@@throughthewindowpane Back when I was 15 and getting my license for a motorcycle, I had a mentor who'd been an instructor in the Army Motorcycle Corps... He had a great philosophy about pricing and buying when it came to detrimental components or systems... "Cry once." It's short and simple, and easily missed... What it means is that when you buy stuff like brakes or pads or tires, it's easy to cry about the price... If you buy cheap, you're going to cry about the cheap part... and then when it wears out prematurely, you'll be right back in the shop crying about it again... and again... and again... until you finally buckle down, buy the CORRECT part for the correct rating and pay out the price... OR you COULD just buy the right thing, install it properly (or pay the damn mechanic/tech' to do it) and cry about all that expense to solve your issue ONCE... AND it's a pretty good philosophy for just about any walk of life or career. The somewhat more popular "saying" or "adage" here in the States is "You get what you pay for." I'm fairly sure it's popular in places other than the States, too... BUT it's reasonably self explanatory. When you want or NEED something to work absolutely, you'll be better off paying an appropriate amount for it... Cheap crap is... well... still CRAP. I DO have to admit, I rather like the wit and wisdom of the Netherlands' version, too... haha ;o)
I want to shout out the LRod crew. I get a season pass every 2 years. Every time I've been to Dollywood, and gotten to ride Lighting Rod, it had technical problems the whole day previous to my ride experience. The crew deals with problems that come up constantly, and they work as fast as they can to resolve those problems. Guests get upset with them every single day, and every time I've been, I've seen them get yelled at. They still show up at work and do the best job they can with the utmost enthusiasm. They never give up on the guests in the park, and they genuinely work very hard to ensure as many guests as possible get to ride. So thank you all :)
Thank you for your appreciation! Standing at the front answering the same questions all day gets rough but it’s worth it when we get to see everyone’s faces on the ride.
The guests who get mad at these guys need to watch a couple theme parks accident videos to get humbled real quick and turn around to thank them for doing the work to keep them safe
I rode this last year and my favorite part was the view after the lift launch. I knew nothing about this coaster and still remember how surprised I was when I finally saw the track nestled in the mountains while coming over those crests. Pretty awesome view to go in blind to.
@@thepuncakian2024 That's a bit of a cheap record. Hybrid coasters are basically just steel coasters, except with wooden supports. It would be like trying to market The Voyage as the world's longest hybrid coaster, because it has wooden track and steel supports. It doesn't matter what the supports are made of. What matters is the track. Steel Vengeance is a steel rollercoaster. Although, if Lightning Rod still has a significant amount of topper track, they could still market it as the world's first launched hybrid.
While it's one of the bigger problems, I don't think it's the main issue. From my point of view, the launch system was the bigger mistake. They should have worked with Intrasys, like basically every other coaster manufacturer. Their "SLIM" launch systems are on at least every Intamin, Maurer and Gerstlauer LSM launcher. As far as I know, also on B&Ms Wild Eagle at Holiday World. They've been proven reliable, prezise and basically maintenance-free and can launch at high power with very granular controlling and monitoring of the launch system. For such a project, working with an inexperienced manufacturer is a high risk. I even wonder if this launch system really was cheaper than a system by a renowned manufactuer? I can hardly believe it, because they had to do the whole thing completely by themselves. It's hard to believe that it would be cheaper than using an already completely developed system. It's a matter of different strange decisions the park officials made with this project wich has lead to the state of the ride.
@@VPGTube Small correction: Wild Eagle is at Dollywood, and isn't launched. The launched wing coaster at Holiday World is called Thunderbird. Also, now that I've watched more of the video, I think Intrasys probably would have refused the project because of the wooden track and structure. 12:00
This ride is far more reliable nowadays and still packs a punch. I've ridden it on a hot summer day and also at the Christmas event when it was 36 degrees F and the ride still absolutely hauled through its layout in both conditions. It may be problematic, but it's totally worth the ride experience in my opinion!
Funny story about my recent experience with this coaster with my family. It was my first time visiting the park, and as an avid coaster enthusiast, I obviously was the most excited for this beast of an RMC, and it truly was number one on my bucket list. The plan was to visit the park for two days, however the 2nd day would be filled with rain and would be freezing cold, which made me believe I had no shot at riding on the second day. So I was hellbent on riding the first day. We got to the park at open, and we made a mad dash for Lightning Rod, because we had a Timesaver pass, lines didn't matter, and we wanted to get on the ride before it broke down. Well, jokes on us, the ride was already broken. So we waited four hours, watching trains circle the track over and over, and explored the other bits of the park and rode other rides. We got word it was open, and we ran to get to it. I didn't care what row I got, all that mattered was that I'd get to ride. We get in line, and we are ready to board, when I get assigned the back row. The holy grail of roller coaster train seats. I was ecstatic. We pull out of the station, make the turn and start going up and up and... Rollback. Literally, had the best seat possible, and I got a rollback. I was infuriated, as the ride had been running for about an hour at that point. So I waited another 2 hours before, finally, the ride was back up and running again. Once again, we ran to get there, and this time I was assigned 2nd to back row, so a slight difference in what the actual back row would've been like, and a great alternative. It actually worked that time and I got to ride, and it truly must be experienced to be believed. I was speechless and could not form words when the train came to a stop. everything from the drop, the wave turn, the whippy snap into the outerbanked 90 degree turn, the off axis airtime hill, of course, the godly quad down, the aggressive speedhill, and the whippy turnaround to top it all off. Truly a perfect ride, and I'm just glad I could get on it.
That is exactly what happened to me. We heard it was testing so ran from drop line and we just made it. We tried a second time but we also roll back I was happy with one ride but I still have a sour taste and am not satisfied
Except the front is better than the back on this coaster and the only difference between row 11 & 12 is that 11 is much smoother since you’re not on a wheel seat.
So we visited Dollywood as part of our honeymoon right after they reopened for the holiday season in 2021. We love Dolly, but weren't really familiar with the park itself so we didn't do much ride research. We basically hopped on this while walking by later in the evening, and had no clue what we were getting into. We came out of the station and then we saw the hill and went "oh wow..." Imagine our shock when it was a launch coaster. Man, what an unexpected trip in total darkness! 😀 I can't wait to go back and try it again!
Now I feel lucky to have ridden this coaster. Putting aside all of the technical issues, it should not be forgotten how unique the first part of this ride is: A launch that goes uphill, the feeling of being thrown over the hill instead a slow crest from a chain lift or even a flat launch - which gives you the full effect of the hill at high speed (this happens twice - the first small hill and then the larger 165' drop) and the fact that the second hill is the big one. It's a really fun ride that hopefully has many more years, even if Dr Frankenstein has to keep it going.
I would personally like to see these videos: - Failed Coasters - Skytrak at Granada Studios - Failed Coasters - Orphan Rocker At Scenic World - Top 10 Most Dangerous Attractions (actual dangerous, like Cannonball Loop) - The Story Of The Vekoma SLC
I think given what they had to do to it in 2021 it's fair to call it a failure, but I'll take that "failure" any day of the week. It ran consistently last year and I thought it was great. Not as good as its opening year but still great
Pigeon Forge in general is probably one of the greatest places to visit. So many awesome things to do and if you ever managed to try everything in Pigeon Forge then you can drive 20 minutes down the road to Gatlinburg and have even more amazing things to do.
Dollywood is going to get rid of lightning rods launch and replace it with a chain lift. Lightning rod is temporarily closing on October 30th. it will reopen on spring 2024.
At a very recent event at this park, our ERT had to be moved from LRod to Thunderhead because a new part had just been installed but LRod didn't complete 25 consecutive test cycles without a problem. It was down the entire day. Fortunately, Thunderhead's brand new retrack has made it an elite wooden coaster, better than it's EVER been, and jumped up in all of our rankings!
My first time on Lightning Rod was last Fall (2022) and it absolutely blew me away! A magnificent and intense ride. It wasn't down once for 2 days in a row. My favorite part is the quadruple dip, especially the last dog-leg dip. Just watching this coaster fly up the lift and whip around the last turn is astounding! Thunderhead was my main reason for going and it remains the best coaster in the park to me, riding much better than in my two visits years ago. Thunderhead was so intense at night that it hinted at the insanity of night rides on Voyage. Lightning Rod is a wonderful, fantastic coaster! I'm a traditional amusement park hobbyist & not a fan of most theme parks, but Dollywood is amazing & beautiful with extremely friendly employees.
I got lucky and road it three times in a row last year because the line was short. The launch was an unexpected surprise and I loved it. Definitely one of my top favorite coasters and I hope this stays open for years to come.
Funny watching this video. My boyfriend and I met at Dollywood and both worked at L Rod once our seasonal position ended. I didn’t work there very long due to personal reasons, but the time that I did work there, not a day went by without some kind of problem. The team used to joke that if the team lead hit a specific pothole on the way to work that it guaranteed there would be an issue that day. Let’s just say she didn’t miss the pothole very often.
I just rode it this week. It was the first large coaster I've been on in over 20 years. Scared the crap out of me, but I loved it. I knew nothing about it prior to going on it, lol.
RMC’s topper track model is pretty much already a failure itself, especially for an innovative ride like Lightning Rod. Outlaw Run is heard to be noticeably rough and is predicted to get an I-Box retracking in the future. Then we have Goliath at Six Flags Great America, which isn’t really a problem due to the lack of space this ride takes up and the steel support structure holding up a large portion of track. Wood just isn’t meant for large-scale and intense coasters like this
@@HeyMavDak i think he means that in a mental way. What doesn't take you down is a way to become stronger and overcome the weakness. Atleast thats how i interpreted that
Unfortunately RMC just showed the world why nobody else made a launched wooden coaster... ...and I believe the launch section _needs_ to have a 100% steel structure and track to work reliably.
That I agree with, but is still must have taken a toll for the maintenance team, since the park probably had to spend a lot of money to get this ride up and going today.
There there is the engineering problem with Raptor 2 trains... Their real mistake will be partnering with Vekoma. That is if Vekoma does the same thing to RMC they did to Arrow.
I will say, just rode it this past weekend, and DAYUM. its one hell of a launch man! They snuck that one in since the last time I was there. Us locals tend to go in spurts, so last time i was there was early 2010s.
Was at Dollywood when they held the announcement with Dolly. Remember seeing that hill built that winter. Hadn’t been back to Dollywood until 2022. While there were times Lightning Rod was closed, there were also plenty of times when it was open. My sons really liked it; may have been their favorite ride of the park. Great video thanks.
I had a chance to ride Lightning Rod back in October. It was really exhilarating to ride, especially during the moment when it went completely sideways, resulting in some good suspension time from my seat.
That is not "smoke" coming from the stators, that is water used to cool them (prior to the water the stators did overheat and fail). And the launch was found to be accelerating too much and it was indeed slowed down. The pothole problem was also a major reason why Ibox was installed. From my experience operating that ride the launch problem and rollback was multifaceted: weight in the train, the wood structure, and the suspension system on the trains. I do wonder if LIM would have been a better choice since tolerance/exact feedback data are not needed.
I've never been to Dollywood, but I will acknowledge the fact that both the park and RMC are doing what they can to sort out any problems it had. I never knew it had issues in the early years, but my best guess is that they'll have to work on completely replacing the topper track with steel I box tracks. If I do pay a visit to Dollywood, I'll have to give it a try and see how well it rides. It may rely on chance if they get it running, but it would be fun.
This was a very accurate and well-explained video about my favorite coaster of all time. It's not a failure, it's a learning experience. Gotta commend Dollywood and RMC for trying something new, but the nature of it being a wood coaster with a launch was just a bad combination. I can see Dollywood re-doing the rest of the ride with iBox in the future, but even now it's running more consistently than it ever did when it was a full woodie. I'll take the current version of Lightning Rod over a closed one any day of the week
I have had the pleasure of riding this ride. I used to live near Dollywood so I would visit often. It was usually closed. But one time I went it was open and it was honestly the best rollercoaster I've ever been on. Just thinking about it makes me smile! I haven't been on many rollercoasters though. The only theme parks I have ever been to are Dollywood and Disney World. I live sort of near Carowinds now and I want to go there one day.
Great video. It sounds like Lightning Rod has been a learning experience for all involved. I hope they continue to improve the coaster’s performance and reliability.
The "high speed" chain lift they use now is still way slower than the previous launch. But their new Big Bear Mountain coaster has three launches! I think they should switch names.
We were there in Dollywood in June 2016 for our honeymoon. It took several attempts but we finally got to ride it that week! And since then I don’t know anyone who’s managed to ride it hardly.
Lightning rod is personally one of the most hyped coasters in my mind. Would love to lap it when I go to dollywood too bad the launch got turned down. Would love a pop of ejector. Big fan btw
Rode this ride for the 1st time in fall 2022. Thought it was going to be a kiddie coRode. Because of the car theme. Boy was I wrong. Blew my mind. Rode it 5 times that night. One of the best coasters I have ever rode.
This really is a tragic roller coaster, I got to ride it in 2019 before it converted to steel hybrid and man was it amazing and i noticed the downtime wasnt that bad only closed with it started raining really hard and lightning showed up
I rode it when it first came out before the change as well. Funny story was my older brother and I were waiting in a 2 hour long line and when we finally got to the front, he was a little too heavy for the ride, so he had to get out. I had to ride it by myself. It was SO scary ngl. So fun but MAN it was fast! I rode last year and it unfortunately wasn't like I remembered. It is still fun, but not AS fun as it was.
Strangely enough, my first ride on this was in December of 2016 while it was snowing. Over 300 rides later, and I still love this ride to death. Dollywood can modify Lightning Rod as much as they need, I will always have a special place in my heart for it.
I wish i could’ve ridden this ride but unfortunately for me, because the seat belt was too small for me, they wouldn’t let me ride so they told me to get off. I was bummed for a bit but luckily i was able to ride the other coasters
I actually had it malfunction on me yesterday and never got to ride it.😔 It was halfway up the launch hell when it rolled back into the launch pads and we had to be escorted off.
Definitely not a “failure”, but for the innovation, it will be a learning experience and who knows what these lessons learned will bring in the future…..
trials and errors are part of life even when designing roller coasters but we learn as we grow so kudos for dollywood and RMC for trying and for making something impossible possibly despite the hiccups
I rode this in 2021 and it was bomb. We had to wait for over 2 hours because it broke while we were in line twice. We were almost through the line so we decided to wait. I hope they have fixed the reliability issues and whatnot. I visited in 2015 and I actually got to see the top of the lift hill get constructed and built. I would recommend this coaster, if it’s open.
I went to Dollywood recently and amazingly Lightning Rod was running the whole time I was at the park. Even more amazingly, the two days before I went the rise was down almost all day, so I got incredibly lucky. Got to ride it twice, once in row 1 and one in row 10. Quite a fun ride!
the only rmc I have ridden is untamed and when I rode it for the first time the chain lift sped up near the top giving the most strong airtime in the netherlands. also my favorite ride I had on a coaster (the night ride later that day was close to beating it though)
Ohhhh boy I’m currently leaving pigeon forge rn after my trip for Easter that included Dollywood. What was supposed to be 2 days became a 4 day project. Tuesday, Thursday, from 3-7 Friday and today for a hour. I got on every ride besides Lrod. It’s been closed the entire time I’ve been in the state, and it blew not only 1 but 2 capacitors, so I decided to stick it out, but I got Lrod’d as my friends said. They did give me 2 free fast passes for Lrod that expire next year so I’m gonna try to get back down here and experience it :(
This is still my number one coaster. And yes, I've ridden Steel Vengeance and Iron Gwazi. I know this coaster has had myriad problems. But the actuall ride experience is unbelievable. I also don't agree that the newer version is any significant let down. The main problem is that you don't get airtime at the top of the first hump but the rest of the ride is as good as ever.
That’s what I’m saying! I’ve timed multiple POVs (ranging from 2016 to now) from the first drop to the brakes and every single one timed around 40 seconds. It’s better than Steel Vengeance, mostly for the sheer aggressiveness and airtime, plus the crazy terrain! One of the greatest coasters ever built!
Maintenance history aside. I got 4 rides in the opening year and it was incredible. I haven't been back since and I am apprehensive to ride it ever again since it's been slowed down. I wanna remember it in its best showing.
I have been very fortunate… we are pass holders, who live in Charlotte, and go about 6-7 times a year. Thankfully, it has never been closed during our trips! It’s just incredible. The intensity and ejector air time is insane- the back row always leaves me speechless. I hope they keep this coaster for years to come. It’s my favorite, and I have Fury 325 in my home park. 😅
I do agree that the Dollywood and RMC were a bit too ambitious. I feel like if they had just built it as a normal hybrid roller coaster, it wouldn’t have had many down times as it did.
I'll never understand how engineers thought building a launched coaster using wooden supports would be a good idea. If they wanna fix the launch, they should start by converting that lift structure to steel.
So, I wouldn't call this a true failure so much as a problematic coaster, since it's still operating. It's had a lot of issues and the topper track turned out to be just a bit underspec'd for the amount of force exerted on the track, and the launch AND block systems both had to be reworked to get it to operate more reliably (the block system was prematurely E-stopping whenever they tried to run more than one train).
Winning Minesweeper on expert mode is neither that difficult, nor slow. I used to do it regularly back in the days with some pretty fast speed records. It is a great game!
It may have a lot of issues and be some degree of a "failure", but credit to all parties involved for being ambitious, it might not have worked out, and you could argue some bad ideas, but you've got to commend them for stepping out of their comfort zones to try something new even if it didn't work out
You know, I think they should’ve just went with a steel structure for the launch system for lighting rod. If the wood is more flexible then put a steel structure and put steel ibox track there. Problem solved
I rode Lightning Rod last week with some friends. It was in my top 3 rides from the park for sure. I thought going into it that I would really hate the drop, because I was (ironically) terrified during the the drop on Wild Eagle. It was actually amazing, though, and I’m so glad we got to ride it.
I first rode this back in June 2014, when it was open and without the modifications. It was exhilerating, intense, and something I have never experienced before. Since then, I rode it again and again until I moved away in 2018. Even with the modifications and the addition of a chain lift, this is still one of the best coasters I’ve ever ridden at Dollywood. Hands down.
I find it funny that RMC started by suggesting an I-Box coaster with a lift hill instead of a launch and that's exactly what it turned into.
To be honest it didn't effect the rest of the ride it's still a fun rush. I got 3 rides out of it.
The funniest part was when RMC needed help building a launch so they reached out to a company that also could not build a launch
The problem with going with the lowest bidder!
Yeah, and unfortunately that sort of thing happens all the time. Money talks, or rather, saving money.
In the Netherlands we have a saying: buying cheap is buying expensive…
@@throughthewindowpane we say: If you buy it cheap,you have to buy it twice.
@@throughthewindowpane Back when I was 15 and getting my license for a motorcycle, I had a mentor who'd been an instructor in the Army Motorcycle Corps... He had a great philosophy about pricing and buying when it came to detrimental components or systems...
"Cry once."
It's short and simple, and easily missed... What it means is that when you buy stuff like brakes or pads or tires, it's easy to cry about the price... If you buy cheap, you're going to cry about the cheap part... and then when it wears out prematurely, you'll be right back in the shop crying about it again... and again... and again... until you finally buckle down, buy the CORRECT part for the correct rating and pay out the price... OR you COULD just buy the right thing, install it properly (or pay the damn mechanic/tech' to do it) and cry about all that expense to solve your issue ONCE... AND it's a pretty good philosophy for just about any walk of life or career.
The somewhat more popular "saying" or "adage" here in the States is "You get what you pay for." I'm fairly sure it's popular in places other than the States, too... BUT it's reasonably self explanatory. When you want or NEED something to work absolutely, you'll be better off paying an appropriate amount for it... Cheap crap is... well... still CRAP.
I DO have to admit, I rather like the wit and wisdom of the Netherlands' version, too... haha ;o)
I want to shout out the LRod crew. I get a season pass every 2 years. Every time I've been to Dollywood, and gotten to ride Lighting Rod, it had technical problems the whole day previous to my ride experience. The crew deals with problems that come up constantly, and they work as fast as they can to resolve those problems. Guests get upset with them every single day, and every time I've been, I've seen them get yelled at. They still show up at work and do the best job they can with the utmost enthusiasm. They never give up on the guests in the park, and they genuinely work very hard to ensure as many guests as possible get to ride. So thank you all :)
Thank you for your appreciation! Standing at the front answering the same questions all day gets rough but it’s worth it when we get to see everyone’s faces on the ride.
i just went and it also and technical problems again.
The guests who get mad at these guys need to watch a couple theme parks accident videos to get humbled real quick and turn around to thank them for doing the work to keep them safe
I rode this last year and my favorite part was the view after the lift launch. I knew nothing about this coaster and still remember how surprised I was when I finally saw the track nestled in the mountains while coming over those crests. Pretty awesome view to go in blind to.
Basically, most of the problems stemmed from Dollywood’s insistence on topper track so they could claim “first launched wooden coaster”
They can still market it as the world's first launched hybrid coaster right? I don't think there are any other launched hybrids out there.
And also, RMC hiring Velocity Magnetics instead of Intrasys.
@@thepuncakian2024 That's a bit of a cheap record. Hybrid coasters are basically just steel coasters, except with wooden supports. It would be like trying to market The Voyage as the world's longest hybrid coaster, because it has wooden track and steel supports.
It doesn't matter what the supports are made of. What matters is the track. Steel Vengeance is a steel rollercoaster.
Although, if Lightning Rod still has a significant amount of topper track, they could still market it as the world's first launched hybrid.
While it's one of the bigger problems, I don't think it's the main issue. From my point of view, the launch system was the bigger mistake. They should have worked with Intrasys, like basically every other coaster manufacturer. Their "SLIM" launch systems are on at least every Intamin, Maurer and Gerstlauer LSM launcher. As far as I know, also on B&Ms Wild Eagle at Holiday World. They've been proven reliable, prezise and basically maintenance-free and can launch at high power with very granular controlling and monitoring of the launch system. For such a project, working with an inexperienced manufacturer is a high risk. I even wonder if this launch system really was cheaper than a system by a renowned manufactuer? I can hardly believe it, because they had to do the whole thing completely by themselves. It's hard to believe that it would be cheaper than using an already completely developed system. It's a matter of different strange decisions the park officials made with this project wich has lead to the state of the ride.
@@VPGTube Small correction: Wild Eagle is at Dollywood, and isn't launched. The launched wing coaster at Holiday World is called Thunderbird.
Also, now that I've watched more of the video, I think Intrasys probably would have refused the project because of the wooden track and structure. 12:00
This ride is far more reliable nowadays and still packs a punch. I've ridden it on a hot summer day and also at the Christmas event when it was 36 degrees F and the ride still absolutely hauled through its layout in both conditions. It may be problematic, but it's totally worth the ride experience in my opinion!
Absolutely... But it's forever changed now 😮
As far as ambition goes, Lightning Rod was the Son of Beast of the mid-to-late 2010s.
I was thinking the same thing
Not even close. I cannot believe you said that.
Or Mean Streak (now Steel Vengeance) at Cedar Point.
@@michaelp.3485 it is LR wont be around another 10 years
Except son of beast almost caused several injuries due to a small oversight
Funny story about my recent experience with this coaster with my family.
It was my first time visiting the park, and as an avid coaster enthusiast, I obviously was the most excited for this beast of an RMC, and it truly was number one on my bucket list. The plan was to visit the park for two days, however the 2nd day would be filled with rain and would be freezing cold, which made me believe I had no shot at riding on the second day. So I was hellbent on riding the first day. We got to the park at open, and we made a mad dash for Lightning Rod, because we had a Timesaver pass, lines didn't matter, and we wanted to get on the ride before it broke down. Well, jokes on us, the ride was already broken. So we waited four hours, watching trains circle the track over and over, and explored the other bits of the park and rode other rides. We got word it was open, and we ran to get to it. I didn't care what row I got, all that mattered was that I'd get to ride. We get in line, and we are ready to board, when I get assigned the back row. The holy grail of roller coaster train seats. I was ecstatic. We pull out of the station, make the turn and start going up and up and...
Rollback.
Literally, had the best seat possible, and I got a rollback. I was infuriated, as the ride had been running for about an hour at that point. So I waited another 2 hours before, finally, the ride was back up and running again. Once again, we ran to get there, and this time I was assigned 2nd to back row, so a slight difference in what the actual back row would've been like, and a great alternative. It actually worked that time and I got to ride, and it truly must be experienced to be believed. I was speechless and could not form words when the train came to a stop. everything from the drop, the wave turn, the whippy snap into the outerbanked 90 degree turn, the off axis airtime hill, of course, the godly quad down, the aggressive speedhill, and the whippy turnaround to top it all off. Truly a perfect ride, and I'm just glad I could get on it.
I was so glad it reopened the day I went after it was closed for weeks due to rollbacks. I just regret I was too afraid to do a night ride 😂
That is exactly what happened to me. We heard it was testing so ran from drop line and we just made it. We tried a second time but we also roll back I was happy with one ride but I still have a sour taste and am not satisfied
Except the front is better than the back on this coaster and the only difference between row 11 & 12 is that 11 is much smoother since you’re not on a wheel seat.
So we visited Dollywood as part of our honeymoon right after they reopened for the holiday season in 2021. We love Dolly, but weren't really familiar with the park itself so we didn't do much ride research. We basically hopped on this while walking by later in the evening, and had no clue what we were getting into. We came out of the station and then we saw the hill and went "oh wow..." Imagine our shock when it was a launch coaster. Man, what an unexpected trip in total darkness! 😀 I can't wait to go back and try it again!
Now I feel lucky to have ridden this coaster. Putting aside all of the technical issues, it should not be forgotten how unique the first part of this ride is: A launch that goes uphill, the feeling of being thrown over the hill instead a slow crest from a chain lift or even a flat launch - which gives you the full effect of the hill at high speed (this happens twice - the first small hill and then the larger 165' drop) and the fact that the second hill is the big one. It's a really fun ride that hopefully has many more years, even if Dr Frankenstein has to keep it going.
I would personally like to see these videos:
- Failed Coasters - Skytrak at Granada Studios
- Failed Coasters - Orphan Rocker At Scenic World
- Top 10 Most Dangerous Attractions (actual dangerous, like Cannonball Loop)
- The Story Of The Vekoma SLC
Good ideas.
It didn’t fail, it only succeeded slowly
It failed….it’s still closed almost every day
@@jaceedgie7964 nah, it’s a slow success story.
@@jaceedgie7964 is it? I’ve been 5 times already this season and it hasn’t been closed once while I’ve been there.
@@jaceedgie7964it shut down Wednesday.. So did the train..
I think given what they had to do to it in 2021 it's fair to call it a failure, but I'll take that "failure" any day of the week. It ran consistently last year and I thought it was great. Not as good as its opening year but still great
Want more of my Failed Coasters series? Here's a playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLz9m75shaBx6IP-FYXpUXZPN77JHRCnaK.html
I want to see a Failed Coasters video on Son of Beast.
@@kenepo4u496 hes already done that one.
@@ThePatcore No he didn’t.
Pigeon Forge in general is probably one of the greatest places to visit. So many awesome things to do and if you ever managed to try everything in Pigeon Forge then you can drive 20 minutes down the road to Gatlinburg and have even more amazing things to do.
It reminds me of when my roller coaster break down in planet coaster “Lightning Rod had broke down!”
I agree.
Dollywood is going to get rid of lightning rods launch and replace it with a chain lift. Lightning rod is temporarily closing on October 30th. it will reopen on spring 2024.
You're right.
Gotta love the Coaster Studios dramatization scene at 9:19 😂
At a very recent event at this park, our ERT had to be moved from LRod to Thunderhead because a new part had just been installed but LRod didn't complete 25 consecutive test cycles without a problem. It was down the entire day. Fortunately, Thunderhead's brand new retrack has made it an elite wooden coaster, better than it's EVER been, and jumped up in all of our rankings!
Coaster crew event in April?
@@BluesCoasters Indeed. I'm with GP Coasters. This is just my personal YT account.
@@gemstar3824 GP coasters? I love you guys. I met y’all at SDC at outlaw run last year during the moonlight madness event. Saw y’all at HWN too!
@@BluesCoasters Oh wow! I remember! Just subbed to you btw! Sorry I'm late lol! Hope to see you out and about again soon!
My first time on Lightning Rod was last Fall (2022) and it absolutely blew me away! A magnificent and intense ride. It wasn't down once for 2 days in a row. My favorite part is the quadruple dip, especially the last dog-leg dip. Just watching this coaster fly up the lift and whip around the last turn is astounding! Thunderhead was my main reason for going and it remains the best coaster in the park to me, riding much better than in my two visits years ago. Thunderhead was so intense at night that it hinted at the insanity of night rides on Voyage. Lightning Rod is a wonderful, fantastic coaster! I'm a traditional amusement park hobbyist & not a fan of most theme parks, but Dollywood is amazing & beautiful with extremely friendly employees.
I got lucky and road it three times in a row last year because the line was short.
The launch was an unexpected surprise and I loved it. Definitely one of my top favorite coasters and I hope this stays open for years to come.
Funny watching this video. My boyfriend and I met at Dollywood and both worked at L Rod once our seasonal position ended. I didn’t work there very long due to personal reasons, but the time that I did work there, not a day went by without some kind of problem. The team used to joke that if the team lead hit a specific pothole on the way to work that it guaranteed there would be an issue that day. Let’s just say she didn’t miss the pothole very often.
Watching this as LRod has been down for more than a week and sitting here at the closed entrance
I just rode it this week. It was the first large coaster I've been on in over 20 years. Scared the crap out of me, but I loved it. I knew nothing about it prior to going on it, lol.
I get it.
RMC’s topper track model is pretty much already a failure itself, especially for an innovative ride like Lightning Rod. Outlaw Run is heard to be noticeably rough and is predicted to get an I-Box retracking in the future. Then we have Goliath at Six Flags Great America, which isn’t really a problem due to the lack of space this ride takes up and the steel support structure holding up a large portion of track. Wood just isn’t meant for large-scale and intense coasters like this
Topper track is discontinued. Outlaw Run will be Ibox in the near future.
I LOVE this coaster. I got on it having no idea what kind of coaster it was, so when we launched, it was an amazing surprise!
The moral of this story: nobody’s always perfect, and what doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger!
"Kelly Clarkson liked this comment"
I hate that nonsensical phrase. If I chop off your leg that wouldn't kill you but it certainly wouldn't make you stronger.
@@HeyMavDak i think he means that in a mental way. What doesn't take you down is a way to become stronger and overcome the weakness. Atleast thats how i interpreted that
Fr. I heard that they’re removing the launch to increase the reliability
What an intro! It's very much refined but the Theme Park Crazy jingle is a bit nostalgic to me.
I rode this ride last year and I was beyond scared of that second drop. Almost lost my glasses too but it was one of the funnest coasters I've rode!
Unfortunately RMC just showed the world why nobody else made a launched wooden coaster...
...and I believe the launch section _needs_ to have a 100% steel structure and track to work reliably.
I wonder if adding steel columns to the launch (like Iron Gwazi) would do the trick. It would stabilize that structure so it doesn’t sway as much.
The ride itself failed but it brought Dollywood into the limelight and ot has helped the park in the long run i think.
That I agree with, but is still must have taken a toll for the maintenance team, since the park probably had to spend a lot of money to get this ride up and going today.
RMC should have insisted on Vekoma doing the launch system and maybe a truss up the mountain.
Last time I checked, most of the track is getting replaced to handle the launch, so... reliability. YES!
It's still 50/50. Yesterday we got to ride it when the park opened, but it was shut down by 2 pm.
I think Lightning Rod is one of RMC's only mistakes. Still an amazing coaster, I would want to ride it one day. Hi TPC
Hi Abasolos!
There there is the engineering problem with Raptor 2 trains... Their real mistake will be partnering with Vekoma. That is if Vekoma does the same thing to RMC they did to Arrow.
@@jpertle7629 Vekoma was different back in the 80s and 90s, so I don't think that'll happen. Unless it already has happened.
I will say, just rode it this past weekend, and DAYUM. its one hell of a launch man! They snuck that one in since the last time I was there. Us locals tend to go in spurts, so last time i was there was early 2010s.
Was at Dollywood when they held the announcement with Dolly. Remember seeing that hill built that winter.
Hadn’t been back to Dollywood until 2022. While there were times Lightning Rod was closed, there were also plenty of times when it was open. My sons really liked it; may have been their favorite ride of the park. Great video thanks.
I had a chance to ride Lightning Rod back in October. It was really exhilarating to ride, especially during the moment when it went completely sideways, resulting in some good suspension time from my seat.
Their insistence on maintaining this ride is admirable tbh
Six flags would’ve left it closed and never told the public anything.
That is not "smoke" coming from the stators, that is water used to cool them (prior to the water the stators did overheat and fail). And the launch was found to be accelerating too much and it was indeed slowed down. The pothole problem was also a major reason why Ibox was installed. From my experience operating that ride the launch problem and rollback was multifaceted: weight in the train, the wood structure, and the suspension system on the trains. I do wonder if LIM would have been a better choice since tolerance/exact feedback data are not needed.
I've never been to Dollywood, but I will acknowledge the fact that both the park and RMC are doing what they can to sort out any problems it had. I never knew it had issues in the early years, but my best guess is that they'll have to work on completely replacing the topper track with steel I box tracks. If I do pay a visit to Dollywood, I'll have to give it a try and see how well it rides. It may rely on chance if they get it running, but it would be fun.
I'm at Dollywood now, been closed all day sadly
Here right now, it's 3pm and it's been down all day
Thank you for including my music mate 😊
No problem 👍
I just went to Dollywood for spring break! I still have country songs stuck in my head!
This was a very accurate and well-explained video about my favorite coaster of all time. It's not a failure, it's a learning experience. Gotta commend Dollywood and RMC for trying something new, but the nature of it being a wood coaster with a launch was just a bad combination. I can see Dollywood re-doing the rest of the ride with iBox in the future, but even now it's running more consistently than it ever did when it was a full woodie. I'll take the current version of Lightning Rod over a closed one any day of the week
I have had the pleasure of riding this ride. I used to live near Dollywood so I would visit often. It was usually closed. But one time I went it was open and it was honestly the best rollercoaster I've ever been on. Just thinking about it makes me smile! I haven't been on many rollercoasters though. The only theme parks I have ever been to are Dollywood and Disney World. I live sort of near Carowinds now and I want to go there one day.
When I went to Dolly Wood, I got a ride on Lightning rod with the launch including a 45 minute wait.
I had so much fun riding this in 2020. Very intense for such a simple coaster.
Great video. It sounds like Lightning Rod has been a learning experience for all involved. I hope they continue to improve the coaster’s performance and reliability.
Minesweeper on expert mode - nice '90s PC pull.
Guess this goes to show that it's not the construction costs that kill a roller coaster, but the maintenance costs.
The "high speed" chain lift they use now is still way slower than the previous launch. But their new Big Bear Mountain coaster has three launches! I think they should switch names.
Good idea.
I had the opportunity to ride this coster and I was very impressed
We were there in Dollywood in June 2016 for our honeymoon. It took several attempts but we finally got to ride it that week! And since then I don’t know anyone who’s managed to ride it hardly.
I've gotta say this looks absolutely incredible to go on, as a UK enthusiast it's quite hard
Lightning rod is personally one of the most hyped coasters in my mind. Would love to lap it when I go to dollywood too bad the launch got turned down. Would love a pop of ejector. Big fan btw
Rode this ride for the 1st time in fall 2022. Thought it was going to be a kiddie coRode. Because of the car theme. Boy was I wrong. Blew my mind. Rode it 5 times that night. One of the best coasters I have ever rode.
This really is a tragic roller coaster, I got to ride it in 2019 before it converted to steel hybrid and man was it amazing and i noticed the downtime wasnt that bad only closed with it started raining really hard and lightning showed up
I rode it when it first came out before the change as well. Funny story was my older brother and I were waiting in a 2 hour long line and when we finally got to the front, he was a little too heavy for the ride, so he had to get out. I had to ride it by myself. It was SO scary ngl. So fun but MAN it was fast! I rode last year and it unfortunately wasn't like I remembered. It is still fun, but not AS fun as it was.
Loving the weekly videos!
Not just dramatization, but one of the best dramatizations
Strangely enough, my first ride on this was in December of 2016 while it was snowing. Over 300 rides later, and I still love this ride to death. Dollywood can modify Lightning Rod as much as they need, I will always have a special place in my heart for it.
I wish i could’ve ridden this ride but unfortunately for me, because the seat belt was too small for me, they wouldn’t let me ride so they told me to get off. I was bummed for a bit but luckily i was able to ride the other coasters
I actually had it malfunction on me yesterday and never got to ride it.😔 It was halfway up the launch hell when it rolled back into the launch pads and we had to be escorted off.
Love the in-depth look at individual roller coasters
Definitely not a “failure”, but for the innovation, it will be a learning experience and who knows what these lessons learned will bring in the future…..
Lightning rod is my favorite coaster, but ya never know until it finally decides to stand up for itself
trials and errors are part of life even when designing roller coasters but we learn as we grow so kudos for dollywood and RMC for trying and for making something impossible possibly despite the hiccups
I rode this in 2021 and it was bomb. We had to wait for over 2 hours because it broke while we were in line twice. We were almost through the line so we decided to wait. I hope they have fixed the reliability issues and whatnot. I visited in 2015 and I actually got to see the top of the lift hill get constructed and built. I would recommend this coaster, if it’s open.
I went to Dollywood recently and amazingly Lightning Rod was running the whole time I was at the park. Even more amazingly, the two days before I went the rise was down almost all day, so I got incredibly lucky. Got to ride it twice, once in row 1 and one in row 10. Quite a fun ride!
the only rmc I have ridden is untamed and when I rode it for the first time the chain lift sped up near the top giving the most strong airtime in the netherlands. also my favorite ride I had on a coaster (the night ride later that day was close to beating it though)
Great video. I've always wanted to go to Dollywood and I hope that one day I get lucky enough to enjoy Lightning Rod.
I didn’t know that I needs to know any of this. Great job! I found this video really interesting.
Ohhhh boy I’m currently leaving pigeon forge rn after my trip for Easter that included Dollywood. What was supposed to be 2 days became a 4 day project. Tuesday, Thursday, from 3-7 Friday and today for a hour. I got on every ride besides Lrod. It’s been closed the entire time I’ve been in the state, and it blew not only 1 but 2 capacitors, so I decided to stick it out, but I got Lrod’d as my friends said. They did give me 2 free fast passes for Lrod that expire next year so I’m gonna try to get back down here and experience it :(
Same here.
hey man, the new intro is really good!
This is still my number one coaster. And yes, I've ridden Steel Vengeance and Iron Gwazi. I know this coaster has had myriad problems. But the actuall ride experience is unbelievable. I also don't agree that the newer version is any significant let down. The main problem is that you don't get airtime at the top of the first hump but the rest of the ride is as good as ever.
That’s what I’m saying! I’ve timed multiple POVs (ranging from 2016 to now) from the first drop to the brakes and every single one timed around 40 seconds. It’s better than Steel Vengeance, mostly for the sheer aggressiveness and airtime, plus the crazy terrain! One of the greatest coasters ever built!
One of my favorite wooden coasters, excited to see what you have to say :) 👍
It’s kinda crazy how this ended up being my first RMC after missing out on Iron Rattler, which is still devastating cuz I live in Ohio 😭
I used to love this roller coaster but after I rod it this year it was running a little rough. I appreciate your videos Theme Park crazy
Outlawruns one of the best wooden roller coasters out there.
Maintenance history aside. I got 4 rides in the opening year and it was incredible. I haven't been back since and I am apprehensive to ride it ever again since it's been slowed down. I wanna remember it in its best showing.
I was wondering about the track differences. Such a fun ride and a great video!
Sounds like Australia's new wooden coaster at Sea World the Leviathan. Brand new coaster that's Constantly closed for maintenance, plagued with issues
That same “pothole” feeling has been at the bottom of outlaw run’s drop since I rode it in 2022
I have been very fortunate… we are pass holders, who live in Charlotte, and go about 6-7 times a year. Thankfully, it has never been closed during our trips! It’s just incredible. The intensity and ejector air time is insane- the back row always leaves me speechless. I hope they keep this coaster for years to come. It’s my favorite, and I have Fury 325 in my home park. 😅
This is true 3/5 of the time I was in line it broke down all because of the launch 😢
It took me four times to ride the lightning rod all three in line and it broke. Finally on the four time I got to ride it.
I was just there last week. It was down in the morning, but when we went past later, it only had a 20 minute wait.
I do agree that the Dollywood and RMC were a bit too ambitious. I feel like if they had just built it as a normal hybrid roller coaster, it wouldn’t have had many down times as it did.
I'll never understand how engineers thought building a launched coaster using wooden supports would be a good idea.
If they wanna fix the launch, they should start by converting that lift structure to steel.
So, I wouldn't call this a true failure so much as a problematic coaster, since it's still operating. It's had a lot of issues and the topper track turned out to be just a bit underspec'd for the amount of force exerted on the track, and the launch AND block systems both had to be reworked to get it to operate more reliably (the block system was prematurely E-stopping whenever they tried to run more than one train).
New intro is a banger!
Winning Minesweeper on expert mode is neither that difficult, nor slow. I used to do it regularly back in the days with some pretty fast speed records. It is a great game!
It may have a lot of issues and be some degree of a "failure", but credit to all parties involved for being ambitious, it might not have worked out, and you could argue some bad ideas, but you've got to commend them for stepping out of their comfort zones to try something new even if it didn't work out
I respect the hell out of this coaster's ambition. It did fail in some ways, but I'm glad it exists 👍
“What do you do for a living?”
“I uhh build roller coasters..”
12:25: That's Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point!
You know, I think they should’ve just went with a steel structure for the launch system for lighting rod. If the wood is more flexible then put a steel structure and put steel ibox track there. Problem solved
We made our first trip this year. I got the rollback when I finally got on. The evacuation was so smooth. I could tell they were use to it.
I rode Lightning Rod last week with some friends. It was in my top 3 rides from the park for sure. I thought going into it that I would really hate the drop, because I was (ironically) terrified during the the drop on Wild Eagle. It was actually amazing, though, and I’m so glad we got to ride it.
We had season tickets for Dollywood from 2016 to 2019. We've still yet to ride Lightning Rod because it was always closed during that time.
I first rode this back in June 2014, when it was open and without the modifications. It was exhilerating, intense, and something I have never experienced before. Since then, I rode it again and again until I moved away in 2018.
Even with the modifications and the addition of a chain lift, this is still one of the best coasters I’ve ever ridden at Dollywood. Hands down.
It wasn't built in 2014.