🎂Happy Birthday to Lightning Rod! You're 8 Years Old Now!🎂

Hi Everyone,

Today is Lightning Rod's 8th Birthday!  Lightning Rod has been, in its own cute way, the 'problem child' of Dollywood.  

Emerging from Rocky Mountain Coasters as the inaugural wooden coaster equipped with an LSM lift hill launch, Lightning Rod has thrilled riders with an experience unique to itself. 

Spanning 3,800 feet, with a drop of 165 feet, a top speed of 73 mph, and a G-force of 3.5, you're at the pinnacle of many roller coaster enthusiasts' lists!

Nearly every amazing roller coaster attracts many fans, and more than a few have been quick to point out differences and changes.  I love these comparison videos of Lightning Rods changes over its eight years of life.  

Lightning Rod has had a lot of modifications to it.  The biggest of course is switch from the LSM launch to a traditional chain lift at the end of the 2023 season.  It opened up on day one of Dollywood's 2024 season, a testament to Dollywood's desire to have more uptime for this ride.  You can see my video of LR that day below.

My feelings about it...I think its a win win.  So far this year it has had very little downtime, which was a huge objective for Dollywood.  I also liked that I was able to look around and take in a great view while going up the lift...where previously I would white knuckle the launch.  Many will disagree and there's nothing wrong with that.  I still feel like all the ejector air is still there in all its glory.  For me, the key to enjoying LR is being positive my pockets are completely empty.  I have seen stuff in my pockets that I was so certain were secure, float in front of my face on the quad down, which was not a good feeling at all...so, I need empty pockets so I can relax, lol.   A friend I was with lost car keys on it one time - nightmare!  The storage cubbies in the station hold larger items like backpacks and big purses, as well as smaller items for hats, glasses, phones - use them.

After the 2020 season, Dollywood decided to replace over half of the track with the more durable Ibox Track. Originally constructed with Timber Topper Track, consisting of six layers of lumber and a metal topper, the new sections are now entirely steel, providing a long-term solution. A picture from Wikipedia distinctly illustrates the differences between the two track styles.

Dollywood has an excellent coaster on its hands and in my opinion, they've made many improvements that lead me to believe it's going to be with us for a long time.  So happy 8th birthday LR, and it looks like you're going from problem child to a golden child. 😊

🚨New Videos! Opening Day🚨 Dolly Parton Parade, Sing-A-Long, Lightning Rod, and MORE!

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying Spring.  If you subscribe to my YouTube Channel, you know I have been slowly publishing new videos from this past Opening Day on March 8th, 2024.

I am pleased to tell you all of my Opening Day Videos are published, and I hope you enjoy them.

This one is from the Country Fair area.   The Scrambler has been polished to its mirror finish for the start of the season.  I was looking at a video from October of the Scrambler and it was silver, but not at all polished and kind of had a matte finish about it - the seats I mean.  But it's all polished and looking sharp for the start of the season.  I love the freeze-frame aspect of catching one little moment of joy in everyone's faces.

This one is from Jukebox Junction.  I do believe the new drink fountain outside of Red's is new for this year.   A couple of years ago Dollywood mentioned that they were going to spend a lot of money on improvements to all of the restaurants in the park and so I suspect this is part of that effort.  I love seeing all the little changes from one season to the next.  Some are more obvious than others, some more exciting than others.

This is from the brand new Dolly Parton Sing-A-Long show that is at the Back Porch Theater in the Riverside Area.  I mean, this is fun singing Dolly's biggest hits alongside your friends and family.  

I also published three short videos from Opening Day, including the Dolly Parton Parade that is so much fun.  Dolly rides in her floral covered vintage DeWitt through parts of the park and everyone is so excited to see her...it is quite the site to see and experience.  It never gets old.

Here is Part One, check that out below...

Here is Part Two, check that out below...

Be sure to Subscribe and select to receive notifications when I publish videos.  Also follow me on my Facebook Page for updates there too.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

⭐Lightning Rod received a lot of off-season changes - Opens March 8th, 2024!

March 6, 2024 Announcement ⤵️⤵️⤵️

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Big News out of Dollywood regarding Lightning Rod:

• LSM Launch will be replaced with a High-Speed Chain Lift.
• The new chain lift experience will be very similar to the current launch experience.
• 13 mph - the speed of the chain lift, per the video.
• The rides peak-speed will stay the same at 73 mph.
• It was not said, but I think the structure of the lift hill will change materials, from wood to steel.  Not Confirmed.
• Spring 2024 New and Improved Lightning Rod will open.
• Two Brand New Trains for Lightning Rod.
• No mention of any changes above the chassis.  We'll see!
• No other specific changes were made regarding the replacement of the wooden track to IBox Steel track.
• About 40% of the current track remains the original wooden "Topper Track".
• In 2020/21 Off -season, the process of replacing much of the wood track to steel was completed.

Watch Dollywood's Video to hear all of the details they share:

Well, that is certainly promising news.  I think we all know that Lighting Rod has had its share of down time since it opened in 2016.  I know that pain of travelling far away to go ride something and then you get there, and it's down.  Its unfortunate, it really is.  And Dollywood realizes that, and they are going to try and remedy that.  Yay Dollywood! 

Dollywood, to my knowledge, has never really said what exactly the issues are, but from all the credible internet rumblings that I have heard, it boiled down to the lift hill being made of wood, which created some sway and stability issues and all the sensors working properly, and so on.  So, based on what Dollywood is changing, and what Pete & Eugene said about realizing that 'now they know why launches and wooden coasters don't pair well together' - paraphrasing, but you get the idea. ...that seems to me to be the likeliest scenario.

Enjoy Lightning Rod until the end of the Harvest Festival as it will close on October 30th for a major overhaul and two brand new trains.

Follow me and of course I'll post more as details come out.

What are you thoughts about it?  Let me know in the comments!

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Here a couple of pictures of Lightning Rod from Tuesday, November 28, 2023. All of the old hardware used for the launch has been removed. The overhead structure at the top of the lift has been temporarily removed to allow for the installation of the new high-speed chain lift.

November 28, 2023

November 28, 2023

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