I am in Dollywood for the weekend and have ridden Mystery Mine a few times.
On my arrival I was excited about MM, when I went to the ride I could see the mine sitting next to lake silver, it looks great, the theming is fantastic, cool animatronics outside and sound effects ext.
Then I rode the ride.....
MM is a great trip through a troubled mine, effects are great with 2 good drops and a small one to enter the ride, curves, upside down heart line rolls, some cool track twists
but there is 1 big problem I have not seen addressed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D42Sc43HCi8
It a nutshell your head is to far from the track. The ride " Can" do all these tight moves because of its design BUT, should it? If you watch that vid when they slow the car you can see the heads of the rides throw forward, when you see the POV of the ride you will notice that the ride goes down a hill and then abruptly pulls up, this is very very hard on your neck.
There were 4 of us on the ride, adults in upper 30's lower 40's and 2 kids 12. The first day I thought it was me, I was tired and this was the cause of my discomfort. The second day the kids both said " Oww" when we were going threw the first outdoor section of track. I was all about a MM when I first heard the rumor but now I hope that if they do go through with the ride they pull some of the turns out of the track and consider this glaring error in design..
This ride went upside down beautifully but the extreme curves were to extreme for me.
1 think I will tell you about Dollywood is they don't have PowederKeg, that is a wonderfully smooth fun coaster, that is the coaster to be jealous of, and we have it.
Now as an after thought a suspended coaster would be a smooth ride....................................
Heck yeah I want one of these!
I rode this the year it opened, and I thought it was great fun. I don't remember feeling pain; maybe my adrenaline blocked it out!
I did feel that one ride on Thunderhead was enough, but I'm not the greatest woodie fan. I will say OzCat was a great ride, and I never felt "beaten" on it.
I'm sure if SDC did get one, they could tweak it a little.
I'd rather have a mystery mine than a Half Dollar Holler or an Adventure mountain. SDC has the Geyser Gulch, the Grand Expo, and the River Blast. There are plenty of Kid hangouts. SDC hasen't had a thrill ride since Powder Keg (or I guess The Giant Barn Swing if you want to be technical). All SDC would have to do is give it a different name and theme, then take out all the jerks and make it smoother. I don't think it could beat Powder Keg or Wildfire, but it could be a good addition.
I'd love to have a Mystery Mine type ride....There is no question that whatever replaces the waterboggin should be a thrill ride of some sort...Please let it be...Swoosh seems to know a lot about the goings on in the park as far as construction goes...Is there even a possibility of getting a Mystery Mine type of ride?
Ya'll have a great day :)
YES! Dollywood has seemed to work out the difficulties with Mystery Mine. I rode it the last time i visited May 9th and it didn't bash at all!!!! they have worked it out it now goes faster, and is so much smoother.
I like the S&S version of this concept better, they have one at Indiana Beach.
Quote from: mike_kelly87 on September 02, 2010, 07:25:53 PM
I like the S&S version of this concept better, they have one at Indiana Beach.
Oh you mean the same version that trapped people upside down for almost 3 hours this summer on a different installation? Yeah no thanks.
Quote from: Swoosh on September 02, 2010, 08:01:10 PM
Oh you mean the same version that trapped people upside down for almost 3 hours this summer on a different installation? Yeah no thanks.
It could work! They could just call it the new "Hang like a bat in Marvel Cave" ride. ;)
Quote from: Swoosh on September 02, 2010, 08:01:10 PM
Quote from: mike_kelly87 on September 02, 2010, 07:25:53 PM
I like the S&S version of this concept better, they have one at Indiana Beach.
Oh you mean the same version that trapped people upside down for almost 3 hours this summer on a different installation? Yeah no thanks.
To be fair, that only happened because someone's poncho blew onto the tracks and got caught up in the wheels. The same thing might be possible on a G-Fighter.
The El Loco's seem to be better received, but I don't think the park would want to halve the capacity.
A B&M dive machine though... that's a dream of mine. I hear a small version is being built in Europe right now. Given the outstanding success and reliability of Wildfire, I'm amazed the chain hasn't gone back to them yet. SDC doesn't really need the capacity too badly at this point, but if you're going to spend > $15 million, why not? I really enjoyed Oblivion at AT, even though it lasted all of 4 seconds. I can only imagine how awesome the new models are.
Mystery mine looks like a combo of Flooded Mine and American Plunge and Thunderation. The video on the Internet posted here looked good. It did look like something fun to do. I'm all for one.
It's EXTREMELY FUN!!!! But, at the same time scary!! :) :)
If Silver Dollar City could learn from the tweaks of Mystery Mine, and push the Ozark theme to the max, I think Silver Dollar City could "knock one out of the ballpark" with a their own version of Mystery Mine. For some reason, I always saw the old Waterworks Waterboggan tower as being the perfect fit for such a ride.
Hmmm. Seems as though I've heard something about a new attraction being developed for that exact location. :)
Looks wicked to me!
It really does look like a cross between FITH and TNT.
Looks cool to me! ;D
I would love a mystery mine type of ride...I'd love to ride the one at Dollywood, however, it's a bit too far for me to drive...
I love the MM at Dollywood. It has a few rough spots but mine type rides are supposed to be a rough and wild ride. The effects on it are very nice. It would be a solid addition at SDC.
It's a neat idea. I wish the rides at SDC were longer. I know there is limited amount of space, but they are all over so quick. Well the thrill rides anyway.
well lets see it! or as the dude says--- "git r dun"!!
I loved MM but I think that it could be done better. However, isn't MM an earlier Eurofighter? Maybe Gerstlauer is getting better at making them smooth. I will be happy with lots of things SDC does, but personally, I want a wooden coaster :)
I would vote 'no' on getting one at SDC. We went to Dollywood during vacation last year. Mystery Mine was fun, but it hurt my neck and gave me a headache which made it really hard to enjoy the rest of the day. :-\
If you ride in the front, MM is not nearly as bad of a ride. You really get whipped around in the back.
For a cool $17 million, I don't think HFEC was completely satisfied with the ultimate reaction to MM, and I have serious doubts now that one will ever surface at SDC unless considerable changes are made to the concept. While MM's thematics and details are awe-inspiring and really boosted DW's aurora and quality appeal, the ride itself must fall far short of HFEC quality for opinions to be so mixed about it. For $17 million they could have gotten a lot more with a different ride system. It's a shame though, cause the concept looked so good on paper.
Of course, Gerstlauer has recently over-hauled the design of the Euro-fighter to be smoother, but I don't see the new design fitting SDC very well.
I'm glad DW is going to B&M for their new coaster, I think it bodes well for us in the future. I'm hoping the chain learns to stick with quality ride makers like B&M for their big coaster projects, and saves the huge theming budgets for other types rides that could really use it.
I have never ridden Mystery Mine so my opinion is void. Either way, I think the concept is there, but Silver Dollar City would really have to smother it in the theme to make it fit.
That is one of the neat things about having sister parks. If one ride is a success at one park, then they can copy it at the other park (example: River Blast, and The Giant Swing). However, if a ride bombs at one park, then the other park can learn from it.
I think Mystery Mine works very well for Dollywood. I have mixed feelings about seeing one at Silver Dollar City.
I vote "YES" on a MM at SDC! I miss all the special effects and animatronics on rides like Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain at DL. This would be a great fit for SDC and a fitting compliment to WF & PK. (By the way, it's been about a year since I've visited the site and it's good to see you're all keeping the home fires burning! Good to be back!)
Quote from: PastorDon on August 30, 2011, 09:12:19 PM
it's been about a year since I've visited the site
Come to think of it, I guess to be honest, it's only been about 8 months...but who's counting?
I just returned from my second trip to DOllywood being a year after I started this thread. I will report they changed the head restraint pads from being originally a 3 sided box of "pad" to a concave indention in a solid piece of foam. It did help but the problem is in the layout and the required moves that are predetermined into track. The H have learned about the coasters like M/M, most inportantly what --> Not <-- to do with the track configurations.
Not necessarily a MM, but I sure would like another coaster.
Agreed! Something themed like MM is great. Just a different ride system.
Quote from: Swoosh on August 31, 2011, 08:17:24 AM
Not necessarily a MM, but I sure would like another coaster.
I agree. I want the wooden coaster! Great to have you back, Pastor Don.
Quote from: Swoosh on August 31, 2011, 08:17:24 AMNot necessarily a MM, but I sure would like another coaster.
I agree as well. The last big coaster was built in 2005. It is time. :)
I've been saying wooden coaster forever! You know, there is this one, Ozark Wildcat... ;)
Put that at SDC! I bet it would go over pretty well!
I have already stated my wishes...............................................
WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: sanddunerider on August 31, 2011, 02:38:23 PM
I have already stated my wishes...............................................
WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Giggity! :P
Anyway, rumor has it that Dollywood's next big thing is the wing walker roller coaster. My bet is that if it works well for them over the next year, then Silver Dollar City could see a similar rollercoaster in 2013, or so.
Mystery Mine is fine, but I don't know if it's what Silver Dollar City is looking for right now, or not. Just stirring the 'speculation' pot a bit. :)
If it truly is a "wing walker" that DW is getting, I totally vote for that to be the next SDC coaster. I looked it up when I first saw it mentioned on here, and it looks like an AWESOME coaster.
For SDC, I'd theme it to Marvel Cave's bats, and have it weave in and out of the terrain through tunnels/caves.
I'd be somewhat surprised if SDC follows DW's Wing-Walker anytime soon. Unless DW's version ends up being truly unique and fun, I think the Wing-Walker fad will peter out to some degree by the time SDC considers another B&M. I'm hoping they go with the tried and true inverted model instead, with a layout as intense as the new one they're building at Parc Asterix, but with PK being so much more popular than Wildfire, you'd expect they would have tried to follow that up by now instead. Then again, those big B&M's are great for publicity.
I'm betting a woodie is in store for 2013 though. The time has never been more right for it.