Hello! It's been a minute since I've posted here. Hope everyone is doing well! I'm going to Dollywood this Friday for the first time since I was a kid (as in mid-90's?). To put it in perspective; Thunder Express was still there then.

 

I'm caught up on what I want to ride the most (Lightning Rod and Thunderhead) but wondered if anyone has suggestions on which coasters to hit first? We'll be getting there at park opening and I'd like to do any coasters that typically have longer waits first so we can do them all in one day and possibly do the best ones a couple times.

 

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

 

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I haven't been since the early 2010s, but I feel this still applies.  I do feel Dollywood is the kind of park where you don't really need a day plan to get the most out of your day.  If you want to save your legs, I'd head to Thunderhead first and curve around that way since that incline is easier than going up the hill at Craftsman's Valley.  Its a hilly park regardless.   

BTW, my first trip was when Thunder Express was still there, too, but I've been a couple times since. 

Also, see at least one show, ride Dollywood Express, and get the cinnamon bread. 

hit up dragon flier, mystery mine, and firechaser up first in those order......

And do not forget to check out Barnstormer!  It is a fun ride, that is easy to miss as it is kind of in a tucked away corner of the park.  Obviously Blazing Fury is a can`t miss classic as well.

As others said, take in the shows.  They are top notch.  Outside of Kings Island, Dollywood is one of my favorite go to parks.  It is the only other park besides Kings Island where I have had a season pass in the past! 

If you get to the park at opening then I would probably start first thing with Lightning Rod because it suffers from low capacity and downtime.  From there you can either do one of two things you can either go reverse clockwise around the park and hit the rides that way or go back to the front of the park and hit them clockwise.

If you don't get there at opening I would suggest going clockwise.  

Are the issues with Lightning Rod`s reliability still occurring this season after they did the refurb work to it in the off season?

Whatever you do don't start with Lightning Rod. Everybody goes to that first. It has the Cedar Point Raptor effect. 2 hour line early then when everybody works their way around to other areas of the park the line gets shorter.

2 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Are the issues with Lightning Rod`s reliability still occurring this season after they did the refurb work to it in the off season?

I was there a few weeks ago for a few days and it didn’t have one second of downtime. From what I understand that’s a huge difference. 

still stand behind my suggestions......Those lines get huge as the day goes on, while the others decrease.  Those are the lowest capacity rides there.  Also wild eagle is a walk on all day

still stand behind my suggestions......Those lines get huge as the day goes on, while the others decrease.  Those are the lowest capacity rides there.  Also wild eagle is a walk on all day[emoji3]

I've heard that about those 3 from a couple places so seems like a good idea.

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