ACE hosted the first ever "Coasterfest" at Dollywood on November 19th.
I left the house about 5:00 A.M. and headed west.
The temperature was around 22 at home and the closer I got to the mountains the colder it got!
At one point my car temp said 19 degrees. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
With such extreme cold I thought that our evening ERT on Thunderhead would surely be canceled (they only run it when it's above 40 degrees).
Thankfully the clouds rolled in that evening and we were able to get about 50 minutes of ERT in! Thunderhead in the dark! Fun!
It's not completley dark out there like I was hoping for, but there are two spots where it is and you can't see the dips coming and it makes for a whole new experience as far as unexpected air time goes.
Overall the park looked "ok" during the day. Pretty average.
But at night. WOW! The park seemed to come alive with lights everywhere on everything and seemingly out of nowhere too.
The park looked amazing at night. Even the train got lights as well.
During the day it warmed up to around 50ish so it was quite nice by about 2:00.
The group got together for a photo
http://www.acesoutheast.org/DWNOV05.jpg and then headed off to dinner. Dollywood served a great buffet. Yum!
After dinner we made our way over to the Celebrity theatre for the "big show" at the park (the name excapes me).
First rate show all the way. I especially enjoyed the gospel/hymn music.
As we entered the theatre Robert (ACE Southeast Rep) gave us the thumbs up that the temps were going to stay above 40 degrees. Thunderhead ERT!!!
Because the park thought that ERT was going to be canceled, they gave us $5 Dolly Dollars. Which are as good as cash in the park. So we got about $30 worth of stuff for $20 (if you had a season pass as I do).
It was a fun day, great ERT and a gorgeous looking park for Christmas.
If you have the chance, stop by Dollywood this time of year!
Here are my photos if you'd like to see them.
http://community.webshots.com/album/512232005xkMXdK
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