Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
It was just another ordinary day on campus when I got a text from my friend/goon partner-in-crime Michelle. She said her dad had proposed that we day trip it out to Dollywood. For a five-hour drive, yes, it's crazy. But we decided to do it anyway. Then her dad realized we were going to go to Dollywood without him so he decided to take charge of the trip. We decided to make it an overnight thing. I needed the new alpine coaster in Gatlinburg and the kiddie cred at NASCAR Speedpark; Michelle and her family needed both alpine coasters, FireChaser, and the Dragon Wagon at that parking lot with carnival rides plonked about known as Fun Stop.
I had worked the night before we did this so day one was bound to be exhausting. I got home, washed up, and waited. Michelle and her family pulled up in their rental and we got my stuff in the car and got on the road! Knowing I had been up and working for 15 hours by then, I was expecting to sleep in the car. Wrong! I decided to curl up against the car door and try to get some sleep. My brain faded in and out of consciousness for a bit before I woke up after what felt like an hour. I asked how long I had been out. Michelle's parents just laughed and told me it had been ten minutes. I looked over to see Michelle curled up against her door asleep...until her parents laughing woke her and she informed us she had been dreaming that she was baking cookies for us.
A bit later, I hallucinated a giant Canada goose on top of a barn. Finally after a grueling five-hour drive, we were at Dollywood for some nice Christmas credding!
Tram selfie!
FireChaser Selfie!
This drinking fountain didn't work so I just got a selfie with it.
Our first FireChaser ride was taken towards the back of the train and we all loved it! It's such an awesome family coaster and I love that Michelle enjoyed it! She agrees with me that that backwards launch was the best part.
Test seat photo with Michelle and I! #toomuchgoonforonephoto
Next up was Wild Eagle. We got our picture taken with a random bench!
Me dry heaving into my coat pocket on account of that horrible Dolly Parton song they play in line for Wild Eagle.
Michelle hadn't ridden Wild Eagle on the left yet so we went to that side and she said it was a lot better than she remembered. While I do think GateKeeper is better, I really liked this ride we got on it.
And then the funniest thing ever happened on Tennessee Tornado. There's a button on this TV remote in my house that we can't figure out that says "SMODE" on it, so smode is a word we use that has absolutely no meaning. On this ride, we decided to scream "Smode!" all the way up the lift for no reason. Well we did that. And on the ride, we were in front of some dad with a kid. And going into the Iron Butterfly, I hear behind me, "Oh, ****! Smode!" The kid screamed smode on the ride! And we had to crack up while having all those positive Gs exerted on us, it was so funny! I was out of breath when I got off!
After this we decided to deviate some more and make a scene on Thunderhead, both our favorite at Dollywood. Both of us got in line and just gooned out insanely, making a huge scene and turning every head in the station. We get onto the train, did the whole yelling smode thing up the lift hill, and just had one heck of a time. The train hit the brakes, we again overreacted and made a scene, and that continued into the station where we were shouting and cheering with delight because Thunderhead was just that **** awesome. And then we saw that her parents were in the front car and just booked it out of that station.
Next up we decided to ride Mystery Mine again for some reason...
And I got Michelle to take a test seat photo in line! Her parents got in line behind us five minutes later, perfect since we had decided to meet up at Mystery Mine.
Us in the decorated station!
Us after getting off of that horrible thing! That camera flash into a dusk sky can really blind you, and hitting your head on the back of the seat out of the dive loop makes for a horrible combination.
Next we decided to ride Thunderhead at night...this time while being civilized.
Thunderhead at night #stationselfie!
This is, hands down, the best ride I've ever had on Thunderhead! The park was all beautiful but the light didn't reach the ride, so I didn't see where I was about to be thrown. The random airtime on this is just flat out awesome and the fact that you can't see **** just makes it so much better. I see why I was so mad after being screwed out of my night ride on this earlier this summer. This is definitely an awesome night ride!
Decided to grab a Wild Eagle night ride after this since they had lit it up so nicely. I rode it at night during the fireworks during Great American Summer earlier this season so I knew it wouldn't be my best ride ever on it, but I did quite enjoy my ride. Flying over the park and seeing the whole thing glowing with Christmas lights was quite the experience.
We closed the day out on FireChaser Express. While the line was brutal and they continued to play this horrible Jonny Cash song we had been hearing all day (both times in line for FireChaser, once at Chipotle on the way down), it was worth it, and Michelle and I scored a short wait for the front right in front of her parents! #stationselfie
I had ridden FireChaser at night twice before...but this one blew both out of the water! The first ride we got that day towards the back was really disappointing. When I was telling Michelle about it (while talking to her for the first time in nearly two years) I told her that the backwards launch felt like it could nearly knock the wind out of you. While the first ride was impressive, I felt the launch was a bit weaker. But riding in the front...OMG!!!! We both had our hands out and that launch was just AWESOME!!!! Michelle thought the first ride was awesome, but this one blew her away! Such a great family ride, especially at night in the front. Don't know why it was better in the front this time (last time I liked it better in the back) but whatever the reason, it was still awesome!
Afterwards, we decided to call it a night and look at Christmas lights on the way out. Here is us in front of Tennessee Tornado's station.
Blazing Fury was gorgeous at night!
They had set up this awesome Christmas village in the theater that was really cool to see. Plenty of trains running different circuits, definitely a nice little hidden gem.
This is probably the best shot I could get of it.
I loved how they randomly wrapped certain trees in different colored LED lights. This one also had icicles dripping from it!
This awesome picture was a selfie! It's also my new Facebook profile pic.
The chapel was beautiful at night.
Both of us in front of the mill.
Continuing my tradition of photographing it every time I visit.
Dollywood really outdid themselves on this. The whole thing just felt so magical.
So many people had crowded around that I couldn't get close enough to get artsy with this but it looked nice!
Another gorgeous tree.
JSYK, if you send an engineer and a stage tech major into a park during Christmas, a discussion of LED lights vs incandescent ones and how LEDs function is bound to break out.
Selfie on Showstreet!
What an incredible night! Got to go to one of my favorite parks with one of my best friends and got to enjoy one of my favorite parks, this was hands down the best trip of the season, as brutal as it was.
After we rode the tram back to the car, we went to dinner at Thai Palace in Pigeon Forge and ate dinner as some weird animated children's Christmas movie played on the TV. From there we went back to the hotel and I pretty much just passed out after having been awake that long.
The next day started with a breakfast full of people watching at the hotel and then off to one of my favorite quirky creds, Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster! Michelle and her family didn't have it nor had any of them ever ridden an alpine coaster, but they all loved it. I still enjoyed it, as usual, but I agree with them, I wish it went faster.
From there it was onto the second alpine coaster of the trip, Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster! I had seen it under construction when I was here in August but it was finally complete and running!
And almost no line for it!
#nerdshot
Ready to go! Notice the matching Florida gooniform.
Selfie on Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster!
Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster, while shorter, blows Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster out of the water! It goes much faster and the turns are much more intense. The landscape is also a bit better on this one in my opinion. Don't miss this one if you're in the area!
I didn't have Speedway Draft so we stopped by NASCAR Speedpark so I could get it. While I did get half price admission after I explained my situation, 10$ for a kiddie cred is still yuck. <//3 I just wanted to get in and get out, though. My dad's a car nut who happens to be from Tennessee so I learned to hate NASCAR growing up.
Speedpark was a DUMP! I can tell the rides don't necessarily cater to the same demographic as NASCAR, so that was weird, but I hated that you had to cross that bridge to get to half of the park. All that aside...Speedway Draft!
Selfie on a cred!
Speedway Draft, to its credit, wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but sending it around five times? Lame! It didn't rattle or anything, but it's still a waste of time to get sent around five times. And they should've mirrored the design, NASCAR is all about turning left, not right.
In the car on the way back...for five hours! This got FUN!!!!
Hiding from the cops!
This is how you know you've had too much Michelle and I for one day; this guy was driving like an idiot and the first thing her dad calls it is "the truck with the caskets." They were large boxes, not caskets.
Selfie with the casket truck and Michelle taking a picture of the casket truck.
Selfie with Michelle messing with her dad's headrest! Cuz we never grew up.
After that the traffic started getting jammed constantly and we just wanted to get home and Michelle and I got REALLY bored. But we finally got home!
This trip was a blast in every respect! Michelle was so awesome to have invited me along on this cred run and her folks were so awesome to have put up with both of us! This was the perfect way to close out the season! I previously thought I was going to Kings Island to marathon Banshee but it felt wrong closing it out with Michelle not there, so this gave me closure to get to bid 2014 farewell with her. Two years ago when we parted ways I thought that was the end of our friendship. I had no idea Michelle still wanted to be friends after she returned home, and I would not have bet any money that 2014 would end up with us meeting up again and being friends. This whole thing was amazing and I can't wait for us to be able to go credding some more in 2015!
I had worked the night before we did this so day one was bound to be exhausting. I got home, washed up, and waited. Michelle and her family pulled up in their rental and we got my stuff in the car and got on the road! Knowing I had been up and working for 15 hours by then, I was expecting to sleep in the car. Wrong! I decided to curl up against the car door and try to get some sleep. My brain faded in and out of consciousness for a bit before I woke up after what felt like an hour. I asked how long I had been out. Michelle's parents just laughed and told me it had been ten minutes. I looked over to see Michelle curled up against her door asleep...until her parents laughing woke her and she informed us she had been dreaming that she was baking cookies for us.
A bit later, I hallucinated a giant Canada goose on top of a barn. Finally after a grueling five-hour drive, we were at Dollywood for some nice Christmas credding!
Tram selfie!
FireChaser Selfie!
This drinking fountain didn't work so I just got a selfie with it.
Our first FireChaser ride was taken towards the back of the train and we all loved it! It's such an awesome family coaster and I love that Michelle enjoyed it! She agrees with me that that backwards launch was the best part.
Test seat photo with Michelle and I! #toomuchgoonforonephoto
Next up was Wild Eagle. We got our picture taken with a random bench!
Me dry heaving into my coat pocket on account of that horrible Dolly Parton song they play in line for Wild Eagle.
Michelle hadn't ridden Wild Eagle on the left yet so we went to that side and she said it was a lot better than she remembered. While I do think GateKeeper is better, I really liked this ride we got on it.
And then the funniest thing ever happened on Tennessee Tornado. There's a button on this TV remote in my house that we can't figure out that says "SMODE" on it, so smode is a word we use that has absolutely no meaning. On this ride, we decided to scream "Smode!" all the way up the lift for no reason. Well we did that. And on the ride, we were in front of some dad with a kid. And going into the Iron Butterfly, I hear behind me, "Oh, ****! Smode!" The kid screamed smode on the ride! And we had to crack up while having all those positive Gs exerted on us, it was so funny! I was out of breath when I got off!
After this we decided to deviate some more and make a scene on Thunderhead, both our favorite at Dollywood. Both of us got in line and just gooned out insanely, making a huge scene and turning every head in the station. We get onto the train, did the whole yelling smode thing up the lift hill, and just had one heck of a time. The train hit the brakes, we again overreacted and made a scene, and that continued into the station where we were shouting and cheering with delight because Thunderhead was just that **** awesome. And then we saw that her parents were in the front car and just booked it out of that station.
Next up we decided to ride Mystery Mine again for some reason...
And I got Michelle to take a test seat photo in line! Her parents got in line behind us five minutes later, perfect since we had decided to meet up at Mystery Mine.
Us in the decorated station!
Us after getting off of that horrible thing! That camera flash into a dusk sky can really blind you, and hitting your head on the back of the seat out of the dive loop makes for a horrible combination.
Next we decided to ride Thunderhead at night...this time while being civilized.
Thunderhead at night #stationselfie!
This is, hands down, the best ride I've ever had on Thunderhead! The park was all beautiful but the light didn't reach the ride, so I didn't see where I was about to be thrown. The random airtime on this is just flat out awesome and the fact that you can't see **** just makes it so much better. I see why I was so mad after being screwed out of my night ride on this earlier this summer. This is definitely an awesome night ride!
Decided to grab a Wild Eagle night ride after this since they had lit it up so nicely. I rode it at night during the fireworks during Great American Summer earlier this season so I knew it wouldn't be my best ride ever on it, but I did quite enjoy my ride. Flying over the park and seeing the whole thing glowing with Christmas lights was quite the experience.
We closed the day out on FireChaser Express. While the line was brutal and they continued to play this horrible Jonny Cash song we had been hearing all day (both times in line for FireChaser, once at Chipotle on the way down), it was worth it, and Michelle and I scored a short wait for the front right in front of her parents! #stationselfie
I had ridden FireChaser at night twice before...but this one blew both out of the water! The first ride we got that day towards the back was really disappointing. When I was telling Michelle about it (while talking to her for the first time in nearly two years) I told her that the backwards launch felt like it could nearly knock the wind out of you. While the first ride was impressive, I felt the launch was a bit weaker. But riding in the front...OMG!!!! We both had our hands out and that launch was just AWESOME!!!! Michelle thought the first ride was awesome, but this one blew her away! Such a great family ride, especially at night in the front. Don't know why it was better in the front this time (last time I liked it better in the back) but whatever the reason, it was still awesome!
Afterwards, we decided to call it a night and look at Christmas lights on the way out. Here is us in front of Tennessee Tornado's station.
Blazing Fury was gorgeous at night!
They had set up this awesome Christmas village in the theater that was really cool to see. Plenty of trains running different circuits, definitely a nice little hidden gem.
This is probably the best shot I could get of it.
I loved how they randomly wrapped certain trees in different colored LED lights. This one also had icicles dripping from it!
This awesome picture was a selfie! It's also my new Facebook profile pic.
The chapel was beautiful at night.
Both of us in front of the mill.
Continuing my tradition of photographing it every time I visit.
Dollywood really outdid themselves on this. The whole thing just felt so magical.
So many people had crowded around that I couldn't get close enough to get artsy with this but it looked nice!
Another gorgeous tree.
JSYK, if you send an engineer and a stage tech major into a park during Christmas, a discussion of LED lights vs incandescent ones and how LEDs function is bound to break out.
Selfie on Showstreet!
What an incredible night! Got to go to one of my favorite parks with one of my best friends and got to enjoy one of my favorite parks, this was hands down the best trip of the season, as brutal as it was.
After we rode the tram back to the car, we went to dinner at Thai Palace in Pigeon Forge and ate dinner as some weird animated children's Christmas movie played on the TV. From there we went back to the hotel and I pretty much just passed out after having been awake that long.
The next day started with a breakfast full of people watching at the hotel and then off to one of my favorite quirky creds, Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster! Michelle and her family didn't have it nor had any of them ever ridden an alpine coaster, but they all loved it. I still enjoyed it, as usual, but I agree with them, I wish it went faster.
From there it was onto the second alpine coaster of the trip, Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster! I had seen it under construction when I was here in August but it was finally complete and running!
And almost no line for it!
#nerdshot
Ready to go! Notice the matching Florida gooniform.
Selfie on Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster!
Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster, while shorter, blows Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster out of the water! It goes much faster and the turns are much more intense. The landscape is also a bit better on this one in my opinion. Don't miss this one if you're in the area!
I didn't have Speedway Draft so we stopped by NASCAR Speedpark so I could get it. While I did get half price admission after I explained my situation, 10$ for a kiddie cred is still yuck. <//3 I just wanted to get in and get out, though. My dad's a car nut who happens to be from Tennessee so I learned to hate NASCAR growing up.
Speedpark was a DUMP! I can tell the rides don't necessarily cater to the same demographic as NASCAR, so that was weird, but I hated that you had to cross that bridge to get to half of the park. All that aside...Speedway Draft!
Selfie on a cred!
Speedway Draft, to its credit, wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but sending it around five times? Lame! It didn't rattle or anything, but it's still a waste of time to get sent around five times. And they should've mirrored the design, NASCAR is all about turning left, not right.
In the car on the way back...for five hours! This got FUN!!!!
Hiding from the cops!
This is how you know you've had too much Michelle and I for one day; this guy was driving like an idiot and the first thing her dad calls it is "the truck with the caskets." They were large boxes, not caskets.
Selfie with the casket truck and Michelle taking a picture of the casket truck.
Selfie with Michelle messing with her dad's headrest! Cuz we never grew up.
After that the traffic started getting jammed constantly and we just wanted to get home and Michelle and I got REALLY bored. But we finally got home!
This trip was a blast in every respect! Michelle was so awesome to have invited me along on this cred run and her folks were so awesome to have put up with both of us! This was the perfect way to close out the season! I previously thought I was going to Kings Island to marathon Banshee but it felt wrong closing it out with Michelle not there, so this gave me closure to get to bid 2014 farewell with her. Two years ago when we parted ways I thought that was the end of our friendship. I had no idea Michelle still wanted to be friends after she returned home, and I would not have bet any money that 2014 would end up with us meeting up again and being friends. This whole thing was amazing and I can't wait for us to be able to go credding some more in 2015!
