Wild Adventures guests buckle under heat

This place won't give you a cup of water if you ask for it.

Unfortunately, I don't think they were AT ALL prepared for this summer...my (educated) guess is that park attendance skyrocketed with the addition of the waterpark. At least that's how it looked on my two days there last month. Add in the fact that the queues are stifling, that there is virtually NO shade in the park, that they rarely add a second train to Cheetah and Hangman, and I can *easily* see how this could have happened. Shoot, even at the Rollerskater (Ant Farm Express), there were fans sitting idle. When I asked the op if she could turn them on, she told me they were broken....by the LOOKS of it, they'd been broken for a LONG time.

Back in the "good old days", these problems didn't happen because there was never enough people around to create a long line. Not true anymore.

Trust me when I say WA used to be a MUCH better park than is indicated here...and I hope it will return to the previous level of guest satisfaction....but for now, I think ALL of their resources are going down to Cypress...;)

Perhaps it is because I did not know what it was like before... perhaps it was because during our visit in mid June the park was not all that crowded...

But I didn't think it was that bad of a park... as a matter of fact, it was sort of the surprise of the vacation. Granted, while I enjoyed Dollywood on that vacation more, I was expecting much more from Dollywood. Wild Adventures I went to expecting an average to below average park, kind of run down park and was pleasantly surprised.

There is a lack of shade, that is for sure, but no more so than at some other parks I have visited.

I've not been there, but for what I perceive to be the size of that park, 28,000 is a lot of people. Even at a park the size of Cedar Point that's an OK early season day.

I think they meant 28,000 for both days of the weekend. I'd hate to imagine 28,000 in that place at the same time ;) Then again they do have the waterpark. At least they aren't hurting for attendance like a park a few hundred miles away in Birmingham Alabama. They just need to have their park better-equipped for those kinds of crowds and provide more shade.

They're capable of pulling 20,000 a day on summer weekends. It's actually a BIG park, they have load of attractions and the waterpark, I think the park could proabably service 30,000 guests before overcrowding becomes in issue.

But back to the heat issue, I seemed to remember not being able to get a friggen drink ANYWHERE there, we wandered around for a good 20 mins lookin for a drink of ANYTHING! ;)*** This post was edited by ThePhantomLives 7/27/2004 7:14:55 PM ***

rollergator said Shoot, even at the Rollerskater (Ant Farm Express), there were fans sitting idle. When I asked the op if she could turn them on, she told me they were broken

At least they’re not facing the outside of the queue, like certain ones at SFEG!

SLFAKE said Granted, while I enjoyed Dollywood on that vacation more, I was expecting much more from Dollywood.

Please elaborate, us at Dollywood wanna hear guest concerns.

Nothing bad about Dollywood, quite the opposite. Of all of the parks we visited on our last vacation, Dollywood is the only one on my "Must goto again" list.

Let me explain it a different way...

Before I went to Wild Adventures, based on what I read on here from TR's and the like, I was expecting "Below Average park / Poor experience". What I found was "Average to above average park / rather good experience." It surprised me... I was expecting "Bad", but found "Good". In other words, I went expecting a "4", but found a "7"... expecting a "-" but found a "+"

With Dollywood, I was expecting alot... I was expecting "Good park / Good Experience". What I found was "Great Park / Great Experience". I was expecting "Good" but found "Great". In other words, I was expecting an "8" but found a "10"... expecting a "+" but found a "+ +".

I was not surprised that Dollywood was a "Great Park"... but I was surprised that Wild Adventures was an "Average to Good Park".

Hope that makes sense.

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 7/28/2004 8:32:22 AM ***

We were at W.A. last month, and when you take that heat and add some rain to it, you get this horrible, nasty humity down there! We were also searching for water fountains, and they had a really nice "canteen" rest stop near the Tiger Show which we took advantage of. It's a great park, plenty of rides and things to do, but it did need more rest rooms and more fountains. Plus, there is a really bad and hot dead-end near Cheeta, which forces you back a long way you came. (Okay, it's not that long)

The front of the park near the Bugsville has twice the shade that the other part of the parks have, but you have to remember, two other parts of the park are Africa and the Old west, which don't have a heck of a lot of trees anyway, so it works with the themeing.

Off subject, I thought Dollywood was one of the best parks I have been to, I'd just like to see more mid to high thrill rides and a new family coaster, plus some of the pathways fixed so they are not so steep or just fenced-off altogether.

*** This post was edited by john peck 7/28/2004 12:02:49 PM ***

Heat stress etc. is a serious issue at most parks. To neglect its effect on guests is truly dangerous. More people die in parks due to heat than due to accidents.

I was there over July 4th weekend and of course am not used to such humidity, but I don't remember it being THAT unbearable as long as you kept yourself properly hydrated, wore white clothing, took breaks in the shade, etc. I remember having a slight problem breathing though. Midwest humidity is a cakewalk compared to the deep South. :-) I had almost forgotten.

The thing with the fans, as Gator mentioned, was just wrong. :-( It would of made a HUGE difference if they had those running. Luckily our wait time wasn't too long.

-Tina

<--who loved Wild Adventures but has a better respect for air conditioning.....lol. :-)

*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 7/29/2004 4:46:11 AM ***