Dollywood - Thunderhead or Bust!

Thunderhead looks awesome! Gotta go there sometime. Anyway, it looks like an awesome ride even without all of the rib crushing laterals that you like IF.

I wish i could have gone to Dollywood during winterfest

I hope Thunderhead is better than Thunder Run @ SFKK. That thing is PAINFUL. I am going to Dollywood soon to ride Thunderhead.

I'm counting down the days. This Saturday is our departure from Clev. @ 8:00am. Sunday is our scheduled day for Dollywood. I can't wait. I will take loads of photos and maybe a POV of the two coasters. Dolly, here we come.

!!!!!!!!!!!!Thunder Run is probably by far the best woodie I've ever been on, and it's surprisingly smooth for it's great speed through turns. I went on it 13 times in a row w/o getting off once, very empty that day. I love Thunder Run.

Do you mean Thunderhead? Yeah, from what I see in the video, it does look pretty smooth. My next NL project when I get back from the park is a recreation of Thunderhead with a custom station to recreate the fly-through. I also am really going to try to get a POV video of Tennessee Tornado because I want to recreate that as well. It could be interesting with all the tunnels. We're going to the park this Sunday, so hopefully it won't be too busy.

No I meant Thunderhead at SFKK, as nannerdw stated that it was bad and too rough.[xx(]

Oh, I see, So you mean Thunder Run then. Never Mind. I'm just having my own little conversation going on over here[:p]. I'm just so pumped about this weekend to ride Thunderhead.

[coolbeans326]

Originally posted by CSTRFRK

Oh, I see, So you mean Thunder Run then. Never Mind. I'm just having my own little conversation going on over here[:p]. I'm just so pumped about this weekend to ride Thunderhead.

You are gonna film it right??? I'll edit it for you, I have nothing better to do, plus video editing is FUN!!!!

I love video editing too. But what do you mean exactly? Nothing will really need edited as it will just be from the time I can safetly get the camera out of my pocket to the final break run. If you mean put music to it and make it like a commercial for the ride, that would be cool. I am planning on taking the first ride before filming it to get a feel for it. Then if it seems safe enouph, I will film it. I've already lost one camera on a coaster, I'm not taking any chances on loosing this one. Thank god for insurance. Today Sat. May, 29 @ 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, I will be departing for Pigeon Forge TN. We will arrive at Dollywood on Sunday. I can't frickin wait[:D]. My first coaster for the season. I plan on also getting POV video of Tennessee Tornado, so I can make a recreation. I've wanted to ride that ever since finding out about it. I won't be back until Whed. evening so I'll let ya know how the videos came out.

[coolbeans326]

Originally posted by CSTRFRK

I love video editing too. But what do you mean exactly? Nothing will really need edited as it will just be from the time I can safetly get the camera out of my pocket to the final break run. If you mean put music to it and make it like a commercial for the ride, that would be cool. I am planning on taking the first ride before filming it to get a feel for it. Then if it seems safe enouph, I will film it. I've already lost one camera on a coaster, I'm not taking any chances on loosing this one. Thank god for insurance. Today Sat. May, 29 @ 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, I will be departing for Pigeon Forge TN. We will arrive at Dollywood on Sunday. I can't frickin wait[:D]. My first coaster for the season. I plan on also getting POV video of Tennessee Tornado, so I can make a recreation. I've wanted to ride that ever since finding out about it. I won't be back until Whed. evening so I'll let ya know how the videos came out.

that would be cool, if you need someone to do voice overs, I might beable to get my friends dad to do it, he's wat you call a proffesional voice overer. Check his work out at http://www.scottrummel.com I don't think he's updated his site, though.

[coolbeans326]

Hey, CSTRFRK, if your back yet, fill us in on what you experienced at Dolly Wood!!![:D]

I've been back since last Thursday, but I've been so busy right now. I'm moving and I haven't had much time. Well, Dollywood was cool. Thunderhead was f*cking awesome, to say the least. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but It is now my favorite wood coaster of all, putting the Beast at PKI at no.2 and Villian at GL at no.3. I rode it 6 times in a row early in the day, and there was no waiting what-so-ever. Finally after the 5th ride, I figured I could pull off recording the POV. It worked but it's really not worth sharing, being that there is already a better video that was posted here before. You can barely see what's going on because of the camera shake.
The Ride:
I don't know where to begin. The first drop is cool, but the excitement comes from the moments that follow. There IS airtime on this baby, none of them last too long, but there are so many throughout the ride, the lack of long air-time is made up. Smooth/quick direction changes, lots of micro-bunny hills, (my new term for some moments in this ride) which are not so micro when your going 40-50mph over thenm. Just enouph to get you out of your seat. The ride looks like it's going to be brutal because of all the high banked tight turns, but it was designed so perfectly that it as smooth as silk. Besides all the awesome drops, there are so many little nuences implemented into the design that you have to ride it at least 3 times before you really experience all of them conciously. I could have rode this coaster for the rest of the day, but my friend wasn't riding and wanted to move on to other rides. The station fly-through is very cool and upon exiting the station you'll find a quick dip-turn which feels so natural, I found myself leaning into all the turns by the fifth ride. I have never been so geeked about a coaster like this. Don't get me wrong, there are some really innovative coasters out there that are incredibly exiting, but this one gave me feelings of grandueur that I never felt before. I know that might sound weird or something, but this ride is amazing. Something I noticed toward the end of the ride is that there are static/permanent wooden breaks around the final banked/turn. I know they're breaks becuase you can feel the train jerk to a slower speed when it passes over them. I couldn't figure it out. Basically they were wood slabs, (curved with the turn) that were at just the perfect height to contact the fins below. I think woodies have break fins. Anyway, all I could think was, OMG there are breaks on turns, and everyone here always says it's not realistic. Anyway, it's amazing, the train flys into the final breaks at around 25-30. It's a pretty long ride, but it could have kept going and going it seemed. Well that's my concensus on The Thunderhead Roaring Coaster. My new #1. The trip was amazing and I will be posting the photos as soon as I get settled into my new apartment in about a week or so.

[coolbeans326]

Originally posted by CSTRFRK

I've been back since last Thursday, but I've been so busy right now. I'm moving and I haven't had much time. Well, Dollywood was cool. Thunderhead was f*cking awesome, to say the least. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but It is now my favorite wood coaster of all, putting the Beast at PKI at no.2 and Villian at GL at no.3. I rode it 6 times in a row early in the day, and there was no waiting what-so-ever. Finally after the 5th ride, I figured I could pull off recording the POV. It worked but it's really not worth sharing, being that there is already a better video that was posted here before. You can barely see what's going on because of the camera shake.
The Ride:
I don't know where to begin. The first drop is cool, but the excitement comes from the moments that follow. There IS airtime on this baby, none of them last too long, but there are so many throughout the ride, the lack of long air-time is made up. Smooth/quick direction changes, lots of micro-bunny hills, (my new term for some moments in this ride) which are not so micro when your going 40-50mph over thenm. Just enouph to get you out of your seat. The ride looks like it's going to be brutal because of all the high banked tight turns, but it was designed so perfectly that it as smooth as silk. Besides all the awesome drops, there are so many little nuences implemented into the design that you have to ride it at least 3 times before you really experience all of them conciously. I could have rode this coaster for the rest of the day, but my friend wasn't riding and wanted to move on to other rides. The station fly-through is very cool and upon exiting the station you'll find a quick dip-turn which feels so natural, I found myself leaning into all the turns by the fifth ride. I have never been so geeked about a coaster like this. Don't get me wrong, there are some really innovative coasters out there that are incredibly exiting, but this one gave me feelings of grandueur that I never felt before. I know that might sound weird or something, but this ride is amazing. Something I noticed toward the end of the ride is that there are static/permanent wooden breaks around the final banked/turn. I know they're breaks becuase you can feel the train jerk to a slower speed when it passes over them. I couldn't figure it out. Basically they were wood slabs, (curved with the turn) that were at just the perfect height to contact the fins below. I think woodies have break fins. Anyway, all I could think was, OMG there are breaks on turns, and everyone here always says it's not realistic. Anyway, it's amazing, the train flys into the final breaks at around 25-30. It's a pretty long ride, but it could have kept going and going it seemed. Well that's my concensus on The Thunderhead Roaring Coaster. My new #1. The trip was amazing and I will be posting the photos as soon as I get settled into my new apartment in about a week or so.

Sounds like you had a lot of fun!!![approve] Well I'm glad you had a good time.