Why does someone also get hurt whenever I go to a park? Well if you haven't heard the story here it is,
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1787851
Alright this will be Part 1 of my southeast trip, it will also included BGW and PKD, as well as a homemade coaster. I hope you enjoy them and don't get mad, I'm just telling these coasters exactly how I experience them.
So Wednesday morning I wake up in Pigeon Forge, TN in great anticipation for my return to Dollywood. It's been almost 7 years since I last visited the park back when I was a wee-lad. But back then I still had a great fear for coasters, so everything here was going to be new for me, and I had great expectations for Thunderhead as you will see a many great reviews for the ride at many sites on the internet.
Ta2kx and I get out the hotel room door only to realize it is Fricken Freezin. Yah 36 degrees outside at this time of the year. Whatever, long clothes and jacket it would be. I was going to wear my Red Wing jersey, since I was in Tennesee, but due to there previous loss the night before, I decide just to keep low.
We get to the park early, about 9:30 only to find a lot of people had come before us. But they were mostly old with season passes and posed no threat to our coaster lines. We get our tickets and get into the park. At first look there is a lot of good themeing and the staff seems friendly. Excited we head over to Thunderhead. But we would only get a fairly good view of the ride as Thunderhead could not operate until it had reached 40 degrees. So screw it, we would head for Tennesee Tornado.
Now, heres my thing. Thunderhead is very close to the park entrance and you would assume the same with TT. NOPE. It feels like a good mile to walk to TT located in the very back of the park. Ohhh and the great themeing is cool and all, but in Dollywood they stuff all these food and merchandise shops in between the coasters. 50% of all the shops and stalls could be taken out and give good space for a new coaster. I admit the food was good though, better than BGW.
Anyways after a long hike we get to Tenneese Tornado.
Tennesee Tornado Ridden 7 times
I am not a fan of Arrow Loopers. I hate them. They are rough and all feel the same. Dragon Mountain made me hate Canada. We get to the station and yesss walk-on. Back-row we will go. Pull out of the station into the little tunnel deal or whatever and hit the lift. WHOA, the lift was really fast. We were at the top in no time. And to my surprise, a heavy banked turn at the top into drop. Sweet! The drop dives down into the ground and if you're in the back, yanks you over giving a great head chopper of the rock above. Plus the on-ride photo is right there to unadjust you're eyes to add to the effect. We speed out of the tunnel and hit the giant loop, whoa weird, it's kinda elongated width gives it an off-axis effect. Into a heavy banked turn with a tree-headchopper. Then the Iron Butterly, intense and yet smooth. Couple hills through the loop and brake. WOW what a shocker. I thought I would hate this ride but it was excellent, maybe my 1 or 2 Arrow Looper.
+G's-9
Abrupt Air-3
Floater Air-3
Lats-5
Reride Value-8
Overall-7
Blazin' Fury Ridden 13 times
What the hell is this? Movie? Simulator? Rowboat? I had no clue. But since I heard it was a coaster, I expected something similar to Skull Mountain, if not a clone. Hmmmmm get wet on the ride? Well whatever. We went in back expecting the yanking drop like Skull Mountain but that was a very wrong assumption. I'm not going to reveal what is inside this dark ride, but it is amusing. Plus you could yell stuff out like, WHHHHAAAT? OKKKK!! YeeeaaahHH!! and I"M Rick James, Bit*h!!!! Some small child told me while on the ride what was going to happen so the usual shockers where anticipated, plus I was in the back, but I would reride 11-12 times in the front to get the full experience. The ride was very relaxing and probably my favorite.
+G's-3
AA-1
FA-0
Lats-2
Reride-10!
Overall Impression-6.5
Thunderhead Ridden 8 times
Showtime! The ride was runnin and warmmed-up so it was go time. Almost a walk on, so we went front row. Looking at the coaster it is very impressive. Like a garden of wooden weeds tangled together, but it did look very GCI and I hated Lightning Racer, but I just had a feeling that this coaster would be different. The trains are nicely decorated, but I was disappointed to see the familar Millennium Flyer lapbar. The one that falls into a staple on your lap. I don't know why, but I did not expect this to happen, but I still had hope that ThunderH would deliver.
Ta2kX thought differently and thought it would be just another GCI. At the top of the lift gives a great view of the ride and soon enough we were going down the twisted drop. Great drop and it really carried at the bottom and kept speed throughout the entire ride, which for your own satisfaction I will not completely describe. But at the end I had to wonder, where is the airtime? There was an absence of any at all. I was at the brake run thinking WTF? Alright, alright, I reasoned maybe it was just a back of the train coaster. So we tried that...small improvement if any. It gets to the point where you try to create your own air by forcing yourself forward. Well maybe it's just the lapbar, so we got a 1 click on the ride, which is like 4 clicks on a PTC. And held the lapbars up until the hills where you would think would have air. Nothing...you could have no lapbar at all and you never leave your seat. We then tried this all again at the end of the day when it seemed to be running the fastest and yet the design of the coaster still left a smooth, but air-absent coaster. I will admit this coaster carries a lot of speed all the way through the ride and it had great laterals and feels powerful through the turns, a perfect wood coaster for a steel coaster fan, it was just too heavily banked and the hills are too rounded. It was so smooth I was bored after 5 rides on the coaster and anxious to get back to Blazin' Fury This was the biggest disappointment of the entire trip to all 3 parks. It's just another Lightning Racer with more balls to it.
+G's-8
AA-000!
FA-1
Lats-9
Reride-3
Overall-5
And the Rest-
Bumper Cars- Heavy and Fast, but one-way. No problem, just go the wrong way on the turns and do some head on collisions. The Ops didn't seem to mind and soon we were gangin up on people and backin some serious punch. We spent a good 4 hours on these.
Slidewinder-WTF?! is this?! I never seen anything like this. I tried to get on but we need more weight. So we wait for some other guys and got on with 625 out of the 4 of us. AHHHHHH!!! We went fast and I got my hands soaked because they want you to hold onto the bars. DON'T! It's just better to risk falling off!
Food- Ahhhh such a wide variety. I should of gotten the Gyro but I got the potatoes. Best food out of any park I've been to, which is like 45ish.
Incident- Never saw anything other then I thought it was weird that the train stopped running, but there was no rumors going around or any sign it occur. I sure was fooled.
Dollywood- As a whole, I did not like Dollywood. There is much room for improvement and I left the park early, which I have not done in a very long time. I liked Blazin Fury, the food, the bumper cars and the overall theming and cleaness. But that was about it. I would not go there again unless they added something big. Too much crap and not enough good rides. If you are in Pigeon Forge, I would recommend sticking the near by Putt-putts, go-karts, and bungy-jumping. Dollywood was below expectations and average.
4/10
It was once voted the #1 non-coaster ride in America.
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
Linear Mode
