My Mountains

September 14, 2012

It is September and we enjoyed attending another fun Golden Tickets ceremony. As always, it was great seeing the people we know and also watching as parks receive their awards. For us, it was a bit more personal as we got to visit Dollywood, a beautiful property set in the Smokey Mountains. We have been fortunate to work with the park on several projects throughout the years.

In 2007 Dollywood unveiled Gerstlauer’s first Euro-Fighter in the United States, the Mystery Mine. A roller coaster with 7 vehicles and 2 vertical lifts, this ride was something no one had ever seen before. You could almost say the attraction was designed in thirds. The first third is a dark ride experience, the second third is like a mine train on steroids, and the final third is traditional thrill coaster. As someone who was involved on the design side I was fortunate enough to watch Mystery Mine morph from its initial concept into the ride that stands there today. As with any themed coaster experience there were many different details that were labored over. I can tell you that Forrec, all of the people at Hershend Family Entertainment and Dollywood tweaked and worked that ride to insert every ounce of guest experience possible into the ride. So, when I ride it now I don’t just ride it for the thrill, I get to remember the way all of us worked to incorporate the little dip into the beginning of the ride and just how important it was to every theming person we spoke with to that we get the pause at the top just right. The devil is in the details and that is what has allowed the Mystery Mine to remain popular today. With great coasters in the park like Thunderhead, Wild Eagle, and the Tennessee Tornado (far and away the best Arrow Looper out there) Mystery Mine is not the baddest coaster on the block- but it was never meant to be. I love the fact that this coaster is all about theming and offering a different coaster experience. It is the park’s quirky coaster and that will help keep it popular for years to come.

My colleague Mark got to experience the great Herschend theming group first-hand when he ran the S&S Screamin’ Swing project at the park. We sold them a standard 32-seat swing. But, they built so many great things around it that you would be hard-pressed to see much in common with this ride and others. At Dollywood the ride is themed around Barnstormers; the purveyors of airplane aerobatics from the 1920’s that would walk on wings and speed through barns with open doors. With that concept as the base, it is no surprise that when you walk up to “Barnstormer” you don’t see a ride, you see a giant barn at the top of the hill. In traditional Herschend fashion they have not just added a ride; they added a themed area with attention to detail. While the thrill ride is the focal point, there are things to do with the entire family on either side. To the left are some pop-jet water fountains on a wet deck for kids to frolic on during those hot Tennessee summers. To the right is a simple playground where the little ones can get out their energy. But, the main focus is the ride. Attention to detail abounds as there is information about the “flying experience”, all of the signage references “barnstorming”, and they even go into detail about the pilots.

Seeing all of this first-hand is why, as one industry colleague recently put it, it is important that the people who run the industry are also users of it. Visiting great properties like Dollywood and collecting ideas about their best practices only make all of us better. It is this attention to detail that allowed them to win 5 Golden Tickets this year and why they have built such a successful business model. We just can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

-AFS

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