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Dollywood Rides Ranked
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Jun 10, 2025
Hopefully, this will help you plan your trip and plot your route through the park to get the most of your Dollywood experience. I’ve also ranked each ride for both “difficulty” and “overall experience”. The difficulty rating indicates how “scary” the ride might be for those who do not tolerate motion rides well and may be afraid of big drops, inversions and overall rough rides. One star means anyone can ride, five stars means that ride might be reserved for those bravest among us. The overall experience rating speaks for itself. I’ve awarded higher ratings to rides that offer unique experiences and re-ride-ability. Read the full article here: https://www.thesmokies.com/dollywood-rides-ranked/ Disclosure: This blog (and YouTube channel) will occasionally contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission on a purchase without additional cost to you.
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hey guys it's Morgan with the
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smokies.com and today we're going to
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rank some rides here at Dollywood in
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Pigeon Forge
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[Music]
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Tennessee having grown up with Pigeon
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Forge Tennessee in my backyard and
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visiting Dollywood nearly every summer
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and every holiday weekend since
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childhood I've had the distinct
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privilege of not only watching our
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beloved Park evolve over the years but
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also the opportunity to ride basically
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every ride in the park probably at least
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a few dozen times I literally grew up
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with some of these rides I received my
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moonshine running education from Thunder
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Road I grieved the day I realized they
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tore down slide wer I Won't Say I'm a
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coaster expert but my unique
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relationship with the park usually makes
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me the go-to ride guide when my first
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home friends visit from out of town
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which is why I thought I'd put together
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this handy dandy ride guide for all to
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enjoy hopefully this will help you plan
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your trip and plot your route through
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the park to get the most out of of your
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Dollywood
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experience I've ranked each ride for
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both difficulty and an overall
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experience the difficulty rating
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indicates how scary the ride might be
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for those who don't tolerate motion
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rides well and may be afraid of big
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drops inversions and overall rough rides
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one star means anyone can ride five
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stars means the ride might be reserved
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for the bravest Among Us the overall
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rating speaks for itself I've awarded
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higher ratings to rides that offer
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unique experiences and reability
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ability number 10 the river
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Rampage Dollywood's River Rampage is
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essentially your classic run-of-the-mill
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round six-seater river raft ride the
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ride kicks off with a large conveyor
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belt and a small roller coaster style
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drop the rest of the ride involves a
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moderately paced Journey Through The
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Rapids of Dollywood with small dips
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spins and plenty of opportunities to get
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soaked While most major theme parks
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today will have at least one raft style
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ride in the lineup there's something
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about the river rampage that continues
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to offer a unique charm that I haven't
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quite discovered in other Parks the
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river Rampage is a water themed game of
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Russian rouette sometimes I get soaked
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from head to toe sometimes I barely get
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a drop of water on me and really that's
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where the fun of this ride lies at least
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in my opinion this ride is a blast for
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guests of all ages who don't mind
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Thrills and the risk of getting a little
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bit wet loose articles are allowed on
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the ride at your own risk guest under 48
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in tall must be accompanied by an adult
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difficulty ranking easy overall ranking
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three out of five
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stars number nine Daredevil Falls
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Daredevil Falls is a super sized log
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Bloom style water ride that resembles
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Disney's popular Splash Mountain only
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faster and with a bigger drop the ride's
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grand finale is a heart racing 60t 50
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mph drop down a waterfall with a huge
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Splash Landing guest must be at least 42
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in tall to ride loose articles are are
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permitted on the ride at the rider's own
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risk difficulty rating moderate overall
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rating three out of five
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stars number eight the mystery
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mine for a theme park that literally has
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attractions that have been around since
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the 1960s Dollywood's mystery mine
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stands out as a coaster from a modern
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era mystery mine first opened in 2007
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and at the time it was the first Gau
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Euro Fighter roller coaster in the
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United States while the tracks of these
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style coasters tend to be a little
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shorter than traditional steel coasters
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the separate cart system allows for
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Unique ride mechanisms including 90°
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lifts and 95° drops mystery mine is
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themed to look like an abandoned coal
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mine with steep drops sharp turns
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creative Maneuvers inversions and a hair
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raising 95° 85 ft Plunge Into Darkness
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do be warned this ride is also quite a
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bit more jerky than it looks in
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conclusion don't be full by this short
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little coaster mystery mind packs a
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punch it's a blast for coaster fishing
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and AOS and not for the timid apart
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guest must be 48 in tall to ride mystery
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mine loose articles and belongings are
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not allowed on this ride and can be
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stored in either lockers or
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Cubbies difficulty rating moderate
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overall rating four stars out of five
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number seven the Tennessee
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tornado the Tennessee tornado marked a
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new era for Dollywood as the theme
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Park's first ever major coaster
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expansion when it replaced Thunder
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Express in
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1999 the Tennessee tornado while bearing
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an ironic name because tornadoes are few
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and far between in the mountains of East
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Tennessee due to the naturally rugged
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terrain is arguably one of the best
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coasters in the park this coaster
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features a back-to-back triple spiral
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and 128 ft drop through an actual
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mountain and speeds of up to 70 mph
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guest must be 48 in tall to ride and
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loose articles are not
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permitted difficulty rating hard overall
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rating four stars out of five number six
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Thunderhead Thunderhead opened in 2004
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as the Pioneer attraction what would
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later become part of a larger expansion
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for the park a new area now known as
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Timber Canyon Thunderhead is a hybrid of
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nostalgia and modern day engineering
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true coaster efficient AOS will tell you
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there's nothing quite like the
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experience of riding a real wooden
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coaster Thunderhead crosses over and
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under itself 32 times during its over
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3,000 ft long ride travels at a speed of
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up to 55 mph and features a 100t drop as
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far as adrenaline rushes are concerned
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in my opinion Thunderhead is a second
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most thrilling and scariest ride in the
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park second only to the brand new
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lightning rod more on that later guests
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must be 48 in tall to ride and loose
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articles are not permitted difficulty
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rating very high card overall rating
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four stars out of five number five
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dragon
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flyer I'll probably get some hate mail
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for ranking dragon flyer higher than
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Thunderhead on this top 10 list but put
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your pitchforks down and hear me out
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dragon flyer is Dollywood's newest
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roller coaster and part of the brand new
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2019 Wildwood Grove expansion in some
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ways dragon flyer feels a bit like a
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smaller shorter 31 mph version of the
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Wild Eagle it's one of the smoothest
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coasters in the park has no major drops
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no inversions but packs plenty of fun
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twists turns and excitement and that's
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what makes dragon flyer one of the best
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rides in the park it just offers
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something for everybody not a fan of big
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scary drops or inv verions hate the
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feeling of bigger jerky coasters looking
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for reability dragon flyer has you
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covered this is the kind of coaster that
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I would easily feel great about inviting
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the entire family to ride we usually end
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up riding this coaster at at least two
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or three times with every visit to the
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park difficulty rating moderate overall
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rating four stars out of
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five number four FireChaser
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Express FireChaser Express made its
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Grand debut in 2014 as a nation's first
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dual launch family roller coaster that's
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right this ride blast Riders both
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forwards and backwards this ride is
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similar in difficulty to Wellwood gr's
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dragon flyer with the same height
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requirement of 39 in and speeds of up to
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35
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mph but do remember that this coaster is
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far from a kidy ride loose articles are
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not permitted on the ride and may be
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stored in lockers or Cubbies before
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boarding difficulty rating moderate
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overall rating four stars out of
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five number three lightning rod one of
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the fastest wooden coasters in the world
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lightning rod is a fairly new ition to
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the park having just been built in 2016
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lightning rod is not for the faint of
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heart lightning rod has all the speeds
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and heart racing maneuvers of the Ste
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coaster with the adrenaline charge
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Thrills of a classic wooden beast and it
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boasts 20 seconds of airtime for those
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brave enough to ride in short it's
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terrifying but I love it guest must be
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48 in tall to ride and loose articles
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are not permitted guests with casts
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above the elbow or hard cast on legs are
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asked to skip this one for safy
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reasons difficulty rating very hard
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overall rating five stars out of
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five number two wild eagle that's right
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the Wild Eagle is a wing coaster the
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first of its kind in the United States
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this coaster is hands down my favorite
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modern-day coaster in the park despite
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its intimidating look it offers an
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incredibly smooth ride and the unique
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side seat feature truly makes you feel
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like you're flying with nothing but air
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above and below
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this ride has a minimum height
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requirement of 50 in and a Max height of
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78 in loose articles are not
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permitted difficulty rating moderate to
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hard overall rating five out of five
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stars number one Blazing
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Fury you'd be hard pressed to find a
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local in this town that doesn't have a
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special place in their heart for Blazing
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Fury in case you're wondering in full
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disclosure I am that annoying person
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that rides behind you repeating all the
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classic lines I've learned by heart from
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my hundreds of times writing this piece
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of Dollywood history now Molly I've got
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a wake back weake back or not here I
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come out of town guests and firsttime
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riters should know your kids will be
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both bewildered and possibly even
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disappointed by the painfully evident
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age of this attraction but we locals
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would like for you to keep in mind if
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you diss the Blazing Fury them spot in
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words the Blazing Fury is part of our
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heritage the Blazing Fury is over 40
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years old it was built in 1978 and it
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literally predates the park itself and
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for a long time until the Thunder
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Express opened in 1989 it was the only
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coaster in the park the scenes are campy
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the lines are cheesy homemade props are
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abundant Easter eggs and nods to the
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Park's history are plentiful and we love
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it all this indoor coaster mostly
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features a slow moving ride through a
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burning town that lulls you into a sense
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of hey this is a super easy ride before
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its multi-drop still coaster finish
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finish the coaster used to feature a bit
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of a splash down Landing with water
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effects but over the years the water
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caused wear and tear on the ride and the
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park had removed the feature or risk
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shutting the coaster down altogether the
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day Blazing Fury shuts down will be a
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day of morning let's hope it never
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happens fire in the hole Blazing Fury
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has a height requirement of 42 in loose
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articles are permitted but must be
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secured difficulty rating moderate
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overall rating a very biased fire five
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stars out of five do you agree with our
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rankings let us know in the comments
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below thanks so much for watching don't
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forget to like And subscribe on our
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YouTube channel the Smokies comom