Thunderhead (roller coaster) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Thunderhead |
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Thunderhead's logo and two Golden Tickets for the Best Wooden Roller Coaster
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| Dollywood | |
| Park section | Timber Canyon |
| Coordinates | 35°47′48″N 83°31′55″W / 35.79667°N 83.53194°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | April 3, 2004 |
| Cost | $7,000,000 ($10.8 million in 2022 dollars ) |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Wood |
| Manufacturer | Great Coasters International |
| Designer | Mike Boodley |
| Track layout | Twister roller coaster |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 100.4 ft (30.6 m) |
| Drop | 100 ft (30 m) |
| Length | 3,230 ft (980 m) |
| Speed | 53.7 mph (86.4 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Duration | 2:30 |
| Max vertical angle | 60° |
| Height restriction | 48–76 in (122–193 cm) |
| Trains | 12 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in a single row for a total of 24 riders per train. |
| Virtual queue |
TimeSaver Pass available
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 Must transfer from wheelchair |
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| Thunderhead at RCDB Pictures of Thunderhead at RCDB |
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Thunderhead is a wooden roller coaster located at Dollywood amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The coaster, which was the anchor attraction of the new "Thunderhead Gap" section (now Timber Canyon), opened on April 3, 2004, to much critical acclaim. Thunderhead boasts 22 turns and 32 crossovers, and utilizes GCI's Millennium Flyer trains, used on all GCI coasters since 1999. Thunderhead is also the first roller coaster to feature a station flyby.
Contents
History
On June 26, 2003, Dollywood announced that they would be adding Thunderhead. It would be the third roller coaster at the park. Thunderhead was set to open in 2004, five years after Tennessee Tornado.
Thunderhead officially opened to guests on April 3, 2004.
The ride was named after Thunderhead Mountain, a peak within the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park that was heavily logged during the early 19th century. The mountain itself was named "Thunderhead" after a slang term in the American South for Cumulonimbus clouds.
Construction data
- 700,000 board feet of Southern Yellow Pine
- 3600 yards of concrete
- 250,000 bolts
- 2,000,000 screws
- 185,000 feet of steel rebar
Rankings
| Golden Ticket Awards: Top wood Roller Coasters | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
| Ranking | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | |||||
| Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll: Best wood-Tracked Roller Coaster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Ranking | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| NAPHA Survey: Favorite Wood Roller Coaster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ranking |
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Gallery
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Thunderhead's second drop
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Thunderhead's first airtime hill
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Thunderhead's station fly-through
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Thunderhead's drop after its station fly-through
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