Dollywood 5/30/18

[BeeastFarmer]

I have not been to Dollywood since 2016.  My sister’s family are all pass holders, and she had a free ticket, so her, my 11 year old niece (who is a budding coaster enthusiast) and myself went.

Wow, Dollywood is a different place in the warm season than it is during the cold season!

Our day started on the tram after parking in Cotton Candy.  The tram director was terse and actually mean.  Her tone was one of indifference and she really sounded angry and not wanting to be there.  The driver—when we got to section A, he actually slammed on the brake abruptly to yell at someone who was not parked in a space.  Stopping the tram for a full five minutes of yelling at this family over the microphone, the person finally came over and told them they had a flat tire and were waiting on AAA. 

We went to Lightning Rod first.  My niece has ridden it several times, me never.  She wanted to go towards the back of the train.  We sat in row  11.  The ride was incredible, but the back of the train was very rough in the first half of the ride.  The quad down was not rough.  I enjoyed the ride, but it did not live up to the hype.

While we were in the line for LR, several folks got an emergency alert.  It was a blue alert (which I had never had before) that listed a man’s name and said “Armed, dangerous and at large.”  My sister was very panicked, I can’t lie, I was nervous, but what can you do?  If there was an active shooter at Dollywood, all you can do is try to run and hide.  So, I googled the alert and the individual was not even in Sevier County, but in Dickson County, which is west of Nashville.  Glad the situation is far away.

We then went to eat at Front Porch Café, to get inside because it was hot and humid.  My niece got BBQ nachos, my sister got a BBQ platter with chicken, pulled pork, baked beans and cole slaw.  I got meatloaf.  It was on a piece of bread and served in between mashed potatoes.  There was so much food—none of us were able to finish even half of our meals.  Service was excellent and very friendly.

After lunch, we were all stuffed, so we walked around and watched a couple of the outdoor shows.  I was not ready to ride coasters, so we did the water flume which was fun.  Someone threw a backpack to the side as they loaded.  The ride operator yelled, saying “Can’t you read?  Take it with you!” And then he picked it up and tossed it back to the rider as the flume was almost out of the station. 

My niece wanted to ride Tennessee Tornado.  My sister does not ride coasters and I was not ready to ride after the lunch.  So she rode by herself.  I suggested she ride the coasters at the top of the hill; but she wanted to do the rapids ride so back down the hill we went.  My sister and niece rode it, I did not want wet shoes.  While they rode, I got some ice water and sat in the shade which was a nice break.

We then rode the train.  Always a lot of fun.  The only negative was that with sunscreen on, the coal cinders were quite annoying.  The land clearing continues and it looks bigger than the 5-10 acres I have been told it is.  I really like how the train conductor encouraged the riders to interact with the crowds as we passed.  I always love the "HOWDY" call!

We saw a showed called “Mountain Faith Music” at the Showplace theatre, which was excellent.  After this show, it was 545 and the park closed at 7pm.  So my niece and I climbed back up the hill.  We had walk-ons on Thunderhead, Drop Tower, Mystery Mine and Wild Eagle.  All were fun! The Drop Tower ride was a blast.  No issue fitting it or having to be a contortionist like at KI!  And no seat belt!  Wow!  We decided to end our day on Lightning Rod.  We got down to the station, and even though the wait time was 25 minutes, we had a station wait, with one train ahead of us, on 2^nd row.  They dispatched the train, and before it got back to the station (they were back to one train operation), they announced the ride was down for technical difficulty.  The train arrived back in the station and the riders dispatched.  They waited ten minutes for a maintenance person to show up.  The drive operator kept repeating, “Lightning Rod is down for maintenance.  You have ** minutes left to enjoy Dollywood.   You can wait here or you can go somewhere else.”    Being the somewhat seasoned coaster enthusiast (LR was #129 for me), I understand technical delays.  But I can’t understand the tone of the driver.  

I’ll end this trip report with this:  Food and shows were outstanding as usual.  Park was beautiful.  We were sorely disappointed with the attitudes of the employees in operations.  I can understand that working in the heat and humidity can be challenging.  But it was almost to the point of being ridiculous.  My niece was very upset about not getting to ride LR, but I tried to make it a teaching moment and tell her that she has gotten to ride is 6 times and many people have not got to ride it yet.  I guess it is just a matter of perspective.  I am hoping yesterday was a fluke with the attitudes of operations.  It is such a night and day difference to my previous experiences during cooler  months.