Track complete on Dollywood's Wild Eagle, ride animation posted

Lord Gonchar said:
ILSHINPMP

(Ill Shin Pimp)

I totally see this catching on... :)

I may have to hit up this ride on opening weekend. I was planning a mission trip to North Carolina the first week of March, but have changed it to the first week of April. Dollywood is halfway between home and where I would be going. Hopefully it all works out that I can, never been to DW.

The only real missteps I've seen from HFEC surround the ill-fated Celebration City (and it's once-fabulous Ozark Wildcat which is now no better than scrap lumber after this many years). Sure do wish they'd step in somewhere around Lake Shafer, Monticello, IN.

As for this particular ride, I'm sure it'll be a big hit, and a winner for Dollywood/HFEC. For me personally, it's not going to be "the big addition" in the US next season....but it will be very fun, and profitable.

I actually saw the Shin Pimps in concert once. They were, indeed, illin'. ;)

Is any part of this ride going to interact with a path? Will it give some life to the mile-long hike to Mountain Slidewinder and interact with that queue?

Lol. You got me.

I was up there last weekend - the station is at the top of the ridge, kind of where the two paths came together. Right across from adventure mountain, and behind the skyzip. The ride is up on the ridge, but there are several places on the path that look like they will be great observation areas.

It looks Awesome! just gotta get down there at some point. Stupid New England

Well it's official. Getting a cabin in the woods for next Thanksgiving and spending time at Dollywood. :)

Ensign Smith said:
So does the actual ride come equipped with that soundtrack? Because I'm in favor of it.

Dolly will be singing and selling it on CD in the gift shop - Was just down there recently and you couldn't step foot in any tourist trap, or Smokey Mountain gift shop without seeing her products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRVs5ffjknE

On-ride video posted.

So, I have been wondering, how does the station work? There doesn't seem to be separate load and unload from the video. Do riders cross over the track and fill the row like four across, or do they enter from each side?

I just read Tek's trip report, and it sounds as if both sides of the train has its own set of airgates. But then, where do the exiting riders go?

Riders exit at the front of the station on the same side they entered. Once they are clear, the air gates open and let the next set of rider in. It's not the quickest process. But by the end of the day the crew seamed to be doing pretty good and a full queue was less than an hour wait.

I thought loading and unloading was very inefficient and awkward. They were opening the gates for people to get on while others were still trying to get off and picking up their loose articles. This type of ride definitely needs separate unloading and loading stations. One of the ride ops claimed they were doing 800 pph. Sunday morning, despite a full queue, they were only running one train.

They just need a trap door system where it unloads people from the train into a series of slides that send them back out to the midway. ;)

Seriously though, without a separate load/unload area, about the only thing that could be done to help with congestion, is not having bins in the station and making people put stuff in lockers. I don't think that would go over well. The park has always been very accommodating and guest friendly.

I waited in a full queue on Friday and waited about 45 minutes with 2 trains. So, with that in mind, I don't see a need for any drastic changes yet. I'm not sure why they would only be running one train with a full queue. Unless it had filled up quickly and they hadn't had the opportunity to put the second train on yet.

Free lockers, like Universal IOA has, would be a good solution. Maybe I will tell Dolly of my idea next time I see her. :)

Just get a flash pass, Travis. ;)

Oh, I am. I am.