Dollywood 5/19

My family and I made a trip to Cleveland, TN this weekend for a baseball tournament my brother's traveling team was invited to. Well, Dollywood was only two hours from there so we decided to journey to the park for the day.

We had got to the park about 15min. after opening (we had a hard time finding discount tickets). At that time the park was not very crowded at all. We got in, took a picture, got a park map, and were on our way. The first ride we stopped at was Smoky Mountain Wilderness Adventure. The que is inside a pretty well themed building featuring old wilderness tools and contraptions. Then you enter another part of the building where you stand for awhile until a video comes on in which Dolly explains her cousin Clovis and his crazy inventions. Next, a door opens to another room where the ride is basically explained. Finally, another door opens to the ride itself. It was a pretty entertaining ride, but the mist effects were not working.

Next we traveled down up to Country Fair. There we rode 2 rides, The Skyrider and Dizzy Disk. The Skyrider is a fun yet pretty gentle ride where guests are taken up a 70ft. tower and spun with there legs dangling freely in the air. Dizzy Disk is a really fun Zamperla Disko.

Then we made our way up the mountain to the Mountain Slidewinder. We were getting ready to ride when one of the boats got stuck on the first turn-around. We figured we had the whole day so we waited till it was all fixed, which was about 30min. We finally got on the ride. I for one thought it was well worth the wait. This thing completely SOAKS you. It's all fun turns until you enter a dark tunnel and then exit into an unexpected drop. It was a great ride.

The next ride we went on was Blazing Fury. I had not heard many details about it except it was an indoor roller coaster so i didn't know what to expect. We sat in the back seat and the ride began. It started off pretty boring. Basically turns that featured some corny scenes of buildings on fire. But then we got to a dimly lit waterfall and began a gentle slope up. Then we made a slow turn, but suddenely the train droped down into complete darkness! It went up again, turned a bit more and then you heard the sound of a train engine, off in the distance you could see smoke. The coaster turned again and you could see the train coming at you. Suddenly you droped again under the train tracks and then back up. You make one more turn and then fall down a twisting drop into water. The coaster rapidly slows down and then turns once more into the station. I was suprised at how intense the finally of this ride was. It is definetly a great junior coaster for begginner coaster riders that want to step up from kiddie rides.

Tennessee Tornado was next on the list. I had ridden this before but it was about 4 years ago so I didn't quite remember it all. The coaster starts by turning out of the station and into the building that holds the transfer track, then up the lift. The coaster then makes a small drop into a turn. You really don't expect the next element: a drop into the mountain! The drop is, fast, steep, and fun. You exit into an enourmous loop and then into an over-banked turn. Next is a sidewinder, then another over-banked turn thats leads up into the breakrun. This is a great coaster! Probably the best (and smoothest) arrow looper I've ridden.

We then walked back through the park to Thunderhead. Thunderhead was such an awesome, twisted, fast paced coaster I don't think I can explain it much more. Highlights: Awesome twisting 1st drop, very fast changes in direction, great airtime, Millenium Flyer trains! This is also a great coaster and goes high up on my list.

We went all the way up in Timber Canyon and then saw that Timber Tower was closed. This kind of upset me, for i had been wanting to ride it for awhile. I went and asked an employee if it would open later and she said that it was open earlier but its power failed, so they were working on it now. So we went over to Lumberjack Lifts they looked pretty neat, but in the end they hurt your hands and do not provide a freefall sensation at all. But i guess that's because it's a ride for little children. LOL. From the Lumberjack Lifts you could see the construction going on for their 2007 attraction. When we were there they were clearing land and stacking dirt into huge piles. Then we went back to Thunderhead. On our way I saw Timber Tower start to move, it began to spin at a pretty good speed, and then slowly lifted up the tower. But after about 8ft. it stoped in it's place and slowed the spinning until it was completely still. We then continued on to Thunderhead.

After our exciting ride on the coaster we decided to walk all the way back to Blazing Fury for my brother. This time we rode in the very front. This allowed a more jerky ride, but the back seemed more fast and exciting.

Overall, (even though Timber Tower was down) we had an AWESOME time at Dollywood. It is a great park for both thrill-seekers and families.

Ride Ratings on a Scale From 1-10:

Smoky Mountain Wilderness Adventure- 6

The Skyrider- 4

Dizzy Disk- 7

Mountain Slidewinder- 7

Blazing Fury(back seat)- 7

Tennessee Tornado- 8

Thunderhead- 9

Lumberjack Lifts- 2

Blazing Fury(front seat)- 5

(sorry i didn't post this as a trip report)

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Great report. I love that park. Taht place has great food as well as everything else.