Went to Dollywood on Thursday 08-09-2007. I'm always nervous getting to the park early, and you can't see how many cars are already in the parking lot, or at least judge how crowded it is because the parking lot hasn't filled up yet. I took the gamble, paid the parking, parked in section D, avoided the first line of the day (tram) by walking with friend to main gate.
Headed to Thunderhead Gap & Timber Canyon area for Mystery Mine.
Mystery Mine - waited in line about 50 minutes. Though it was 10:45 AM, ride was testing (slowly), no passengers. Finally saw people riding, cars cycled more regularly after that, line moved steadily. Great themeing. I'd unfortunately already read about (and seen video) of the "surprises" in the mine, so no surprises left for me... except for the sheer fact of riding it and studying it myself. I was discussing with a friend the amazing detail... we especially took note of and discussed the decrepit wood facade placed over the steel bents and supports outside the ride around the "trestles" section. It looks like they are cracked, broken, splintered, and split in two... all covering the metal underneath... big thumbs up for that and more. I'd love to take more time studying the themeing and detail, but once we rode MM, it was time to go.
Timber Tower - walk on (cycle was ending when we approached, we got in the next ride). Was VERY interested to ride the topple-tower, and with all the previous posts and rumors of it being shut down or SBNO for various reasons, I consider myself blessed for being afforded the opportunity to ride. Again, GREAT themeing here. We sat (were assigned) seats 19 & 20. They told us we could leave personal items in front of where we left because we'd be returning to the exact same spot when the ride ended. I mention the seating because as the ride cycle proceeds, there are definitelly seats that get the full view of the various thematic elements and others that kind of miss them. Seats 19 & 20 (and surrounding) take your legs right through the water jets... a cooling and surprising discovery for me and friend. Friend noted later that other people were completely dry... so there you go, the assumption is our seats were the money seats for water interraction... avoid them if you don't want it. Other animatronic scenes for the topple-tower were neat (beavers building dam, bear doing something, sawmill blade spinning, etc). It's a good family ride and the slower rotations didn't make me want to hurl.
Thunderhead - 3 rides (2 back, 1 front), walk-on, 2 train operation, couldn't hope for better! Yeah, so Thunderhead is basically awesome. I rode this opening year (over and over and over again, during a non-crowded late-summer weekday). The ride attendants had such great attitudes (as found all over the park). Front seat & back seat rides are incredibly different, duh... but equally forceful and intense. Ride experience of note, friend at crest of lift hill on ride 3 (from back seat) says, "hey, we should ride this time with our eyes closed". I shout, "OK, starting now" (about 3 seconds before getting ripped over the top). Dear Heavenly Father... I just can't tell you how fun that ride was. I tried to read where we were along the track by various elements. I got some of the landmarks, but was thrown around so much. The on-ride photo later revealed me white-knuckling the metal bar that supports the seat (to my left) to brace myself from getting thrown around and nailing my ribs (had already happened). It's been years... YEARS... since my stomach was taken away from the drops and lats on a coaster, well that came rushing back by the random close-eyed ride. It made me so happy.
Left Thunderhead Gap with ice-water and smiles... made way towards Country Fair.
Sky Rider - me and friend took separate vehicles. Wanted to pilot own flier. Fun ride, goes pretty high, good for families.
Amazing Flying Elephants - (one word - OWNED) walk-on... and yes, you read it right, I have to ride this. This ride is one of those rare gems that remind us of youth, Dumbo, the fantasy of flying with a favorite pacyderm... and being shady. I posted a blog a couple years ago about the flying elephants and how your ride experience can get totally tweaked. It all comes down to finding the right rhythm of pressing and releasing your "fly button" to get the elephant to drop and rise suddenly. Eventually you get the whole beam that supports the elephant to flex, resulting in an extremely erratic and haywire ride experience (you find the natural frequency of the beam and pneumatics). I discovered this quite by accident a few years ago, riding this ride with my niece. She released then pushed the button, causing a jerky free-fall and bounce. I freaked out with her discovery and we rode it several times having the time of our lives. Since then I have to ride it.
This technique is on-par with "snapping the fliers"** as far as experiences go... remember what I'm telling you. Get this one down and you'll never look at a "flying elephant" ride the same... I promise!
I had my elephant bouncing so much that it wouldn't stop, which made me nervous that it would break the beam and pneumatics... and that the ride attendant would scold me over the loudspeaker (heh, how many of us have had our spines run cold when we "snap the fliers"?) Every time I'd circle back around to the onlookers, I was free-falling and bouncing the elephant. People were amused, the kid across the way riding with his guardian was shouting "cool" and pointing at me, I felt like the "king of flying elephant land". I rode it once and moved on.
Dizzy Disc - walk-on. Due to ride being closed last time, I hadn't ridden this before. Great ride. A little hard on the "family jewels". While being entertained on the flying elephants, ride attendants were "hosing" down a previous gut-purge on the ride. Friend and I studied where they might have cleaned. Glad to see which seat(s) to avoid (did this by looking at the river of stains spilling around the front of the seats and down over the disc). We made sure to choose our seats wisely. Best part of ride was spinning over highest arc of the half-pipe. It really looks like you're going to fly off the track! I like this ride, although sitting in the face-out position with your diaphram pressed against padding causes me to see how gut-purging could happen pretty readily!
Hot day, Country Fair area in low part of valley, still air makes for hottest part of the park and it was around 2pm, so we left the scrambler, tea cups, wave-swinger, and bumper cars for another visit someday... Got some awesome hand-churned, homemade ice-cream (cookies n' cream) instead. That was nice to help with dehydration (yeah, right) and getting some sugar back in system for quick energy. Then on to Craftsman's Valley.
Daredevil Falls - was unfortunately closed. No explanation given, just two ride attendants relaxing in the shade near the entrance. Unfortunate for us (though you don't get really wet), but fortunate for the ride ops (I know how it is to be working a ride, it goes down, and you get to chill for the day while getting paid). Only bummer for this was we had asked the ticket-sales person if any rides were not operating that day. She said they all were. DF probably went down after buying the tickets and entering park, so we didn't get ALL we'd paid for... (however, I really feel if it had been a big enough deal, we could have gone to management, told them we'd asked about rides being down, and probably been compensated somehow for this).
Blazing Fury - 20 minute wait, two train operation. I waited the longest I've ever waited for this ride. I always have to ride this it seems. BTW, when entering the building and heading down the ramp to the que, look at the poster in the middle of the wall... it still has "Silver Dollar City Fire Department" (or something like that) on it from when the park was actually called "Silver Dollar City" (like it's Branson cousin, if they're both still owned by the same parent corp.). I've noticed that sign for years, just never mentioned it. Blazing fury is a fun dark-ride/coaster. Coolest effect is the falling lanterns and ceiling on the burning bridge as you drop down the first drop... I was blown away by this themeing as a kid when I first noticed this.
Tennessee Tornado - 1 ride, rear seat, had issues, they got resolved, first serious "gray-out" on coaster, crazy! So, usually this ride is a walk-on. The ride ops were not having much luck dealing with people. Because the que is so narrow heading to the back seat, I got back there with friend and a ROPE kept people away from the rear train... um, not good. Because of height issues (being tall), and car design on Arrow loopers, I absolutely HAVE TO sit in the front section of these cars. My knees are pressing into the plastic on the back of the front seats if I sit in the rear seats. The narrow que, gathering crowd, slow cycle/unload (1 train operating)... all pinned me to the rear seat of the second-to-last car. I was not a happy camper. The rear car was roped off for handicapped guests, which there were NONE. The people waiting from the Q-Bot line were evidently pretty upset with the ride attendants as well (my friend heard one woman tell the female ride attendant, "I can be a real A**hole, you don't want me to get that way, we've been waiting here twice as long as people who've exited the ride and re-ridden several times."). I asked them about the EMPTY rear car and they said you can't ride, it's reserved (for the non-existent riders with special needs)... I was like, for whom?! I sit down in the rear seat, cross my legs even, determine that the Arrow Trains haven't magically changed their space issues, and get up to exit the train. The male attendant asks me if something is wrong. Feeling the tension and attention already brewing around the station due to other issues at hand, I realize this is an opportunity for me to stay chill and not be part of an inadvertent scene. I told him my height vs. train design issues. He told me I'd have to leave the station and stand at the (sun-drenched) platform down the steps from the ride area (that didn't help). I remained there until friend returned from his ride, and all the other people passed me running down the stairs. Eventually all worked out... I got the front part of the rear car... did my one ride on the Tornado, and we left that area. OF additional NOTE. I seriously went down the fuzzy tunnel of consciousness approaching the second loop. I had felt it coming on exiting the HUGE vertical loop, then when flying over the hillside banked turn, hit the bottom of the approach to the second loop and hardly remember anything until coming up through the section of track through the vertical loop and hitting the brakes. I thanked the ride attendant, internally hoped for a more peaceful and better day for them all, and left the soulish-whirlwind of the Tennessee Tornado.
Shops, horse-drawn-buggy-maker conversations (it's classic wood science!), eagle habitat viewing, Treehouse tour complete with air-canon nerf-ball battle, and water gun war (I destroyed a group of kids by reaching over and cupping my hand to angle the water coming out of the gun... kids below were getting soaked and this one kid on the other side was trying to battle with a gun that couldn't reach us... I used my adult intellect well to avoid water and dish out heaps of it).
Mountain Slidewinder - 15 minute wait, usually a classic ride, glorified waterslide with extruded foam raft-vehicles. The walk up the hill usually keeps people away from this ride. It didn't keep us away, but by that time of day (3pm) it was hot and some water ride was looking great. Quick wait with more friendly staff around. 3 of us in the boat. THANKFULLY, we didn't have to straddle each other and could stagger the seating. Was a pretty wet ride.
Walked back up to Thunderhead Gap for a T-shirt. Left the park. Walked back to car (long tram line again). Went through Gatlinburg and ate before going across national park to NC. (Didn't get to Ghost Town in the Sky this trip, but checked out the gift shop and will probably go in a couple of months. It was good to see the business in Maggie Valley!)
I told various ride ops and attendants how good a job they were doing, thanking them for their attitudes and that it was making a big difference. Though unpleasant park and ride experiences abound, I always try to make the effort to let people know when they're doing things right! Besides, we're so fortunate to have all the parks and rides we've got here in our neck of the world... just getting to go is such a big deal!
**P.S. In case you don't know what I mean when I talk about "snapping the flyers"... it has to do with a particular type of ride that can be found at a few amusement parks. It's basically a big fin attached to a bucket that you sit in, where you can control how high you rise and dive while the ride spins around. The buckets you sit in are attached to the ride by cables. On CERTAIN models of this ride, you can maneuver the huge fin far enough around to eventually be able to "stall out" at the top of the ascent when you rush up. This causes the buckets to twist and stall, then when the spinning motion of the ride catches up with it, the cables bounce, pop, and snap. This sends the bucket bouncing and shaking. You'll know you've done it once you do it... because you'll think something just broke and you're about to die. It's great fun and if the ride attendant doesn't care, you can scare the crap out of yourself over and over again to your heart's content! Yay... go have fun.
