The Next Generation of Wooden Roller Coasters – Part INot Your Father’s Wooden Roller CoastersFrom my early riding experiences at Kings Dominion on wooden staples like the old-school racing coaster Rebel Yell, I would use two words to describe wooden roller coasters. Rough and boring. Of course some woodies were more enjoyable than others, but [...]

Recent Theme Park News Stories – Transformers, Terminator, & MoreSince I’ve been busy working on Coaster Portal, I’ve missed a few news stories. Here’s a recap of the biggest stories from the past month or so: Gravity Group Launches Blog & Podcast – GravitycastThe Gravity Group, acclaimed wooden roller coaster designers, recently launched their blog [...]

Voyage Takes Top Wooden Coaster at 2007 Golden Ticket Awards At the 2007 Golden Ticket Awards, Holiday World’s Voyage has over taken Dollywood’s Thunderhead in its second year in existence. This isn’t too surprising and is well deserved. Check out my full review of the insane and intense marathon that is The Voyage including an [...]

Timber Tower Strands Riders for Hours“Forty four guests were stranded on Dollywood’s Timber Tower amusement ride Saturday night as the attraction was beginning its cycle. According to sources, the passenger vehicle became stuck at the top of the tower, causing the ride’s emergency safety system to engage. The passengers remained at the top of the [...]

Early Reviews of Dollywood’s Mystery Mine Roller Coaster A correspondent from ThrillNetwork was on-hand for the official opening day of Mystery Mine. In case you’re out of the loop, Mystery Mine is Dollywood’s new heavily-themed looping roller coaster. Careful, this feature has spoilers and will likely take some of the mystery out of the ride. [...]

Charity Auction at eBay for a Ride on Mystery MineDollywood is auctioning off 56 seats for Mystery Mine’s first ride cycle on Friday the 13th, this April. All of the proceeds will go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Winners also get a photo taken with Dolly Parton, VIP seating during Media Day, and Mystery Mine [...]

World-Class Woodie Puts Dollywood on the MapBy some random chain of events my family decided to take a summer vacation in Tennessee. This gave me the opportunity to stop at Dollywood on our way back home. I had heard a lot about Thunderhead, the 2004 GCI wooden coaster that topped many enthusiast’s Top 10 lists. [...]

New Roller Coaster at Dollywood Will Be First of Its Kind in the StatesFriday the 13th , this April, a one-of-kind steel coaster will open at Dollywood in the mountains of East Tennessee. Mystery Mine will be the first Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter in the States and it will be a custom installation. Euro-Fighters feature separate cars [...]