Dollywood has evolved greatly over the years. The beloved theme park has added new rides and experiences to keep visitors entertained and eager to return − but to stay agile, it's had to phase out elements, too.
Older or unsuccessful attractions have gone to the amusement park graveyard, replaced by thrilling newer additions. But some of the ones we've lost have resulted in a rollercoaster-shaped hole in our hearts. Others leave behind nostalgic memories of visits to Dollywood past. And a few, we'll admit, maybe we don't miss so much after all.
Join us in taking a look back at a few of the rides that were once at Dollywood, but are there no more.
Flooded Mine
A holdover from when Dollywood was Silver Dollar City, the Flooded Mine was a dark water ride that
took you past prisoners at work in a flooding coal mine. "You sweat a little water and you sweat a little blood, and you might get out if the mine don't flood," went the ditty that played as you traveled through.
One student described the ride in a 1997 edition of the McLean County News out of Calhoun, Kentucky. "It was alot neater than other rides I had went on all day," wrote Tyler Fielden. "On one sign it said, live canary and there would be no gas leaks. But, there was a canary dead in the cave."
Ultimately, the Flooded Mine was filled in to make space for Daredevil Falls, according to the Johnson City Press. Daredevil Falls opened in 1998.
Mountain Slidewinder
Dollywood opened in 1986, and the very next year, it launched an expansion called Daydream Ridge, according to ads in the Knoxville News Sentinel. The new park section included the new Mountain Slidewinder, a toboggan ride down a chute with many twists and turns that dumped out into a 150-foot-long lake.
Dolly Parton herself rode the new attraction at a press conference ahead of opening of the park for its second season. "Is my hair still on?" the News Sentinel reported her asking afterward.
The Slidewinder had many years of success but ultimately met its end in the 2010s. It was taken off the Dollywood website some time between September 2018 and March 2019. "At 82, I would still ride it if they hadn't removed it!" commented one Facebook user on a post remembering the ride.
Timber Tower
The $6.5 million Timber Tower opened in 2006 and was considered the only ride of its kind in the nation, the News Sentinel reported that year. Riders would be swung side-to-side and rotate at the same time.
Timber Tower was in a 5,100-square-foot pond, and when it tilted passengers they would be up close with a giant saw blade, a bear cave, a water geyser, a beaver dam and a log jam. The attraction was part of the Timber Canyon area near Thunderhead.
In June 2007, the ride malfunctioned, leaving 38 riders stranded around 60 feet in the air for over three and a half hours. Although no one was injured, the Pigeon Forge and Sevierville fire departments had to help move individual passengers to safety.
The ride was closed in 2011, and the same year, Dollywood filed a $500,000 lawsuit against its German manufacturer, HUSS Park Attractions, claiming the ride did not work properly and was not satisfactorily repaired.
River Battle
River Battle cost $5 million and opened in 2008.
At the opening ceremonies of Dollywood's 23rd season, Parton, protected by a red rain jacket and sunglasses, rode the new attraction, a water ride with rafts where passengers could use soaker guns to spray water at targets − plus onlookers and other passengers. "Don't you hit me," she quipped to the children riding along with her. "Although I got my raincoat on, I'd just soon not get wet because I might fall apart."
By 2017, it had been announced that the Plaza at Wilderness Pass would be taking the place where River Battle had been previously.
Hayden Dunbar Evans is the storyteller reporter. Email: hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxstoryteller.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Four nostalgic Dollywood attractions you can't ride anymore
