Dollywood: General Discussion

[John_P]

when they closed it early the other season to replace the topper track with the iron box track the sign out front specifically named Rocky Mountain Construction as working on it, possibly so park guests would know who to blame.

However they clearly still have a good relationship with them seeing how they've trusted the company with working on the new Fire In The Hole at Silver Dollar City, and you'd assume they'd now be the go to if they did the same with Blazing Fury.

 

[DistortAMG]

I would agree that it hasn’t really affected their name overall, they are still known for the fantastic thrill machines they build. But it definitely would have made parks think twice about asking them to quote on future launched coaster projects.

Do you have any proof of this? I fully appreciate what you are saying but I would disagree. RMC had nothing to do with the launch, so cannot be blamed for it's failures.

I do not see many parks asking for one, not because of the trouble this had (because you just hire a more competent engineering company to do the launch, there are many) but because RMC's major strengths lie within a traditional no launching coaster setup, so more parks naturally will gravitate towards that I would have thought.

 

[Tim]

Remember that whilst RMC have a very good reputation among enthusiasts they are still a relatively young company in the eyes of the parks.

Lightning Rod has been a problematic coaster. Not just because of the launch, but the major re-track work the ride required.
Had the launch run reliably and the layout not been limited to non-inverting elements (granted this was Dollywoods decision) I'm certain their would have been another launched RMC by this point.
The only reason their 'strengths lies within a traditional' lift hill is because the one ride they tried to build without one failed. Their's nothing remarkable about their standard lift chain that makes it better than other manufacturers. It just works. And parks are going to buy what works when the alternative is something that doesn't or is another prototype with a new 3rd party building the launch.

 

[Rob]

Do you have any proof of this? I fully appreciate what you are saying but I would disagree. RMC had nothing to do with the launch, so cannot be blamed for it's failures.

I do not see many parks asking for one, not because of the trouble this had (because you just hire a more competent engineering company to do the launch, there are many) but because RMC's major strengths lie within a traditional no launching coaster setup, so more parks naturally will gravitate towards that I would have thought.

I don't know exactly how the contracts were all set up for this, but I would imagine that it was RMC rather than Dollywood that were responsible for appointing the sub-contractor who did the launch. Ultimately the launch needed to integrate with an RMC product, so although it was not theirs they most certainly did have something to do with it. The coaster wouldn't have been built, and then another company just come along and bolt some LSMs on!

All in all Lightning Rod has not been RMC's or Dollywood's finest hour. I'm sure both have many regrets, and both will be hoping for smooth sailing from 2024 onwards.

 

[RicketyCricket]

From: https://x.com/BuckeyeCoaster/status/1766122754141507895?s=20


Looks slow.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

I’m really surprised at how slow it is.

However, according to American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) TikTok, the crest is the same speed as it was last year. Having ridden it myself several times last season, I can safely say that it was much slower cresting than the speed it travelled at through the launch.

They also said that on the first day of operation, it only went down once throughout the day and ran on two trains all day, which compared with last year is a huge improvement. Apparently it was previously averaging 62% availability and that Dollywood hope that these changes will bring it up to a very optimistic target of 98% uptime.

 

[Rob]

They also said that on the first day of operation, it only went down once throughout the day and ran on two trains all day, which compared with last year is a huge improvement. Apparently it was previously averaging 62% availability and that Dollywood hope that these changes will bring it up to a very optimistic target of 98% uptime.

Hopefully that is the case, I'd rather not be spited by it once again this summer like I was in the summer of 2018.

By the time it gets to the quad down, the speeds are probably the same or very similar to those originally intended. And that's the bit I can't wait for!