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Author

Annual Dollywood TR!

nyeboy9
Posts: 950
Registered: 4/19/2006

Rank: Gold Critic

7/30/2007 5:52:43 PM

Alright!. I finally have enough time to type out my TR of Dollywood, so lets get started.

We arrived at the parking lot around 8:50. We got a pretty good parking spot in the B Lot considering that it goes up to F and A is nothing but handicap spots. We were able to jump on the tram as it was getting ready to pull out. We got to the gates and were greeted with huge Kidsfest signs. This is their third or fourth time for Kidsfest, and some local places were offering coupons.

Here are some tips for getting cheaper tickets:
1: Bring coke cans that have discounts on them. Sometimes they'll double the discount for no reason.

2: Act like you are from around the area. They like to give locals $5 off here or there.

3: Go to McDonalds prior to your trip. The bags have discounts that they sometimes double as well.

Anyway, continuing on. We decided to stop by the Q2Q store located next to the Motion theater in what was the gift shop. It was $38.30 for all 6 of us, but that didn't include the $25 deposit. We started talking to the employee and he suggested that we skip on the Q-Bots as he wasn't expecting it to be busy. We agreed and headed to Mystery Mine.

The wait was less than 5 minutes. A benefit of getting there early. We entered the train and...just skip if you want it to remain a secret.
========================SPOILERS START!====================
So you pull down the restraints, which don't click due to a new system. A green light just has to be on, so you can put the restraint how you would like it.

So the ops give the all clear and you drop into the mine with the old man that you heard in the queue line laughing. So you move around surrounded by 3 pairs of boots, crows, and smoke. You take some sharp turns that makes it feel like the people on the right side re going to fall out of the car. Suddenly you hear a loud machine. The car turns and there is a giant ore crusher surrounded by thick fog. You dive under it and shoot back up, giving your neck a little jolt. You turn again and you see the first lift hill, with a canary next to it. On the other side is a crow sitting on a switch. The switch activates and the chain lift turns on, a nice touch. You slowly move up the lift, feeling as if you'll slide out backwards. This takes you to the bridge outside.

It's smooth across the bridge, but than you drop straight down about 15 ft. You go through some pretty nice curves and go back through the bridge, and enter the mine again.

Here's where it gets fun. You enter and it's pitch black. The old man laughs again and blue lights turn on along the final lift hill. As you approach the lift, lightning flashes around you and a canary in a cage next to you dies. You than go up the lift with a movie of the Mine getting stuck by lightning being shown. It goes pitch black again, and you stop at the top of the hill. You hear fuses light and fiber optic wires around the car act like fuses. Lights come up on this pile of explosives and a huge fireball shoots out at you. You can feel the heat as you drop 95 degrees out of the mine into the heartline and rollover loop. Than it's over.

==============================END SPOILERS==================

After the mine we headed towards Timber Tower, which was finally back up and running. I seemed to get wetter, so they must have changed the ride since last time. We than headed over to Thunderhead which had a 15 minute wait.

After that, it was to the motion theater that had Yogi Bear as the show. We decided to wait since the line was 45 minutes. Instead, we headed to smoky Mountain River Rampage. I have never gotten wet on this ride, but that changed. I was completely soaked, like worse than Kali River Rapids soaked. But hey that's what the ride is suppose to do, right? I was also amazed at the 10 minute wait as it is usually 60 minutes when I go.

We decided to head up towards the Tennessee Tornado side,I'll be glad when they finish the loop.

We stopped along t