Thunderhead update

Whoohoo! Good news indeed.

My season passes arrive tomorrow. If I didn't have tickets for the Bristol Busch race I'd be in Pigeon Forge for the passholder sneak peek day.

Looking forward to visiting as soon as I can!

And just a reminder (as if I even need to mention anything) — In your excitement to ride Thunderhead, please don't forget that kick-butt little Tennessee Tornado (my favorite steel looper, btw, and I've ridden many) and my sentimental favorite, Blazin' Fury. "Now ... now Molly you be careful, cuz I've got a bad back!" "Bad back or not, Luther, here I come!"

and of course don't forget Country Fair =O)

The revised flyer for the ACE Southeast Dollywood event on April 17 is now online.

http://www.ACESoutheast.org/Dollywood04.pdf *** Edited 3/26/2004 8:00:11 PM UTC by gamndbndr***

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Char Spratt said:
and of course don't forget Country Fair =O)

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Or the Steam Train!

Hey, you guys have to get some photos up so I can say "Hi" to you when I visit. That, or add your AKA's to your name tags.

Any Dolly sightings? It'd be a blast to ride Thunderhead with her.

Dolly will be there on April 3 for Grand Opening.

Dolly won't ride the coasters, her wig might fall off! She didn't ride TN Tornado, so she peobably won't ride this one either

probably not, but I'm sure she will at least make an appearance at the ride

I am totally psyched about this ride opening! It looks mean!! It's gonna be great to finally have a fantastic woodie (well from the looks of it) within driving distance. I just cant wait to see this beast in action. The transitions look completely intense, and that station fly-through will be an awesome way of getting riders excited about the ride ahead of them. I’m glad to see this ride at DollyWood also, it adds some fire to their too mild line up. (IMO)

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CoasterWife3 said:
Dan Komos

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It's Comoss ;)

Thunderhead is mean. It's the most insane wooden coaster I've ridden.

When I was there the walkway was complete. Dollywood must have had 30 or so people working on landscaping alone. In the area there is a restroom and a water gun game. I'm sure they will add some sort of food and drink stand too.

Thunderhead might not be running early in the day but should be running 1 train sometime durring the day. there just wasn't enough time to test with a 2 train operation, maybe for grand opening.

If you see Dolly with two black eyes you will know she rode Thunderhead! :)

I rode Thunderhead today at Dollywood's Season Passholder Preview Day. There was many glitches-such as having to wait two hours before the ride was opened (apparently the one train needed more testing, and needed to train the employees) but I got a free Coke from Dolly! I spoke to a ride operator on Thunderhead (which I rode twice) who said the other train will be in operation by Grand Opening. I hope so, becuase the one train ops resulted in 3 hour lines. But I gladly waited in line and had no objection to having to wait the two hours, knowing it was a new coaster, and we was lucky it was open at all.

My Opinion of Thunderhead:

THE BEST ROLLER COASTER IVE EVER RIDDEN!

Thank You Dollywood, and GCII! *** Edited 3/28/2004 1:44:16 AM UTC by CoastermanX***

We ran the crap out of the train that was running to get Thunderhead open for today. The train needed 40 hours of running time not including shut downs, inspections and other testing. Several people, Brian from Consign, Chris and Jeff from GCII and all the ride ops at Dollywoodput in LOOONG 16-18 hour days of running for just one train to be ready. We just didn't have enough time to test the other train and for Brian to get the computer programed for a two train operation.

I understood completely. At least they had the second train hidden so the public wouldn't see it. Great work Coasterpunk, the trains are beatiful. Even though with the airtime on this ride the lap bar may hurt just a little, but no stapling

So how much airtimes does the ride have? One TR on rrc mentioned only about 3 spots of airtime but than he only rode it once or twice and he didn't say where he was sitting? I hope there is as much airtime as Viper @ SFGAm.

Thunderhead has air everywhere! It ranges from little pops of air to floater air. I think there are 3 or 4 spots of floater air and a bunch of little pops. While I was on the ride I counted between 10- 15 seconds on a 45 second ride from the top of the lift to the brakes. That was doing the, one thousand one, one thousand two, method. Even when I rode it in the middle seats I got lots of air it wasn't as crazy but it was still there. I rode it at least 150 times or more in 2 days. Working for GCII has it's perks.

How does the air time compare to Ozark Wildcat's? It's hard to guage the reports on Thunderhead without a standard for comparison.
How about the ending? Is the final leg anything like Ozark Wildcat's fast and furious finale?
Thanks for all the reports. I can't wait to ride it!

Thunderhead packs a punch throughout. It seems to keep its speed all the way through. The brakes don't slam on, but slowly slow the train. So, its comfortable

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coasterpunk said:
I rode it at least 150 times or more in 2 days. Working for GCII has it's perks.

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Man, what a lousy job you have! I don't envy you AT ALL!

The most insane wooden coaster you've ridden? As if I wasn't already excited enough about this one...

Not to mention all the solo rides on it too. ;) Somtimes durring construction we had to deal with alot of stuff. Not really me, but Chris and Jeff. Somtimes we would get parts for the trains and they wouldn't be done when they should be or done the right way so they got sent back for new ones. Especially when your on a tight schedule. All the crap is worth it though when you see people getting off a ride totally speechless. Although there is alot of ride time there is alot of work to be done at the same time. I didn't do any work at the park but everyone else did. I though Great Coasters was an awsome place to work everyone was so cool.