Lightning Rod
Slowish start – no point rushing as the park wasn’t opening until 10am.
Lots of fireworks last night – I assume they are testing for the summer season which starts on Saturday.
Pretty loud – must have been for us to hear them through the very effective double glazing.
Anyway, we covered much of the park yesterday and today was just to ride the handful of coasters. Actually, Dollywood has quite a few “e-ticket” rides.
Staying at the resort hotel grants you a time-saver pass which slashes the queue time. Most rides had a 20-45 minute wait and this wrist band whittle’s that down to a couple of minutes
The Tennessee Tornado
Must be one of the oldest coasters here and I’m pretty sure is made by the same company that did the Corkscrew at Alton Towers and the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Showing its age, not very smooth and the initial hill climb makes up about half of the rides duration!
Thunderhead
Another older coaster, but this one is “woody”. Not so keen on these as they tend to be rougher. This was pretty harsh, not helped by its tired seat. However, it was fast and seemed to go on forever!
Wild Eagle
This is more my sort of coaster – fast, smooth. It’s a wing coaster so you sit outside of the track wondering if you’re going to lose a shoe! Never ridden this type before as they are pretty uncommon.
Lightning Rod
Tried to ride this yesterday and today, but it seems to be forever having technical problems. We had left the park and were sat waiting for the shuttle bus when I saw it reopen with a 45 minute wait time. Decided to hurry back into the park – only had to wait a few minutes with the fastpass.
Bit of a beast this coaster – both seatbelts and knee restraints. Tight fitting. A couple of people were offloaded as they could get the belts to fasten. I just hoped the ride was less than three minutes long so I didn’t asphyxiate from holding my breath!!
This is a very fast, aggressive ride. You couldn’t stick your arms in the air as the twist and turns push you into the seat. It was very smooth. Supposed to be in the top ten coasters in the USA and I’d agree, although I still prefer VelociCoaster at Universal Florida
Was going to say it’s my favourite wooden coaster, but I don’t think it is a true wooden coaster as all the track and running gear is that of a steel coaster? I’m no expert on this stuff – they arrive next week in the form of Coaster-Con which is being held here at Dollywood.
So, having ticked off the rides and done two or more laps of the park, we were done. I think on a quieter day, you could comfortably do this park in a day. The shows are quite short. Food options are pretty varied and it’s a very attractive park. Staff are friendly and the English are still a bit of a novelty here!
We caught a shuttle/trolley back to the hotel and went to the lounge for a late lunch. Some hot wings and a salad each.
Must write down some of these ingredients – would certainly pep up salads in the UK. Would never think to have this as a salad at home.