Fall in February Trip Report!

Hello everyone. :} I hope you're all having a nice 2016 so far. 

...

This is little trip report of two last park visits of 2015.

Is just because. :}

Good morning, Gatlinburg.

Let's take a quick trip back to October of 2015 for Dollywood's Harvest Celebration! 

And what a great time to be celebrating! It's baby Cadence Madore's first visit to Dollywood!

As you can see, she is riveted.

New at Harvest this year was this awesome display, which wasn't possible before the removal of the central fountain. 

Dollywood's warm craft shops are always a good place to duck out of chilly weather!

Family photo with the Blown Glass Shop Christmas Tree!

Either this was new on this particular visit, or I'd never seen it before.  But surely I'd've noticed it right away! It's the coolest water feature ever!

I guess we should ride something because we are here. :}

Dollywood is dedicated to keeping Blazing Fury well-kept. New features big and small pop up throughout the season!

Lunch time for Cadence! 

Dollywood is a great place to be if you love fall colors. :}

Tennessee Tornado is very festive with its blanket of bright leaves!

The intensity of this yellow (?) is arresting.

It's enough to make you just wanna hang out under the canopy all day!

*o*

#EagleRepresent

The stand over by FireChaser Express is being converted into an enclosed shop. I think.

Trying to remember now who I heard that from. :}

Mystery Mine did not open at any point during my three stops at the park this visit.  It is the first time I have ever missed a coaster on a Dollywood trip . :{

And you all know that Mystery Mine is my favorite coaster in Tennessee! I was bummed. 

Harvest may be in full effect, but you'll recall during our August visit that Dollywood is already preparing for their World-famous Smoky Mountain Christmas event! This Tannenbaum-in-progress will look fantastic when it's finished!

Crowds were out of control. 

How can we expect to deal with such congestion on the main concourse?

Dollywood now has two Ferris Wheels. :}

Lightning Rod is lookin' fly. :}

So is this horse. 

He's here in the Village to demonstrate how sugar cane is processed.

A horse-powered cane squisher extracts the sweet raw sugar!

The sugary slurry will serve as a base for things like molasses and syrup. :}

Who's up for a train ride?

A ride for the whole family to enjoy!

*gasp*

Thunderhead's Golden Tickets are gone! Maybe they're getting dry-cleaned...

Despite his countless visits to Dollywood, Dave had never ridden River Rampage! We remedied that on our way out of the park. :}

Also, as you can see, it was raining in the park. Getting wet on a water ride wasn't really an issue. 

Things are certainly shaping up here. 

Of course, things are really looking polished as of this captioning. 

After about an hour of rain it started to feel like we were the only 6 people in the park.

The Emporium is looking festive for the holidays around the corner. :}

The next day we went to the Incredible Christmas Place at one point.

It's a very festive place. Lots of fun if you're into that sort of thing. :}

Here's a lonely bench in the fake Christmas Tree forest upon which to contemplate life. 

Nothing says "tree-trimming" like a personal cherry picker. 

Fans of mini-town setups might find satisfaction with the existence of a Whoville display that is technically several thousand times larger than the canonical size of the little fictional town. :}

Mr. Christmas's World's Fair line of music box rides have branched out into holiday-themed installations. 

Back for more Dollywood the next day. :}

We were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people in the park.

This is worse than Disney World on New Years Eve.

The tree has been topped off! I honestly like this better than Timber Tower anyway. 

Looking forward to a ride on Mystery Mine (hopefully) this spring.

The other Gerstlauer thing is more cooperative on this visit. :}

Whew. 

Oof. These lines.

"Apple Butter Makin'"

Okay, seriously. How can Dollywood even afford to be open on a day like this?

Of course! Retired citizens will keep Dollywood open on even the quietest weekdays. ;}

Yep. There's actually a line for the train. 

In a park full of coasters, the real crowd pleaser today is a 3mph ride through the mountains.

I've never been to Smoky Mountain Christmas, but I get the impression that lights are stapled to every square inch of every facility in the park. 

Hey look! Blue sky is happening!

It's not enough to populate Dollywood's semicircle of coaster offerings, however.

In contrast, the wasps of Sevier County are quite pacified. 

Bye Lightning Rod. See you in March (?).

Here's some closing shots from the Madore's cabin, "Clouds and Mountains Lodge."

See you at Six Flags!

Bam! Six Flags Over Georgia!

It's the first Saturday of December. It's 76 degrees out here in Atlanta. Who's ready to celebrate Christmas? x}

Acrophobia is ready to drop it like it's hot. And humid. Because it is.

If having Six Flags Over Georgia as a home park has taught me anything, it's don't underestimate the considerable fervor of Atlantans when the temperature is between 70 and 80 degrees.

Especially when it's December. 

We're definitely not at Dollywood anymore, Toto. 

The Georgia Scorcher is brought to you by Church's Chicken.

Because The South. 

Dare Devil Dive is wearing a Christmas tree costume again this year. 

Goliath is running two trains! 

I kept expecting Prancer to fall from the display, like in the movie. 

Even in daylight, this part of the park is probably the most impressive at Christmastime. 

Special event map.

The line for the Sky Buckets was ridiculous. I'll wait 'til next year.

Construction is well underway over at Bugs Bunny Land. Looking forward to this area's much-needed refresh!

"QUIT TAUNTING ME WITH YOUR POWERS OF FLIGHT"

Family portrait in front of Monster Plantation. Emma is so much bigger now than last time!

I guess once the finished lighting trees they just ditched the cherry picker behind the construction wall. :}

*shakes fist*

Holiday time is an extra-fun time to enjoy the Monster Mansion.

Things just seem extra cheery inside. :}

(this was in stark contrast to what we would find back outside)

We exited Monster Mansion to find a significant portion of a major park artery temporarily fenced off for the park's attempt at breaking the world record for most couples kissing under the mistletoe. 

Cutting off the midway from the Crystal Pistol all the way to the Jelly Belly Store for an hour was extremely effective at pissing off half the people in the park. For example, if you'd just ridden Monster Mansion and wanted to ride the Carousel, you had to go all the way back around to the front of the park, and then all the way back to Bugs Bunny World, and then up Carousel Hill.

 It was an utter shit show. The park broke their record, but at what cost??

Asinine executive planning aside, the atmosphere in the park was a nice backdrop for increasingly disgruntled mobs of locals. 

On a side note, Six Flags Over Georgia has planted a small grove of lightsabers over by Gotham City. 

When the saplings mature, the lightsabers will be harvested and sold as a low-cost alternative to the name brand lightsabers being sold at Disney World. 

An improvement over last year's Holiday in the Park is the much-needed addition of Gotham City to the roster.

Mindbender rehab and construction of the two new flat rides contributed to the area being closed last year. 

Mindbender was running one train. We waited an hour to ride. Still worth it. 

Gotham's various spinning gadgets look great through the trees after nightfall. 

Hey look! It's the backside of DareDevil Christmas tree!

My mom's first ride on Mindbender. She loved it, obviously.

Never thought Gotham could look so jolly. ;}

Back at the North Pole, the stupid mistletoe world record thing had ended and the area was once again passable. 

We ran into Steve! He was so excited to meet Emma!

Emma and the fam went off to check out the Carousel while Steve and I rode Goliath. 

Even with two trains, Goliath took an hour to ride.

Due to the success of the candy cane tree over by Georgia Scorcher, a second one was introduced this season.

Meh. Is anyone else kinda holiday-ed out? I guess it makes sense, since it's February now. x}

New for this year was synchronized lights for this tunnel set to Trans-Siberian Orchestra-esque Christmas music. Good stuff.

Hello candy cane tree. I am happy you have a friend now. :}

No, but really. I'm kinda burned out on Christmas by this point.

(Of course I'll probably be desperate to get the ornaments out by September)

This is the first time I visited SFOG and did not ride Georgia Cyclone. There was one train and the line was enormous. It was the only ride I'd ridden on every visit to the park. End of an era. :{

We wanted to ride the train, but frankly the park was just so crowded for so long and we were worn out. Obviously Six Flags wasn't anticipating spring weather for the Holiday in the Park, so I can understand why they weren't prepared for crowds.

 There's no excuse for the world record mistletoe fiasco, though. If they open the entire park next year, it won't be an issue if they wanna pull a stunt like that again.

Welp. That's that. Just revisiting that Six Flags Over Georgia experience makes me feel overheated and cranky. x}


I think the next park adventure will be Dollywood for Lightning Rod. Maybe. I don't really know. Things are kind of up in the air over here at Thrillography HQ at the moment, but it's a good thing. :}


There is a wealth of exciting things to come, and I am so excited to share them with you. <3