silver2005

I'll be out of the cicada zone at least.

Did a bit of a warm up today for the hills I'll encounter in Tennessee. Walked 12 miles in 3.5 hours, a lot of it with hills on par with G-burg and PF at 90 degrees.

^A certain member that used to dwell here from Xenia would know where all the wheels are.

Though there were problems with a lot of sites and forums back in the day, I do miss the variety and energy brought to bring them all to life. It was kinda a cool time to be an enthusiast.

^Emergency KIC meet up confirmed.

Now I'm just imagining those die hard enthusiasts who take notice of such things to try and get a hint from the mowing schedule.

I haven't been since the early 2010s, but I feel this still applies. I do feel Dollywood is the kind of park where you don't really need a day plan to get the most out of your day. If you want to save your legs, I'd head to Thunderhead first and curve around that way since that incline is easier than going up the hill at Craftsman's Valley. Its a hilly park regardless. BTW, my first trip was when Thunder Express was still there, too, but I've been a couple times since. Also, see at least one show, ride Dollywood Express, and get the cinnamon bread.

^That depends, is the Freestyle stand open?

That should be Don's official title now.

I live in a cul-de-sac near a lot of woods, and for about every leaf I see on trees, there's a cicada attached. They're swarming like angry (or some other adjective that's against the TOS) bees here on the west side. Its also loud enough to where you can't hear yourself think.

The members of the RCB are about as pro as you can get. I know one of the trumpet players (who essentially put the band together), and he's played occasionally with the Cincinnati Pops, including solo work with Aretha Franklin when she performed with them a while back. He also works with the UC Band. He's one of the best trumpet players you'll see perform live. Wouldn't expect anything less. Looking forward to hearing them on my next visit. Also, I would LOVE to perform with them.

^Does that make @VortexBFForever the official keeper of the 11th Commandment?

The nature of this thread ad infinitum.

Is it rational to be nervous about CF as a whole right now? Between the events last Saturday at KI, the disaster going on at Sandusky, and the negligence I see with how they're running KD, I am starting to feel that way.

^I saw a lot of training on the spot on about every ride, too. I think it's more new employees getting used to the job. I also don't get why some rides have you check your own restraints while others have the ops do it, also a factor in stackings (mostly on Bat, Racer and AE from what I saw).

Call me crazy, but I like the rattle. I feel DB is running a bit more aggressively this season, in a good way.

Trip is all booked. Got decent hotels in my price range right next to Carowinds and right on the Pigeon Forge strip. Hitting Carowinds on a Monday, Dollywood on a Thursday. Going July 11-17. EDIT: Routing is very convenient- there is one route I can take to Carowinds that goes by Gatlinburg. Makes navigation easy.

^But the roof of the station? That's where the buckets, tarps, cones and flags, and pulley were located. The wood in the dumpster appeared to be mostly poles and some of the plywood. More of the grey plywood was sitting next to the dumpster and a pile was also seen under Bat's brakerun. I would check the SOB station for missing Wolfpack bits though.

Part of me thinks all that was a little planned a bit given the scale of it all.

I think they were potentially staving off an incident today as I saw 6 Mason PD units outside the front gate (the walk in gate). I think that's a little more than the usual Mason presence at the park around closing.

A few notes from today- - LOVE the TLC they did to Adventure Express. The tunnels being brought back to life, especially the last one, is a great refreshing touch. Also love the Tomb Raider music in the station. Loved that music building up the ride back in the day. - Spotted signs of potential painting and other things going on at Bat, cones with flags on top of the station along with brown and white tarps along with buckets and even a pulley. Also a dumpster with wood and plywood panels around underneath the station and brake run, plywood was grey (from Wolfpack or Blackout maybe?) - Heat made all the steel coasters haul a** today -Impressed with the staff overall for being this early in the season, glad I didn't let last night deter me from going, had a good day

45-60 minutes is about par for the course on waits today. Food lines look long but are moving well.

Daily operations can't get here soon enough.

Might be a tad crowded today. Nothing out of the ordinary. EDIT- Orion is at about an hour wait.

I think I'm going to book on my next off days. Still have to wait on Dollywood's calendar to reach the days I want to reserve. I didn't expect to find hotels in my price range right in the thick of PF and Gatlinburg. Will definitely have some extra money to splurge a bit. Also, reminder to future self- get Dollywood's cinnamon bread. EDIT: I'm also crossing my fingers regarding Carowinds in hopes they're not in as bad a spot as CP is right now.