Construction progress on the most anticipated new theme park attraction of 2016 is moving ahead at "lightning" pace. Dollywood recently showcased Lightning Rod, the park’s new record-breaking coaster, during a construction tour.
Upon arrival at the ride site, onlookers can’t help but notice the coaster’s massive lift hill, which now sits high above Dollywood—more than 20 stories to be exact. The first 165-feet drop propels riders to 73 mph. The ride’s innovative twin summit airtime hills were also on display. Thanks to the undulating topography, which the coaster races along during its 3,800-feet journey through the hills and valleys, surrounding Dollywood, much of the track is hidden from view inside the park. Its position serves to heighten anticipation for those waiting to step aboard the thrilling ride.
The tour featured a glimpse at Lightning Rod’s hot rod-themed ride vehicles, which closely resemble tricked-out speed machines from the 1950s. With the ride’s blisteringly quick top speed, Dollywood guests will soon feel the same adrenaline-packed rush hot rod mechanics have after stepping behind the wheel of one of their newest creations for the first time.
The ride, located in Dollywood’s Jukebox Junction, provides guests with nearly 20 seconds of airtime. The coaster train has 12 cars, carrying two passengers each, for a total of 24 thrill-seekers per train.
Dollywood’s development team has tapped Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) as the ride manufacturer. RMC is no stranger to out-of-the-box coaster projects, having designed many first-of-their-kind attractions around the world. Lightning Rod employs several unique features including the lift hill launch, twin summit airtime hills, a 90+ degree banked breaking wave turn, a 90+ degree outside banked turn, and a non-inverting half loop.
Lightning Rod has already earned quite a following from roller coaster enthusiasts, thanks to its unique attributes. Lightning Rod not only is the world’s fastest wood coaster but also the world’s first launching wood coaster.
For more information about Dollywood’s Lightning Rod visit Dollywood.com or call 1-800-DOLLYWOOD.
Rounding out the park's award-winning Smoky Mountain Christmas event is a fantastic, family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration, complete with Fireworks. Dollywood is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on December 31, with Fireworks starting at 8:30 p.m.
Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas presented by Humana is the only winner of Amusement Today’s Best Christmas Event award. Ask a season passholder why they return year after year, and words like tradition, magic and memories are a common refrain.
Regardless of the number of visits, a trip to Dollywood to experience its four million Christmas lights, spectacular holiday entertainment and delicious treats and goodies warms every soul with the spirit of the Season. Even Scrooge himself visits the park every day during the festival—thanks to his leading role in Dollywood’s A Christmas Carol, which celebrates its final year in 2015. This ground-breaking production features Dolly Parton as a hologram of the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Discover more about season passes, annual festivals and more Dollywood fun.
Dixie Stampede and The Dollywood Company each donated $250,000 toward the project during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility on Thursday afternoon.
The Boys & Girls Club of the Smoky Mountains has received an outpouring of support from the local community, but the donations from Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and The Dollywood Company helped push the Club beyond its goal of raising $2 million for the new facility.
Jim Rule, Dixie Stampede President, and Jamie Parish, Dixie Stampede General Manager, joined Craig Ross, The Dollywood Company President, and Gene Scherrer, Dollywood General Manager, in making the donation during the ceremony.
Rule said,
“The Boys & Girls Club is an amazing example of an organization which makes a profound impact on the community it serves. This donation is to benefit an organization that provides wonderful services to our hosts’ families and is integral to the quality of life here in Pigeon Forge.”
Read the full press release at DixieStampede.com.
The popular travel review site TripAdvisor recently named Dollywood one of the best theme parks in the world, continuing the Pigeon Forge park’s string of impressive accolades and awards.
Based on reviews and ratings for all theme parks worldwide, TripAdvisor compiled the list of the Top 25 theme parks around the globe. Dollywood placed 19th on the list, which included parks like Universal’s Islands of Adventure (#1), Magic Kingdom (#3), Universal Studios Florida (#6), Germany’s Europa-Park (#7), Disneyland (#8), Denmark’s Tivoli Gardens (#12), Epcot (#16), Six Flags Magic Mountain (#22), Silver Dollar City (#24) and Walt Disney Studios Park in France (#25).
One recent review on TripAdvisor, titled "One of the Best in the World," noted,
"This world-class attraction gets better every year…Great rides including seven roller coasters and some of the best shows and food in any park in the world can be found among the arsenal of activities."
The award-winning park certainly has endeared itself to its many guests, having recently been named #3 Best Theme Park in the country and #6 Best Musical Attraction by USA Today’s 10Best. In 2015, the park also earned Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards for Best Christmas Event, Best Shows and Friendliest Park. Dollywood earned the 2010 Applause Award, the theme park industry’s highest honor.
Dollywood is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. This year also marked the grand opening of Dollywood's DreamMore Resort. The park's newest attraction, Lightning Rod - the world’s fastest wood coaster, is set to open in March 2016.
Dollywood is giving coaster fans a chance to jump aboard Lightning Rod, its newest record-breaking offering, before the final pieces of track are even in place! Thanks to Los Angeles-based 3D Live, anyone with a smartphone can stream via YouTube 360 optimized, point-of-view footage of Dollywood’s Lightning Rod and take a virtual ride on the world’s fastest wooden coaster.
The pioneering 3D technology is new to the amusement park industry, and something 3D Live CEO Nathan Huber says will revolutionize the way guests visit a theme park. Huber said,
“This year has been crazy for us. We’re doing a bunch of great new stuff, and we said ‘let’s jump into this world (theme parks).’ This is something fun and we see a huge future of bringing people virtually to theme parks."
Huber went on to say,
“Imagine hospital patients that may never be able to go to a theme park. Now, this is at least the first step in bringing that experience to them. There is something about creating these immersive experiences; you can take something that would be difficult for them to experience and make it accessible. Now they can sit in their living room, put on a VR headset and be inside the park for a minute.”
The opportunity to work with Dollywood and its innovative new coaster was something Huber said was the perfect fit for his company’s groundbreaking technology. Huber said.
“We love the opportunity to be able to explore and find ways to deliver information to people. We’re excited to continue pushing boundaries.”
Due to working on the footage for Dollywood, Huber already has been able to make several circuits of Lightning Rod—albeit virtually. When asked about his thoughts on the thrilling new ride, Huber was quick to respond saying,
“It is scary. I like scary rides. It looks like it is going to be a ride to freak me out when I get a chance to come to Tennessee to ride it, which is going to be as soon as possible. Watching this ride, I’m just like, ‘wow!’”
