After a busy first day of our Tennessee trip visiting Ripley’s Mountain Coaster, Anakeesta, and Moonshine Mountain Coaster, Day 2 would see us focus primarily on the main draw of this trip – Dollywood. Neither Sam or Jen had visited Dollywood before and it was a bucket list park for the both of them. As for me, this would be my third visit to the park with my past visits coming in 2013 with James and 2019 with Mindy and Mailyn. Neither of those visits were full day visits though. Both were cut short due to weather with 2013 for rain and 2019 for extreme heat.
With all that being said, I was able to experience every coaster at the park during those visits, so Big Bear Mountain was the only new coaster I had yet to ride. I was looking forward to that, but I was also looking forward to getting in re-rides on the park’s other coasters with two days at Dollywood. And best of all, the weather was calling for low 70’s during the day, dipping down into the low 50’s at night.
Now, onto the rides of Day 1 of Dollywood, which was Day 2 of our Tennessee Trip. Man, this is kind of confusing! Sorry…
The Busier of Our Two Days
One thing I hate doing when visiting a major amusement park is doing it on a Saturday. The crowds are always at their peak and that means longer lines and less rides throughout the day. I had considered buying skip the line passes for our visit, but we elected to visit Dollywood for two days instead. Luckily for us, right before buying our tickets, they posted a special where you could purchase two day passes for the price of the single day pass. For a trip costing us this much with all the other places on our agenda, every little bit helped.
Even though Saturday’s visit was easily more crowded than the one on Sunday, we still managed to ride every single coaster, minus Blazing Fury. Sadly, it would be closed both days. Sam and Jen were obviously bummed since they never rode it before. Even though I had, I was looking forward to riding it. So I was bummed too. I guess it did allow us to jump in line for a few other re-rides, though.
Lightning Rod
Of all the rides at Dollywood, Lightning Rod was my favorite. That was until this visit. Back in 2019 I was able to ride Lightning Rod several times. The coaster hauled and the airtime pops threw me into my restraints hard. It was one of several Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) coasters that left my thighs sore walking out of the station with the others being Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom and Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion. That is no longer the case, however.
As many of you know, Lightning Rod has had its fair share of downtime over the years. I consider myself lucky to have experienced it back in 2019 seeing all the posts about it being down for others. Since that visit the coaster has been mostly re-tracked with RMC’s I-Box track, making it more steel than wood. But the biggest change to the coaster was the removal the uphill launch system. It was replaced with a high speed chain lift. And honestly, I’m not sure where the “high speed” description comes from.
We rode Lightning Rod first thing in the morning and were greeted with such a slow, plodding ride. I got off telling Sam and Jen that the coaster needed to warm up. It was October after all. We decided we’d come back and ride it again later and experience the difference.
Hours later we return and finish off the night with three consecutive rides. Sadly, it didn’t feel much different for the first couple rides. It wasn’t until our final ride, when we were able to sit in the back, that it felt remotely close to what I did back in 2019. Still, it wasn’t the same.
I think Sam said it best when she said that other RMC’s like Twisted Timbers or Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark offer wild rides no matter what row you sit. That isn’t the case at all for Lightning Rod. Rides in the middle rows offer the weakest airtime I’ve experienced on an RMC in recent memory.
Our rides on Sunday didn’t get much better either. Slightly better as it was a little bit warmer, but it wasn’t overly different. Does anyone else have a similar opinion of the ride since its changes?
Tennessee Tornado
Before heading to Dollywood I told Sam that Tennessee Tornado is my favorite Arrow Looper and easily one of the most comfortable of the company’s rides left in operation. She believed me, but I think she was still in shock on how good and how comfortable the ride was as we pulled into the final brake run.
Even as old as Tennessee Tornado is, the coaster is such an amazing experience. The only knock I have on the ride is its short length. If there was a few more elements crammed into that small area, this ride would be truly top tier. As of right now though, it’s one of the two best rides in the park with the other being Thunderhead. I’m saving my overview of our rides on Thunderhead for Day 2’s trip report, however. Even though we rode it twice on Saturday, we rode it four more times on Sunday.
Mystery Mine
If there was one coaster I always wanted to like at Dollywood, but didn’t, it was Mystery Mine. I’ve always loved the mining theme for coasters all the way back to Golden Nugget at Hunt’s Pier in Wildwood as a kid. So Mystery Mine would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, in both 2013 and 2019 my rides on the coaster left me with mild headaches – one of only a couple of rides to do this.
I always wished the park would remove the over the shoulder restraints on the trains, but alas that has happened as of this trip report. Needless to say, I had mixed feelings about riding the coaster because of this during our visit. Since Sam and Jen both needed the credit, however, I’d risk the headache.
We waited about 20 minutes for our first and only ride on Saturday. We were sat in the front row, which is nice for the view, but something I’ve been told is the worst row in the two row Gerstlauerer trains. I never had a chance to test out this theory until our two days here at Dollywood. It would take us both days to see the difference, however.
When we got off our ride, Sam was complaining that she experienced quite a bit of head banging, but oddly, I did not. I had my most enjoyable ride to date and I kind of wanted to ride it again. That would have to wait until Sunday, though. I wanted to make sure we got in every coaster on Day 1 just in case something went down on Sunday.
Since I will probably be discussing other rides in the Day 2 trip report, I will say that we were able to get in two more rides on Mystery Mine on Sunday. Both came in the back row too. I didn’t bang my head on either of those rides and neither did Sam. I don’t know why my rides this year were better, but I’m not complaining. I don’t even think it has anything to do with the outdoor track changes made recently either. The overall ride experience was just more enjoyable, so much so that I bought myself a neat looking Mystery Mine shirt.
Final Ride/Attraction Counts
Big Bear Mountain (1)
Dragonflier (1)
FireChaser Express (1)
Lightning Rod (4)
Mystery Mine (1)
Tennessee Tornado (2)
Thunderhead (2)
Whistle Punk Chaser (1)
Wild Eagle (1)
More Rides & Re-Rides Coming on Day 2
Since our first day of Dollywood was on a Saturday, our ride counts are a good bit lower than what you’ll see for Sunday. Sundays are generally a great day to visit the park if you have to go on a weekend, especially this late into the operating season. Between church and football, not as many people head into parks first thing. I’ve always taken advantage of this and it was something that worked out for the three of us during our Tennessee trip.
I’ll be back here with a recap of some different rides in the Day 2 trip report, but first I have another mountain coaster experience to recap. With Rocky Top Mountain Coaster located right outside Dollywood’s exit, we ended our night with some more Halloween themed goodness. Be on the lookout for both those reports and many more from our time in Tennessee.
Dollywood Photo Gallery - October 19, 2024
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Big Bear Mountain
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Big Bear Mountain, Dragonflier, FireChaser Express, Lightning Rod, Mystery Mine, Tennesee Tornado, Thunderhead, Wild Eagle, Whistle Punk Chaser
Jen
Commander
New Credit(s): Big Bear Mountain, Dragonflier, FireChaser Express, Lightning Rod, Mystery Mine, Tennesee Tornado, Thunderhead, Wild Eagle, Whistle Punk Chaser
