Roller coasters that disappear into the woods, shrouded by hills and towering trees are some of my favorites — to ride. When it comes to watching their construction, not so much.
I visited Dollywood last month and saw Lightning Rod’s 20-story lift hill riding into the sky. While revisiting the park yesterday, not much more was visible from the midway. But the crystal-clear blue skies made for much better photos.
Thanks to the bare trees, the coaster’s lift hill is visible from many spots around the Adventures in Imagination and Rivertown Junction areas of the park.
The construction wall has been expanded since my last visit, so the views from the area surrounding Red’s Drive-In is more limited.
The turn out of the station is complete sans the handrails.
I really like the station building. It appears this is where riders will enter — the queue may be housed inside this building, perhaps underneath the station.
Crews were hard at work preparing the land for what will become the non-inverting half loop which leads into the brake run.
The station itself is coming along very nicely.
The attention to detail is just as I would expect from Dollywood. Check out that brickwork!
The coaster’s launched lift hill can be seen from Rivertown Junction — for now, at least.
The best chance you have at seeing the coaster’s 165-foot drop is by riding the Dollywood Express train. Look quickly, as this view is gone before you know it.
I’m assuming the lift will have some sort of roof or covering. Can anyone confirm?
UPDATE: Thanks to reader Josh who provided some interesting insight into the pointed roof structure over the crest of the lift hill:
“The ‘roof’ structure at the top is an experiment to keep the bees from building a nest and swarming on the track at the top. The park was told that the bees were swarming because of the mechanical stuff up there and an entomologist told them to building something higher in an effort to attract the bees to build up higher instead of on the track.”
Hopefully this works. Those bee swarms can be intense and slightly terrifying.
The catwalks have almost reached the top of the lift. I imagine the view from the top is quite spectacular.
See more photos of the construction site on our Facebook page here.
Watch a 3D virtual reality POV video of Lightning Rod below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcgfQdYmBtg
Lightning Rod is expected to open March 19, 2016. To learn more, visit Dollywood’s website.
What are your thoughts about Lightning Rod? Discuss in the comments section below.
The “roof” structure at the top is an experiment to keep the bees from building a nest and swarming on the track at the top. The park was told that the bees were swarming because of the mechanical stuff up there and an entomologist told them to building something higher in an effort to attract the bees to build up higher instead of on the track.
Interesting. Seems like a good idea (hopefully it works). Thanks for the insight, Josh!
Also, the park stated that if this “house” works in keeping bees from closing the ride due to swarms, then these houses may pop up on other attractions in the future.