brenthodge

That’s what I wish the park wiujd get back to (and I honestly really see that direction coming-based on CO and Carrowinds projects that tie into local culture and park history more than “made up themes”. I think they worked with what they already had with AREA 72 and made it still tie into park history, but I don’t want Adventure Billsge back just because it was a cheap knock off of Disney Adventureland originally. I think one of the reasons Dollywood “works” is that the park as a whole is authentic to the area so the theming just makes sense in that it never tries to be exotic or escapism. It’s an extension of the area outside the gates.

Love that idea. WindSeeker and the new Wing Coaster could anchor the area, retheme Jukebox to a diner at the terminal. Do something w SRR to tie into the theme and renovate old action theatre into a large hangar with some indoor flat ride that ciiiks be cool with “flight effects”

THANK YOU!! the "Pony Express" - Wild West concepts don't reflect what the area is supposed to be. It isn't "Frontier Town" I feel like even the park got it wrong with Diamondback and they took the easy "Wild West" name route bu then didn't even support that with true theming.Somewhere at the beginning of this tread is the narrative I wrote that ties the past to the present with the whole "industrial" backstory to ground it.

There are lots of other things original to the park that were popular that are long gone. I think it’s an inefficient building that if rebuilt and redesigned could bring a lot more “in theme” food options to that area.

The Street Party floats were built the “right” way for a theme park with hidden, or at least minimized drivers. I hate that all of Winterfest and most of Carnivale floats have the decorated golf carts with speakers and cords dangling. Second iteration of Carnivale they actually eliminated a couple of the hidden driver floats (airship and elephant). I think it’s way more expensive to do it that way though as the drive chassis is actually built into the float and you can't easily switch from one parade to the next without tearing it open to switch them out.

Viking Fury looks a lot better with the paint it got, but the rarely used queue house has become rather shabby. agree and disagree. Queue needs to be totally redone and reopen the path behind the I street buildings like it was originally. The queue could just start at the switchbacks off of a new wooded and landscaped path with the exit just ending at the international gardens side. BUT, the ride looks boring with its solid “shiny sh!% brown” paint job. They painted over the side lights instead of fixing, they did no aging or character paint and then slapped on the “aged” masthead, which now just looks old and crappy. It was a missed opportunity to bring new attention to a pretty cool and underrated ride. Even if they had added to the water feature to add water cannons to “splash” to the sides when the boat swung over the water.

True, the ride box itself really has nothing worth saving. It’s pretty much just the first 3 sections. It looks like each segment of the building had separate HVAC runs and could probably be fairly easily further separated if they wanted to demo the largest building. It really only has height in its favor as someone else mentioned and unless it was a ride similar to the topspin with a tall arc path, I don’t see much use for it.

yeah - like that

Methinks someone over bought key chains and pins and is looking to dump the inventory before the end of this thing.

It’s beyond pathetic at this point. There’s shabby and there’s blatant neglect. This has reached that point.

Yeah. Sorry saw that right after I asked. Don’t see that as first at all. Seems an odd category. Should almost have “parades and spectaculars” separate from “live shows and seasonal entertainment “ one set, led screens and some “ok” vocals didn’t seem like a first place to me.

Know what took 1st?

See-that’s why you can’t make everyone happy all the time. To hear half of the GP and people around here-the RECAR was like the second coming of Jesus and the park has never been the same since they took it away LOL

Maybe if they redid the whole area backlot could be stripped of its tired theming, be give a better queu experience, and interrogated into the new coaster somehow. Wonder what would make sense for a mid course break rum/launch other than a helicopter machine gun battle? Maybe if it was ever more enclosed and became sort of a coney mall “funhouse” where you go through various tunnels like the mirror maze, the spinning spiral tunnel etc.

Fun thought. What if it was a second generation “racer”. One DESIGNED to run forward and back. Two tracks with lots of intersections. Balanced on both sides of the tower, taking the signature 360 loop one clockwise-one counter. Plays into RECAR history, and the history of that plot having two versions of the same ride with intersecting paths. Two colors OTHER than red and blue.

I actually like the idea behind this. I had been playing around with an idea similar where backlot is removed and a major new coaster takes the back half of that plot. The way you have it on both sides of the pathway frees up more land to do something bigger. I’d love to see it pretty symmetrical to frame the tower, move the floral clock to actually align with the path coming to it and possibly reshape the circle path to be better balanced. Add 2 flat to left and right of the clock and possibly on the other side as well where saltwater was. The flats would be part of “Carousel park” an extension of IS. The coaster would technically be Coney, but would read well in both areas. Make a clean-elegant design-maybe even like CA SCREAMIN’ that is steel “disguised” to look wooden. Maybe even with a large 360 vertical loop that centers behind the tower.

Awesome video. This is like the final “definitive” version. The source audio was great in that you hear hi much detail really went into the theme music. Sone of that was lost in person. Awesome job everyone. I saw the show 5-6 times and sitting here on phone STILL get a bit choked up. They NAILED the emoji piece!

I would just make sure you bring anything in PRIOR to the gate switch at 6 9OR 7 (Whatever time it is). Doesn't sound like this will be an enforced outside of haunt hours. It sucks if you are coming on a Haunt ONLY Friday night though since doesn't the park essentially open with the no-reentry policy on those evenings?

Sone of you people are impossible LOL

Here’s a few more reasons why Christmas preparations begin at Dollywood in the dog days of summer. It takes an estimated 15,000 hours by our 18 light crew hosts (that’s what Dollywood employees are called!) to install the more than 100 miles of Christmas lights. That’s at least half a dozen people working 24/7 in some cases every day of the week to get everything done in time. Approximately a half million staples keep those twinkling lights in place on everything from ride structures to trees to buildings, and the lighting experts utilize around 500 rolls of tape, thousands of black-out caps, specific colored cords and good ole intuition to make everything look just perfect for the opening of the festival on Nov. 5. Who knew that the installation of was so meticulous?! Well, you do now! (and they’re fully removed each year unlike KI) and that’s just the lighting. But if you look at the number of people and the hours committed to this, you can see the scope of event “swaps” that KI is competing against,

Send me hiring info. My comments are (of course) based on what happens at other parks-not at KI. I’m not saying with current staffing it’s doable, I’m saying if they wanted to-it could be done as it’s done at other parks. The comment about being closed 7 days a week was a generalization. I am well aware of buyouts. Maybe I should’ve said 4-5 days a week since you would like the most accurate information possible.

Nope-someone just thinks there’s no reason when the park is closed 7 days a week after today, they can’t wait till then to start the conversion over. Dollywood makes the swap from harvest to Christmas in a week. Sure there’s a lot of prep already done down there but it’s barely visible. RETAIL season creep is totally different than event creep. You have a limited time to sell through product. Christmas has not overtaken Halloween in terms of activity and event- only in terms of sales.

Good. That’s one thing that always bugged me when they “haunted” too early. I like how they are focusing on the sets for shows right now. Personally I wish none of this appeared till after this weekend. I know it’s a staffing thing, but I really think the park looks much cleaner without the mixing of seasonal stuff.

in concept yes, but the execution is a "modern" church, tons of concrete and a few Spirit Halloween tombstones with disco lighting that stopped working a year or two after opening. If there was a themed break run, sure. If there was a themed queue, sure. As it stands NAMING something scary is WAY different than theming something scary. You could just as easily call Banshee "EaglesFlight" and it would be the same experience. The "theming" adds little to the overall experience (which is unfortunate as it had one of the best teaser videos ever, and the gift shop was an eventual waste of space that could've been used to help finish the story as you left, or been configured to use it as the entrance instead of the exit.

I wouldn't say "heavily themed" per se. Heck - even when the park opened you could call most of the "theming" decor since it had little to do with the actual rides. It was more just area theming. I think what CF has done had been a step over what EARLY CF did when they first bought the parks. I see their sweet spot as a more "stylized" theming. Its like "modern farmhouse country design". It's minimal, yet clear what the inspiration is. Its not fussy and its easier to maintain, and it fits with current design treads. Heck, even DISNEY is moving away from such lavishly "themed" interiors with their hotels, retain and food locations. Its like what Dollywood is doing with the Emporium or some of their new restaurants. Its a lot fresher, but it still has clear DNA in a mountain/country vibe.