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I have a new video to share with you all! This is from Dollywood's Flower & Food Festival for 2023.
In this video I focus a lot more on the "Flower" end of things with this festival. I shoot the festival by myself, and I can only eat so much, so, check out all the other vloggers who will show you that side of the festival. I love filming all the great landscaping and you can see that a lot of thought and planning goes into making this a reality.
Speaking of landscaping, The company that Dollywood partners with to create their mosaicultures is called Mosaicultures International and they are based in Montreal, Canada. Check their website out below - they feature lots of photos of Dollywood and lots of other impressive installations at other locations.
While enjoying my day admiring all of the festival decorations, I took in two very popular shows at Dollywood right now. A Brighter Day at the Back Porch Theater and later in the day I saw The Hall Sisters perform their show on the porch of the chapel. I wasn't sure what to expect exactly with the Hall Sisters, but they harmonize and play well together, it was definitely a great highlight from this day at Dollywood. And of course, A Brighter Day never disappoints, and the cast and crew are all amazingly talented singers and musicians. See Both Shows If You Can! This festival runs until June 11th, 2023.
Big Bear Mountain is OPEN!
I will share with you this video of Dolly Parton and Eugene Naughton (Dollywood President) open Big Bear Mountain on May 12th, 2023. Dolly Parton performs an original song that I placed over a POV video for Big Bear AND you can sing along to her catchy tune. I love playing it over and over.
Dollywood was gracious to invite some season pass holders to a Rider Preview Day for Big Bear and that was on Monday, May 8th for me - there were several days to choose from. I have a very extensive look at Big Bear in my video that I'll share below.
I really had an excellent first impression with my ride on BBM. I'll break down the different elements below:
Ride Plaza / Queue Areas / Station - The ride plaza is very spacious and there is a lot of room to check out the roller coaster from countless angles. There is a great ride sign for Big Bear. I've already seen a lot of selfies on social media in front of it. The queue has room for hundreds of people if needed, and it probably will be for a while. The overall theme of the ride is that we are all looking for Big Bear, and so the queue fits with that type of expedition/rugged theming that they chose. Lots of maps, photos, trinkets and whatnot all add to the experience. The station is set up much like the other coasters at Dollywood. The cubbies come in small and large, and I was able to fit my backpack in the larger cubby no problem. The station is at grade level, so folks in wheelchairs and ECV's should have an easy time accessing the station.
Trains - I found them very comfortable. They are bucket-style seats that are padded, and the only restraint is an individual lap bar that I didn't have any issues with. I'm 5 foot 8 inches, so I don't have a lot of legs to scrunch up into the train. For a comparison, this seemed a whole lot roomier than Lightning Rod and a bit roomier than Thunderhead - to compare to other Dollywood trains. I noticed on one row of the train, the side wall was on a hinge, so that may be the row that has more room for those with prosthetics or other considerations. I didn't' see it in action, so I'm not certain, but that's most likely what that particular row is for. Of course, the folks at the Ride Accessibility Center near the front gate of the park will have all of that information available.
Furthermore, I think the trains look super cool. I love all the little details on them like the jerry cans on the back, and the little bits of mud splatters that are near the wheel wells - all of it is so cool. The headlights and taillights both illuminate and look great. The on-board audio sounded really well. I think they had some speakers in some areas too, maybe for a backup or maybe to reinforce the audio sound effects? Not sure, but either way its a nice addition. It takes me back to my dear Opryland and the stuffed bear on Grizzly River Rampage.
There are two trains that I saw, not sure if there is a third train. On preview day one train would launch from the station as the other was going into the brakes, so a third train would stack if they used it. They may have a third train coming later so they can have a spare to do maintenance on - since Dollywood's season is nearly year-round at this point. That would be some insurance for always being able to run two trains.
Ride Itself / Layout - I love this layout. I have ridden lots of record-breaking rollercoasters and those are fine, but what I love most is just exactly what Big Bear is, and that's forceful launches, and lots of meandering around side to side, up and down. Nothing too crazy that snaps your neck back and forth like I-305 or Maverick. The transitions were so smooth in between all the direction changes that it all just felt so natural and well designed. It's zippy! The first launch out of the station gets the job done, which is to get you to the second launch. I love love love the fact that the train does not come to a stop before the 2nd launch. So many new multi-launchers will bring everything to a grinding halt before a launch and I despise that - such a buzzkill for me (see: Copperhead Strike, Maverick, Time Traveler, there are many others). Big Bear Mountain avoids that nightmare and really, once you are on your way you will not stop for 3,990 feet. The pacing for me is fast and it stays fast until the end. The little dip under the pathway is cool finale to the whole ride. Super smooth brake run and then the friction wheels whisk it right in to the station pronto.
The waterfall area is cool, but you go through it so quickly that it's over before you know it. Don't blink!
Overall - I'm really impressed with everything about this new coaster. I think it will impress many who look at it and go meh. It's definitely not meh to me. I can't wait for summer so I can see how it looks and rides in the dark of night. I'm sure it will be as fun in October-December when the sun sets around 5 o'clock.
10 out of 10!
I hope you enjoy all my videos!!!
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