Big Bear Mountain is the new-for-2023 family coaster at Dollywood. This multi-launch coaster
is an important addition. For Vekoma, it shows the US market just how much their newer coasters
have progressed in the quality department. For Dollywood, this was the park’s biggest
investment ever. And early reports have been quite positive. Some have proclaimed this ride the best
family coaster out there. Is it that good? Find out in this review of Big Bear Mountain.
Wildwood Grove opened in 2019 at a cost of $37 million. This 5 acre land was targeted towards
kids and families. Built atop the hill overlooking Timber Canyon, this was a colorful land featuring
a series of flat rides, an indoor play area, and most notably, the Dragonflier roller coaster.
The latter was a Vekoma family suspended coaster. Guests love
the coaster’s smooth and graceful ride. While this area was a really nice addition,
there were two criticisms. One, Wildwood Grove had barely any shade. That’s cruel irony for a land
with grove in the name. The park has planted trees, but they’ll take time to grow in.
Second, it was clear the land wasn’t finished. There was a huge plot behind Dragonflier that
looked ripe for a new attraction. And that finally came in 2023 with Big Bear Mountain.
Leading up to the ride’s announcement, coaster enthusiasts dreamed of a major thrill coaster-
specifically a Mack Xtreme Spinner given the success of Time Traveler at another Herschend
property in Silver Dollar City. While I would absolutely love to see one added in the future,
I don’t think that would have been the best fit at the park at this time.
First, Wildwood Grove is a family area. So adding a major thrill coaster wouldn’t fit in with the
land’s overall vision. Second, Dollywood really
needed another family coaster. If you look at the park’s wait times,
two of the longest lines in the park are typically for the aforementioned Dragonflier and also for
FireChaser Express. These are two great family coasters. For one, they have super low height
limits at just 39 inches, meaning kids as young as age 4 should be able to ride. But they also
are enjoyable for older guests as they offer super smooth rides with some thrill elements mixed in.
Big Bear Mountain was built very much in that mold and gives the park some extra capacity in
the family department. It has an identically low height limit to the park’s prior family coasters
and it packs a lot in. This coaster features 3 launches and 3990 feet or 1220 meters of track.
The latter actually makes it the park’s longest overall coaster, just beating Lightning Rod.
This also was a significant ride for Vekoma. This Dutch manufacturer developed
an infamous reputation in the coaster community for building cloned coasters that tended to be
on the rougher side. Just look at the countless SLCs and boomerangs out there. There were two
exceptions in the US market though. One, they always could make a smooth junior coaster.
Two, their coasters at the Disney parks were smooth. Maybe it was the extra
budget or maybe it was the magic of the mouse. Over the past decade, Vekoma has had a renaissance
of sorts. While their sales were still strong up to that point, their overall ride quality took
a major step forward. They improved their trains, track fabrication, and layouts. This has resulted
in some of the smoothest coasters out there. Vekoma gave us a taste of that with Dragonflier.
And Big Bear Mountain is similarly smooth while offering a custom and more expansive layout.
The coaster carves along a hillside in the back of Wildwood Grove. While the coaster is just 66 feet
or 20 meters tall, it looks a bit taller because of the terrain use and sheer size of the ride.
This thing covers a ton of ground. It also looks the part. The bright orange
track really pops. And it adds so much energy to Wildwood Grove seeing the coaster winding about.
It also makes for a more memorable entrance into the area since you see the coaster
whizzing past this beautiful waterfall. Don’t get used to too much scenery though.
Dollywood had to chop down countless trees to fit this ride. This had led to the coaster
being nicknamed Big Bare Mountain, with bare being spelled b-a-r-e. And I sort of get why. While you
have more trees behind the ride, the layout itself takes place on a fairly open hillside.
But much like the rest of Wildwood Grove, I think this is something that the park will
fix in the future. It will just take time for the landscaping to grow in.
The trains look good too. They are designed to look like trucks and they have two extra
features. First, they have working headlights and taillights. I could
see them in daylight, but I imagine they’ll look especially sweet once the sun goes down.
Second, the coaster has on-board audio. It has a nice musical score combined with narration.
The latter delivers one bear pun after another. Is it corny? Undoubtedly,
but it does help the pacing as you hear the guide barking out orders adding a degree of urgency.
It also helps make up for the lack of woodsy visuals throughout a majority of the layout.
The physical theming during the pre-boarding experience is pretty good though. The ride has
an expedition theme. You pass a series of tents with some camping gear and signage about the
mythical big bear. And that’s good because the coaster has been consistently pulling hour-long
waits thus far. While the boost of the new attraction is contributing to that at the moment,
I think this ride will have staying power and remain one of the park’s most popular rides.
Big Bear Mountain has 2 trains. Each holds a max of 20 riders across 10 rows of 2.
This gives it better capacity than the park’s other family coasters. And dispatches occur
like clockwork. The restraints are simple and the employees can check them quite quickly.
So what is the best way to avoid a long wait? I didn’t try hitting BigBear at opening because
I have a rule when I visit Dollywood. If you see Lightning Rod operational,
ride that immediately because you never know when that ride may breakdown. But I believe
you can get on quick if you arrive early and are at the front of the rope drop crowd.
One method I can confirm works well is to hop in line right before closing.
The line is kept open right until the park’s official closing time.
On a day when the queue was routinely posted at 60-75 minutes, we got on in roughly 25 minutes.
It is worth noting that Big Bear is currently excluded from Timesaver, the park’s paid
skip-the-line system. The coaster has a dedicated Timesaver queue in place, so it’s clear it will be
offered in the future. I suspect the park may wait out the initial summer rush before adding it.
When you reach the station, you are assigned a row. Like many coasters at Dollywood,
staff members are happy to honor seating requests if you have a preference. I tried
this coaster in both the very front and very back. I didn’t think the experience varied too much,
but I would recommend the front for smaller guests if they want that unobstructed view.
Once seated, you have just a lap bar. This will comfortably rest of the lap of smaller guests,
but if you’re on the taller or larger side, it may rest on your thigh instead.
Now let’s jump into the ride experience. Big Bear Mountain starts with a launch out
of the station. There’s no official countdown, but the operators will give you a heads up when
you’re about to blast off. This initial launch is fairly weak, but that’s understandable.
The later two are the far more powerful ones that send you into the main layout.
I do like how this one has sounds of trucks revving at least!
It is worth noting Vekoma decided to use linear induction motors or LIMs for the launch. This
is a magnetic launch system that was frequently used by Premier Rides on their earliest coasters.
Most manufacturers have now switched to linear synchronous motors or LSMs for their magnetic
launches, where they put magnets on the trains themselves. Vekoma wanted to keep the weight
of their coaster trains down, which is why they went back to the LIM system.
After that first launch, you have a gentle curve left that brings you into launch 2.
This is an LIM boost that has a nice kick to it. This is followed by a twisted double up. And I
think this is a good time to talk about this ride’s airtime, or lack thereof.
When this coaster was announced, I expected it would be on par with something like Manta at
SeaWorld San Diego. I thought Big Bear would have the height of a family coaster yet offer a dozen
or so airtime pops. But that’s not the case. All of the elements are really elongated and
gradual. You come about as close as you possibly can to getting airtime without actually coming out
of your seat if that makes sense. That would be an absolute failure for a major thrill coaster,
but that’s ok for a family coaster like this. Besides,
if you want a family coaster with airtime, you have Firechaser Express just across the park.
Big Bear does maintain good pace through the attraction though,
which is mighty impressive considering just how much track the ride features.
After that double up, you dip down to the ground getting a smidge of positive Gs.
Then comes this reverse wave turn of sorts, which is quite odd to see on a family coaster.
It’s a neat visual and if you’re in back, you’ll actually get a teeny pop of airtime.
You then have a fun s-hill that drops down the hill. Not only that,
it then careens through the one theming element during the main layout- the rocky waterfall. It’s
a fabulous near-miss and I wish more of that had been incorporated into the experience.
You’ll then zip over a little speed hill. Again, no airtime,
but you at least hear the roar of a bear. You then twist upwards and pass over the rock
cavern you previously went through. Then you have this stretched out double down hugging the ground.
While the dips aren’t too crazy, the turn that follows has another light dose of positives.
This is immediately followed by two more bunny hills further dropping down the hill.
I really do like this coaster’s use of terrain.
At this point, most family coasters would be wrapping up, but Big Bear is just halfway done.
You hop upwards into launch 3. This is another decently forceful launch. This,
along with launch 2, are easily the highlight of the coaster for me.
You then traverse the ride’s largest hill, which goes right over the coaster’s entry plaza.
You then have another double down back to ground level. Yet again, the turn that follows is
actually more interesting. It has some solid laterals and also piles on some positive Gs.
You also really feel the coaster’s speed here. Next comes another reverse wave turn that again
gives a little pop of air for those in back. Then you have an s-hill over the brake run. It’s
stretched out to eliminate forces, but it still surprised me with the quick directional change.
You then hit the far turnaround, which also applies some light positives.
Then you have a series of small humps in a row that gracefully undulate the train.
Now it’s time for the finale. You have a tight upwards helix that has offers some Gs.
Then you dive beneath the pathway, hearing the bear roar once again, and then you climb into
the final brake run after about 80 seconds of prime ride time. That’s good for any coaster,
especially a family coaster. You then return to the station, ending the experience.
Now let’s talk about the smoothness and pacing. Big Bear Mountain is immaculately
smooth. You won’t find a hint of a rattle here nary a bad transition.
This ride was brilliantly designed and it just flows so nicely from element to element.
As for pacing, this ride moves at a good clip throughout.
The three launches play a big role in that, but the coaster also uses the terrain strategically,
particularly in the first half, to maintain its pace. This keeps the ride exciting. Even though
it’s not as forceful as I may have liked, you just keep breezing through different maneuvers.
So what would I rate Big Bear Mountain? I would give this coaster an 8 out of 10. I’m
grading this against family coasters. This is well above average for the genre. This Vekoma
has substantial length, some punchy launches, and nice pacing. I also really like the terrain
usage and on-board audio. The latter are two things I wish more coasters utilized because
they really help elevate the experience. While the coaster didn’t have the airtime I expected,
I am willing to give this coaster a pass in that department. It does so much else well
and manages to offer an engaging experience. Now I personally prefer FireChaser Express
to Big Bear Mountain, but I think more people seem to prefer Big Bear Mountain. Either way,
it’s truly remarkable to have two of the best family coasters out there in the same park.
I would have loved to have visited Dollywood as a kid and having these available for me.
So those are my thoughts on Big Bear Mountain, the newest coaster at Dollywood. What are your
thoughts on this multi-launch coaster. Do you think it’s one of the best family coasters out
there? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it
if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot more roller
coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!