KIBeast Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 So, my son and I traveled to Dollywood on June 27th, 2023. We have wanted to go there for a number of years, but just had not made it yet. We finally got there. I have some positives and negatives concerning Dollywood. Let's get to the positives 1st. Preferred parking - I know this sounds silly, but I saw a lot of the main parking and it's down a hill. I realize they have trams (which is something you don't see a lot of these days), but I would prefer not to wait on one to get there. It was pretty awesome being that close to the gate. The food - Although we didn't try anything new to us, I noticed everywhere you went, their food smelled absolutely delicious. I saw a lot of unique food offerings and found that impressive. We rode nearly every coaster there, with the exception of Fire chaser Express and Dragon Flier. Those lines looked pretty long every time we went by. Lightning Rod was the 1st coaster we rode. I told him we should catch it first thing if it's up and running due to it being down on a regular basis. Fantastic coaster. Other than LR being our first, I can't recall which order we rode them in. Tennesee Tornado - We managed to ride this one twice. Love this coaster. Greatest Arrow ever, plus the way the terrain is utilized is fantastic. Mystery Mine - Decent coaster. The best part comes after the 2nd lift hill. Wild Eagle - Great coaster. Managed only one lap as when we were in the station, they were having difficulties with one train's (one side) restraints. We waited, maintenance guy fixed issue, they ran 2 empty trains, same problem pops right back up. By this point, we had spent a good portion of time already waiting, so we exited to ride something else. We did get to ride once later. Thunderhead - excellent GCI. Also a great ride. Big Bear Mountain - the newest addition. Managed 2 laps on this one. By far, my favorite coaster at Dollywood. It's billed as a family launch coaster, but felt a little more intense than Back Lot. Also, has 3 launches which was cool. Really, we only had 3 complaints about Dollywood. 1) midways are entirely too narrow for the size of the crowds they have. 2) Seems to me, operations are not very good, outside of Big Bear Mountain. It was literally the only coaster pushing people through at all. We didn't purchase time saver. I guess the difference being that at any Cedar Fair park we have visited (without Fast Lane), the line constantly moves and you aren't in the same spot for very long. Not the case with Dollywood; Lightning Racer and Mystery Mine were by far the worst when it came to getting stuck in the same spot for a long time. I think all of their coasters run 2 trains with MM being the exception. It ran more, but with an only 8 passenger load, the multiple trains did not help alleviate this at all. 3) It's $25 for an on ride photo package. The only other option is a lesser charge for digital only, in which case I would have to go home and buy that size photo paper and my ink is also dry, which means I have to buy $100 worth of ink. Last I checked, CF parks charge in the range of $12-14 each. This is double that. Overall, I would recommend Dollywood. It has fantastic scenery. The coaster lineup is really good, but spend the money on Time Saver. Park tickets are not cheap either at $89/each. We did spend the night at a hotel called the Pigeon River Inn. Very nice room. Highly recommend for a day or two, but I wouldn't book for any length of time. Plus, there were in fact no pigeons at the hotel LOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medford Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 Too bad you didn't ride Firechaser express, its a fantastic family coaster, my seat had some wheel wobble/shuffling when we went about a week prior to you, but I personally enjoy it a shade more than Big Bear Mountain (which is fantastic). Dollywood isn't giving up its claim to best kids area any time soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted July 5, 2023 Author Share Posted July 5, 2023 @medford, by any chance did you notice the operations there are particularly slow, or am I just spoiled by Cedar Fair? Speaking of best kid's area, I feel like Planet Snoopy needs some additions to bring it back to #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnjniehaus Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 6 hours ago, KIBeast said: Speaking of best kid's area, I feel like Planet Snoopy needs some additions to bring it back to #1. Planet Snoopy needs quite a bit I think to bring it back to #1. I haven't been to Dollywood since 2014 but for pictures and what people tell me it's a really really beautiful park and the kids area deserves the golden ticket award. Part of me wonders if the ship has sail for KI holding the award for best kids area? Keep in mind that a day at Dollywood is double the price so they are making you pay for that better kids area. I'm just curious as to wether it's worth it to KI to continue the battle over the kids area or just let it go and focus on something else.... Also glad you enjoyed your trip and I agree with you that all the Dollywood coasters I rode were really good. Again it's been a very long time since I was there (really need to try and get back soon) but I remember thinking that TN Tornado was truly something special with the terrain and that first drop inside the mountain tunnel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medford Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 @KI Beast it wasn't an overly crowded day, but yes it did seem like operations were slow. Only 1 train on Lightening Rod is a disappointment for speed thru the ride. I think everyone is having issues with staffing it seems, though that may not be the issue for LR. KI would need a ton of work to catch up with Dollywood to get that prize back. @johnjniehaus is probably correct that its not really worth their time. But I would love to see them add to Planet Snoopy and get it back in the ballpark. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted September 27, 2023 Share Posted September 27, 2023 On 7/5/2023 at 12:49 PM, KIBeast said: So, my son and I traveled to Dollywood on June 27th, 2023. We have wanted to go there for a number of years, but just had not made it yet. We finally got there. I have some positives and negatives concerning Dollywood. Let's get to the positives 1st. Preferred parking - I know this sounds silly, but I saw a lot of the main parking and it's down a hill. I realize they have trams (which is something you don't see a lot of these days), but I would prefer not to wait on one to get there. It was pretty awesome being that close to the gate. The food - Although we didn't try anything new to us, I noticed everywhere you went, their food smelled absolutely delicious. I saw a lot of unique food offerings and found that impressive. We rode nearly every coaster there, with the exception of Fire chaser Express and Dragon Flier. Those lines looked pretty long every time we went by. Lightning Rod was the 1st coaster we rode. I told him we should catch it first thing if it's up and running due to it being down on a regular basis. Fantastic coaster. Other than LR being our first, I can't recall which order we rode them in. Tennesee Tornado - We managed to ride this one twice. Love this coaster. Greatest Arrow ever, plus the way the terrain is utilized is fantastic. Mystery Mine - Decent coaster. The best part comes after the 2nd lift hill. Wild Eagle - Great coaster. Managed only one lap as when we were in the station, they were having difficulties with one train's (one side) restraints. We waited, maintenance guy fixed issue, they ran 2 empty trains, same problem pops right back up. By this point, we had spent a good portion of time already waiting, so we exited to ride something else. We did get to ride once later. Thunderhead - excellent GCI. Also a great ride. Big Bear Mountain - the newest addition. Managed 2 laps on this one. By far, my favorite coaster at Dollywood. It's billed as a family launch coaster, but felt a little more intense than Back Lot. Also, has 3 launches which was cool. Really, we only had 3 complaints about Dollywood. 1) midways are entirely too narrow for the size of the crowds they have. 2) Seems to me, operations are not very good, outside of Big Bear Mountain. It was literally the only coaster pushing people through at all. We didn't purchase time saver. I guess the difference being that at any Cedar Fair park we have visited (without Fast Lane), the line constantly moves and you aren't in the same spot for very long. Not the case with Dollywood; Lightning Racer and Mystery Mine were by far the worst when it came to getting stuck in the same spot for a long time. I think all of their coasters run 2 trains with MM being the exception. It ran more, but with an only 8 passenger load, the multiple trains did not help alleviate this at all. 3) It's $25 for an on ride photo package. The only other option is a lesser charge for digital only, in which case I would have to go home and buy that size photo paper and my ink is also dry, which means I have to buy $100 worth of ink. Last I checked, CF parks charge in the range of $12-14 each. This is double that. Overall, I would recommend Dollywood. It has fantastic scenery. The coaster lineup is really good, but spend the money on Time Saver. Park tickets are not cheap either at $89/each. We did spend the night at a hotel called the Pigeon River Inn. Very nice room. Highly recommend for a day or two, but I wouldn't book for any length of time. Plus, there were in fact no pigeons at the hotel LOL. Sounds like an awesome time! Quick question, did Lightning Rod have a long line when you rode it? I’ve heard the line can get quite long early in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted September 28, 2023 Author Share Posted September 28, 2023 It did have a long line @Orion742. Found out recently that they have been running one train, which would explain the slow moving line and long wait. Dollywood is replacing the launch with a high speed chain lift, which should improve operations and I would assume allow them to run more than one train. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 1 hour ago, KIBeast said: It did have a long line @Orion742. Found out recently that they have been running one train, which would explain the slow moving line and long wait. Dollywood is replacing the launch with a high speed chain lift, which should improve operations and I would assume allow them to run more than one train. Thanks! I am planning a trip there for my last rides on the launch but I also haven’t been on Big Bear so I’m trying to figure out if I go to LR first or Big Bear. I’m leaning towards LROD because it’s so un reliable that it may be down the entire day after the first 10 minutes of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted September 28, 2023 Author Share Posted September 28, 2023 @Orion742, Big Bear is a really great coaster and solid addition to Dollywood. I don't honestly know which I would pick to ride 1st. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodVengeance Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 6 hours ago, Orion742 said: Thanks! I am planning a trip there for my last rides on the launch but I also haven’t been on Big Bear so I’m trying to figure out if I go to LR first or Big Bear. I’m leaning towards LROD because it’s so un reliable that it may be down the entire day after the first 10 minutes of the day. Personally, I would ride Lightning Rod first just so you can get the ride(s) in before it potentially closes because of maintenance issues. After that, I would go to Big Bear Mountain. I personally haven't ridden BBM yet as the last time I've been to Dollywood was 2021. From what I've seen online, it seems to be quite reliable and has pretty good capacity, so it should be much easier to get on as opposed to Lightning Rod. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 1 hour ago, WoodVengeance said: Personally, I would ride Lightning Rod first just so you can get the ride(s) in before it potentially closes because of maintenance issues. After that, I would go to Big Bear Mountain. I personally haven't ridden BBM yet as the last time I've been to Dollywood was 2021. From what I've seen online, it seems to be quite reliable and has pretty good capacity, so it should be much easier to get on as opposed to Lightning Rod. Thanks. I am hoping to get 3-4 rides first thing in the morning. I want to get a good amount so if I don’t ride it again I’ll be happy that I got to do the launch a few more times before it’s gone. I’ll probably take advantage of the single rider line. Quick question / questions. I haven’t been able to have the cinnamon bread yet so I was hoping to get that as well. Do you think they will sell out early or could I wait until later in the day? Follow up question, what’s the best time to get cinnamon bread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted September 29, 2023 Author Share Posted September 29, 2023 I agree @WoodVengeance. That is exactly what we did. I told him for the exact same reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 21 minutes ago, KIBeast said: I agree @WoodVengeance. That is exactly what we did. I told him for the exact same reason. Thank you for the information! I will definitely ride Lightning Rod first thing a few times. Do you think I should cross park and head to Big Bear and Dragonflier next or head up the right side? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodVengeance Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 2 hours ago, Orion742 said: Thank you for the information! I will definitely ride Lightning Rod first thing a few times. Do you think I should cross park and head to Big Bear and Dragonflier next or head up the right side? I would probably go left-side. If it's still early in the day, you could also try hitting up Mystery Mine and Firechaser Express if the lines for those aren't too long yet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 Does anyone know if Dollywood has bins on all the coaster platforms for my bag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 Just got back from Dollywood (Friday and Saturday). Yes, I believe that there are bins at all of the coasters. Big Bear Mountain is a wonderful ride. Very smooth, and has excellent pacing. My 4 year old daughter was tall enough to ride it and she loved it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 9 hours ago, CoastersRZ said: Just got back from Dollywood (Friday and Saturday). Yes, I believe that there are bins at all of the coasters. Big Bear Mountain is a wonderful ride. Very smooth, and has excellent pacing. My 4 year old daughter was tall enough to ride it and she loved it. Ok thank you. I had heard there were some coasters that you had to pay lockers for your bags but I can’t seem to find anything if that’s true or not. If any coaster was to have lockers I would assume it’s Wild Eagle. Big Bear looks fantastic! I love that it has a low enough height requirement that my family can join me! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion742 Posted October 13, 2023 Share Posted October 13, 2023 @KIBeastDid you buy a time saver on your visit? I was considering buying one. I’ll only have one day at the park and I am trying to decide if it’s worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBeast Posted October 13, 2023 Author Share Posted October 13, 2023 I would, in the interest of riding Lightning Rod and Mystery Mine. Those two coasters have painfully long lines. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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