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Lightning Rod’s Launch will be No More
Dollywood has posted a video detailing an update to Lightning Rod, the park’s wooden launch roller coaster. In the video, Eugene Naughton, the President of The Dollywood Company and Pete Owens, the VP of Marketing & Public Relations at Dollywood, stand in front of the entrance to the roller coaster. Both of them have a welcoming, yet serious look in their eyes as they reveal some tough information: Lightning Rod will have it’s launch replaced with a lift hill for the 2024 season.
This might be a tough pill to swallow for some. When Lightning Rod opened back in 2016, it featured a one of a kind launch on a wooden roller coaster. This novel concept is still rare to this day, and while Dollywood definitely had a great ride on their hands, the ride’s unreliable nature garnered some negative publicity. Lightning Rod would constantly shut down throughout it’s years of operation. There have been plenty of days where guests show up to ride Lightning Rod, only to find it closed because something wasn’t working properly. Those who got to ride it absolutely raved about it, but those who didn’t left dissapointed.
Over the years, Lightning Rod received a few changes to it’s launch to try and make it more reliable. One of these changes slowed the launch down significantly. Where it used to fly over the top crest before propelling you downwards, it now slowly glides over at a greatly reduced speed. The ride itself is still fun and has plenty of airtime, but it doesn’t pack the same punch it used to.
Dollywood’s Transparency is Much Appreciated
Dollywood has been incredibly upfront about Lightning Rod’s issues throughout it’s lifespan, and they continue to do it with this video. Owens states how, at the time of the ride opening, they were “very aggressive” when the ride was built. This resulted in an ambitious, yet flawed attraction that they hope to fix with these renovations.
Lightning Rod’s launch system will be replaced with a “high-speed lift hill.” This change will hopefully improve the reliability of the attraction significantly, which means more people can ride it. Dollywood is really trying to stress that the rest of the ride will not be changed, even going so far as stating the top speed of 73 mph will not change. Apparently, the speed of the lift hill will actually match the speed that the current launch hits, since it slows down quite a bit before the first drop. While it’s a far cry from the original iteration’s drop, at least Lightning Rod won’t lose anymore of it’s speed.
Also…New Trains
In addition to the massive lift hill upgrade, Dollywood also announced they’re giving Lightning Rod new trains. These will most likely be the second RMC train model, which can be found on rides like Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa or Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point. Most guests find these trains to be wildly comfortable and freeing, so it’s good to see the park adding them to Lightning Rod.
Opening in 2024
Lightning Rod will close on October 30th after the park’s Harvest Festival concludes. It might’ve been nice to have a bit more notice, but this change was rumored for quite a while. If a coaster enthusiast desperately wanted to ride the coaster while it still has a launch, chances are they already tried multiple times and hopefully succeeded. If they didn’t, then they’re probably all for this change. There’s also over a month’s time to still try and ride it, so not all hope is lost if you live within driving distance or can book a quick flight.
After the closure, Lightning Rod will open with it’s new high-speed lift hill in Spring of 2024. While there isn’t an exact date, Dollywood has been pretty good about getting rides open near their opening day in March, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they hit that once again. If they don’t, at least it probably means they’re just taking their time making Lightning Rod as reliable as it can be.
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