Dollywood April 3

Does anyone know if Thunderhead will be opening as sceduled on April 3, and if so will anyone else from coasterbuzz be there? I am planning on being there and trying to get on the very first train!

villeneuve (F-1 fan, huh?)....

GCI has stated that the ride would be ready April 6. Dollywood HAD intended to have an ACE preview on Mar 26, but that *apparently* fell through due to the delayed coaster opening (heavy rains slowed completion).

Dollywood's been pretty *mum*, and, best as I can tell, Apr. 6 may still be the opening, or maybe Dolly's got enough pull to get the ride certified a few days early...I know they'd LIKE to get the ride opened by the park's *scheduled* opening date...;)

Can I stand in line with you, Bill? ;)

Rob - living on the west coast suxors!!!!

I will be there on the 3rd, Thunderhead or not. :-D

However I do have a great (hopeful) feeling that it will be ready to roll by April 3rd. I am sure Dolly will do everything in her power to see that's it's ready.

<----fingers crossed. I can't wait too see that GCI sweetness!

-Tina

*** Edited 2/25/2004 7:35:15 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

I'm planning on hitting it on April 10th. I figured that even if it didn't open with the season than it would at least be open by the next week.

Anyway in other Thunderhead news: The trains are almost finished. We have to finish putting the lap bars in, and setting up the release cables. After that we will finish putting the Nerf bars on then the running boards, and knee guards. After that they should be ready to set on their shipping skids and be off to Dollywood. Once on site they will take Chris several days to set up and ready to roll.

Thunderhead should be testing by mid-late March.

I'm not sure about the opening date yet. But it will open when it's ready and not anytime before that.

yeah, rollergator, I'm an F1 fan,but it's not Jacques, it's Gilles that I like. But anyway...
I hope Thunderhead will be open on the 3rd, 'cause that's the only time I will get to go to Dollywood until probably July, so they had better get it ready!!!! lol

I really am not worrying about it. Dolly will get the ride certified and it will be operating by April 3, one way or another. Dolly has alot of influence in these parts.

I received my season pass in the mail. I am planning on being there. I have never been on opening day. Dolly is the grand marshall of the parade that will kick off the park opening on Friday night. Does anyone know how crowded the park usually is on opening day?

Ive went on opening day for the past 3 years. Rides are usually empty because its mostly old folks who come because they want to see Dolly. This year may be different. ((FYI-Dolly has 2 parades through the park daily during grand opening weekend-u may even see here just walking around the park!))

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CoastermanX said:
Dolly has alot of influence in these parts.

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Doesn't matter. If GCI says the ride isn't ready, there isn't a damn thing that she or anyone else can do about it.

My guess is that it won't be ready by opening day. Coasters (new and old) have testing phases to work out bugs and to break in rides. Although GCI is a great company, they aren't leaving a whole lot of time to get the ride running up to their standards for opening day.

IMO It's totally understandable if the ride doesn't open on time. These things happen sometimes! I just hope that everyone won't get all pissy cause they have to wait another 2 weeks to ride.

It won't be the public as much as the park being the one all pissy. They have already done advertising saying it will be open by April 3rd.

I live in the area and theyre hasn't been any precipatation around in about three weeks..so I don't know where this story is coming from.

Construction could have fell behind, but not that far, and they're is still over a month in which to finish construction and test. Based on the photos ive seen Thunderhead should be almost completed by now. One or two sections-tops wasn't completed.

Here's to hoping there won't be too many unhappy guests on opening day, or even better yet, it gets done in time. *** Edited 2/26/2004 3:20:37 AM UTC by CoastermanX***

The structure is up it has been for a while. All the track is cut and in place. The steel rails should be done in a few weeks. Bracing is being added to the structure, brakes are being placed, and all the saftey and electrical items are being installed.

Everything should be completed when the trains leave the shop in about 2 weeks.

Don't worry CoastermanX Thunderhead will be running by the date GCII and Dollywood agreed on. it may not be the original date set but a new current date. Dollywood has alot of stuff to do as well.

Dolly doesn't have any say in when Thunderhead will open. It would be like Micky Mouse telling everyone that the Tower Of Terror at DCA will open tomorrow.

Yes, that trestle they're building and the rest of the area has had little work to it. Although they're are a few buildings already there.

Still the question is-will Thunderhead Gap have to entry paths-or just the one from Showstreet?

^I'm beggining to think they'll only be one, but eventually in the future the park will connect that area back to Craftmen's Valley, so we'll have a midway loop. (And, that will nearly double the size of the park! :))

I believe the train trestle is complete and they are just re-laying the rails across it. There was an interesting article about it in the Sevierville Mountain Press a few days ago. They'll also have to do some stress tests, because it would be horrible if it collapsed while the train was crossing it.

Hey Duke
Fortunately a coworker subscribes to The Mountain Press and gave me the article on Thunderhead yesterday :-). That pic is awesome! I'm counting down the days til I can ride it.

I work at Dollywood in Country Fair. So far The Thunderhead is scheduled to be open Apr. 3. I'm so excited....can't wait to ride it!

The turn over date is still April 6th. GCII has total control over Thunderhead until then. If they get it up and running before that and they feel it meets all their standards they can give it to the park early.

April 6 is a Tuesday, and according to the Dollywood website operating schedule the park is closed that day. I was planning on going April 3rd, but if Thunderhead isn't open then, I'd rather wait.

I think coasterpunk means that is the day that it is handed over to park and that GCII is no longer involved.

I think I'll be at the park on April 16th. Looking foward to it!