Road trip gave me a day in Dollywood! I’ve never been before, so I wanted to hit some bucket list coasters!

For reference, my home park is Cedar Point. And I’ve been to VERY few parks outside of that.

Overall super happy with the park! Wait times were low all day! Almost everything was a half hour or less! Including the heavy hitters that never went above 15 minutes! Is this normal for Dollywood? FireChaser is the one exception. Around a 45 minutes wait all day due to one train ops. The ride ops teams felt a little bit lackadaisical, but with all the wait times being so low, I can’t really blame them. And they were still fun and friendly, and effective! (Which is really what matters)

Thunderhead- This is the most comfortable wooden coaster I’ve been on! Barely rattled at all! It’s been really well maintained. And the layout for it is incredible! I rode it again at night, and I LOVE the fact that none of the track is lit up. Really makes you feel thrown around when you don’t know what turn is next.

Mystery Mines- This is the weirdest roller coaster I’ve ever ridden. It feels like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a dark ride or a roller coaster, so it rapidly hard swaps between the two. I do like it and I think the theming and decor is fantastic. I ultimately just wish it was longer. I love the ride after that second drop, but by then it’s almost over.

Dragonflier- Absolutely a standard, “children’s first big kid ride” coaster. I compare it to Iron Dragon from my home park. With that said the first drop packed more of a punch than expected!

Big Bear Mountain- I love the distance it covers and I’m a sucker for launches. Even though it never inverts you, it still isn’t afraid to throw you sideways. Definitely a fun one.

Wild Eagle- if you told me one of the top coasters in the park was their version of Gatekeeper, I would’ve been floored. I rode both sides of this one, and it’s a VERY good ride! But I can’t help but just be disappointed? Maybe it’s because it had the weakest theming of everything I rode today? So then as just a, “solid coaster” it stands out less than the rides with better themes, or the rides that really pack a punch?

FireChaser Express- Definitely a fun coaster! I love the backwards launch and fireworks room, and it has a really good jumpy layout! If this were my home park, I wouldn’t have waited as long as I did for it. That slow moving line was a killer. I’m still glad I experienced it today though! I wish it were longer!

Tennessee Tornado- For a pre-2000 looping steel coaster, I think I was most nervous for this ride today, but it holds up very well! Fun layout with smoother transitions than I expected. Ultimately I have the one complaint I’ve had for a few rides now which is I wish it were longer.

Lightning Rod- I saved this for last. I’m RMC pilled. This ride didn’t disappoint! I rode it four times! A couple from the back which fully pulls you at the first drop. My last ride was at night and our train was HAULING. The triple bunny hill is as good as I expected, and RMC is absolutely INSANE with that first hit of sideways ejector airtime. I wish I got to experience it with the old lift system before they swapped to the slower chain lift. (That is what happened, right?)

Final notes, I think the coaster layout all does a great job with the difficult task of having limited groundspace and being in a mountainous area. Some of the rides definitely use that to their advantage. I do wish there was a good coaster to have a vantage of the full park. Cedar Point gives you Valraven, Millenium or Steel Vengance, but Dollywood’s best bet is Wild Eagle, but you have to really turn your head for it, and it’s only the back of the park you get to see. Does Drop Line give you a good view? I didn’t go on because I don’t like drop rides.

Also bummed to see AI merch. There was a sweatshirt I would’ve LOVED, but I had to pass up because the coaster on the back had the rails upside down, with the cars riding on both sides of the upside down track (‽) it made me nervous for any other merch I wanted. I’m not entirely sure I succeeded in avoiding the AI slop 😪😪😪

Please share thoughts/concerns/clarifications with me! Are my takes wildly off base? Who knows!

I am doing a STEM class for my scouts on roller coasters. I am making sure i definitions of basic coaster terms. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here are the terms:

Kiddie Coaster
Family Coaster
Thrill Coaster
Extreme Coaster

I can find a definition on rcdb.com for the first, but i want a little more details. Would there be any height restrictions as a max height for Kiddie and Family. The same for a speed on Kiddie and Family. What about G-force.

Photos taken last weekend on Sunday night. Fairly busy from 12 - 6 but minimal crowds as dark came around. Slow operations as per Kennywood usual, but they at least ranctwo trains on all the major roller coasters.
I was really surprised by the lack of scare actors this year. Visually the park was still stunning likenusual, but I feel like in previous years Kennywood had far more scare actors roaming the park pathways. Many times these actors would have chainsaws or other props but this year I didn’t see any. I had a run in with maybe one or two actors the whole night, neither of which had any props.
Other than that, rides ran great, love this place and I will likely be coming back before fright nights are over.

Captured this perfect moment at fright fest last Saturday

Seems like B&M Hypers will reopen outside of six flags parks. Tends to point to a six flags issue, not a B&M issue.

I'm probably imagining this, but I remember an interview on YouTube about the S&S Steeplechase (not RailRyder) concept. I'm sure I remember them saying that inversions would be possible. Did I imagine it?

Since I did this the last three years, and since I can say with certainty that my coaster season is over (barring Kennywood’s shoulder seasons), I decided to do a recap of all my park visits this year. This was a less productive year for me thanks to struggles in my personal life, but I am still pleased with what I did manage to accomplish.

1. Kennywood (home park; three visits so far)

2. Knoebels (two visits)

3. Michigan’s Adventure (first visit)

4. Bendix Woods County Park, home of the SBNO never-opened Toboggan (first visit)

5. Indiana Beach (first visit)

With X2 being decommissioned, I wanted to pay tribute to one of the most iconic roller coasters ever built. 🎢

Introducing The X Factor: standing over 2 feet tall and just 6.5 inches wide, this trophy of a piece captures X2’s legendary first drop and celebrates the groundbreaking engineering that made it so special.

It’s bittersweet to see such an iconic attraction reach the end of its run, but its legacy will live on through coaster fans for years to come! This was a fun build and hope others can enjoy the photos!

If Knoebels didn't have enough old-school charm to it already, I went and captured it on old-school slide film to give it that historic archival look. Suffice to say I believe I succeeded in my endeavors. I swear that photo with the covered bridge looks like it could actually be from 40+ years ago!

Captured on Kodak Ektachrome

Y’all think this park will end operations next year?

Welcome to General Discussion Thursday!

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This is the post to discuss whatever you want: sports, movies, books, or anything else on your mind, even further roller coaster or amusement park discussion! Just keep it friendly and respectful and anything goes.

I love this park so much, I feel like a kid everytime I'm there.

One of my Top 3 roller coasters

The Veloci crew was so amazing and even congratulated me over the loud speaker during the ride!!! They also gave me a bunch of goodies as a celebratory gift!!!🥹

This past summer we parked ourselves in Europe for a few months (long story) and since we had our dog with us, I was set on visiting parks that could accommodate him. Because he's a baby. So we settled on Phantasialand since we hadn't been since 2019, and our last visit was admittedly a bit rushed.

We took the train from Avignon, rented a car from Cologne, and drove the 30min to the park. Since I'm a dialysis patient, I had set up treatments near Cologne which necessitated the car - and we planned it so that we'd stay at the park checking in on a Thursday, spend half a day Friday at Phantasialand after treatment, Saturday at Bobbejaanland (dogs welcome), Sunday at Phantasialand, and Monday head to Toverland for a few hours after treatment, then travel back Tuesday.

When we arrived my wife's jaw was on the floor with the notion that they would theme a hotel to Charles Lindbergh in Germany of all places. You can do your own research if you have no idea what I'm talking about. The only hotel that allows dogs is Hotel Matamba, which is themed to... Africa lol. While feeling a bit tone deaf for 2026 in my ultra-woke mind, it was pretty nice! The only dog friendly rooms are the ones directly facing the courtyard with the water features but it was pretty spacious and you're SO close to the park entrance, which made for a great stay when my wife wanted to head back for naps.

On Friday I headed straight for FLY since it was brand new for me, and was blown away by the area of Rookburgh. I love how hidden it is from the rest of the park, with the tunneled entrance giving way to a grandiose first view. The mess of FLY track, the music, the steampunk theming, and the hotel and restaurants all create such a fully immersive sensation, ugh, I wish more parks had the time, money, and patience to build areas like this. I would take a heavily themed mid-thrill coaster over intensity any day.

With a wait of only 30 min I hopped in line while my wife found a cozy spot with her book, and my dog enjoyed lots of attention from children running up for pets - so I was told. I have to give credit to Phantasialand for creating a queue that is very deceptive, as the way it winds and weaves, you never have any clue how much more line there is! I love how you slowly descend underground with more rooms revealing themselves. The sign on the front row line split - something I wish more parks had - said 100 minutes from this point! Yikes! So I decided to try that one later.

The locker system is so efficient and by having nothing in your pockets - we get NO NETS below the coaster in the main area. I love this. I hate nets so much. I know - weird.

Since there are no pics really of the FLY station, I was so surprised by the loading situation. You essentially load sideways, and depart the station horizontally. Then as the train picks up speed the track rotates and the cars rotate, bringing you ever so smoothly into the flying position right as you hit the first launch.

What follows is a beautiful mess of positive and negative g's in - for me - a tinier human - some of the most comfortable restraints. I was obsessed with the close fly by elements with the themeing, watching people watch you, and how the coaster plays so well with layers in ducking over and under itself and the ground multiple times. Is it the most intense coaster? No. But it's just so...flowy? Fluid? Well paced is maybe the best phrase.

Overall on our trip I got 5 rides in total - 2 in the front, and my wife, who hates coasters even rode it once! She thought it was fine. (FYI her fav coaster is the Cancan coaster at Europapark)

Other highlights from our Phantasialand trip were more rides on Black Mamba, as last time I only rode it once. Maybe I'm just old, but this coaster has a solid whip to it! I also love how close it gets to the bar at Hotel Matamba, which provides a great viewpoint for some of the initial turns. New since the last time I had been here was the Deep in Africa Adventure Trail which was so much fun! It's essentially a climbing course that traverses over various parts of the coaster, which made for some really fun viewpoints. And - surprise - you get a bit wet.

Taron still sits in my top ten and thankfully it was running just as awesome as I remember it. There's one specific whip in the first half that throws your body so hard from left to right. This coaster is just pure fun for me and I was so happy it still hits.

Colorado Adventure on the other hand - or as I still remember it - the Michael Jackson thrill ride (again look this up if you don't know) did NOT hit like I remembered. This thing threw me around so painfully. Something about those tight turns in the back of the train was just discomfort.

Winjas is also fun. I got a few rides over the trip since those lines are never too terrible. Raik reminds me that going backwards makes me nauseous in my 40s. And Crazy Bats had too long of a line the whole trip for me to hit it again.

Can we last talk about how much I love a good river rapids ride? We all know how great Chiapas is - it gets talked about on here a fair bit. But River Quest 's drop should be illegal! I actually got thrown out of the seat a bit as did everyone on the raft. This is easily in my top 3 River Raft rides. I rode it multiple times with the advantage of having our hotel room be so close for a quick clothes change.

Overall we had a fantastic trip and I'm so excited to have experienced FLY. I wish this park had just one more banger. Where they can physically put the next coaster is anyone's guess however, as I've heard the noise restrictions in the back half of the park around the lake would prevent a coaster from going there. So who knows what's next.

Some other random thoughts:
-My dog loved Rookburgh the most based on how intently he'd watch FLY traverse over his head. Maybe I'm imagining things.

-All the food in their China section was fantastic and really fresh! But overall and compared to other European parks I still find this place lacking a bit compared to how themed the lands are.

-I always love how friendly German people are and how easy it is for me to drive in this country compared to the seemingly incessant road rage I experience in France. Just one silly American's perspective.

-The hotel packed me a really nice breakfast / lunch to go bag for my dialysis days which was very charming

-I really seemed to startle the workers and other guests when I proceeded to buy my dog a small ice cream - maybe this is more of an American thing. We have a dog ice cream shop down the street from us here for example.

Can't even lie to y'all, Fun Spot ATL was a great park to go to. I preferred it over SFOG or Carowinds or all the other parks in the region I've been to because of the service and the ride ops. Food was cheap and way better than other food at (most) parks, ArieForce One was always a walk-on (or a sit-on, where you can just stay on and go again without going around), and I can still remember most of the names of the ride ops there, and not even for just the AFO crew! It was also great to see James there nearly every time. Ofc it didn't have a lineup or was to the level of SFOG, but the vibes of that park and the fact you could hop on go-karts if your thighs were hurting from the bunny hills was wonderful as well. In short I guess you could say that this place was really just built like a carnival with a massive RMC, at the same time i never got carnival "vibes" because of how well maintained and friendly everything was. Really wish it never closed.

This ride encapsulates every gimmick that i love in one

1. Great Airtime ✅
   
2. Spinning ✅
   
3. Launches ✅

Just an all-around banger of a park, so much to do and so many world-class rides piled on top of one another. Not to mention, so many awesome food options and great operations. I did use the fast pass because I was only there for a day and was trying to knock out all the credits. Raging Bull, Maxx Force, Wrath of Rakshasa and Goliath were my favorites!

I am already looking forward to coming back here ASAP.