Dollywood (Mystery Mine)
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 12:19 am
I've posted all 85 photos in my photo gallery. Click here to view them.
So it was time to go up to Dollywood to ride a new little ride up there called "Mystery Mine". Since we decided to drive up and back in the same day, I needed to be fully alert. Matthew did an excellent job of keeping me awake.
I'm always looking for good shortcuts. This one was untested, but we gave it a try. We ended up driving for about 15 minutes on a winding one lane road with drop offs on each side big enough to prevent me from being able to pull over. Luckily, the one car that we saw the entire time happened to come while there was some gravel beside the road, so we could pull over for them to get by.
This was a later road. Much wider and more luxurious. The shortcut did work quite well yeah thanks.
We made it to Dollywood before the official opening. Everybody waited to run to Mystery Mine.
Don't worry, they hadn't opened the line to the ride at this point, so it really wasn't that long.
This is a new view.
These trains are probably luxurious if you are short. I am not short.
Baaallllliiiinnnnn
So after seeing all the crowds up at Mystery Mine and Thunderhead, and knowing that the park only has a limited supply of Q-Bots, we decided to go ahead and rent one. It was only $15 for two of us; the same thing at Six Flags is about $40 I think. As you can see, it was a great decision to rent the Q-Bot. First it helped us skip this massive wait at Tennessee Tornado.
Somehow this ride actually seemed smoother this time than before. I love it.
This is the Tommy Faircloth expression.
Q-Bot helps us out again.
Best $15 ever spent.
Mystery Mine: the best thing that ever happened to Blazing Fury. Still the best dark ride/coaster combo in the park.
The longest line of the entire day was at Red's Drive-In, and we could not use the Q-Bot there.
Apple Jack's will have to do.
We were excited all morning about the breakfast buffet at Aunt Granny's. We got there at 10:45 and they had already stopped serving breakfast (it's supposed to go until 11)! Of course, we probably would have made it had we not stopped to rent the Q-Bot. Q-Bot strikes again.
Q-Bot gets the job done at Thunderhead.
This view has changed a lot.
Thunderhead was incredible as always.
Oh, look. The first real line of the day. Finally we get to put the Q-Bot to use. But wait? What is this? Q-Bot says the ride is closed when it is clearly open. Q-Bot strikes again.
We went ahead and waited in line and of course happened to be sitting in the two seats that got completely drenched.
You can't read the screen here, but Q-Bot has a 40 minute wait for Mystery Mine, whereas there is no one in the actual line.
Stupid Timber Tower.
So yeah, this entire first half of Mystery Mine beat me around way more than I like on a coaster. The final part of the ride was perfectly smooth and was really awesomefied, but the entire first half really brought it down a notch for me. We only rode it four times during the day, but my shoulders were still sore for a few days after.
The theming is really well done.
That first vertical drop off of the trestle has some pretty great airtime in the back seat.
Here's the star of this trip report, this time in line for the Smokey Mountain Wilderness Adventure (a terrible simulator that we MUST do every time we go).
Unfortunately the reflection makes this picture hard to see, but it depicts the ultra-badass George Washington apparently preparing to behead a Vietcong while a member of the Hells Angels looks on behind him.
You knew there had to be a bird picture.
Slidewinder was the longest wait of the day at close to 45 minutes. Great ride, though.
Signature shot.
Every park should be required to have a good set of tea cups. Just make sure you close your eyes on this one when the ride operator announces it is about to stop, because the cars have brakes that bring it from max spin to a complete stop in about two seconds.
Yeah, a recovery was definitely needed after that.
Back to Thunderhead to finish out the day.
Hi.
The picture-in-front-of-that-really-weird-inversion-that-hangs-up-there-for-a-few-seconds shot
And mine.
Holla at Thunderhead as it comes through.
Holla. Whoa I think I just dislocated my hand.
Q-Bot gets the job done one last time. I guess they forgot that any idiots had actually bought the things on such an uncrowded day, because the Q-Bot place was closed and the last employee was about to lock the door when we went by to return it.
We stopped by this place before going home.
I don't know about award winning, but it was really good.
So that's it for Dollywood and Pigeon Forge on an empty Thursday in the Spring. We should have just stayed overnight because you can get good hotel rooms for $20 this time of year. Although Mystery Mine didn't quite live up to the hype for me, this is still one of my favorite parks, and I can't wait to get back. Unfortunately, my car doesn't like Pigeon Forge. The last time I went up there my brakes started to go out when we arrived, and this time my transmission light came on right before we left. Oh well.
Thanks for reading. Photos.
So it was time to go up to Dollywood to ride a new little ride up there called "Mystery Mine". Since we decided to drive up and back in the same day, I needed to be fully alert. Matthew did an excellent job of keeping me awake.
I'm always looking for good shortcuts. This one was untested, but we gave it a try. We ended up driving for about 15 minutes on a winding one lane road with drop offs on each side big enough to prevent me from being able to pull over. Luckily, the one car that we saw the entire time happened to come while there was some gravel beside the road, so we could pull over for them to get by.
This was a later road. Much wider and more luxurious. The shortcut did work quite well yeah thanks.
We made it to Dollywood before the official opening. Everybody waited to run to Mystery Mine.
Don't worry, they hadn't opened the line to the ride at this point, so it really wasn't that long.
This is a new view.
These trains are probably luxurious if you are short. I am not short.
Baaallllliiiinnnnn
So after seeing all the crowds up at Mystery Mine and Thunderhead, and knowing that the park only has a limited supply of Q-Bots, we decided to go ahead and rent one. It was only $15 for two of us; the same thing at Six Flags is about $40 I think. As you can see, it was a great decision to rent the Q-Bot. First it helped us skip this massive wait at Tennessee Tornado.
Somehow this ride actually seemed smoother this time than before. I love it.
This is the Tommy Faircloth expression.
Q-Bot helps us out again.
Best $15 ever spent.
Mystery Mine: the best thing that ever happened to Blazing Fury. Still the best dark ride/coaster combo in the park.
The longest line of the entire day was at Red's Drive-In, and we could not use the Q-Bot there.
Apple Jack's will have to do.
We were excited all morning about the breakfast buffet at Aunt Granny's. We got there at 10:45 and they had already stopped serving breakfast (it's supposed to go until 11)! Of course, we probably would have made it had we not stopped to rent the Q-Bot. Q-Bot strikes again.
Q-Bot gets the job done at Thunderhead.
This view has changed a lot.
Thunderhead was incredible as always.
Oh, look. The first real line of the day. Finally we get to put the Q-Bot to use. But wait? What is this? Q-Bot says the ride is closed when it is clearly open. Q-Bot strikes again.
We went ahead and waited in line and of course happened to be sitting in the two seats that got completely drenched.
You can't read the screen here, but Q-Bot has a 40 minute wait for Mystery Mine, whereas there is no one in the actual line.
Stupid Timber Tower.
So yeah, this entire first half of Mystery Mine beat me around way more than I like on a coaster. The final part of the ride was perfectly smooth and was really awesomefied, but the entire first half really brought it down a notch for me. We only rode it four times during the day, but my shoulders were still sore for a few days after.
The theming is really well done.
That first vertical drop off of the trestle has some pretty great airtime in the back seat.
Here's the star of this trip report, this time in line for the Smokey Mountain Wilderness Adventure (a terrible simulator that we MUST do every time we go).
Unfortunately the reflection makes this picture hard to see, but it depicts the ultra-badass George Washington apparently preparing to behead a Vietcong while a member of the Hells Angels looks on behind him.
You knew there had to be a bird picture.
Slidewinder was the longest wait of the day at close to 45 minutes. Great ride, though.
Signature shot.
Every park should be required to have a good set of tea cups. Just make sure you close your eyes on this one when the ride operator announces it is about to stop, because the cars have brakes that bring it from max spin to a complete stop in about two seconds.
Yeah, a recovery was definitely needed after that.
Back to Thunderhead to finish out the day.
Hi.
The picture-in-front-of-that-really-weird-inversion-that-hangs-up-there-for-a-few-seconds shot
And mine.
Holla at Thunderhead as it comes through.
Holla. Whoa I think I just dislocated my hand.
Q-Bot gets the job done one last time. I guess they forgot that any idiots had actually bought the things on such an uncrowded day, because the Q-Bot place was closed and the last employee was about to lock the door when we went by to return it.
We stopped by this place before going home.
I don't know about award winning, but it was really good.
So that's it for Dollywood and Pigeon Forge on an empty Thursday in the Spring. We should have just stayed overnight because you can get good hotel rooms for $20 this time of year. Although Mystery Mine didn't quite live up to the hype for me, this is still one of my favorite parks, and I can't wait to get back. Unfortunately, my car doesn't like Pigeon Forge. The last time I went up there my brakes started to go out when we arrived, and this time my transmission light came on right before we left. Oh well.
Thanks for reading. Photos.
