Dollywood 2019

[shavethewhales]

http://www.wbir.com/mobile/article/news/local/dollywood-developing-5-acre-expansion/51-526144541

Continuing the discussion over the MASSIVE clearing taking place at DW right now, it has now been leaked that an indoor play area (Fireman's Landing for DW), a Frisbee pendulum ride, and an indoor roller coaster are in the works, among other things. It's not clear whether they are all coming next year, or if it's being built in stages, but my assumption is that a few rides and the play area are coming next year with the new roller coaster following.

The news of a new indoor roller coaster is HUGE to me. Every indoor attraction HFE has built has been amazing. Plus, if DW is getting one, that means SDC will get one soon as well! Hopefully for both parks' sake, it's not at the cost of FITH and Blazing Fury.

[shavethewhales]

OK, so apparently here are the actual blueprints: https://www.pigeonforgetnguide.com/blog/things-to-do/dollywood-expansion-2019/#

I got overly excited reading the new's report description. Apparently there's actually no indoor roller coaster, and the pendulum ride is a swinging ship, not a frisbee as I had assumed.

Looks like the coaster is a family suspended? Hard to tell. I don't know why they thought it was indoors, I guess because they showed it with the ride envelope around it.

Seems like a very "family" oriented area. Basically a bigger Fireman's Landing with a coaster and new rides. Can't decipher the theme yet, but it might be "snow". 

[cowboy]

That "roller coaster" is very interesting looking considering it looks like an enclosed tube like ride and there are fans on the support columns. I was almost guessing a bobsled type coaster......but the fans are interesting to say the least.

Jay

[chittlins]

That "roller coaster" is very interesting looking considering it looks like an enclosed tube like ride and there are fans on the support columns. I was almost guessing a bobsled type coaster......but the fans are interesting to say the least.

Jay

Snow goes with bobsled so an encloses bobsled the fans used to help the "chill" factor. Will it have cooling system other than fans. World's first 4d enclosed bobsled ride?

[shavethewhales]

More like worlds first suspended 4D bobslead, lol. On closer inspection the layout matches one of the newer standard Vekoma family invert layouts. The supports definitely attach at the top when you look closely at the station detail. I really think it is just a standard Vekoma jr. invert with the ride envelope shown around the track. The news people saw that and thought it was enclosed.

That got me so excited, and then so disappointed when I figured out what was really happening. Oh well, it's a nice addition. I'd like to see what the theme is though, because it's a lot of rides thrown around and DW has a poor recent history of throwing too many rides into an area. It feels more like a typical amusement park with each passing year. I've complained about the "wilderness" area in the back before... but it should be better this year with the cheap splash battle gone.

[sdcfan88]

Knowing how Hershend does two park deals with manufacturers, has anyone considered this mystery coaster being Dollywood's answer to Time Traveler? https://mack-rides.com/products/rollercoaster/inverted-powered-coaster/

[Wildfire]

I wonder if SDC will get a Vekoma family invert.  There is plenty of room for a smaller coaster next to FL in the waterbogan footprint.

[HumphreyHawk]

Knowing how Hershend does two park deals with manufacturers, has anyone considered this mystery coaster being Dollywood's answer to Time Traveler? https://mack-rides.com/products/rollercoaster/inverted-powered-coaster/

My speculation vote agrees with this.  Good call.  Seems like a great family ride and another 'first' for the US.

[chittlins]

I wonder if SDC will get a Vekoma family invert.  There is plenty of room for a smaller coaster next to FL in the waterbogan footprint.

Maybe a dueling family boomerang? But..... where is the second Mack?  I was hoping that the DW drop tower would lead to a Star Flyer somewhere, hopefully SDC. Same company. The views a several 100ft. Star Flyer would give SDC riders would be stunning. DW ended up with two Gerstlauers with Mystery Mine and Firechaser Express. Sadly, we all know what happened to our GCI woodie for Branson.

When and where will the second Mack coaster come out of Hiding. Give me a Mack Hyper at SDC and I'll be happy. Will Wild Adventures be gaining a  used splash battle soon as it's much farther south and more seasonal of a park.

New dueling Family Boomerang

https://youtu.be/UlC7b5f-KL4

[shavethewhales]

Oh, there are tons of implications for SDC in all this. Each new ride is something that could come to SDC unless we already have something similar. I guess we should try to keep the SDC speculation in the SDC threads though and focus on DW here.

This is a pretty big dead end for DW though. Then again, for years the park was one giant dead-end, so it's not that unique of a situation for them.

[sdcfan88]

Eww, so upon further inspection it does look like a cloned Vekoma ride. I really would hate to see SDC and DW pull a Six Flags and jump on the importing cloned coasters bandwagon. They are above that sort of thing. It would detract from the uniqueness of their parks.

[Bobby2889]

The layout in the concept matches up with the newest model vekoma Suspended Coaster, like this one.
https://rcdb.com/10902.htm

With the right theming this area could look fantastic. I would also believe this is the first step to connecting the park to the second train loop and will only temporarily come to a dead end like Timber Canyon originally did.

[Swoosh]

I’ll just leave this here.   

Announcement is Aug 3

[sanddunerider]

I’ll just leave this here.   

Announcement is Aug 3

LOL<,  Now thats a clue!...   

[shavethewhales]

Sounds good to me. I was really thinking we might see the snow theme after all based on some of the area sketches. Still not sure what those fans are supposed to be on the invert.

This has the potential to be really transformation (again) for the park. After the flop (IMO) of Wilderness Pass, this will have the potential to get back to heavy theming and immersive environments that they were doing so well with in Timber Canyon.

Although some don't like it, you have to admit that they did a lot of creative things with Fireman's Landing, and it has a really fun atmosphere and charm of it's own even with all the rides packed in close. I am looking forward to DW's take on it.