First Ever Dollywood visit June 13th-15th

[Joncars05]

My wife, daughter, wife’s twin cousins, and I headed to Dollywood during an 8 day trip to Gatlinburg. We went to Dollywood for 3 days on their 3 day, $99 park promotion. This was our first trip to Dollywood, so sorry in advance because I’ll do a quick breakdown of each coaster we rode. Since my wife is pregnant she wanted to enter the park later than the twins and I. So we used the Pigeon Forge Fun Time Trolley system to be dropped off at park’s front door. It was an awesome deal because it cost $0.50 to ride and not have to pay for parking.

 

We were able to enter the park and immediately went to Lightning Rod. They announced over Twitter and Facebook that the Lightning Rod officially opened that day but the park didn’t do a huge promotion for the ride. Once in line the ride was operating really smoothly. We quickly went through the line and were in the station in less than 15 minutes. The queue was really nice as they offered glimpses of the ride while waiting. It also had some cool theming objects to look at, including a model hot rod and model car pieces. On to the ride the station was well spaced out and since the ride was still new they were assigning seats. I asked the ride op if we could sit in the back row and he said if you want to wait you can. So we waited an extra cycle and promptly took the back two rows.

 

Lightning Rod is something else. Rolling out of the station you slowly go around the corner and as soon as you straighten up you get launched up the lift hill. The hill is actually pretty forceful as you are going up a steep incline. Cresting the hill you hit the first airtime hill and it is solid. You go down a small hill then hit another airtime hill and to the biggest drop of the ride. To me I really liked the surprise of not having the first hill be the biggest drop it sets you up for a shock as you plummet into the valley below. The first turn to the left is awesome as there is a solid pop if airtime at the crest of the turn. Then you turned to the right doing a wave turn. You enter another smaller wave turn with a really good pop of airtime. After that you head over an airtime hill before entering the quadruple down. Holy cow every one of these hills have an enormous amount of airtime popping you right into your seat. Then you take a right turn and hit a pop of airtime before hitting a huge upward banked turn and hitting one more airtime moment before ending the ride in the brakes.

 

All I can say about this ride is WOW! The speed is constant all the way through the ride the airtime moments are insane! The ride is very solid from beginning to end. It seems like a short ride but that is because of the launch takes away a lot of the ride time. The only bad part is the ride has terribly large amount of downtime. There was no specific reason as to why it would go down of not. The two claims that I heard from the CoasterForce crew that was allowed a behind the scenes tour were, faulty sensors in the launch mechanics and the ride sensors registering the ride not making it through a block. All I know is that the ride is very frustrating as the other time we were in the line for the ride the ride would frequently break down with the delay speil blaring over the speaker system. There was an incident on My last day there when I got into the park and was going to be on the second train and they delayed the opening all the way until 1230pm. A ride that should’ve taken 4 minutes to get on took over two and a half hours for me to get on. Also on that day the ride was opened for an hour or so then shut down for the rest of the day. As of now I can say this is a fantastic ride when it is opened. But the ride is a PR nightmare as Lightning Rod was supposed to open in March and as of this writing (7/8/16) the ride is still in technical rehearsal and has been “opened” for a total of 3 days. It has been photographed with smoke billowing from the launch area.

 

After riding Lightning Rod we headed to Blazing Fury. I heard nothing about this ride so we went in with a blank slate. The ride is a simple electric powered roller coaster with a couple of drops. The theming was pretty nice and I really liked the simplicity of it. The nice thing was all of the animatronics and sound effects worked! It is nice when a park takes care of their rides. The boys loved the story and the ending of the ride. There isn’t much to say about this one other than it is a ride that everyone in the family can enjoy.

 

The next ride was Tennessee Tornado. The only thing I knew about this ride was that it was an Arrow, so I was prepared for it to be rough! Luckily it was really smooth. The “preshow” of the wind howling as you make your way through the storage shed is a nice touch to begin the ride. The first drop into the side of a mountain was really nice. The loop feels massive! The last two inversions are great as they go basically to the ground and after that the ride is over. It is a very short yet very fun ride that uses the terrain really well.

 

FireChaser Express was next on the list. This ride looks way more intense than what it is. The height of the track off of the ground makes it look more intimidating than what it really is. The theming once again is very solid. The station is themed to a volunteer firefighter station. This ride has launches. Not only does it have multiple launches, FireChaser Express has a forward and backwards launch! The launches aren’t forceful but they are still fun. The forward launch out of the station is marked with sirens and lights flashing. You go through a figure 8 element then into a lift hill. Once off the lift hill you roll around high off of the ground through the course. It is forgettable for the most part but the final S curves before getting into the firework portion of the ride. Once in the fireworks building there is a sound board playing up us in a firework accident that ends up leading to Big Bertha launching us backwards into the final section of the ride where you go about 600 feet of so backwards. I will say FireChaser Express is a well thought out and entertaining ride. It doesn’t have the best forces and is definitely far from fast but it is a great medium ride for kids that are just getting into riding coasters.

 

Next up was the first wing coaster in the United States, Wild Eagle. The lift hill was built along a mountain and sort of hid the first drop. The first drop was pretty good.  And the loop was nice as well. The zero-g roll is fantastic on the left side. The Immelmann loop and corkscrew as solid as well. There is a small pop of airtime and the ride ends on a figure 8 helix. The helix peters out a bit but it still is has some force to it. I think Wild Eagle is what wing riders should be like! Quick inversions, traversing high and low, and being smooth all made this ride great, IMO.

Mystery Mine was the next coaster we rode. After waiting in a very well themed queue line we boarded our train and started our journey. The view in the front row is great. The initial drop was nice as you went through a plume of smoke. Then the theming really takes over. The wall is covered in crows with their red eyes ablaze and cawing their heads off. The ride strolls through the dark section and ends up at a vertical lift hill. The lift hill is very fun and once you get outside the ride has a small drop and quick turn around. The ride gets a little head banging through the outside portion but as soon as you get back inside the ride goes crazy! The theming once back in side is very good. The canary from the beginning of the ride is now dead and there is a storm that blows over a sign that blocks the exit from the tunnel. “We” light a fuse to see in the dark and it blows a flame in our face as we drop 95 degrees exit outside, into a heartline roll, dive loop, and end the ride in the brakes. Again the theming of this ride is really good, it enhances what is a very simple yet fun ride. The vertical lift hills are really cool as well.

 

Lastly we rode Thunderhead and boy was I glad we saved it for last. This wooden coaster is absolutely stunning! It’s not the tallest, fastest, or most forceful but man does it rock! It is hard to describe but to me the turns and sporadic pops of airtime make this ride really fun. It is really smooth and the crossovers add to the intensity of the ride. I may not be going along with the popular opinion here but I thought that Thunderhead was the best ride in the park. Funny side note during the shutdown of Lightning Rod the ride crew came over to Thunderhead and did a mini riding marathon with the cousins and me. We got to chatting and they asked me what I thought the best ride in the park was. I told them Thunderhead and they were stunned. They kind of ribbed me for it but I got the final word in by saying it was my favorite because it is actually opened the whole day. They laughed and said they get that all of the time. But still thought I was crazy for choosing Thunderhead over Lightning Rod.

 

Now on to the park overall. The food was amazing! I personally had a pulled pork sandwich, lumberjack pizza, corn dogs and fries, and their famous cinnamon bread. Everything that we had tasted fresh and was really good quality. The prices were really reasonable especially for the huge portions that were served. The cinnamon bread was so good that we ended up buying 4 loaves over the 3 days we were there. I also learned how to make my own version of the cinnamon bread at home and it is really good too! There was so much food that we will have to try the shops that we missed next time we go. The train was a really neat experience especially when you got away from the park and got a peak of the Smoky Mountains. My daughter, who is almost 2 now, loved the Country Fair section. The flats were really good back there. Throw in rides like Barnstormer and the water rides on the dry side, Dollywood has a great collection of rides. Sadly, I wasn’t able to watch any shows. I’m not a big show person but from what everyone recommended it seems as if I did miss out on some good shows. The bird sanctuary and bald eagle exhibit were nice to look at too.

 

The park just felt different than a normal theme park. It felt more comfortable, almost as if you didn’t need to rush to get through the park. The Craftman’s Valley was a neat experience and it felt like a throwback to older times with all of the shops and restaurants themed the same. Not only did the atmosphere feel different because of the theming but it felt different from the employees as well. Everyone was so nice and helpful. When we were stopped and looking at a map we had an employee come up to us and ask if we needed help. It reminded a lot of Holiday World and how they go the extra mile to make your experience better. I mentioned to my wife that Dollywood feels like Holiday World of the south. She replied that maybe Holiday World was the Dollywood of the north. It just was an amazing atmosphere at the park. The little things like every ride had specific ride op uniforms that matched the theme of the ride and also differentiated them from other ride ops made a big difference. The park was super clean and just had a great vibe to it. After visiting my wife and I decided that we should make it out to Dollywood at least once every other year. The park was awesome and definitely deserves all of the accolades it has received.

 

As usual my trip photos are below and thanks for reading my trip report!

 

Ride Count:

Lightning Rod- 5

Blazing Fury- 4

Wild Eagle- 18

FireChaser Express- 8

Tennessee Tornado- 10

Mystery Mine- 7

Thunderhead- 17

 

 

Train while blowing its whistle.

 

If you look closely the 4th wheel of this train is literally off of the track! Lightning Rod has so much airtime! 

 

Thunderhead is just too awesome.

 

 

Mystery Mine's heartline roll

 

 

Tennessee Tornado's first loop

 

 

Thunderhead! 

 

 

If you look at the rails here you can see that on the airtime hill the train gets so much air that some of the track literally has yet to be touched by the wheels! 

 

 

Mystery Mine

 

 

Wild Eagle

 

 

[Beast Gal]

Once again anothe great trip report.

[Joncars05]

Thank you! It was a really awesome trip.