Thunderhead • Dollywood

It just doesn't live up to the hype that everyone gives it. Is it a bad coaster? No, but it certainly is not in the running for the best wooden coaster or even the best GCI. The first drop is boring a...

It just doesn't live up to the hype that everyone gives it. Is it a bad coaster? No, but it certainly is not in the running for the best wooden coaster or even the best GCI. The first drop is boring and most of the elements just don't hit the way other GCI's do. Even with all of this being said, Thunderhead is still the second best coaster in the park.

It is a very good wooden coaster and the restraints are very comfortable. It is a pretty smooth ride for a wooden coaster probably because its a GCI. It has good pacing and gave me lots of ejector air...

It is a very good wooden coaster and the restraints are very comfortable. It is a pretty smooth ride for a wooden coaster probably because its a GCI. It has good pacing and gave me lots of ejector airtime.

Nonstop hand choppers, amazing pops of airtime, honestly is #2 in the park. Whoever says it has rattle didn't ride it in 2024, you can hear it and feel it, but it just adds to the elite woodie experie...

Nonstop hand choppers, amazing pops of airtime, honestly is #2 in the park. Whoever says it has rattle didn't ride it in 2024, you can hear it and feel it, but it just adds to the elite woodie experience, no discomfort from it whatsoever. I need a night ride now... Update for October 26- I got a post-rain ride, and it makes the pacing even more elite. November 24 Update- This gets faster the colder it gets, I swear. They found the combination that would be weakest on any other coaster, frigid conditions & squeaky wheels, and made it tear around the course. Also, a sub-40 night ride in a t-shirt was elite. Almost beat an RMC.

This ride is so underrated. When I went to Dollywood this ride was literally a walk on. I got on it 5 times. The pacing is great and the airtime is also good, I also like the curved first drop. Don’t ...

This ride is so underrated. When I went to Dollywood this ride was literally a walk on. I got on it 5 times. The pacing is great and the airtime is also good, I also like the curved first drop. Don’t skip on this if you come to to Dollywood

This ride has become seriously underrated! Easily the second best ride in the park, and one of the best rides I’ve ever been on. The retrack over the 2022-2023 off season made it run as smooth as the...

This ride has become seriously underrated! Easily the second best ride in the park, and one of the best rides I’ve ever been on. The retrack over the 2022-2023 off season made it run as smooth as the day it first opened. From the start of the drop to the final brakes it just feels out of control in the best way possible. It isn’t some one trick pony it’s got a little bit of everything, decent positives (for a woodie), strong laterals, and quick pops of airtime that keep you engaged all the way through.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! The entire layout had fantastic airtime moments, and the pacing was consistently good. I like the first twisted drop too. It gave the same drop force you get on most ...

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! The entire layout had fantastic airtime moments, and the pacing was consistently good. I like the first twisted drop too. It gave the same drop force you get on most wooden roller coasters but had nice lateral forces as I made the turn to give a unique experience. There's not much I have going against it. It seems like a perfect fit for the park and I'm surprised how smooth it is after all these years. Dollywood has taken really good care of this one. 4/5 stars

A pretty good wooden coaster. I was pretty impressed. If you ride it in the front row, you get floater airtime(my favorite), if you ride in the back you get ejector air time. But it was a pretty fun r...

A pretty good wooden coaster. I was pretty impressed. If you ride it in the front row, you get floater airtime(my favorite), if you ride in the back you get ejector air time. But it was a pretty fun ride with nice airtime. Not too rough either.

Thunderhead is a killer GCI, and the pinnacle of Mike Boodley as a designer. His magnum opus, is this wooden terrain coaster that holds pacing very well into the ride. The best ride at Dollywood, even...

Thunderhead is a killer GCI, and the pinnacle of Mike Boodley as a designer. His magnum opus, is this wooden terrain coaster that holds pacing very well into the ride. The best ride at Dollywood, even when Lightning Rod was launched.

This is a really good wooden rollercoaster with nice airtime, fast pace and a lot of intensity. What I particularly do not like as much are the quick turns on this thing. Despite having some good airt...

This is a really good wooden rollercoaster with nice airtime, fast pace and a lot of intensity. What I particularly do not like as much are the quick turns on this thing. Despite having some good airtime, I think the focus could have been more on those than on the quick turns. Nevertheless, this is a really good rollercoaster and worth a few rides when at Dollywood.

Thunderhead is a monster of a GCI. It's unpredictable, long, and has no breaks in pace or dead space. The terrain is used very well, the views of the rest of the park is great, the Millennium Flyers a...

Thunderhead is a monster of a GCI. It's unpredictable, long, and has no breaks in pace or dead space. The terrain is used very well, the views of the rest of the park is great, the Millennium Flyers are incredibly comfy, and the ride is smooth, especially for its age. This is my favorite GCI and it beats out Mystic Timbers for its crazy twister layout.

Thunderhead is an incredibly underrated coaster, and it stands today as my favorite woodie. This ride has some crazy strong and sustained ejector airtime, especially up front, and some vicious lateral...

Thunderhead is an incredibly underrated coaster, and it stands today as my favorite woodie. This ride has some crazy strong and sustained ejector airtime, especially up front, and some vicious laterals all taken at a crazy fast and maintained pace. It can genuinely feel like you are flying through the air if you lean into the airtime moments. Because Dollywood seems to take such good care of this ride it is surprisingly smooth, which makes those crazy forces enjoyable. I understand why some may prefer Mystic Timbers, but in my opinion the sheer power of the airtime on Thunderhead makes it just a hair better. 9.5/10 - my friend's glasses fell off their face on this ride and I somehow succeeded on the quick-time event to catch them

We jumped on Thunderhead to start the day and came back to it for multiple rides towards the end of my first Dollywood experience. While we came to the park with our eyes set on other coasters (that a...

We jumped on Thunderhead to start the day and came back to it for multiple rides towards the end of my first Dollywood experience. While we came to the park with our eyes set on other coasters (that also delivered), Thunderhead really brought a unique intensity and fun factor. It's fantastic modern wooden coaster that's easily overlooked in a park with many other enjoyable rides. But don't miss this one...simply too much fun and the only coaster whose capacity and appeal enabled 4+ rides in the same day. UPDATE after recent visit - Thunderhead was even better than I remembered. I've yet to hit Mystic Timbers, which sound like stands in a class of its own - for the moment, Thunderhead is my favorite CGI by a distance. Love the pacing and intensity. Night ride added to the experience.

Blew my expectations away. 2nd GCI after Kentucky Rumbler and although I really liked that one, Thunderhead is in a different class! My 4th ride on it at night was so fast it felt illegal. Aggressi...

Blew my expectations away. 2nd GCI after Kentucky Rumbler and although I really liked that one, Thunderhead is in a different class! My 4th ride on it at night was so fast it felt illegal. Aggressive but the track was way smoother than I was expecting. Honestly a pretty perfect woodie IMO

absolutely flawless GCI! This is a masterpiece of a woodie and has some amazing elements! I rode this for the first time yesterday (October 8 2023) I’ve been to Dollywood before, but the line was alwa...

absolutely flawless GCI! This is a masterpiece of a woodie and has some amazing elements! I rode this for the first time yesterday (October 8 2023) I’ve been to Dollywood before, but the line was always way to long, but now having the time saver pass I could get on in less than 10 min! Fair warning though, at the bottom of the first hill, there is a rattle, but it’s just like a classic GCI woodie rattle! It really adds some personality to the ride, anlong with the section of straight track that goes through the station above everyone’s heads! It really does sound like thunder! And let’s talk about the trains. They are so comfortable! Even while Whipping around sharp turns and sudden hills at 55 mph my head didn’t bang ONCE this ride is a truly amazing classic and is definitely in my top ten, thank you GCI for providing such an amazing ride. -Avery

Fantastic woodie. Great airtime on this and it maintains a great pace. Almost every element on the ride tries to throw you from your seat. And unlike other GCIs, the lap bar doesn't staple you. The re...

Fantastic woodie. Great airtime on this and it maintains a great pace. Almost every element on the ride tries to throw you from your seat. And unlike other GCIs, the lap bar doesn't staple you. The retrack did wonders for this thing.

Five years ago, I left disappointed because it was a great layout but with a really rough ride. GCI makes my favorite traditional woodies, so I was anxious to try Thunderhead again this year, especia...

Five years ago, I left disappointed because it was a great layout but with a really rough ride. GCI makes my favorite traditional woodies, so I was anxious to try Thunderhead again this year, especially after its retracking. I was so frustrated to discover it was closed both days I was at Dollywood. Maybe next year.

Most smooth and comfortable wooden coaster I’ve been on. And it was intense and still had that wooden vibration and sense of being out of control. Ride it in the front and it feels like you’re out of ...

Most smooth and comfortable wooden coaster I’ve been on. And it was intense and still had that wooden vibration and sense of being out of control. Ride it in the front and it feels like you’re out of your seat half the time during the turns.

This ride blew away my expectations. I had heard it was running really well, but I didn't think it was going to be this good. The best GCI I had ridden up to this point was InvadR, so I was excited to...

This ride blew away my expectations. I had heard it was running really well, but I didn't think it was going to be this good. The best GCI I had ridden up to this point was InvadR, so I was excited to experience one of the better GCIs, and I was blown away. For starters, the lap bar on this ride is so good. Even when it locks it still has a lot of give to it, so it's super easy to get room. Compare that to InvadR which has some of the worst stapling I've experienced, and it's already an improvement. However, what really shocked me was how well this ride runs. The pacing is absolutely insane. There's basically no dead spots, and the second half especially feels like it never looses speed. The elements are also super rapid fire, which makes it feel even faster. This ride also has lots of great forces. The hill right before the station flyby gives sustained ejector, and the entrance of the second turnaround was another surprising moment of sustained ejector. The second half also has about 4 or 5 really good ejector moments, but pretty much every hill gives some kind of airtime. The laterals on the ride are also surprisingly good. The low to the ground turns in the second half are taken with a lot of speed, so you get thrown to the side a lot. This thing is super underrated an definitely the best wooden coaster I've ridden so far, not counting Lightning Rod.

This ride surprised me in a good way. I didn't go in expecting much although I had read the reviews that suggested it was worth riding. But I rode this something like 7-8x over a three day stretch in ...

This ride surprised me in a good way. I didn't go in expecting much although I had read the reviews that suggested it was worth riding. But I rode this something like 7-8x over a three day stretch in August 2023 and my daughter and I kept coming back for more. This ride feels scary, in a good way. The ride has great intensity for a wooden coaster, you get solid airtime in multiple places, there are strong G's throughout the ride and it just feels super powerful throughout a pretty long layout. Even when looking at the layout from vantage points throughout the park, you don't get any sense for how long and fun this ride will be. Definitely the second best ride at Dollywood.

This ride blew me away by how good it was! The ejector airtime moments on this thing are awesome!!! Even the smallest hills and turns can send you flying out of your seat! This is an elite woodie righ...

This ride blew me away by how good it was! The ejector airtime moments on this thing are awesome!!! Even the smallest hills and turns can send you flying out of your seat! This is an elite woodie right here!

Rode it in the front, middle and back. The airtime in the back was great. My wife, who gets motion sick was able to open her eyes in the front so it was smoother than the back as she is usually unable...

Rode it in the front, middle and back. The airtime in the back was great. My wife, who gets motion sick was able to open her eyes in the front so it was smoother than the back as she is usually unable to keep them open. There wasn’t anything unique, but it was consistently interesting and had great pace.