on site. However, DO NOT attempt to gain entry- it is privately held!)

 

 

I'm going to take a wild stab at it. Mindbender at West Edmonton Mall.

 

The wheel that was pictured isn't from WEM's Mindbender, though- as the wheels were intact at the time of the unfortunate accident. In fact, it was the axle/mount that cracked, not the wheel as is a popular urban legend.

 

Excellent job, Eric!

 

R.D.

Indeed, that wheel is not from Mindbender. It is from the Jack Rabbit at Seabreeze! (I can't believe I actually remembered that; it has been over a month.)

 

I wanna see more of the coaster at the very bottom of the photo, it looks interesting...ie fully inverted track by the looks of it....

That was actually Arrow's trackless design, (bobsled) that never took off.

Dollywood used to have a Flooded Mine ride? Me n' tha Midgets loved that ride at Silver Dollar City.

Thanks for the report Eric! When we visited in July, we wanted to check it out but by the time we got to it, it was closed for the day.