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Dollywood Discussion Thread

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

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Just found out that I may be able to head to Dollywood for the first time over the week before Easter in 2018. Anyone who is local or closer to the location than I am is the weather then ok for the park? What would be recommended for that time of year overall? Has Lightning Rod run better in 2017 than 2016 (I honestly don't know I haven't been paying as close of attention).

Kind of excited to head down as I did not expect to have much of a chance to get to any new parks in 2018.

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Just found out that I may be able to head to Dollywood for the first time over the week before Easter in 2018. Anyone who is local or closer to the location than I am is the weather then ok for the park? What would be recommended for that time of year overall? Has Lightning Rod run better in 2017 than 2016 (I honestly don't know I haven't been paying as close of attention).

Kind of excited to head down as I did not expect to have much of a chance to get to any new parks in 2018.

 

Easter falls on April 1 in 2018.

 

I can say from my experience in 2014 that about the week before that date (March 24-27), it was cold and snowed one day while I was staying in Pigeon Forge. Does it do this every year? Maybe, maybe not. It's kind of a crap shoot that time of year. It just so happened that it snowed on the Tuesday I was there and the park was not scheduled to be open (the park was closed on Tuesday that early in the season). I went to the park the day before and the weather was fine with highs in the mid 50s. The day after (Wednesday) however, the park opened on time, but most of the coasters didn't until about 12:30-ish due to the cold temps (was 34 when we arrived). The high that day was about 45.

 

So if you can take the cold temps and it doesn't stay so cold the rides won't open you should be fine. I grew up in Charlotte, so I knew about the weather in the area (I live in FL now). My partner planned that trip as a birthday surprise. Had I been in the know, I would have suggested going in mid May. Riding Wild Eagle in 40 degree temps was not the best (walked off freezing), but it was open and the trip paid for....lol

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Visited the park Tuesday and Wednesday and had a great, great time. I think only once or twice did we ride on a full train. In two days and 12 hours at the park, our scorecard was:

 

Lightning Rod (on our 5th trip to the park to ride, no less): 10x

Wild Eagle: 3x

Tennessee Tornado: 3x

Thunderhead: 3x

Mystery Mine: 3x

Firechaser: 2x

Blazing Fury: 2x

Drop Line: 2x

Whistlepunk Chaser: 1x (yeah, no one around, so we went for it)

That other lumberjack eque ride in the area (didn't know if it was a kid or adult thing, saw some adults, rode, and had a bit of fun): 1x

Train: 1x

 

Now for some thoughts:

 

Lightning Rod is great, great fun. The only bump on the whole ride (not too noticeable until you move to the back of the train) is at the bottom of the big drop. Also, are there some trims after the launch ends before cresting the first hill? The ride flies. It really just has one speed: fast. The airtime is remarkable and seeing the park lit up as you descend the mountain is pretty amazing. My only complaint are the operations. They were real anal about having your lapbar absolutely slammed down. That and the ride being a bit finicky (stopping on the brake run for an extra moment, having to 're-park' the train in the station because it stopped too soon, etc, etc). It's just a temperamental ride and honestly with one train operations, I fear the lines on busy, busy days and was so grateful to be able to get a good number of front row rides in.

 

Wild Eagle: A solid ride, just hate the vests.

 

Mystery Mine: Found it to be much smoother in the back than the front? Is this a consensus, or...?

 

Tennessee Tornado: Still running really well. Enjoyed the second to last seat a lot and the front was solid.

 

Drop Line: Got the short cycle for the first day and the long cycle the second day. It's real nice to hang out up there all that time and take in the view.

 

Firechaser: Such a great ride for the park and clever how they used the towers from the ropes course.

 

Thunderhead: I thought it was running especially well for the end of the season. What's going on behind Thunderhead in terms of construction?

 

Shows were all great and were all filled almost to capacity in sharp contrast to the rides. The religious stuff was laid on pretty thick in Smoky Mountain Christmas (it shifted halfway through from your typical Christmas songs to the more religious ones). The other two big shows, It's a Wonderful Life and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas weren't quite as noticeable. Really adds value to the Season Pass to be able to experience brand new entertainment like this.

 

Had some solid food (Thanksgiving Feast sandwich with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce served with sweet potato tots, and two loves of cinnamon bread).

 

That stage back by all the coasters will certainly be out of place but I would prefer that to River Battle, though another kind of ride could've been nice.

 

All in all, I am glad I got a season pass and know that we'll back 2-3 times between now and the end of the season to get our money's worth!

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A lot of folks who have ridden LR only a few times feel there have been trims added to the top of the lift..

 

Personally, I have always felt a slowdown at the top and last season OIE ( the company who did the control software) has said that the ride isn't trimming at the top, it's just slowdown as it leaves the launch area which doesn't go all the way up the hill.. they even told a few of us here on Facebook the same thing when the rumor crept up again.. is it true? Who knows.. yes there is a slowdown but is it because of trims? No one has said it was so who knows

 

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The trim thing with lightning rod, i rode it before the fire. When you crested the first hill you were ejected out immediately, and from then on were holding on. Now it creeps over the top then continues as normal as always. Whether or not it’s trimming, i was in pigeon forge last weekend and decided to watch it go through the back course from the employee lot. While doing that i could hear the trims let go as the train passed. Actually filmed a launch with it on it.

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Edited by Dollywoodlover20
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It was only the first rmc I have been on, but it seemed like someone hit the brakes popping over the first "down". It was bizarre.

 

Just a quick comment on this, since it's come up a couple times - the brakes at the top of the launch hill do not come up or engage with the train during normal operation. They are only there if the control system determines the train needs to stop before cresting the first hill. If you watch closely you can see them popping into place after the train passes.

 

Since the magnetic launch doesn't go all the way to the top, you'll definitely feel the train slow down before the airtime madness begins. But it's due to gravity, not braking!

 

Jeff

Irvine Ondrey Engineering

Here is the post from last year when folks said the same thing "Train was being slowed down at the top"..

 

See, people have been talking about this since early summer of last year... Meaning folks have noticed it slowing down way before the fires.. it's not new this year and has always been there

 

As seen in this post, what you are probably hearing are the Trims popping into place after the train passes so yes you do hear them, but not when you think so i don't doubt a sound is there, IOE even says you will see the fins move when the train passes..

 

Please note, I'm not saying they haven't changed things since then BUT I am saying the slowing down isn't new like a lot of folks say.. it was there last year, noticable last year, and is nothing new. Several folks have been very vocal about it not slowing down last year but we had the same rumor then due to the same reason.. I road it a ton last season, from opening weekend and I always noticed a slowdown.. folks that posted here noticed it as well. So this is the second year of that rumor

 

At times it might be more noticeable due to train weight and stuff, I have noticed the slowdown was worse on different rides so that might be why. A 5000 pound train will slow down much more than a 4000 pound (please know, those are random numbers)

 

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I have ridden the coaster several times this year after the May/June 2017 downtime and I will say that the "slowdown"at the top feels a little more noticeable compared to my rides back in mid-March and last year. However, the rest of the ride feels nearly the exact same but maybe just a tad less intense. I just wasn't ejected at the top anymore. It really doesn't bother me unlike some people on other coaster sites and on social media. It's really nothing to make a big deal out of. I'm just glad that the coaster has been running more consistently the past few months.

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Now for some thoughts:

 

Lightning Rod is great, great fun. The only bump on the whole ride (not too noticeable until you move to the back of the train) is at the bottom of the big drop. Also, are there some trims after the launch ends before cresting the first hill? The ride flies. It really just has one speed: fast. The airtime is remarkable and seeing the park lit up as you descend the mountain is pretty amazing. My only complaint are the operations. They were real anal about having your lapbar absolutely slammed down. That and the ride being a bit finicky (stopping on the brake run for an extra moment, having to 're-park' the train in the station because it stopped too soon, etc, etc). It's just a temperamental ride and honestly with one train operations, I fear the lines on busy, busy days and was so grateful to be able to get a good number of front row rides in.

 

 

So why was is still on one-train-operation? Low attendance or technical trouble?

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No need to run two trains right now.. it's been a walk on with one train ops. They have been running two trains on the weekends if it's busy but the other train is back before the next launches.. it actually stacks pretty badly so I'm not so sure two train ops really help it much.

 

They had two train ops several times during luminights

 

Dollywood has never been a park to run multiple trains if they don't have to. And they will actually close rides down to unload the second trains if attendance stays low. Sometimes thunderhead will have two trains on the track but the second train runs empty if there is no line.. this time of year some of the coaster trains even disappear.. like nowhere to be seen on the ride (they take them away for refurbishment)

 

Like he said in his post, shows are full this time of year, like full to capacity. Most folks go to Dollywood for the Christmas stuff and not rides

 

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Edited by dstephe9
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Oh, just to clarify, the ride was incredible regardless of what happens going up the hill. I'm not quite sure how much more intense the ride could really be. And it was one train ops because there was no one there. If they can run two trains, that obviously helps quite a bit.

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Oh, just to clarify, the ride was incredible regardless of what happens going up the hill. I'm not quite sure how much more intense the ride could really be. And it was one train ops because there was no one there. If they can run two trains, that obviously helps quite a bit.
That's the thing, it doesn't help as much as one would think.. the other train stacks so badly that you really don't even notice it running two

 

Probably why they only do it every now and then. Now if they had an unload dock and a load dock like a lot of parks are going to then two train ops on this might work out

 

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Now if they had an unload dock and a load dock like a lot of parks are going to then two train ops on this might work out

I'm kind of doubting this since (non-expert observations ahead:) it's super quick to unload riders from the coaster, but time consuming when loading and checking restraints. That train in the unload station would probably still be waiting there for a while for the loading riders. If dispatch times were significantly faster, I'm sure it would constitute having a separate dock. Heck, Mystery Mine has two load/unload docks, but the park only uses the front one.

 

As for the previous conversation, running faster/slower... I don't care, as long as it keeps running at all. Still a world class roller coaster, either way!

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Now if they had an unload dock and a load dock like a lot of parks are going to then two train ops on this might work out

I'm kind of doubting this since (non-expert observations ahead:) it's super quick to unload riders from the coaster, but time consuming when loading and checking restraints. That train in the unload station would probably still be waiting there for a while for the loading riders. If dispatch times were significantly faster, I'm sure it would constitute having a separate dock. Heck, Mystery Mine has two load/unload docks, but the park only uses the front one.

 

As for the previous conversation, running faster/slower... I don't care, as long as it keeps running at all. Still a world class roller coaster, either way!

Disney does it as they claim it's faster. They have unload docks for most coasters. And not having to wait for folks to get off does seem to speed it up. Yes the train still stacks but while it's stacked they go ahead and get the people off saving time at the load dock.

 

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It's probably going to be the new area that Dollywood said they would be building during the last part of their 300 Million Dollar Project. It has been said for years that the new area would start working it's way up the train loop. If you look at Google Maps, the easier way to access that area is River Battle so that's probably going to be the new hub.. when LR was built Dollywood said they wouldn't build another coaster for a while as they had plenty of other projects they wanted to do

 

Also late last season they sent out a survey about new theme ideas for the new area.. it's a huge area, I saw it a week or so ago myself.. to big for a coaster..

 

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I was there Saturday and got to see the land clearing first hand. If you ride the right side of WE and/or Fire Chaser you can see this well from either lift hill.

 

The dirt being moved is more for flattening than just clearing for a coaster. Like what they did for WE or LR. The flattening area merges perfectly well with the access road that goes behind/ through Fire Chaser. The construction begins on the hill above the retaining wall where river battle used to be. They are pretty much flattening out the whole area behind Thunderhead to the tracks. So its a significant area being cleared. I don't think they would be clearing that much land for just one coaster. All evidence , including hints Pete has dropped, points to an area expansion. More than likely, we will see them shooting for a 2019 opening. Construction will go on through 2018 on the hill, then between 2018 and 2019 they will connect the area in the off season.

 

A few other items to bring up:

 

LR has not been trimmed. I rode it on day two and its running close to what its designed to. IMHO - in all the downtime issues in 2017, the launch got a little too strong and that when a lot of people rode it thinking that was the norm. I remember the summer of 2017 that I literally got ejector air in the front seat going over the first hump. It didnt float like my first ride. As I have said, after the Dolly humps there is no difference and the ride still hauls donkeys.

 

If you look up in the parking lot of Splash Country, they are storing the parts from River Battle up there. So Hershend plans on reusing them somewhere. So the speculations about it going to Valdosta could be true or they could be planing on putting it up in the expansion area. thoughts?

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Yeah, everything matches hints Pete and others have dropped about the new area.. when FC Express was built they said they needed the space for future expansion leading most to believe that one of the paths would be the maintenance road beside FC. A simple Google maps image shows that's the next best place for the area to attach to the park would be the retaining wall around river battle.. The area being cleared is headed up towards the train loop which was another of the hints passed along a few years ago..

 

All of that, coupled with the recent surveys from last year looking for theme ideas and more leads me to believe it's an expansion.. River Battle hasn't been very popular at Dollywood so I'm not so sure they are saving it for Dollywoods new area but they might be.. I'd say it's going to GA or they have it listed for sale online.

 

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Does that mean a new coaster will feature in this area? If so, any indication/idea as to what kind? I would hope/assume a Mack, considering SDC just got one. But hopefully a more "Helix" type layout with launches and better than the neutered looking Time Traveler.

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