Theme Park Discussion / Trip Reports

I figured since I did not see a topic for general trip reports I would make a new one that we could all post on from now on just to keep them all together. If there is one already, I apologize in advance for not posting there as I did not see one after a quick search.

 

Anyways, onto the report.

 

So I just got back from my yearly family vacation, and this year (being 2015 of course) we decided to go see the Great Smoky Mountains up in Tennessee. The weather was nice for the most part, and we were able to see and do a lot of things including: hiking, horseback riding, moonshine tasting, and a visit to Dollywood!

 

We went to the park this past Tuesday, the 29th of December, and upon first sight of the park you could tell it was going to be packed that day. Because of this we went ahead and got their Fast Pass equivalent, which if I recall correctly was called Time Saver, as we would surely need it throughout the day.

 

The day started off with a surprisingly quiet stroll down Craftsman Valley where we practically walked onto Tennessee Tornado. We had our choice at the front or the back, and ever since there is almost always a longer line to sit in the front during full operations, my sister and I opted for the front row. To ride on the fastest coaster at Dollywood first thing in the morning provided for quite the wake up call. Tennessee Tornado is by far the smoothest Arrow I have been on, and is my second favorite coaster in the park so far. It's a shame the coaster is as short as it is because it is just so much fun!

 

After our wake up call we headed next door to Wild Eagle, and Firechaser Express. First we rode on Wild Eagle, which was also a walk on, and this time we opted for the last row, left side of the train. Now as some of you may know this was not actually my first attempt at riding this coaster, but my second. Luckily, this time I was able to ride and it was an absolute blast! Wild Eagle is by far my favorite ride in the park. Everything about it is great; the view from the whole ride being on top of the hill, the comfortable seats and restraints, the smoothness of the ride as a whole, etc. I could go on and on about how much I love this ride, but I don't want this report to be any longer than it already is.

 

Right after Wild Eagle, we walked right across the path to Firechaser Express where we actually had about a 25 minute wait with the Time Saver. This is where we started running into some issues with the park. First of all, the way the Time Saver worked is that you would queue a spot for your party for whatever ride/attraction for a later time, and when the device buzzed it was ready for you to ride. So we queued our spot, and got in the Time Saver line as it was only about a five minute wait until it buzzed. Once it buzzed, we went and got the ride attendant to scan our device, and we were good to go. Only problem is that the Time Saver line flows into the regular queue right in the station, and the attendants do not put you into a certain row. So, we had to police ourselves in getting into the rows and led to kind of awkward stares and built up tension with the people in the regular queue thinking you were cutting in line, but this wasn't really an issue for now.

 

We rode Firechaser, and I thought it was an okay ride. The layout itself is very fun minus the backwards part which made me feel sick, and the only issue is that the cars are so small I found myself banging my knees into the little hand rail at the front of the car a lot, so I really had to brace myself on the ride. I was actually surprised at how well they were able to shell out a lot of trains given how low capacity the ride would seem with it having one way in and out of the station, and the smaller trains.

 

After Firechaser, we worked our way down Wilderness Pass over towards Mystery Mine and Thunderhead. We decided to skip out on Mystery Mine since it was already over a 30 minute wait, so we went ahead and set the Time Saver for Thunderhead since the regular queue was already at a three hour wait. Here is where we run into the Time Saver issue again... We look around for the Time Saver queue, but we can't find it. It turns out that the regular queue that was flowing out of the entrance and down the path was blocking it, so we squeeze through the crowd and get into the queue which flowed right into the station. As we were waiting for the ride attendant to scan our device I notice that they are running only one train on Thunderhead which is why the wait was so long for the regular queue. Not to mention the ride attendants were painfully slow here setting off the trains. By now we have been waiting about half an hour just trying to get our Time Saver scanned then we finally get a ride attendant's attention, and he says to not worry about it and to just clear the time queue in the device. We were really surprised by this because then what is the point of the Time Saver, but we didn't let it bother us too much. We finally ride Thunderhead, and it was pretty good. If I did not have a herniated disc I probably would have loved it, but it was just too intense for me to ride again that day. The layout itself was amazing, and the turns were incredible as well. I would place it as my third favorite in the park.

 

By now it was around lunch time, so we decided to get some food at one of their giant skillets which was about a 30 minute wait just to order the food, and another 25 to get our food. Again, the crowds were insane. It was getting close to three in the afternoon which was when we had a reservation for their Christmas Carol show, so we just stuck around Showstreet area. The show was actually really good, and it was nice to have an hour long break from walking and riding coasters.

 

While waiting for the show to start, we queued up our Time Saver for Mystery Mine, so once we were done it would be time for us to go ride it. We waited about 30 minutes in the Time Saver line, and this time the attendant scanned our device, and placed us in the back row of one of the trains. I sat on the inside of the trains as opposed to the outside from a previous trip to the park, and this time it was actually really smooth and comfortable to me. The ride itself was pretty fun, and the only drawback was that for some reason this time it felt short.

 

The rest of the day consisted of riding Blazing Fury, which I'm not sure what to say about that, and another ride on Wild Eagle using the Time Saver this time among shopping and eating dinner. They had extended the parks hours that day by one more hour while we were in the park, and so we stayed to see the Christmas lights which were beautiful.

 

Now onto some pictures!  (To see them without ridiculous resolution right-click them and open in a new tab)

 

Welcome to Dollywood!

 

Entrance/Showstreet area

 

More entrance/Showstreet

 

I really like the icicles in this shot

 

Crazy architecture housing the show theater

 

So atmospheric, so good

 

My favorite area in the park

 

Great themeing in this area

 

SO MANY PEOPLE

 

Really cool display

 

I'm getting excited look at how tall it is!

 

Imagine the airtime over the hill...

 

That's a long way up

 

Heading over to Craftsman Valley

 

Missed out on the giant swing set unfortunately

 

There are nice little streams all over this beautiful park

 

Blazing Fury's entrance

 

Slightly better view

 

Station building for Tennessee Tornado that also houses an arcade

 

The ride op made fun of me for taking a picture of an empty train. I told him he doesn't understand lol

 

This coaster is more mysterious than Mystery Mine

 

I love this shot! Taken from Wild Eagle's station

 

Firechaser's mess of track

 

It seemed like a really long ride

 

Interesting station

 

I love this entrance sculpture for Wild Eagle

 

Wild Eagle flying high

 

Soaring over the park, Wild Eagle gives great views

 

I really love the themeing here too

 

Just look at the level of detail

 

Oh look more people...

 

This is one hell of an element

 

What a view!

 

Thunderhead has a really cramped entrance area

 

Love this turnaround

 

First drop

 

Ugh, SG

 

Heading into the station flyby

 

Tennessee Tornado's station all lit up

 

Famous Grist Mill all lit up. Unfortunately missed out on the cinnamon bread as well...

 

Finally made my way over to Lightning Rod's construction area

 

A little blurry, but still beautiful nonetheless

 

They did a great job lighting the park up for their Christmas celebration

 

Goodnight Dollywood! Hope to see you again real soon

 

Lastly, a picture of the Great Smoky Mountains taken from an overlook on the Foothills Parkway

 

Overall we had a really enjoyable day at the park with the only issue being the Time Saver and some ride operations, but that is understandable given how crowded the park was. I'm happy to have finally ridden Thunderhead and Wild Eagle both of which I missed out on our last trip there, and I can't wait to return for Lightning Rod whenever that may be.

 

Sorry for this report being so long. I just thought that if I was going to do this, I better do it properly, and I hope you all enjoy it!

 

EDIT: Sorry, I just realized how high the resolution is on the photos... If you right-click on them and open them in a new tab they should look a lot better. 

Anyone, feel free to open a topic of your own if you have a trip report to share. No need to bundle them.