Dollywood | Lightning Rod | Launched RMC

[owentaylor121]

^Umm, no.

Thunderhead is an absolute machine when it comes to airtime. The whole ride is littered with random pops of airtime. It may not be sustained thigh crushing ejector like on Skyrush or instances of completely weightless floater like Phoenix, but it's there. While it twists around its layout it randomly chucks you out of your seat and into your restraint. It's awesome, one of the best wooden coasters I've ridden.

Lightning Rod is also about airtime, yes, but with more focus on speed and snappy transitions it seems. It's RMC's version of a speed coaster like Fury or Millennium, almost. Thunderhead is built for airtime, Lightning Rod is built for speed and aggression.

Don't judge a coaster you haven't ridden. Others around here have told me it's not okay to be prejudiced against rides you haven't ridden.

I haven't prejudged anything though?
I asked a question, I didn't say Thunderhead was bad In anyway, because from what I've heard it's a top coaster.
The way Ben described it was perfect, it will be a step down coaster but by no means a redundant coaster.

 

[Jarrett]

^You said it was more focused on laterals and said it would be "obsolete," therefore implying that it does the same thing as Lightning Rod but on a smaller scale implying that it won't be a necessary attraction at the park because of Lightning Rod.

Focuses on laterals= Incorrect
Obselete and unnecessary= Incorrect

I constantly get chewed up on here for predicting new additions or making observations about existing things I haven't ridden to the point where I no longer provide what I think are good opinions and observations. I'm paying it forward in an attempt to assimilate with the community, welcome to my world.

 

[owentaylor121]

^You said it was more focused on laterals and said it would be "obsolete," therefore implying that it does the same thing as Lightning Rod but on a smaller scale implying that it won't be a necessary attraction at the park because of Lightning Rod.

Focuses on laterals= Incorrect
Obselete and unnecessary= Incorrect

I constantly get chewed up on here for predicting new additions or making observations about existing things I haven't ridden to the point where I no longer provide what I think are good opinions and observations. I'm paying it forward in an attempt to assimilate with the community, welcome to my world.

Wait, if you actually read what I put I asked if thus would make Thunderhead obsolete, I didn't say it was obsolete.
Also compared to Lightning rod, Thunderhead is more based on laterals, I didn't say that was a bad thing at all! Don't put words into my mouth when I was asking a question. It's quite clear that Lighting Rod is based on airtime and over banked turns like most RMC's, when Thunderhead is more based on high speed turns, cross overs and small fast hills.

 

[gavin]

I constantly get chewed up on here for predicting new additions or making observations about existing things I haven't ridden to the point where I no longer provide what I think are good opinions and observations. I'm paying it forward in an attempt to assimilate with the community, welcome to my world.

 

[cjbrandy]

Ive have had a **** night preparing for statistics exam but that made me chuckle

 

[jay37415]

Maybe I'm just not used to the angle, but the pullout looks pretty drawn out. That's not a complaint, just an observation.

I'm looking forward to riding this.

This is the best picture I have of the pullout. Look closely at the bottom. When you factor in the you'll be going 70+mph there, its not too drawn out.

 

[Lofty]

I constantly get chewed up on here for predicting new additions or making observations about existing things I haven't ridden to the point where I no longer provide what I think are good opinions and observations. I'm paying it forward in an attempt to assimilate with the community, welcome to my world.

I love you.

 

[BigBad]

This is the best picture I have of the pullout. Look closely at the bottom. When you factor in the you'll be going 70+mph there, its not too drawn out.

I can't see it well with trees in the way. Maybe once all of the track is there.

"Drawn out" might not be what I mean, at least not in the standard sense. I suppose that would usually mean in the horizontal direction. I mean vertically. Main drops seems to have the pullout take up less than 50% of the height. The overhead shot looked like it was more than half.

That kind of makes sense. You're not cresting the hill at 9mph like a coaster with a lift hill. It's probably closer to 30, maybe more. The launch eats into the drop height, so if the speed is what you'd get from a 200ft drop with a 99ft pullout, its 165ft drop has a 99ft pullout taking up 60% of the drop height.

(I picked 99ft because it's just shy of 200/2, and I picked 200ft because that seems about what you'd need for a traditional lift hill coaster to hit LR's projected top speed of 73mph.)

 

[XLR8R]

^Umm, no.

Thunderhead is an absolute machine when it comes to airtime. The whole ride is littered with random pops of airtime. It may not be sustained thigh crushing ejector like on Skyrush or instances of completely weightless floater like Phoenix, but it's there. While it twists around its layout it randomly chucks you out of your seat and into your restraint. It's awesome, one of the best wooden coasters I've ridden.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Thunderhead is an airtime machine, the ride has a lot more focus on laterals. Now, Lightning Rod, on the other hand, oh boy, that will be one heck of an airtime machine.

 

[djreplay26]

They've unveiled the trains, they look incredible.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1568686776739646&id=1376820432592949

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Only complaint is the headrests otherwise, yes.

Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Yeah the headrests could be a BIT nicer.

 

[ECG]

Here's some more photos from Coaster Crew's Facebook page:

 

[Lofty]

I'm sorry but the front car is vile :lol:


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk.

 

[MLDesigns]

It has a very cartoon-y look to it. but HOT DAMN that thing is sexy <3

 

[tomahawk]

June <3

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[nadroJ]

I kind of love it but also feel like it could have a LOT more detail? Like you know if you try to draw something from memory and end up leaving out bits of the more intricate detail but it's still recognisable as the thing you wanted it to be? It's kind of weird...

 

[Hyde]

^ Half reminds me of TTD's original trains, before the back tire fell off. :razz:

As Dollywood is going with a whole hot rod theme, I think they did well with the trains. However, the difficulty I always have trouble with for car themes on roller coasters is sheer proportions - a hot rod is not twenty thirty feet long.

Do we also know if the headlights will be functional?

 

[gavin]

 

[BigBad]

Do we also know if the headlights will be functional?

As cool as that would look, part of what will make this great is dashing through the terrain in the dark.

As much as they're correct about how a rod rod looked, is anyone else totally not thinking of a high performance car when they see that front? When I think of a car with great acceleration, I'm thinking of a Corvette or a Tesla. (The Tesla is insane.) There are Italian and German cars, too, but I'd want to stick to something American, and the Corvette is what comes to mind.