Post by 65skylark on Oct 4, 2006 22:16:04 GMT -8
Last weekend my wife and I attended Night of Thunder 3 at Dollywood. Rideworld has put on this event for the last 3 years and I finally got to make it. I have heard nothing but good things about Thunderhead (after all it did win the Golden Ticket for best wood and you all know how much I like the Golden Ticket Awards 
). We also took an extra day and drove dow to SFOG to ride Goliath, my first B&M hyper. It was an amazing trip as Thunderhead and Goliath did not dissapoint and we were able to meet up with some good friends we had made on past coaster trips. I just linked my TR from Coasterfanatics.com so I could have all the pictures on this site too so if something If something doesn't make sense just chalk it up to being an inside joke 
So on with the PTR.
We flew into Nashville sense the airfare was much cheaper than anywhere else in the area and rented a car to drive across the state to Pigeon Forge. I had never been in Tennessee before and was looking forward to the drive.
Judging by the many thousands of vehicles we saw with number 3 on them, I'm guessing Nascar is a little more popular in Tennessee than in Oregon.
Stopped at the Hard Rock in Gatlinburg for dinner before heading to our room just up the street. Time for some sleep so we can rest up for a big day in..............
Dollywood. Yeah!
Chris, Natalee, and Jerry are waiting at the registration area when we arive.
Some of the gang waiting in the station for the first ride of the day on Thunderhead. I have to say I had built this ride way up in my mind and after the first ride early in the morning it did seem a little slugish. We will have to see if she picks up at night.
Next up, Timber Tower. Very fun, low intensity flat, that just about anyone could enjoy.
Ted tries with no luck to get his keys to work as a Q-bot. At most other parks Q-bots are for rides. Here, they are for shows.
Nothing like a Dollywoood size cup of coffee to get your day going.
Dave, that hat is totally you.
Them is some good smellin' taters, ya'all!
The rapids looked like they deffinately had an unexceptable level of wetness, so we passed.
Hooray! Kiddie coaster credit! Sandi is so excited she can't even keep her eyes open.
Next up was the Tea Cups of Spinning Death.
Me: "Hi hun. Just gonna give you a smile for the picture before we take a nice little spin on the Tea Cups."
Ted: "This pathetic sucker has no idea."
I can't remember the name of this ride but I really liked it (even though they gave us a very short ride).
Natalee: "I just love these Dumbo ears."
Chris: "I wonder if elephants have ear wax."
Dave: "I hope Michael Vick doesn't get injured playing agianst Arizona tomarrow."
Time for new credit #3!
"Woo hoo! This Arrow custom looper doesn't suck even half as much as Viper. In fact it's pretty darn good."
This is one of the reasons Dollywood is such a great park. What other theme park in the world would host a whittling contest?
The whittlers hard at work.
Inside the Dolly museum we found these torture devices that played a never ending selection of Dolly Parton songs.
And if you ever wanted to know what it feels like to ride a giant paint shaker. They have this great simulator ride.
Chris: "What on earth is that?"
Neil: "I'll eat it if you don't want it!"
I was totally diggin these cars!
Ted and Catrina enjoying there ride.
Flumefanatic.
POV!
So, now with most of the park conquered, it is time for one of the perks of attending NoT3. Mystery Mine constuction tour!
A bunch of coaster nerds waiting to get behind those walls. I know most of you have seen a lot of shots from this construction tour already but i'll post a few anyway.
"Follow me everyone."
Close up shot of the piece of track you have all seen about 10,523 times now.
Supports for the out of structure section.
Twisty bits.
Ted likes what he's seeing.
More supports.
In case you were wondering just how close they let us get.
OK, time to head back for the main event.
Catrina and Sandi wait patiently for ERT to begin.
Thunderhead at night! Man did this coaster pick up after the sun went down. Thunderhead moved to the top of my woodie list just in front of Tremors. The ERT was about as exclusive as you can get sense we didn't have to wait out one single lap. The only reason we even got out of our seat was to change rows and experience the ride in a different spot. Rideworld did a great job and I would recommend this event to anyone.
Back at the hotel Ted brought along a little night cap.
Excellent. Time for some sleep before heading down to the ATL.
Fright fest was just kicking off.
"I love you gold flashpass." Thanks Joe!
On our way back to Deja Vu we passed there rapids ride which looked petty good for a rapids ride.
Wow, those towers look pretty cool don't they Ted? Maybe this time you'll finally get lucky.
Or maybe not. At least I got mine at SFMM a few years back. Well, sense we are back here, maybe Ninja will be open.
Or maybe not. Looks kinda painfull anyway.
Superman? No? Oh well, this is Six Flags. I'm sure in about 17 years Shapiro will have this thing completely turned around.
May as well get our picture in front of the third ride that isn't operating today.
Yay! GASM is open. WEEE!
Some of the gang getting ready for there ride on the mine train.
Time for lunch.
Now time for Goliath.
Lift hill shot. You know you love it.
Air time and then some.
The helix was great also.
Next was Gothum City.
I think I'm supposed to write "through the trees" here.
And yes Joe, Mindbender was great.
"Praise the coaster gods"
Now lets see what Georgia Cyclone is all about. Hey it can't be any worse than Psyclone can it?
"You sure you want to ride on the wheel in the last car?"
"We'll be fine."
"Holy crap, what have I done?"
After getting my brains beat to heck I'm still wondering how it is Ted seems to have a smile on his face in this picture.
"I don't know why you're still complaining about Cyclone. Lets just enjoy the log flume."
Georgia Scorcher was a nice surprise. Not quite as good as Riddler but still good.
Hey look can it be? Superman is running.
Superman was not as good as Tatsu but it was still very fun. My second favorite coaster in the park after Goliath.
OK Ted, just because Ninja is still closed doesn't mean you can take that pole.
Back at Goliath we see this strange looking bunch.
Overall it was a great day at SFoG. We ended u only missing out on 2 credits and Goliath was awesome to say the least.
Back in Nashville we had some time to kill before catching our plane so we stopped for a quick visit at the Opryland hotel.
Yee haw!
Very nice hotel to say the least.
One more shot at the hotel before we head out.
We had a great time. Thanks to everyone for hanging out with us. A special thanks to Chris and Natalee for puting on NoT3 and to Ted and Catrina for making our trip that much better.
Thanks for reading.
). We also took an extra day and drove dow to SFOG to ride Goliath, my first B&M hyper. It was an amazing trip as Thunderhead and Goliath did not dissapoint and we were able to meet up with some good friends we had made on past coaster trips. I just linked my TR from Coasterfanatics.com so I could have all the pictures on this site too so if something If something doesn't make sense just chalk it up to being an inside joke 
So on with the PTR. We flew into Nashville sense the airfare was much cheaper than anywhere else in the area and rented a car to drive across the state to Pigeon Forge. I had never been in Tennessee before and was looking forward to the drive.
Judging by the many thousands of vehicles we saw with number 3 on them, I'm guessing Nascar is a little more popular in Tennessee than in Oregon.
Stopped at the Hard Rock in Gatlinburg for dinner before heading to our room just up the street. Time for some sleep so we can rest up for a big day in..............
Dollywood. Yeah!
Chris, Natalee, and Jerry are waiting at the registration area when we arive.
Some of the gang waiting in the station for the first ride of the day on Thunderhead. I have to say I had built this ride way up in my mind and after the first ride early in the morning it did seem a little slugish. We will have to see if she picks up at night.
Next up, Timber Tower. Very fun, low intensity flat, that just about anyone could enjoy.
Ted tries with no luck to get his keys to work as a Q-bot. At most other parks Q-bots are for rides. Here, they are for shows.
Nothing like a Dollywoood size cup of coffee to get your day going.
Dave, that hat is totally you.
Them is some good smellin' taters, ya'all!
The rapids looked like they deffinately had an unexceptable level of wetness, so we passed.
Hooray! Kiddie coaster credit! Sandi is so excited she can't even keep her eyes open.
Next up was the Tea Cups of Spinning Death.
Me: "Hi hun. Just gonna give you a smile for the picture before we take a nice little spin on the Tea Cups."
Ted: "This pathetic sucker has no idea."
I can't remember the name of this ride but I really liked it (even though they gave us a very short ride).
Natalee: "I just love these Dumbo ears."
Chris: "I wonder if elephants have ear wax."
Dave: "I hope Michael Vick doesn't get injured playing agianst Arizona tomarrow."
Time for new credit #3!
"Woo hoo! This Arrow custom looper doesn't suck even half as much as Viper. In fact it's pretty darn good."
This is one of the reasons Dollywood is such a great park. What other theme park in the world would host a whittling contest?
The whittlers hard at work.
Inside the Dolly museum we found these torture devices that played a never ending selection of Dolly Parton songs.
And if you ever wanted to know what it feels like to ride a giant paint shaker. They have this great simulator ride.
Chris: "What on earth is that?"
Neil: "I'll eat it if you don't want it!"
I was totally diggin these cars!
Ted and Catrina enjoying there ride.
Flumefanatic.
POV!
So, now with most of the park conquered, it is time for one of the perks of attending NoT3. Mystery Mine constuction tour!
A bunch of coaster nerds waiting to get behind those walls. I know most of you have seen a lot of shots from this construction tour already but i'll post a few anyway.
"Follow me everyone."
Close up shot of the piece of track you have all seen about 10,523 times now.
Supports for the out of structure section.
Twisty bits.
Ted likes what he's seeing.
More supports.
In case you were wondering just how close they let us get.
OK, time to head back for the main event.
Catrina and Sandi wait patiently for ERT to begin.
Thunderhead at night! Man did this coaster pick up after the sun went down. Thunderhead moved to the top of my woodie list just in front of Tremors. The ERT was about as exclusive as you can get sense we didn't have to wait out one single lap. The only reason we even got out of our seat was to change rows and experience the ride in a different spot. Rideworld did a great job and I would recommend this event to anyone.
Back at the hotel Ted brought along a little night cap.
Excellent. Time for some sleep before heading down to the ATL.
Fright fest was just kicking off.
"I love you gold flashpass." Thanks Joe!
On our way back to Deja Vu we passed there rapids ride which looked petty good for a rapids ride.
Wow, those towers look pretty cool don't they Ted? Maybe this time you'll finally get lucky.
Or maybe not. At least I got mine at SFMM a few years back. Well, sense we are back here, maybe Ninja will be open.
Or maybe not. Looks kinda painfull anyway.
Superman? No? Oh well, this is Six Flags. I'm sure in about 17 years Shapiro will have this thing completely turned around.
May as well get our picture in front of the third ride that isn't operating today.
Yay! GASM is open. WEEE!
Some of the gang getting ready for there ride on the mine train.
Time for lunch.
Now time for Goliath.
Lift hill shot. You know you love it.
Air time and then some.
The helix was great also.
Next was Gothum City.
I think I'm supposed to write "through the trees" here.
And yes Joe, Mindbender was great.
"Praise the coaster gods"
Now lets see what Georgia Cyclone is all about. Hey it can't be any worse than Psyclone can it?
"You sure you want to ride on the wheel in the last car?"
"We'll be fine."
"Holy crap, what have I done?"
After getting my brains beat to heck I'm still wondering how it is Ted seems to have a smile on his face in this picture.
"I don't know why you're still complaining about Cyclone. Lets just enjoy the log flume."
Georgia Scorcher was a nice surprise. Not quite as good as Riddler but still good.
Hey look can it be? Superman is running.
Superman was not as good as Tatsu but it was still very fun. My second favorite coaster in the park after Goliath.
OK Ted, just because Ninja is still closed doesn't mean you can take that pole.
Back at Goliath we see this strange looking bunch.
Overall it was a great day at SFoG. We ended u only missing out on 2 credits and Goliath was awesome to say the least.
Back in Nashville we had some time to kill before catching our plane so we stopped for a quick visit at the Opryland hotel.
Yee haw!
Very nice hotel to say the least.
One more shot at the hotel before we head out.
We had a great time. Thanks to everyone for hanging out with us. A special thanks to Chris and Natalee for puting on NoT3 and to Ted and Catrina for making our trip that much better.
Thanks for reading.
Ahh...someday...