Lightning Rod — Attraction in Pigeon Forge

It's okay, but extremely overrated. It deserves a one for being an inconsistent ride and for lacking in elements. The launch is fun and unique but that doesn't mean that it's a top coaster. After the decent drop the ride goes into a wave turn, which really isn't even as extreme as Outlaw Run's wave turn, because it's so drawn out. After that the ride is just tiny turns and bunny hop airtime hills. The ride is fast, but these elements are nothing special and don't provide thrill. These so called "Amazing ejector hills," didn't even send me out of my seat. Now I'm not saying that every RMC needs inversions, but it would have been very well needed on this ride. In conclusion this ride is only hyped up because it's a wooden coaster with a launch. The ride itself is weak compared to other top coasters. It is too short, has too much down time, does not have enough unique elements, and has airtime hills that don't provide good airtime. Since 90% of the ride is the same tiny hills (which in my opinion don't deliver) over and over again, the ride seems too short and lacks...

One of the best Roller Coaster in the Country. You start with a powerful launch going up and enter an insane drop which sends you out of your seat. You enter into an overbank turn and drop into the only negative point of the ride. A rough valley that goes into an awesome wave turn which can’t be found on a level like this anywhere. As you come back around you enter a hill that turns to side and then you head for the best part of the ride. A “quadruple down” which is said to be 4 airtime hills but really turns in to six and each one sends you flying out of your seats as you turn to that hill. Then you hit an overbank turn which sends you flying into the breakrun and concludes an incredible experience. A little tip to avoid the lines. If you don’t care with who go with, enter the single rider line and it depending on the wait lines in will cut 20-60 minutes of the wait time. There was a 45 minutes wait and with the single rider line I basically walked right on. Overall an excellent experience you can’t find...

The ride is really fun and the quad down (four consecutive airtime hills) and launch up the lift hill really makes this worth a ride BUT everything leading up to getting on the ride is very frustrating. The cue splits off into three lines. Regular, single riders, and fast pass. The ride op assigning people to rows overwhelmingly empty’s the fast pass line to fill 80% of the trains. A few lucky single riders can get on accompanying the fast pass riders and the regular line is stuck barely moving. The other frustrating aspect is that the ride still goes down a good amount and is still unreliable after being open for many years. I count myself lucky I was able to ride it. This is the signature attraction at this park and consider yourself lucky if it was running when you visited Dollywood. If you are not willing to pay for the fast pass I would recommend getting in the single riders line to get on...