TIME WARP: Dollywood 2006 Trip Report!

Hello, everyone. It's been a minute. :}

Welcome the first ever Thrillography TIME WARP Trip Report! 

I was going back through all of my pre-Thrillography photographs and thought that it may be fun to post some retrospective trip reports! In each Time Warp we'll look at some older pictures of great parks. Things change a lot in a park from year to year, so the older the pictures, the more differences we'll see!

Today we're re-visiting my 2006 trip to Dollywood! This was my second Dollywood trip following my initial visit in 2004. I'm pleased to say that I rode their older log flume before it was retired for the new County Fair area in 2005, but sadly I do not have any pics from that particular trip.

2006 was an interesting year for Dollywood. Their new attraction, Timber Tower, had just opened next to the award-winning Thunderhead, but it was receiving mixed reviews. The mechanical problems that Timber Tower had already begun to suffer from would later lead to the ride's demise. Dollywood would ultimately end up filing a lawsuit against the ride's manufacturer, Huss, for selling them a disappointing and faulty ride. 

Here you can see my dad and me enjoying the Timber Tower. Photo by my mom, Debra Dickey. :}

I didn't dislike Timber Tower, but I wasn't crazy about it either. Timber Tower was the only installation of the Huss Topple Tower in the U.S., and, if I'm not mistaken, only four of these were built worldwide. Djurs Sommerland in Denmark has a bald eagle-themed Topple Tower in the American West section of their park. Riding that particular model in 2011 proved to be an even-more "meh" experience. I figure it's just as well that Dollywood had to chop theirs. They can do better.

As you can see, my dad and I have long been decking ourselves out in coaster gear for our park trips. Dollywood, Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, and Universal Orlando represent! 

Thunderhead hasn't changed a bit. While its lumber has darkened with age, its performance remains top-notch!

I greatly miss having my parents with me on my coaster trips. 

Far more entertaining than Timber Tower was Dollywood's Dizzy Disk, which was part of the new County Fair.

Also, that guy to the right of me was just not having it. 

While larger installations of this ride pack more of a punch (the extended Disk'O Coaster at Särkäniemmi comes to mind), the early incarnations are still quite delightful.

With the new County Fair area came a new credit! Veggietales Sideshow Spin! 

I'd like to point out how well the Sideshow Spin coaster is designed. The discomfort that comes with riding kiddie coasters tends to come from inferior car design and too many lateral shifts. Ever-wise Dollywood installed a kiddie coaster with spacious cars and no right turns. Parents and credit whores rejoice!  

Not much has changed about Tennessee Tornado over the course of my Dollywood visits. Still awesome. Still grossly underrated.

Really the only changes have been the ride's new neighbors. With the addition of the Wilderness Pass, Tennessee Tornado went from being the cap of a dead end to being part of a large circle. The currently-under-construction Firechaser Express is now Tennessee Tornado's next-door neighbor! And, of course, we have Wild Eagle and Blazing Fury just across the way!

Tennessee Tornado has aged extraordinarily well. I've said this before, but what a shame it is that Arrow's demise came so quickly after they built such a slam-dunk ride!

Back to Timber Canyon for more rides on Thunderhead and Timber Tower! That, of course, means taking the long hike from Tennessee Tornado back down Craftsman Valley, through the center of the park, past the main entrance, and then up the winding Thunderhead Gap passageway.

In fact, I distinctly recall thinking to myself "this park desperately needs to be a circle, but surely it will take over a decade before Timber Canyon and Tennessee Tornado are connected..."

Dollywood, of course, did it in five years. 

For the two years that this area was called "Thunderhead Gap", there wasn't much else to see besides Thunderhead. With Timber Tower came also some smaller family attractions, like the Lumberjack Lifts and a large playground.

Just to the right of Timber Tower was a sign, which alluded to a "mysterious new attraction" coming in 2007. :}

To Dollywood's credit, they did have some very nice touches to this ride. The water fountains were synchronized with the ride, and there were various animatronics scattered below the ride that would be triggered each time the tower swayed within range.

At the end of the 2011 season, Timber Tower was removed from Dollywood. At the ride's entrance, the park apologized for their removal of the ride and explicitly stated that they were in the process of filing a lawsuit with Huss. 

It would be six long years before I would find myself back at Dollywood, and in those six years the park would continue to raise the bar of theme park excellence and shows no signs of slowing down. With the groundbreaking of Dollywood's first on-site resort hotel and the addition of their 7th roller coaster, 2014 is shaping up to be another outstanding year for the park! I'm hoping to visit the park at some point in 2014 to ride the new Firechaser Express! Should that occur, you can expect a full report from Thrillography! :D