USA: Dollywood Announces New Track Structure for Lightning Rod & Extensive Event Program for 2021
After the 35th park season of Dollywood in 2020 turned out to be shorter and less spectacular than planned due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, the park located in Pigeon Forge/Tennessee is currently preparing for an exciting 2021 season, which is already scheduled to start on March 13. The novelties for the coming season include an extensive event program – including the “Flower & Food Festival” (April 23-June 7) with a “Melodies of Spring” concert, “Dollywood’s Summer Celebration” (June 25-July 31) and “Dollywood’s Harvest Festival” (Sept 24-Oct 30) – as well as some modifications made on the track structure of the “Lightning Rod” rollercoaster.
The wooden launch coaster, which opened in 2016, was supplied by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) as a hybrid coaster with a so-called Topper Track System, where the upper part of the track is not made of wood but of steel (cf. EAP 2/2016). For the upcoming season, the US manufacturer has installed its “IBox Track”, i.e. a complete steel track on which the wooden coaster will run in the future. The track layout and its distinctive elements will stay the same though.
Dollywood is operated in partnership with entertainment legend Dolly Parton by Herschend Family Entertainment, which recently added Georgia-based amusement park Kentucky Kingdom and its associated water park Hurricane Bay to its portfolio (cf. EAP news of 25 Feb 2021). (eap)
