Date Ridden - May 2007. Times Ridden 2 (Front and back seats).
Dollywood's Thunderhead is two time Golden Ticket Winner for Best Wooden Coaster on the Planet. I can understand why.
We visited on a packed day only a couple of weeks after the new Mystery Mine had opened. It was hot and humid so we only stayed for about half the day. I was able to get in two rides on Thunderhead and they were obviously the higlights of my day. Both rides I took gave great rides with abundant floater air all over the track. The fly-through is a wonderful element which adds excitement to the ride while waiting in the que (although I only waited about 10 minutes for each of my rides). It's also a fun element while riding since you can see it in time to get prepared to make faces or yell things at the people in line (not that I did that. :).
With its numerous crossovers (I think Dollywood claims 30 something) the ride is smooth yet out of control as you never really know where you are on the course. The scenery is beautiful (trees, hills, and flowers in the Great Smoky Mountains) and the station ops do a great job of pumping up the riders before releasing the train. Overall this is an outstanding ride which deserves its numerous awards. Dollywood is only a couple of hours from my house so I'm looking forward to getting back up there and riding this coaster some more. Its intense enough to satisfy any coaster enthusiast yet smooth enough to take the family on. Make a trip to Dollywood, ride the other coasters once or twice (including the Mystery Mine) and then spend as much time as possible on this beauty. It will be worth it.
Overall score - 10 (rounded up from a mid level 9)
Ride Thunderhead below.
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