June 17, 2023

Dollywood

 

Welcome to Dollywood and our final stop of the Eastcoaster 2023 Road Trip

With our TimeSaver in hand we passed by the long line of people waiting for Thunderhead and walked right on to the front row.  This thing is running amazing this season

Looks like it is going to be busy today as there's even a line for Dropline.  Again we walked right on.  Great way to start the morning with a view and then a plunge

Big Bear Mountain is not on TimeSaver yet (thankfully they assure it will be next season)

Initial thoughts on the ride is that it is a lot of fun

I think we were expecting a little more from the launches, that's not a bad thing, but they don't feel much stronger than the reverse launch on Firechaser Express

The one thing that Big Bear Mountain has going for it is that it is a long ride

Nice addition to the park - just not convinced it was the biggest need at this time

Dragonflier is getting a lot more foot traffic now that Big Bear Mountain is open.  Luckily it is on TimeSaver and you can really cut down on that wait

Mad Mockingbird was next because we like flyers

Mystery Mine has the longest lines for TimeSaver.  I am not sure why that is.  The line consistently goes down the stairs.  The ride is fun, I'm glad I didn't wait over an hour to ride like stand by

Yep.  BIG crowd today.  Firechaser Express was over an hour long.  So we rode it twice with our TimeSaver

When was the last time you saw Wild Eagle's queue line completely full?  It was today

The real proof of how busy it was - Tennessee Tornado's queue line was completely full and going down the stairs.  Thankfully we just walked on

Blazing Fury was only a 30 minute wait.  Not too bad considering the crowd

Barnstormer was only running one arm today.  Thankfully we could just walk on.

Lunch was pizza from the restaurant across from the depot.  Very tasty

Cinderella was doing the heavy lifting today for the Dollywood Express

Seriously did you even go to Dollywood if you don't ride the train?

Grist Mill

Lightning Rod was actually operating today

Even with TimeSaver, it was still a long wait as they could only run one train

While still a fun ride, there's some serious potholes that they are going to have to tend to

Dinner was a cheeseburger and fries from the restaurant in Wildwood Grove

Our last ride of the evening was a night ride on Big Bear Mountain.
Loved the headlights on the train.  Fun night ride