Tennessee Tornado
Specific Type: Custom Looping Coaster
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A storm hit Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in April of 1999, and things have never been the same at Dollywood. The Tennessee Tornado blew into the rustic Great Smoky Mountains theme park on April 17, 1999 to put Dollywood on the map for major steel coasters once and for all. Crafted by Arrow Dynamics as the Utah-based company's late-1990s comeback to the scene of major sit-down looping coasters, Tennessee Tornado is a large-sized, three-inversion, 2,682-foot long looper without any gimmicks and no world records to its name, but a top-notch ride with a scenic setting. Taking the location of the park's now-defunct Thunder Express mine train, the steel coaster occupies a rustic tree-covered plot of topography-rich land with a layout utilizing the natural terrain of the location. The rust-colored tubular steel track of the terrain coaster climbs, descends, and dives under a hillside for an out-of-control two minutes of thrills, but the other half of the excitement comes from the Tornado's four main elements: A first 100-foot tall vertical loop, an over-banked far turnaround, followed by two consecutive inversions forming a butterfly-like formation - a second loop and final sidewinder composed of an upwards half-loop into a half-corkscrew. All-in-all, the layout of Tennessee Tornado features a total of five curves, one major drop, and three inversions, with top speeds hitting 63 miles per hour. Visitors to Dollywood venture to the very back of the theme park to experience the Tennessee Tornado. After entering the themed station building, riders board the 28-passenger, 7-car train in the station and secure over-the-shoulder restraints before rolling from the loading platform. Around a first L-curve to the right the train goes, the Tornado hitting the lift hill to travel 163 feet into the Tennessee sky, above the treetops and up the natural terrain. The first hill tops out and the brown track curves around 180 degrees, making its way to the drop. Riders plunge down a steep 128 feet and enter the coaster's subterranean tunnel only to blast up into 360 degrees of wide vertical looping inversion swirling 110 feet above the soil below. Passengers are next sped into the overbanked turnaround climbing over a hillside and curving to the right to dive back down to the ground. Entering the second inversion, riders on Tennessee Tornado fly upside-down once again as they complete the second loop and then conquer the sidewinder inversion, curving upwards and twisting to the left. After a steeply-banked curve, the course threads its way back through the loop and hops onto the brake run, a final U-turn leading back into the station. |
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