The whole point of going to Dollywood this late in the year was to get night rides on Thunderhead and Tennessee Tornado. Well, it was too late in the year because when it was dark, it was too cold for the rides to operate, but I had a blast anyways.

I left at 9:15 from Concord NC to go to Pigeon Forge, TN which is a four hour drive. It's not too bad, especially when you have a lot of people in a van talking the whole time making the time go by faster.

We got to Sevierville (sp?) and ran into bad traffic putting us into the park gates around 3:00. The parked opened at 2:00, so it wasn't too bad.

First things first, Thunderhead. If you don't know already the ride is right at the entrance, so if you don't ride this first I don't know who you are, and plus I wanted to ride it the most I could before it was too cold to operate. Thunderhead only had one train running because it has to be 50 degrees or higher to have two on. The line was moving pretty slow, and it felt like forever. It was around 25 minutes though. I just wanted to ride my favorite woodie on last time (and yes it was the last time of the year). It was better than ever! Especially having a lot of layers on and all 'hiding' in my clothes. I guess it was more comfortable than anything really. We had some new time riders (3) and they all loved it. They said it was one of the best wooden coasters they have ridden, and that they couldn't catch their breath because it has no slow spots. I was sure glad to hear that! The whole way down all we were talking about was Thunderhead, and I was praying that it would be open.

After that lovely ride, we moved on to the rest of the park to ride Blazing Fury and Tennessee Tornado. Boy do I hope that cut-through is built soon. It's a long walk from Thunderhead to Craftsman Valley!!

Blazing Fury was the usual fun, and amusing ride. They did have water in the last drop still because I'm sure it is used to help slow down the ride, but I didn't get wet at all. It sure felt like it there for a second. The line wasn't long at all (15 minutes) and it sure did feel so good standing in the buried station. Very warm!


And now, on to Tennessee Tornado. All the times that I've ridden it, I rode towards the front which was a huge mistake. It was always a fun ride, but it just gave me a headache all the time, so I just rode it once every visit. But this time I knew better and rode in the last car. Boy was this ride the best ever. It was so smooth and very powerful. I've never ridden it in the back before so it was like my first time ride. I got insane air on the mountain tunnel drop. The whole way down I was pulled out of my seat. Awesome! The hang-time on the first loop was insane and then I was pulled back down out of the loop to go into the overbanked turn. The drop and first loop is the best part of the ride, in my opinion. Then of course the usual second loop and half-loop, which were also smooth and very intense. It gives a good sensation when all of the trees around surrounding you in that back part because your like in a little trough built just for the track. This ride made my wonder what it would of been like if it was built to it's original design and track length. This coaster would of been a dusy! Also, can someone explain to me what the iron butterfly is? I've always wondered what exact elements it is.

The rest of the day was spent eating a funnel cake, trying to ride Thunderhead again (unfortunatly, no because it was too cold) and riding a few more rides. We didn't ride the train because it was dark when we were going to and it was too cold. We went in a couple of museums and browsed around the park enjoying the wonderful lights. They were very stunning! Our last ride was Smokey Mountain Wilderness Adventure. That was a nice way to end the day, and it had no line also. Even better. I always am standing in a killer line for that ride.

The day was short, but it was one of the best visits I had ever had at Dollywood. About the Tennessee Tornado crew, I didn't notice anything because I really didn't have an interaction with them. They were just normal like I always remember them rushing the train in and out of the station. I also didn't notice any flood light. If there were any, I wouldn't of seen them because they obviously weren't turned on. All the other staff were fine. The park looked very well with everything decoration. More than I thought it was going to be!

Unfortunatly, I didn't see any shows. I wanted to see the one in the Celebrity Theatre, but when we got there the line was down the hill and around the corner for the 'free' tickets and I wasn't about to wait in that line. Plus, the 6:45 show was too late because the show was 55 minutes long and we had a four hour trip back. There is always next year of course. We didn't really have time to see a show to be honest. I just wanted to make the most for our new park guests. Next year I will definalty go back soon after Thanksgiving right when the Christmas celebration starts so I can get night rides on Thunderhead and Tennessee Tornado without it being too cold, and I will make sure to see all the shows!

Thanks to tntornadox for his tips to my lovely visit. I really did have a good time.

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October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC

Cool, BK. Sounds like you had a good time. Glad you got some rides on Thunderhead and Tornado; I didn't get that on my trip this week. When I went, it was unbearably cold (for a Georgian).

"Christmas in the Smokies" is the best show in the park. It's a bummer you didn't get to see it. It really is amazing. All the other shows are good, too; but if there was one you needed to see, that's it.

As for the butterfly thing, isn't that just the last two inversions? You have to look at it at the right angle, but that's what I always thought it was. Surely Dolly (or at least her people) planned for that to look like a butterfly.... I don't know. Maybe that's one of those interpretative, impressionist things. LOL!!! I've lost it.

Glad you had fun. I can't wait for March 26, 2005!

If you turn around and look on TT's lift, it looks exactly like the park's signature butterfly.

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2008 - Tennessee Tornado Crew

Original layput for TT? Could you elaberate? it was actually suppose to be longer?

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weeeeeeeeeeeeee

Yes, I was very fortunate.

I know I wanted to see it so badly! But the timings of the shows and our time scedule didn't just work out.

Yeah, when they were blasting through the mountain it took up more money than they thought, so they had to cut some of the ride...if I'm not mistaking.

Ah...it's those three elements. I see. I was trying to figure that out but I don't know if she just called it her Butterfly or if it really did look like a butterfly.

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October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC

bk2004 is correct. Tennessee Tornado was originally going to have a fourth inversion, but it was removed from the design because of projected cost. Of course this all took place long before construction actually started. All the open space behind the iron butterfly would probably have been used in the original plan.

I was looking at the '92 terraserver image of Dollywood, and you can see all the maintenance service roads, I believe these will be the loop everyone talks about, one ends at Tenn Tornado's Plaza, the other ends in Dreamland Forest, the other brings you to Thunderhead Gap, so, they may open these to guests soon, as the park in centralizing it's back-of-house facilities into one big complex of buidings. (You can see the warehouse from the DW Express, as well as the buildings that were originally stored where TH is now).

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2008 - Tennessee Tornado Crew

Nice TR. The longest I drove to a park was 3 1/2 hours to HP.

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wow I kinda wish they would not have cut out the extra inversion. Do you think dollywood cuts back alot on funds, I mean they did spend more on thunderhead than on TT didnt they? Why were they so concerned for money back then instead of now?

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weeeeeeeeeeeeee

Well, it was mainly about the money that was spent for the tunnel. They had a certain amount for the project and it went over, unexpectedly. So, they cut back.

Though, people like Dukeis#1 can explain it better with a more logical answer.

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October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC

No, Thunderhead, oddly, cost less than Tornado at 7 Million Dollars, TT cost 8.

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2008 - Tennessee Tornado Crew

What! That's how much they both cost. I would think it would easily be almost double that.

It would seem like parks would be all over the GCI's.

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October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC

I drive 3 and a half hours to a park 4 or 5 times a year!

I have also drove 20 hours, but that was the Disneyworld resort.....

Thunderhead and Shivering Timbers are alike then, No slow spots! HAHA! In every other way they are very different.

Damn I can't wait to ride Thunderhead, then I can compare it to Ghostrider!

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I crapped on my balls once, it was fun.

I think it's pretty obvious that Dollywood is in no way hard up for cash. I think the park is just really careful about what it spends money on (unlike Six Flags). In 1999 there was no reason for the park to put millions into a giant roller coaster because there wasn't much of a demand for one. Up until that point Dollywood was still just a place for families and seniors.