WindingSon Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Starting now: 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindingSon Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 Lightning Rod! First Launched Wooden Coaster! World's Fastest Wooden Roller Coaster! Video shows it's clearly RMC i-Box. March 2016! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldschool75 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Launched hyper woodie with a quadruple down over 90deg banks And 73mph sweet Jesus! Sent from a signal coming out of the Vega system. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindingSon Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 Press release: Dollywood Adds World's Fastest Wood Roller Coaster For 2016 Dollywood today announced the addition of Lightning Rod, both the world’s fastest wood coaster and the world’s first launching wood coaster. Set to roll to the starting line in March 2016, Lightning Rod adds another groundbreaking roller coaster to the park’s already impressive portfolio of world-class attractions. The thrilling $22 million ride also marks the single largest attraction investment in The Dollywood Company’s history. Themed after a tricked out 1950s-era hot rod, Lightning Rod launches riders from zero to 45 mph more than 20 stories up its lift hill to one of the ride’s first airtime moments. At the crest of the hill, riders face twin summit airtime hills before tackling the daring first drop. Lightning Rod races down the 165-foot drop and propels guests along its 3,800-ft. track to a top speed of 73 mph, the fastest speed for a wood coaster in the world. “Lightning Rod reminds me so much of those colorful cars cruisin’ up and down Main Street in downtown Sevierville back when I was in high school. I remember all those souped up cars; but what I remember most were those good lookin’ boys behind the wheel with those flat top and ducktail haircuts,” Dolly Parton said with a laugh. “I’m truly excited about this ride because it will let our guests experience something just as fast as those hot rods I remember,” she continued. “Even better, it’s the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, so I think we’re going to see a lot of people coming from all over to peel out on the Lightning Rod.” Located in Dollywood’s Jukebox Junction, Lightning Rod rockets riders around its massive wooden structure on an adrenaline-charged lap through the trees in the hills and valleys surrounding Dollywood. During the ride, guests experience nearly 20 seconds of airtime. The coaster train is comprised of 12 cars, carrying two passengers each, for a total of 24 people per train. Dollywood’s development team has tapped Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) as the ride manufacturer. RMC is no stranger to out-of-the-box coaster projects, having designed a number of innovative attractions around the world. Lightning Rod employs several unique features including the lift hill launch, twin summit airtime hills, a 90+ degree banked breaking wave turn, a 90+ degree outside banked turn, and a non-inverting half loop. Lightning Rod puts riders in the driver’s seat of Johnny Rev’s newest hot rod. After months of tinkering, Johnny invites Dollywood guests to step behind the wheel for the first test drive of his flashy new creation. Like any proper hot rod, massive header pipes and an imposing injector scoop peer out from the train’s flamed bodywork. Lightning Rod is the newest member of The Dollywood Company’s collection of award-winning attractions. In March 2012, Dollywood opened the $20 million Wild Eagle, the country’s first wing coaster. The company introduced RiverRush, Tennessee’s first and only water coaster, at Dollywood’s Splash Country in 2013. FireChaser Express, the nation’s first dual-launch family coaster, was added at Dollywood in 2014. Dollywood mainstays Thunderhead, consistently among the world’s top five wood coasters, Mystery Mine, Blazing Fury and Tennessee Tornado round out the park’s list of innovative coasters. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Sounds like a great addition to the park. I like seeing some of these non chain parks adding large investments. BTW, When will RMC stop with the "wooden coaster" thing. This isn't a wooden coaster. Neither was Goliath. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Dollywood clearly knows to how do an announcement and the ride looks insane. Looks to be another great addition to an already amazing park. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Well, while I don't consider this ride wooden (the I-Box track is way too thick and thus the wheels don't even get anywhere near any wood) that does not change the fact this thing looks awesome. 73mph, tons of airtime, and numerous overbanked turns. No inversions though- kind off odd to see a RMC this day and age without them, but I don't think it even needs them. The 4x drop sounds awesome. Also, the train design is super cool looking. And this thing is in the same park as Thunderhead, Wild Eagle, Mystery Mine, Tennessee Tornado and Firechaser Express...Dollywood will have quite the roller coaster lineup come 2016. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Great announcement great addition great theme. Really it's not a wood coaster the coaster world needs to consider it hybrid or metal. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethancoaster Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Post deleted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekidd33 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Has it been confirmed that it is I-Box? I get why people think that from the animation but it looks like topper track from the off ride videos. Plus this would be the first I-Box coaster to be advertised as wooden wouldn't it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron88stang Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Ho.Lee.Crap. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver2005 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 ^^I honestly wouldn't put it past RMC at this point, especially so Dollywood can gloat about the records. To me, neither their Iron Horse track or the Topper Track are wood coasters. They're steel. This does look freaking awesome though. . 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marth555 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 and here goes a pointless debate 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Has it been confirmed that it is I-Box? I get why people think that from the animation but it looks like topper track from the off ride videos. Plus this would be the first I-Box coaster to be advertised as wooden wouldn't it? It's topper track, but there's debate whether or not that is even wooden either due to the fact a huge chunk of the track is steel and only the bottom layers are wooden. On a traditional wooden coaster, there is only a small metal strip atop the track. Here's a picture that shows both topper track (left) and I-Box (right)... And here is a "regular" wooden coaster for comparison...note the metal strip is very thin and makes up at most 5% of the track, far less than either of the above... 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Looks like I may have to find a way to fit both Dollywood and Cedar Point into my plans next season... This looks amazing. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel_SoB_fan Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Sounds like a great addition to the park. I like seeing some of these non chain parks adding large investments. BTW, When will RMC stop with the "wooden coaster" thing. This isn't a wooden coaster. Neither was Goliath. Glad I'm not the only one who will not be calling this a wooden coaster. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Looks to be an amazing ride, I did find Dolly to be a little awkward and contrived, wish she had not of said it made her nauseous and she would not ride it, even if she redacted that statement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Dolly is what Dolly is. It's part of her charm. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_Plummer Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Has a full length POV been released somewhere yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marth555 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 no but the teaser video on there site has most of it http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/rides/LightningRod# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 ^^^^Actually, according to her, she won't actually ride ANY of the roller coasters in her own park. She adds them because she knows people love roller coasters, but she isn't a huge fan herself. She even joked she's had so much plastic surgery, she'd likely break apart mid-ride, as a reason she won't ride them. (At least that's what I recall her saying...also pretty sure she'd be fine on most of their rides as from what I have heard, most Dollywood coasters are very smooth for their types) ^^I don't know but I do want one. Again, regardless of what the heck it actually is, Lightning Rod looks amazing and I want to see what this thing's layout is better. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marth555 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Found the full layout on TPR https://i.imgur.com/ELRmmcc.jpg 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestar92 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Wow, between this and Storm Chaser, it's going to be hard to decide what's my favorite new steel coaster of 2016! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDMC01 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Just watched the video- That looks awesome! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesmann Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Wow, between this and Storm Chaser, it's going to be hard to decide what's my favorite new steel coaster of 2016! At this point I will be somewhat surprised if Storm Chaser ever opens... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIfan73 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Wow, that would fit in nice next to Juke Box Diner and SR&R. A huge hurdle, of course is the large and still-mostly-loved steel coaster that's already there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordSkippy Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 It would really only fit in terms of theme. Vortex's location doesn't have the terrain for it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purdude86 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Looks like I may have to find a way to fit both Dollywood and Cedar Point into my plans next season... This looks amazing. Agree, same here. Never been to Dolly wood and had thought about this fall but might push it back to next year. Do Cedar Point over summer and Dolly wood in the fall for their Christmas stuff. Would coincide nicely with a birthday trip late November for my bf. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldschool75 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 As Jeff Gramke put it, "they're all steel coasters really." (Coasterstock 2015) They all ride on steel track. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marth555 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 It looks way better then Storm Chaser 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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