TheCrypt

If I saw a shirt (or anything for that matter), I would DEFINATELY buy it. I think Adventure Express is the most under-rated coaster ever. It truly is fun, and it deserves more attention than it gets. I've always wondered how an on-ride photo could be applied to Face/Off or Invertigo. Did they need double cameras or sumthin'?

Shaggy, how do you know all these things?! You're like a living encyclopedia! Seriously though, thank you for the insight, Shaggy. Why was the photo section temporary? Was it not successful with sales or what? I also saw in the (2010) Flashback 'til Opening Day thread that in the first tunnel, there were regular white lights illuminating the first tunnel on the inside... What happened to the lights? I think those could be returned (I have no doubt that the fixtures and power lines are still there) relatively easily, and the sets are still in there (ride Adventure Express, and you'll see silhouettes on each side of the tunnel).

Wait, woah woah! There used to be a ride photo on Adventure Express?! Why did they take it out?! I'd rather they didn't change it, it seems kinda fitting for the ride. LOL at the link--"encrypted-tb..."

<p>Hey guys, sorry this took so long. Anyways, I will try a different approach with this PTR since I took a lot more pictures. Monday morning, May 21.<br /> ____________________________________________________________________________________________________<br /> <br /> So, we parked the charter bus around 9:30, but we didn't actually set foot in the park until somewhere around 10:00 (now that I look back, I think the park itself wasn't open just yet--we thought it was ticket issues).<br /> <br /> The very first thing we headed to was <strong>Incredible Hulk</strong>. The ride wasn't open for the day just yet, so we waited for about 3 minutes whie they were still making empty test runs. This was a wonderful opportinity to get some great photos. I was getting excited from just hearing the distinct B&M roar roaring over our heads. This was one of the rides I looked forward to most, and it did not fail my expectations. I must say, the POV's on Youtube don't capture anything of what this ride experience was like. I loved the minor details that were included with the ride, like the mist, the water jets, etc. The ride was phenominal. 1 billion/10<br /> <br /> After this, we went to <strong>Storm Force Acceleration</strong>. At first, I thought that this was another motion simulator (like what almost every ride at Universal is <img alt="" class="bbc_emoticon" src="http://www.KICentral.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png" />), so I was a little hesitant to ride. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a well-themed teacup ride! I haven't been on one of these in awhile, so my group and I went straight there! I was glad that Islands of Adventure put effort into theming an almost impossible to theme flat. 7/10<br /> <br /> It about 10:20 at this time. Some of the groups from yesterday (not ours) went to IoA when they were finished with Universal, and they reccommended "the circley raft thing". You guessed it, we were off to <strong>Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges</strong>. This ride is the same model of ride as White Water Canyon, except instead of traversing through the woods, there are these really cool sets that we travel through (and plenty of opportunities to get soaked!). My favorite thing about this ride was that I lost track of where we were. There are so many twists and turns, you wonder why you never see any other part of the basin or the park for that matter. I didn't really like how far you have to walk back to get to the ride though (and on a cold morning with noone in line and no turnstiles open, it's really long! I just can't imagine waiting a full queue for this!) It's a great water ride, I highly reccommend it. 9/10.<br /> <br /> We liked Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges so much, we rode it again! We weren't allowed to stay on, so we had to walk all that way AGAIN! Good exercise, though.<br /> <br /> It was about 11:30 am now. After Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges, since we were still really wet, we figured that we might as well get all this water over with by the time we have to leave! So, we headed for <strong>Dudley Do Right's Rip Saw Falls</strong>. This log flume is very unique. Whenever we thought we reached the end, wrong! This log flume tricks you into thinking that "Here's the big one!" so much, that when it does come, you say "Oh this isn't it!" and you get a real surprise. There's a double-down, so you get some really good airtime on that drop. The theming was very good, too, all making the ride better. 8.7/10.<br /> <br /> 11:45 comes rolling along. Since Jurassic Park was nearby, I suggested that we ride Jurassic Park River Adventure. Our chaperone said we were wet enough already, so she said "maybe later". We didn't get a chance to ride. <img alt="" class="bbc_emoticon" src="http://www.KICentral.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sad.png" /><br /> <br /> By now, we all wanted to go to "Harry Potter World" (I always had to correct them by saying "NO! It's the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!") We kinda just wandered over, using Jurassic Park as a walkthrough (like many do with Kings Island's Oktoberfest) to get to <strong>Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey</strong>. I must say, this <strong>is </strong>a must-ride for anyone going to Islands of Adventure. I loved how they used the Hogwarts facade, and making you go through the castle to get to the ride. I loved how the station had those endless "floating candles". The ride is a motion simulator, but not the kind of the Simpsons' Ride of likes. It's kinda like the Robotic Arm in RCT3 (wow... I can't believe I just made that reference! <img alt="" class="bbc_emoticon" src="http://www.KICentral.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif" />). It's a great ride that captures the Harry Potter world very well.10/10.<br /> <br /> It's about 12:30 now, and we decided to take a break. Someone in our group saw a stand in Hogsmeade that had pumpkin juice. She got some for her, her sister, and her friend. While we were at the stand, I saw churros! I've never had an amusement park churro before, so I decided to get a churro. I do say, those cinnamon churros taste great.<br /> <br /> It was about 1:00 now, after mozying around for a bit. I really wanted to do <strike>Dueling Dragons </strike><strong>Dragon Challenge</strong>, so we did that. It was a bit of a tossup between Hungarian Horntail and Chinese Fireball. In the end, we chose Hungarian Horntail (blue). I really wish there was an on-ride photo section for this ride, or I would get it! Oh well, I ended up getting one at the end of the day. The ride was really fun (we sat in the front row, so that made it better), I just wish that we were dueling. Would have been better. I love how the track weaves in and out of itself (dueling would have made an epic ride-- and an epic photo opportunity!) It was really smooth, and blows Raptor out of the water IMO. 7.9/10<br /> <br /> After this, we got the world famous butterbeer! I got frozen, and let me tell you, this is a must-get for an IoA trip.<br /> <br /> Since it was about 1:30 now (our group+chaperones moves slow), and we were leaving around 2-2:15, my three friends and I all picked up the pace to get to the Hulk one more time for the final ride of our day, since it was by far the general favorite ride there. We ended up getting to ride it twice, both times as amazing as before. I got a ride photo at the end of it all.<br /> <br /> <strong>Pros: </strong></p> <ul class="bbc"> <li>The park was extremely clean.</li> <li>Safety seemed paramount.</li> <li>The overall feel to the park felt like I was actually there, be it in a comic book or in Hogsmeade.</li> <li>The employees (for the most part) were great with interacting and kept great dispatch times(--someone's been trained right!).</li> <li>I did not see a single ride down at all.</li> <li>Every ride was great.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons: </strong></p> <ul class="bbc"> <li>None! Everything about the park was great, and I look forward to visiting IoA again at some point in the future.</li> </ul> <p>Rides I rode:</p> <ul class="bbc"> <li>The Incredible Hulk (x 3)</li> <li>Storm Force Acceleration</li> <li>Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges (x 2)</li> <li>Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls</li> <li>Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey</li> <li>Dragon Challenge (Hungarian Horntail / Ice / Blue)</li> </ul> <p>Rides I didn't ride:</p> <ul class="bbc"> <li>Dr. Doom's Fear Fall (shot or drop)</li> <li>The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman</li> <li>Jurassic Park River Adventure</li> <li>Flight of the Hippogriff</li> <li>Poseidon's Fury</li> <li>Everything in Seuss Landing</li> </ul> <p>The crowds weren't really bad, things remained a walk on pretty much the entire day (scarce you'd find a line more than 20 min), but our group moved slow.<br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0197.jpg" /><br /> <em>The Incredible Hulk</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0196.jpg" /><br /> <em>Incredible Hulk flare</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0312.jpg" /><br /> <em>Incredible Hulk sign and train in mid corkscrew.</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0309.jpg" /><br /> <em>I just barely missed the train in this shot. I clicked the button on my camera a moment too soon.</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0306.jpg" /><br /> <em>Incredible Hulk in tail end of cobra roll</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0304.jpg" /><br /> <em>For some reason, I love this fountain. Why? No idea.</em><br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0303.jpg" /><br /> <em>Seuss Landing lamp post</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0301.jpg" /><br /> <em>Solar flare</em><br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0288.jpg" /><br /> <em>My attempt at being artsy with the butterbeer truck</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0273.jpg" /><br /> <em>One of my favorite shots of the day. I love how the track from Hungarian Horntail and Chinese Fireball wrap around each other.</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0266.jpg" /><br /> <em>The big track mess that is Dragon Challenge.</em><br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0223.jpg" /><br /> <em>Jurassic Park sign</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0214.jpg" /><br /> <em>I love how crazy this queue looks. I just can't imagine waiting in a full queue for any of these rides--Seriously, it's like every ride here has a Flight Deck-like line (long, empty)!</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0213.jpg" /><br /> <em>The unloading station for </em>Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls.<br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0209.jpg" /><br /> <em>Also one of my favorite shots</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0201.jpg" /><br /> <em>Storm Force Acceleration.</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0204.jpg" /><br /> <em>I sadly did not get to ride Spidey today. I was looking forward to it (like Jurassic Park), but it built up a line right at park opening.</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0274.jpg" /><br /> <em>Hogwarts castle from </em>Dragon Challenge <em>queue</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0254.jpg" /><br /> <em>Hogwarts</em><br /> <br /> <img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t513/TheCrypt2/Universal%20Islands%20of%20Adventure%202012/DSCN0218.jpg" /><br /> <em>Wish I was allowed to go on </em>Pterodon Flyers<em>... Too tall.</em></p> <p> </p>

^However, I am not complaining that I want it back!

^I don't think that would necessarily work, as Top Thrill Dragster doesn't operate with 6 trains anymore, rather 5 (this is due to more efficient operations). So, this would mean that there isn't an even number of forward and backward trains, and you can't modify each side of the station every time. Ok, I have no idea if that made sense or not, but I tried!

^Son of Beast is dead. I wish you would stop having "Bring back Son of Beast!" as your signature.

Why was he removed? I think it fits well with the overall theme of the ride, along with the "grand" finale.

On the parking lot signs, it has a man in between Adventure and Express, but this is the only place the guy is visible. What's the deal, here?

Didn't want to dig up this thread, but I didn't want to make a new one just for this. Why (at least last year) were the red lights used to illuminate the lava pits fixed to face the gondola while it was in its homing state? (In other words, why were the red lights pointed to where the gondola was going back to its load/unload position). It seemed awkward for the lights to sporadically go off in such a relatively boring time, when the average park guests won't even turn their heads to look and say "Oh look at them purty red lights, Harold!" They could have been used to illuminate the "rock" when it backflipped. If the lights didn't serve any purpose, why have power supplied to them?

I don't know why, but it seems that Paramount didn't do such a grand job repainting its rides... Lets see, there's been the Eiffel Tower, InvertiFACEgoOFF, Vortex, The Racer, etc. These rides' paint faded relatively quick. And don't get me started on the choice of sealing for Italian Job! On the subject of paint, why is it that Cedar Point's paint on the supports looks like they put wallpaper in a spiral fashion on them?

I see this as a topic where you could make improvements to something, rather than a "I want a wingrider" topic.

The Zephyr crew is the best. Once last season, I went on Zephyr. The ride-op played a little game with us (except it wasn't really a game). It went something like "Hey Zephyr riders, you wanna know how to make the ride go faster?" "Yeah!" "Everyone, put your arms out like a plane and make jet noises.... You wanna know how to make it go even faster?" "Yeah!" "Stick your arms out and wave them like a bird!.... You wanna make Zephyr go realllllly fast?" "Yeah!" "Keep waving your arms like a bird, and make bird noises! Cuckaww!" Guess what I did!

What exactly is Holiwood Nights?

I know Vortex for a fact, the supports sink into the ground (double entendre!) and come back out again. Doesn't this put a lot of wear and tear on the footings? It's noticable on the midway between Coney Mall and Rivertown. What is going on here?

If you could change any (previous or current) ride or attraction, what would you do? Personally, I would have changed The Crypt (surprise!). I wouldn't change much, but I think a change in music and lighting and/or a (minor) change in ride cycle would have helped. Ride Cycle and Dream is Collapsing- Dream is Collapsing (the music from Inception that plays while the ride was operating) is written in 6/4 time. This means that there are 6 beats in a measure, and quarter notes get the beat. Since it is written in moderately-paced 6/4, this allows ample time for the ride to operate. When the ride operated, the music was cut to start from approximately the 20 second mark. By the time the main theme comes around, the ride has already started and is in mid-swing at the back of the chamber. So, why not use the full score? When the music starts, the loading lights dim, and the gondola stays still for about 2 measures or 12 beats, then it unlocks and starts to sway. After 2 measures of this (or 5 seconds), when the violins come in (for four measures or 24 beasts), the gondola raises up towards Durga, with the vehicle still unlocked/swaying. When the guitar chords come in (the "bwahhhhhh bwahhhhhh bwahhhhhhbwahhhh") at about 23 seconds into the song, Durga's eyes light up blue, red, and yellow, fluxuating between the three. At the same time, the gondola does a controlled flip either forwards or back, then locks into place again. The gondola stays in that position infront of the goddess until the main theme comes in (about 34 seconds into the song), when it releases and goes into the 2 flip cycle (thus making it a 3!). Lighting and Music- A more realistic change would be to change the lighting and the music. I think this could work, and it would replace the loading and show music with the same piece, Chasing the Storm by Patrick Doyle (opening theme in "Thor"). Have the beginning to 2:20 loop throughout the loading/unloading process, and have 2:21-2:44 loop until the tail end of the ride cycle, then go from 2:45-end of the piece for the finale of the ride. Lighting-- When The Crypt operated, the lighting kinda seemed random, more often than not. There were a few places where the lights matched up with the music, but other than that, it was just awkward. To fix this, I have simple yet effective changes: When the music crescendos, make the lights do that too. Maybe start bright then immediately fall back down to soft, then get brighter? When a suspended cymbal or gong plays, make a strobe light or just a flash of colored light light the whole goddess. Simple, yet very effective and cool. At the end, have all the lights used in the show light up, where the music goes "bum" at the end of the piece, then quickly die down (to be replaced with the brightening loading/unloading lights). Maybe? Add fog (since it is succesful at Universal) Before anyone flames me for it, YES I know that these ideas are not really that realistic, but it's just what I would love to have happened before it hit the road. So, post away! EDIT: Here's the score from Thor:

Does The Beast do this? Or Son of Beast for that matter... When I've seen off-ride videos, I haven't noticed any swaying...

If it's cold and I'll drink it fast, no ice at all. If it's something I won't drink for awhile, but more of an I'll-Just-Take-a-Sip-Here-and-There kinda thing, medium ice ('cause it'll melt!)

Thanks for posting. Glad you had a great day at the park with family. I haven't been in that area of Planet Snoopy since the Nick Universe ages! Maybe even predating that (I mean, I can't necessarily ride them, too tall). I think it's the building suspense (or sumthin' like that), the loud chanting, theme, etc is what makes it a special hill. That, and it was his first ride and he hasn't expected the big let-down up ahead, which made it a fun surprise!

In response to earlier flat "hate" (I hate to call it that, but it's the only fitting word at mind right now), those small flats are really fun. I go on Zephyr, Shake Rattle and Roll, Scrambler, etc every time I go, and always have a great time. Sure, they don't match the magnitude of the larger rides, like The Beast, but they still have an element of fun (especially with friends--On the Scrambler, my friends and I always gang up on the kid unfortunate enough to sit on the outside seat and squish 'em! ). I think that if they added something like Wheel of Fortune, The Flying Eagles, etc, they will be a big hit, as they were really popular at the park. Something that I feel neeeeds to be mentioned: The Crypt is not SBNO! The Crypt has been scrapped like WildCat, Son of Beast's loop, Bavarian Beetle, [screamin'] Demon, etc! I find it questionable about the structural footings of Diamondback... Did something change how the concrete was made or something? Because older rides like Adventure Express haven't had the concrete problems (to the best of my knowledge), so are all the concrete footings under review or something?

^I think that's what matthunterross' drawing is alluding to, just an overlay of the original building.

^Yeah, I think my group got kinda bored real quick (although, I did think the Simpsons ride was a good surprise--And I really liked the pre-show! "Amount of people who put together these surveys: 15. Amount of people reading this: 0. ) I did not do Twister, unfortunately, but I did take an artsy picture of the sign! I'll see if I can find it... ^^^Kidd, what exactly did you not like about Rockit? ^^Thanks. EDIT- Does anyone here know what E.T. was? Was it like an Indiana Jones/Dinosaur or another motion simulator? The latter wouldn't surprise me.

Hello, all! So, I recently got back from Florida and took the opportunity to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I hope you enjoy the pictures! This, to me, is a really cool entrance that I think would be great to see at KI (or something similar) The first ride of the day: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. The Rockit was really fun. I got an insane amount of air on the pretzel loop, and the songs fit the ride really well (I chose the one by Motley Crue (who's name escapes me)). Pros: The layout, the forces, the unexpected turns, the lap bars, capacity (how efficient the ride operators were, how many trains were going at a given time, etc), the moving station, the (working!) audio and lighting effects-those were sweet! Cons: Where the music selection screen was placed (it wasn't centered on the lap bar! ), the amount of MCBRs, and the borderline annoying videos in the queue-while entertaining(ish), the music and the way the people spoke was kinda getting annoying. Good thing there was only about a 20 minute max wait for the ride all day! Next up: Revenge of the Mummy! I was totally blown away by Revenge of The Mummy. I wish I could get more pictures inside, but it was too dark. Oh well. The ride itself was really cool, better than I expected. I like how the mummy warriors popped up while the room was dark. I rode this in the front, and it was amazing to see all the effects and such. The turntable effect was cool, but I didn't understand the thing moving across the wall... The brakes were pretty forceful, but it didn't hurt the overall experience. Pros: I got to sit with my entire group (4 people total in my riding group), the effects were great, there was a bit of fog on the ride (only a little bit, but why isn't this possible at Kings Island when it's obvious it works well here? ), launches were fun, the brakes were fun, and the overall feel in the queue made me feel like I was in the movie. Cons: There was only one brake section that I felt could be tamer, whichwas the one where the "ride op" says "Thank you for riding!", but overall, that is the only one I can think of! After that, we went to Richter's Burgers and got, well, burgers! My friend's friend from Utah was with us and made fry-sauce, which consisted of mayo and ketchup , but it actually tasted pretty good! At Richter's, I only bought a souvenier cup and fries. However, in the souvenier cup, I got multitudes of flavors from the Coke Freestyle Machine, like various forms of Powerade, lemonade, Coke, Diet Coke, Rootbeer, Coke Zero, Sprite, etc. It kinda tasted like gum! Next, we head to "Disaster!" I thought that these painted "holes" on the show building were actual holes in the building... Imagine the looks on all my friends' faces when I asked that! There were all these hilariously rediculous comments over the queue- I just KNEW I had to get a picture of at least one! Disaster! was really cool. The way the show is set up, is that you first are put into a large group, and a person coordinating the movie scene will ask for people in the audience to come up and be in some special action scene takes. Then you are moved into another room where you "meet" a hologram of Frank Kincaid. Then you are shuffled off into another room where the selected people are to take part in the shootings. So, naturally, my friends and I all volunteered our chaperone to take part! At the end of the "tour", we go into a shuttle monorail, where we ride along in the monorail train to the "station", where you experience flooding, roof cave ins, explosions, etc. Then, the monorail train traverses in reverse and slowly makes it back to the actual load-unload station. By slow, I mean snail-slow, but during this time, a movie trailer comes on with all the shots taken in the previous room, edited and all. It was pretty cool. Now, the effects were pretty cool, but I don't see it as something I would do again. ___________________________________________________________________ After this, we went and had dinner, pizza! You can't go to an amusement park and not have pizza... Except maybe Dollywood... After food, we rode Men in Black: Alien Attack. After having been at Universal Studios all day, I realize why everyone wants the themed uniforms back. It just adds so much more to the experience and atmosphere. The Ride: The ride is a shoot 'em up kinda game, like Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, except with less cardboard cutouts. It was like Phantom Theatre with shooting laser guns (that work!). A really unique spin was put on the ride where in certain parts of the ride, the ride vehicles (containing six shooters) spun around, and forced you to one side of your seat, thanks to the laterals. Also, a duel loading station was used, and occasionally both sides would meet up either next to or across from each other, allowing for another unique thing. Pros: Effects were superb, all the guns worked, theme was way better than generic, the spins and meetups were unique, and the "elevator" in the queue was interesting. Cons: You could obviously see the lighting fixtures illuminating the various sets. ! My score. Not bad, eh? impsons ride, which was really fun and a lot different from what I expected. Thought it was gonna be a wild mouse!(?) Since my friend's friend had to go soon, we decided to go to Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit one more time before she had to leave. This time, I chose Stronger by Kanye West, like my friend told me to do. It fit the ride well, also. We ended up riding Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit thrice during the day. We ended up having enough time to do it again, and I chose the song by Motley Crue again Well, after that, my friend's friend had to go, and would not return tomorrow for Islands of Adventure. So, we kinda just roamed the park for the remainder of the day (we had to leave at 6:30). Thanks for reading! More to come tomorrow.

I've never been to Carowinds or Six Flags over Georgia, but I have been to Dollywood! Dollywood is a fun little park, but you will probably get bored after you've done Thunderhead, Mystery Mine, Wild Eagle, Barnstormer, Blazing Fury, even Veggie Tales' Sideshow Spin, and the like. Also, if you're one of the people who want fun, long ride time coasters, you'll get dissappointed by Tennessee Tornado. Now, I know other enthusiasts are screaming "BLASPHEMY!" at my post, BUT I am typing from my sisters' perspectives! They said it was boring, not I! My personal opinion? I loved the park. I went twice, one night then the whole day the next day. I went on all the "big rides", as did my sisters. I loved every aspect of the park, and took in every bit of scenery and architecture like there was no tomorrow. I appreciated the park for what it was, not for what it had. Dollywood is essentially a family park with some thrill rides thrown in. For me, I never got bored, but my sisters did. Quick. So, if you're in to big bad roller coasters, Dollywood may not necessarily be the place for you. But if you're in to a more laid back, pretty atmosphere, then you might want to seriously consider Dollywood. Also, at least to me, the park is kinda confusing, and you get quite the workout from the mountainous landscape. Hope I could help!

I haven't payed attention to the music, which is why I don't really hear it often times. But on the few times of which I've payed attention to the music, I don't really think Rhiannah is quite the appropriate choice for a German "themed" area. Or, maybe my hearing kinda sucks!