Dollywood!
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- Mar 4, 2010
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Basically the second. They have had it in technical rehearsal whenever it was working and once they got it up all day they just put "now open" on their website.
I'm actually on my way back now from a Dollywood and Carowinds trip, Lightning Rod is probably the best coaster I've ever been on, to say it briefly
Rocky Mountain Construction, in a press release on their internet site, has ordered that some of it's coasters be shut down until new replacement parts can be installed. Dollywood shut down it's new coaster, Lightning Rod, today.
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Lots of bad luck for Dollywood on this attraction thus far. First, delays, & now a total shut down. Reminds me of the early ordeals of Rip Ride Rockit.
Guys, to those of you bashing Lightning Rod (believe me, I was one of them), just ride the attraction whenever it opens. For lack of better terminology...holy crap. Lightning Rod was coaster #180 for me, and it's easily in my top 5. Definitely the best wooden coaster in the world (El Toro was previously my favorite). Rocky Mountain hit this out of the park if it ever gets to higher reliability. Absolute insane air time and speed throughout the entire ride. It truly doesn't feel as if the ride ever slows down to take a breath. I was lucky enough to be able to experience it twice on it's first hour of operation after the recall. The air time makes Mako look like Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster.
Just...wow. What a ride.
Just...wow. What a ride.
I'm headed there for my birthday at the end of July and I'm really hoping to ride it. I'm not sure where it'll fall on my list, but I hit coasters [HASHTAG]#100[/HASHTAG], 101 and 102 when I was in Vegas in April.
I got three rides in this week. First ride was row 6 and was crazy though actually a bit rough. 2nd ride in row 1 was incredibly fun. 3rd ride in row 12 was insane and the airtime was actually slightly painful to my thighs. I really loved the ride and was happy to cross a RMC ride off my bucket list. My biggest tip is ride with your hands up, if not watch your elbows.
- Feb 15, 2012
- 17,122
- 46,998
I don't think anyone is bashing the ride experience, just the installation/opening of it.
I rode in row 3 and row 1. The airtime is absolutely magnificent, and I'm upset that I didn't get to ride it in the back before it went down again.
To be fair, it's essentially a prototype with a relatively new company. Look at Kong, Falcon's Fury, Gringott's, etc. Many complex prototype attractions have a ton of issues before even attempting to open. The only thing that I really fault RMC for is the restraint cylinder recall. That could've been prevented.
From an ops standpoint, it's fine. Ops is doing their job as well as they can. The problem (and I don't know if it's been resolved yet) is only having one train while the 2nd train finishes the recall work. It's a new company working on a ride system that's totally new to them. I mean, who puts LSMs and mag breaks on a wooden coaster?! Just like Gringotts, give it time. It's a fantastic ride.
As indicated earlier, I was just there two weeks ago and happened to be there on the day that it finally reopened after the recall. We didn't expect to be able to ride it on our trip. I was bashing the opening issues, I just wasn't posting at the time. It certainly sucks to plan a trip around riding a new coaster and then having it not be open.
- Feb 26, 2008
- 437
- 60
We were at Dollywood on Monday. What a wonderful, lovely park! Also, the emptiest I have ever seen a theme/amusement park ever, and I loved it, even though some things were closed, including Lightning Rod, most of the day, but I'm not sure I would have ridden it anyway.
The shows at this park are unsurpassed anywhere I've been, and the Dreamland Drive-In Show could easily be on a cruise ship, and was actually better than most shows I've seen on a cruise. The other thing about their shows is they are long-30 to 55 minutes, far longer than what we have in Orlando, there are a LOT of them, and all outstanding quality. In fact, one could easily spend a day just seeing shows.
We didn't go on many rides, and I'm ok with that. The train was closed all day, much to our great disappointment. We rode Blazing Fury (cheesy as hell, and I loved it), the carousel, the car/highway ride (don't recall the name), I rode River Battle and got a lot wetter than I expected, and after some extended down time, was able to go on Thunderhead. What a fast, rough ride that was! Not a lot of air time, just a lot of super tight turns, and FAST! Didn't go on any other coasters or rides, just walked around and enjoyed the park.
I love the handcrafted souvenirs. They have the usual assortment of t-shirts, hats, stuffed animals, etc, but they also have a pottery (where I bought a lovely ceramic jack o'lantern candle holder, made right there), a black smith, a leather store, candles, and many other unique gifts.
The food was outstanding! So many choices, and not all your typical theme park fare of hamburgers, fries, and turkey legs, although those could be found as well. There was a fried chicken place, a BBQ joint, a venue that sold ham and beans, fresh made cinnamon bread, ice cream, Dippin' Dots, and the Main Stage restaurant, a sit-down venue where we had a delicious, reasonably-priced, southern meal of fried catfish, baked beans, cole slaw, chicken salad, and cheddar biscuits. Everything was fresh and delicious and made from scratch right there.
This park doesn't have big, multi-million dollar rides and attractions like Universal or Disney, but what they do have is a nice variety of rides of all kinds, from big thrills to gentler rides for the entire family, a load of fantastic shows, wonderful food, friendly staff, beautiful landscaping, and a relaxing atmosphere. This goes down as one of my favorite theme park days ever.
There are LOADS of things to do in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, first and foremost of those being the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We spent 2 days there. There are also loads of mini golf courses, alpine coasters, dinner shows, etc.
The shows at this park are unsurpassed anywhere I've been, and the Dreamland Drive-In Show could easily be on a cruise ship, and was actually better than most shows I've seen on a cruise. The other thing about their shows is they are long-30 to 55 minutes, far longer than what we have in Orlando, there are a LOT of them, and all outstanding quality. In fact, one could easily spend a day just seeing shows.
We didn't go on many rides, and I'm ok with that. The train was closed all day, much to our great disappointment. We rode Blazing Fury (cheesy as hell, and I loved it), the carousel, the car/highway ride (don't recall the name), I rode River Battle and got a lot wetter than I expected, and after some extended down time, was able to go on Thunderhead. What a fast, rough ride that was! Not a lot of air time, just a lot of super tight turns, and FAST! Didn't go on any other coasters or rides, just walked around and enjoyed the park.
I love the handcrafted souvenirs. They have the usual assortment of t-shirts, hats, stuffed animals, etc, but they also have a pottery (where I bought a lovely ceramic jack o'lantern candle holder, made right there), a black smith, a leather store, candles, and many other unique gifts.
The food was outstanding! So many choices, and not all your typical theme park fare of hamburgers, fries, and turkey legs, although those could be found as well. There was a fried chicken place, a BBQ joint, a venue that sold ham and beans, fresh made cinnamon bread, ice cream, Dippin' Dots, and the Main Stage restaurant, a sit-down venue where we had a delicious, reasonably-priced, southern meal of fried catfish, baked beans, cole slaw, chicken salad, and cheddar biscuits. Everything was fresh and delicious and made from scratch right there.
This park doesn't have big, multi-million dollar rides and attractions like Universal or Disney, but what they do have is a nice variety of rides of all kinds, from big thrills to gentler rides for the entire family, a load of fantastic shows, wonderful food, friendly staff, beautiful landscaping, and a relaxing atmosphere. This goes down as one of my favorite theme park days ever.
There are LOADS of things to do in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, first and foremost of those being the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We spent 2 days there. There are also loads of mini golf courses, alpine coasters, dinner shows, etc.
And cutting down or trimming the trees at WDW.
...BGW used to be that way too before Blackstone got their grubby hands on the parks. Lots & lots of entertainment in a beautiful wooded setting. It's still has that beautiful wooded setting, but they stripped almost all of the shows and Old Europe Streetmosphere character interactions out of the parks.....There really should be a law against Blackstone buying controlling interest into any theme park chain. I agree! Although i will say.. from compared to the first time I went to Dollywood (1998 i believe) to now theres obviously been alot of change however that is needed and i feel theyve done so in a very effective way.. heres to hoping that is maintained.And cutting down or trimming the trees at WDW.
- Sep 18, 2015
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