Thunderhead opening?

I know that this topic has been discussed in the past few weeks, but I found the following announcement:

The Dollywood Smoky Mountain Coasterstorm originally scheduled for March has been postponed until April 17, 2003

Does anyone know if the coaster will be open before the 17th? I had planned a day at the park for 04/16/04 .

From what has been said from people on this site that work at GCII, the ride will likely be open by April 7th, as I understand

I'll be at the park on April 17th, but I'm in town for the Grand Run Car show, not the Ace Event.

If you've never been to Pigeon Forge on car show weekend, be prepared for some traffic problems. Look for Dollywood to be pretty crowded too.

The turnover date (the day Great Coaster turns Thunderhead over to Dollywood) is April 6th. That basicly means any day on or after the 6th should be good to plan a day at Dollywood to ride Thunderhead. *** Edited 3/17/2004 6:49:43 AM UTC by coasterpunk***

Am I reading these comments correctly?

There's an ACE event and a car show that weekend?

Ouch. I was planning a trip on the 17th, but if that much is happening I'll probably back it up to the 24th.

Rod Run, is Apr 16-18. While the main contest is held at the Grand hotel, but the whole town basically becomes a car show/cruise strip/hangout. Have fun. ;) BTW, cops are everywhere.

http://pigeonforge.com/calendar/calendar_main.htm

I'd say get there early and don't plan on doing a lot of driving until night. Though things could have changed since I went to Rod Run.

Looks like the ACE event is the 17th.

All I can tell you is that press day for the coaster and the Festival of nations is April 2nd.

In case anyone is wondering where I got the information, it's from their invitation that I received yesterday.

Are there any up-to-date pics of the ride? I'm curious of how it turned out. I definately am planning on going sometime this year.

Nope. No pictures. Im beginning to think the thing blew away in the horrendous winds weve been having 'round these parts lately. :)

And Dollywood TV Ads featuring Thunderhead are now showing! Very cool commercial! *** Edited 3/18/2004 1:37:53 AM UTC by CoastermanX***

This sucks...I have already requested the 3rd off from work to go to Dollywood! I probably won't get to go ride Thunderhead til probably June now because of my work/school/kid scedules! It is almost impossible for me to get the day off to go because of these!! I wanna ride THUNDERHEAD!!! (sorry, my two year old temper just showed up!)

-Joe