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Is Lightning Rod Actually Slower? - We Rode the NEW Lightning Rod!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มี.ค. 2024
- Lightning Rod has proven to be one of the most problematic roller coasters! For the 2024 season, Dollywood and the ride's manufacturer, RMC replaced the launch with a chain lift! Check out what we thought of the new experience!
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Thank you for not being immediately reactionary about Lightning Rod like so many others. I keep saying of course it's slow, it's March. If it's still slow in July, maybe there's an issue, right now, hang on. Regardless of speed, being open all day is amazing.
For some reason people hate lightning rod now its still a top tier RMC guys.....
No. Being open all day as a neutered shell of yourself is not amazing. No one is getting the lightning rod experience at all.
@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3odit is not at all a top tier rmc in this form. It doesn’t even sniff af1 or wildcats boots let alone the bigger rmcs.
Stop with the excuses lmao just expect the fact it’s been toned down big time
Reactionary⁉️ how can you be right wing about a roller coaster
Crazy take here: l-rod with a lift chain runs a lot faster than a launched l-rod that's broken down
For the doubters out there, remember when Storm Chaser was one of the slowest-ending RMC’s when it first opened, then it slowly became a pacing monster once the wheels warmed up? Yeah, only time will tell for Lifting Rod.
“Lifting Rod?”
@@patrickd.3681 Yep
Except this coaster is old now...
@@lamewadrides3867 It is, and they confirmed that they even added brand new trains to accommodate the lift.
ElToroBaby’s first words should be “Like, Comment, Subscribe”
No brah! It must be block followed with second work of chain. 😂
Top 5 Gaming's Baby's first words were "llllikeandsubscribeoraspiderwillcrawlonyou"
Oh, come on. As if that child's first words won't be" block zone"
It will definitely be for, as in for those of you who don’t know, a block zone is a section of track that only one train may occupy
@@forrestdevine2336 FR
4:47 LMFAO the kids flipping off the camera 😂 😂
lolol
they did not flip off the cam
I do wish the put back the OG decorated front cars on the trains, with all the steel track and the lift train weight shouldn’t be as much of an issue as before
The train has it on at 3:00
It’s not the original one I believe, the OG was much prettier and more detailed iirc
Yea, bring that back and maybe try running three trains
I was thinking the same thing. The OG was zero car was awesome.
El Toro Baby is gonna have more park credits by 6 than i've had my entire life SHEEEEEESH
Best part:
the the buc'ees inflatable: "bless you sir, bless you - bless everything you're about" - i was dying
I get what you mean when being jealous of Dollywood home parkers. Most rides looked open in your video, and it just looked like a normal day at Dollywood. I saw a Great Adventure vlog from opening weekend and half the rides are closed, every single ride is on one train ops, and the new for 2024 additions don’t look close to being finished. Classic Six Flags.
It's a shame that it was unreliable, but it's better to have it be more reliable and last for decades to come even if the launch is gone.
So I just got back from two days at Dollywood... Two visits prior I failed to get a ride on lightning rod... I spent two days there this week... Wednesday and Thursday. I got multiple rides on it and throughout both days I only saw it down ONCE... that was only for about 5 or 10 mins and wasn't a break down.. it was just to take a train off the track because it was raining and the park was not that busy. It was also running consistently in the rain... Which I'd never seen it do before. It's still one of the most intense coasters I've ever ridden... So I have to say in my opinion the change to the chain is a very positive one. Long live lightning rod. 😊
I appreciate the reassurance that the lift hill is fast. It’s difficult to not feel disappointed at the loss of the launch (it’s one of my favorite roller coaster elements), but it’s great to know that Lightning Rod hasn’t lost its shine.
I've ridden it already and literally nothing has changed from the ride experience in 2021
Because they had already slowed down the launch twice by 2021 to where it was already too slow. Of course nobody riding it after then would notice.
Gotta say, as much as I'm gonna miss the launch after having Dollywood as my home park for 5 years and riding it more times than I can count, it does make me happy to see two trains on track and them rolling trains. Not only is it gonna be more reliable now, but the capacity looks better than ever
Watching Lightning Rod slowly climb the lift hill in this video feels like an ElToroRyan joke edit that Dollywood made in real life.
Not a bad thing whatsoever, but it is really funny to see happen.
Hopefully I make it out to Dollywood this year to try out lightning rod with the chain. I have hope that over time, it should be speeding up as the ride continues to operate
We took the exact same trip last week. Dollywood and Buc-ees! It's what all the cool kids do for Spring Break.
Good to hear that its lifting and tracking good! The lift hill looks slow off ride. But they pretty much all do.
I hate to say that the best brisket I've ever had was from that Buc-ee's.
Then you haven’t had good brisket.
El Toro Family is so wholesome. 😭😭
Thank you for this. I've been waiting for someone to deliver a quality video that actually talks about the before and after. As someone who also has never ridden it and might go this May, I'm excited to hear that it's running super well.
The clips you showed already had it running faster than the first POVs that came out so im not worried anymore
We need a Problematic roller coasters video on LRod!!!
Definitely! I’ll be making the L Rod problematic coasters later this year for sure!
@@ElToroRyan 🤩🤩🤩
El Toro Ryan, El Toro Wifey, El Toro Baby, AND BMeh the Antagonist?🤯this has got to be an awesome vlog!!
Definitely excited to get back to this park, it’s one of my favorite parks now, great video as always.
SDC is better fight me
Impromptu trips are some of the best! The brisket breakfast tacos and the venison sausage at Buc-ee's are my favorites.
Dollywood is my home park and I’m lucky to say I got to ride it multiple times in its opening year. I’m glad it is reliable now but I wanna shed a single tear over losing the launch 😢 I went a LOT in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and the ride was open pretty much every time. I guess I just got super lucky
Same. I been there probably 50 times and it was closed for maybe 30-40 minutes on average per trip
@@user-bl5si5jj3k isn’t it weird how everyone says it was ALWAYS closed? I feel bad for the people who missed out but I feel like the downtime wasn’t as much as people claim… lol
Thank you for hyping me back up for Lightning Rod! I’m glad to finally see a positive perspective on the new chain lift.
Is the quad-down the same?
It was slightly slower than previous rides I’ve had on Lightning Rod but it’s also very early in the season! So the ride probably still needs to break in. The airtime was still great tho!
The antagonist said that Thunderhead was a bad ride. My last visit was 2016 so I can't confirm but the TH-cam community last year said it was so much better due to a retrack. They were saying it was close to the best in the park. I wish you guys rode it and or commented about it appropriately for your take on the retrack. But thanks for all the other updates. Haha I commented when you were at bucky's. I resumed the video and you ended up throwing it in at the end hahahahaha
The retrack from last year fixed all the jackhammering and iffy spots. It's slapping hard.
Rode Thunderhead last week and it's probably the best coaster there, super long and really intense! TT is great too, and Lightning rod is rougher than TT somehow. I promise you it's gotta be the roughest RMC ever.
It was so cool to meet you in line at Big Bear! Keep it up, love your videos man!
Its so strange watching it crawl up the lift. I got 2 rides on it last year before they changed it. Definitely an incredible experience.
I'm excited to see B's reaction given that it's his first ride
Edit: your reactions are exactly what I was hoping for. It seems like my baby still lives! Although, I was pretty hopeful it would.
I got two Buc-ees credits here in Florida last year - actually discovered the first one (Daytona) by accident because I needed to swing by a Supercharger and that one happened to be the most convenient. Supposedly the one going in Ocala (not far from me) is going to hold the title of the world's largest when it opens.
Came back to rewatch this after my first trip to Dollywood, and MAN Thunderhead is maybe the biggest I've smiled while riding a coaster. It is soooo good
I somehow managed to ride lightning rod on a family trip to nashville last year(stopped at dollywood on the way becasue it was a bucket list park of mine) and a week later they announced it was gonna remove the launch. such crazy ride and experience
Wow I was just there March 17th, on my birthday, never been to Dollywood, and Lightning Rod was the 1st coaster for the day, it was AMAZING!
Good review of the new Lightning Rod. I'm a passionate & focused wood coaster guy, but Lightning Rod was very special for a hybrid (a _true_ hybrid). What _made_ it unique was the launched lift. The rest of the ride is fantastic, but that launched lift was _the bomb!_ I'm also a traditional amusement park hobbyist and most theme parks turn me off. Dollywood is one of few theme parks that I actually enjoy being at, a beautiful, friendly, clean park with a great variety of coasters. It's unfortunate that an enthusiast would ask "why?" when El Toro Ryan said he was jealous of this being his home park. I wish a few words would've been given about what makes Tennessee Tornado such a special, fun, smooth Arrow coaster. I also wish Thunderhead had been ridden instead of Buckey's.
I'll be interested to see how your preferences at theme parks change with kids - I have 4 kids age 9 and under, been going to parks with that familiar stroller setup since 2019. Things like skip the line or child swap are a must to make any trip worth it when you have to trade off watching kids (Cedar Point is the best parent swap setup)...also things like the family care centers that Cedar Point or others have are a game changer. How easy is it to set up camp in an area for the kids, what rides they are tall enough to ride, how can you use meal plans the most efficient way, etc. And then you end up with a 6 year old on Millennium Force who is doing his own ranking and asking how many coasters he has on his list - super fun!
i'm very fortunate to have a home park like Dollywood. I've ridden lightning rod hundreds of times over the years, and I will say, it IS slower than it was before. obviously, you don't have the same thrill that you got from the launch. however, overall, I think it's a change that needed to be made. the downtime of the coaster was never a problem for me, since I'm a passholder, but many people visiting from out of state had grievances. i think that the lower intensity of the ride makes it much more enjoyable for the GP. you can still get a super intense experience on the ride in the back row, which I just did yesterday. overall, w change
This is my home park and I just went today. I never got to ride Lightening Rod before the change because it as it was ALWAYS closed. Really happy about the change and got to ride it today.
It's so odd to see this coaster actually running.
Unfortunate but worthy tradeoff pf the chain lift
Now if only they could change the restraints. Dollywood's operations were otherwise really good when I went last week but people were getting confused with the seatbelt/lap bar combo on Lightning Rod.
Still though, I got to ride Lightning Rod twice and it was mostly open both days I went, that was great.
@@wilsoncarlstedt8385 The combination is definitely necessary with that type of train. I felt like I was going to fly out of my seat on the old trains without the seatbelt (and this was after the slowed launch).
Hey Ryan sorry for yelling at you from the Big Bear Mountain brake run mane 😂
Going to Dollywood next week, so excited! We went for two days back in 2021 and LR was down the entire time we were there! Looking forward to finally checking it out!
ElToroRyan proving once again proving he’s the best coaster TH-camr!
💯
Airtime Thrills and Canobie Coaster is better 😈
@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od Canobie Coaster is dope
Na theme park worldwide
Something that started bugging me when it opened: How did they get chain dogs on these trains? I would assume that the braking system hasn't changed, which means the fins would still be in the same place, but that's also where the chain dogs would seemingly be. I'm assuming there's some modularity to these trains and things probably got moved around ever so slightly, but still makes me wonder. I would love to see a before vs after of the underside of these trains
The trains are brand new this year despite being aesthetically the same, and all the brake run and station hardware has actually been replaced with a new system. The new system certainly brakes harder than it used to. Anyways, hopefully that answers your questions 😅
@@CoastingThePlanet ah that makes a lot of sense
Part of me wishes the launched hill had so much speed going over the top that replacing it with a chain lift wouldn't be possible. Hard to imagine it's just impossible to make a reliable launched lift, in 2024.
That safety refrence with Buc-ees was hilarous. Although you are wrong, Buc-ees has way much more safety.
Three hours out of the way, you know in the neighborhood, with a baby that sounds like the wildest ride. Congrats.
More disappointed in the B Meh nerf than the Lightning Rod nerf. He didn’t even try to steal ElToroBaby once throughout the entire video! Like what the heck man smh I expected more from the one and only Antagonist.
😂😂😂
Was that English?
OG Lightning Rod and Do-dodonpa, two bucket list coasters I will never get to ride.
I’m so glad I got to ride this with the launch. It was AWESOME.
buc ees tip: if u ever go back to a buc ees get the club melt. shit is so good
I’ll always miss that launch. It was amazing. You were halfway through the ride before you knew it. I’ll count myself lucky I got to experience it ~4 times
I’m here boys, wifey and baby! Can’t wait for the Orlando videos to come out.
You know, I thought Ryan having a kid would make him grow up and mature, but apparently I was wrong. Never change, Ryan, never change.
You have a baby now! Congratulations bro 👏🏻🎉
hell yeah! im literally going tmrw for my spring break from school, it’s also my home park, and i was worried it’d be a lot slower on the quad down and stuff but it’s good that it hasn’t really changed.
heading to Dollywood June 3rd and 4 for my 1 visit. can't wait to ride Lightning Rod for the 1st time.
Most of the guys that they have working in the station at Lightning Rod actually look like I would see them working in an auto shop fixing a car. Lol.
Good to hear it still slaps. I had my first trip to DW in October to ride the launch and got 19 laps; it was epic.
Someone losing something on the quad down at 6:18
Doesn't look like the forces have changed all too much so far. :P
It aint a road trip without a stop at Buc-ee's! We spent about an hour at the one in Alabama last week, it was so busy. I guess our kids need to hit up Dollywood one of these days! Thanks for the video!
Yeah, she is tired! I have never been so tired since I had my son lol
Great video!
See, I thought I was the only one who got off Ternader, in the front, dizzy. I love it!
That 1-2 punch lookin’ 🤌
I hope they put new trains on the ride with as much theming was the ride had on opening in 2016
I just missed Dollywood’s opening (I wen to Gatlinburg back in February) but I did get on a couple mountain coasters. Did you manage to ride any?
You should’ve done the break run visual/sound effect on Lighting Rod’s lift hill. Missed opportunity.
I love your channel and all your videos! You should go to Lake Compounce in Connecticut for Boulder Dash!
Even if the ride experience was degraded, I’d still say the chain lift is an improvement. If I’m paying my hard earned money for a day at a park I want the rides to be reliable.
8:20 ryan debating over what is the better homepark, me having to do it with efteling.
Oh man I would love a long video about Lightning Rod, rode it Summer 2023, front row, total core memory. Looking forward to the breakdown of this one, it may be a problem but I love it
Can you do a video talking about my home park Six flags STL? Its a dissapointing place full of ancient but still decent rides, vekoma boomerangs, and cheap cheap tickets. The boss desperately needs RMC'd and I think its exactly what the park needs to be decent again.
I just went to Dollywood today and I never got to ride the past versions of it but comparing the speed on the quad down it seems pretty similar and it is very forceful still.
Love this Congratulations and many blessings “El Toro Baby” merch coming soon 😂🚁🎢💯
the homie's nostrils started to warp reality at 13:40
lol
It's good to see eltoro back in action😊
Why didn't they do a cable lift do you think? Imagine this coming off the lift hill with El Toro type speed. Would have been closer to what we had with the launch IMO.
Congrats on ElToroBaby! I've recently become a father myself, and my wife (also coaster partner) and I thought visiting amusement parks would be out the question with a baby, any tips/tricks for traveling to parks with a little one?
You need to come back in the peak of summer to see how it's running
Well looks like lightning rod is off my bucket list now. I wish I experienced the 45 mph launched lift.
Another amazing video, always love watching them! My fav parts are always when the trains go onto their brake runs and you edit it so it makes the video 1000 times better to watch IMO 😂😂 anyways… should we nickname the baby “Baby Toro”? Though it may sound cute lol
Looks absolutely awesome. Can’t wait to ride it at least 20 times in a row. Outstanding All Around
I love that I was able to ride this in 2016 with the original crazy launch
Well at least im not the only person who never got to ride Lightning Rod with the launch. Hopefully i can get there this year.
Dollywood is a great park but I mean.... I got Silver Dollar City at home lol all joking aside though, I am excited to get back and ride lightning rod with the new lift.
I have never been to this park but I’d love to get to it someday.
Some people will say “Sucks you never got to experience LR at its peak” and I’m sure it won’t be as good as it used to be, but I’ll keep an open mind about it. Hopefully it’ll still be a top 10 worthy coaster.
Lighting Rod in its old form was my favorite coaster. I haven't ridden this version yet so I'll hold my judgment.
But I say that to then point out that despite having my favorite coaster, that's not even the best thing about the park (in my opinion.) Dollywood is absolutely one of the best overall park experiences out there. Make sure to eat the food and watch the shows as well. Dollywood is in the same echelon as Islands of Adventure, BGW and Silver Dollar City which are basically the best most well balanced parks in the USA. I still personally prefer orginal Disneyland but I realize that's just my taste.
Anyway, you'll love Dollywood. Don't just go for the coaster credits. Take time to really enjoy the park.
I think dollywood is overrated ngl the coaster lineup is on par with SDC lol
@@zacg_ Oh absolutely. I may be a coaster focused kind of person, but there’s a reason I love and recommend BGW to everyone. I wasn’t even a coaster fan when I went, and the overall atmosphere is just so amazing.
I’m sure I’ll have fun regardless of my feelings on Lightning Rod. I mean, I still expect it to be a top 10 for myself, but I know my tastes in coasters are much different from the majority of enthusiasts.
@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od I guess I’ll have to see for myself
@@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od I find SDC to have a very good coaster line up so I'm not sure that's really a criticism. But if you're trying to say that it's coaster line up isn't on the level of a place like Kings Island, Cedar Point, Hersheypark or Magic Mountain then I think that's missing the point.
Dollywood is a theme park not an amusement park. I personally prefer theme parks. But if you go to Dollywood or SDC and think "wow, they don't have anything to compare with Millennium Force or TTD" then I think you were confused when you entered the park. That would be like walking into Cedar Point and saying that the park is garbage because it's dark ride collection doesn't remotely compare with Disneyland or Islands of Adventure. Again, that's not the point of Cedar Point and having an extensive coaster collection isn't really the point of a place like Dollywood, though their coasters are fun.
What would you think of a brick coaster?
Tell B he can get it! HaHaHa
Great vlog also.
This is pretty sad for me because I rode the ride opening week back in 2016, and this is just making me a little sad. Still will have good airtime though
“We each got 2 nuts each”😂
ElToroBaby is in preparation to learn about block zones 😂😂😂
I don’t miss trying to go to theme parks with 2 babies. If you wonder why I have a new theme park channel after being non exsistent for a decade plus, then try going to coaster parks with small kids, even with a partner it’s a ton of work. Poor El Toro Wifey having to push the stroller while everyone else had a great time ❤ Disney world works out really well. Everything else is a challenge.
I wonder when you went. We were there two weeks ago and maybe just missed you 😊
0:51 Hilarious! 😂
You should do a video on problematic coasters for lightning rod
whooooooooo! Love the EltoroRyan VIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was the Buc-ee’s good though?!? We need to know!
It freaking SLAPPED!!
My girlfriend is from eastern Tennesse and she's taking me there for my first time this May and of COURSE we're going to Dollywood and this just got me even more pumped