[RollerBee]

Probably the "Famous Bbq" that Country Kitchen served for years. I never tried it since I am from Lexington, NC...bbq is king in this town.

[Jarsh]

Several things to comment on...

- I agree about Chick-Fil-A. A huge air conditioned building wasting away on the second busiest day. And when did every sit down restaurant in the park have to become something we could get anywhere else? That's one of the main things I like about Dollywood. I can't get that kind of food anywhere else so that's part of the reason I like to go back. I think Dippin Dots is the most name brand food place in all of the Dollywood properties.

- I couldn't tell if there was sarcasm in the concrete markings comment or not, but working in the construction industry, I can tell you that you are correct in your assumptions about the concrete markings. The BH is bore hole at the center of the cross hairs, the C33L is the left column marked C33 that goes there (it isn't a lift hill column because I think those have a different prefix other than C), and the EL is the elevation above sea level. It's what all contruction companies use to make sure the top of the footers are poured at the correct level for the column height at that location.

- And the Harmony Hall is a total let down so far. I work for a metal buildings manufacturer so we supply things like this everyday. The areas that are covered in plywood are for masonry/glass. Unfourtunately it looks like that hideous, yellow/tan wall panel is the final deal. I'll save final judgement for when all is said and done, but it's starting to look like Intimidator was shoehorned into a back alleyway or something.

- Looks like Dora might get re-routed into the area between Intimidator's lift and the brakes. Not sure why they would be doing actual construction work there if they weren't.

- Chickie's & Pete's: The building looks nice since it's been enclosed, although unless they redo the rest of the area to be more "Cape Cod" instead of Outer Banks, it's gonna stick out kinda. And JESUS at the prices on the menu! I know things cost a lot nowadays, but dayum...$15 for some nachos with meat on them?!?! Ouch.

- Skycoaster looks pathetic. I mean, Kings Island built a brand new coaster, repainted/rethemed another coaster AND still managed to get their SkyCoaster repainted. It almost seems like the park took on too much this off season and couldn't get it all done. New buildings, repainting a few things, Hurler, moving the SkyCoaster, the water slides, etc... Hell, that's more than most parks try to take on in two years.

[redrunner97]

I agree with all of the chick-fil-a comments. The air conditioned space could be used for a much better purpose.

I, Personally, will not eat at any Chick-Fil-A after the shenanigans they pulled last year. Much less pay amusement park prices for it... Smh.

[shoey82]

Perhaps with the opening of Harmony Hall, the park simply didnt want to have to have 3 big indoor places, Wing, Country Kitchen and Harmony Hall and only could handle or only wanted to handle 2. While right now it seems like this huge thing because they are only open Fri-Sun, it seems pretty stupid, but in the "big" picture, it is simply one day out of 7 they will be open and once Harmony Hall is opened, It wont be that big of a deal into future seasons since Chic/Petes and Harmony will be opened by then. Just my thoughts

[Bigcoasterguy]

The only problem I have with the chick fila is that they put it in a stand alone building with AC knowing they close on Sunday. I support Chick Fila in their decision to stand by their beliefs despite loss in business and Im sure CF makes enough money off it on the days it is open.

[chknwing]

ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS IF I CAN STILL GET A SMOKED TURKEY LEG AT CAROWINDS

[pproteinc]

ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS IF I CAN STILL GET A SMOKED TURKEY LEG AT CAROWINDS

My thoughts exactly!! Or do I have to wait every May for the fair to come and indulge there.

As for Harmony Hall, when I first seen that ugly yellow siding, I had an uneasy feeling that would be the product of choice. It looks cheap. Maybe it'll look better when or if they add landscaping such as big trees to cover it and colored flowers, but I won't hold my breath on huge trees, maybe the cute ones they've been planting.

As much as I love Chickies and Pete's those prices are a bit much. I know I shouldn't be surprised, I'm sure I'd be indulging only because its the only franchise down south.

Hmmmm Chick Fil A? No Comment.

[arby]

Thanks for the pics and updates, Jay. One day I'll get some posted. I was only at the park for a short time on Sat (just to peek over the fence when I dropped some kids off, actually) so I didn't even walk around the park. It was way too busy and I was on a time crunch.

I have eaten at Chic-fil-a one time since last year, and that was only because of their great customer service. Otherwise, we usually drive past them because of what they pulled last year. In-n-Out would have been a much better choice instead of Chic-fil-a.

Lots of people apparently like to pay more for a known restaurant inside a park, but I agree with what Jarsh said and usually refuse to eat at a restaurant inside of a park that I can go to outside of the park. We love Cinnabon but why pay $6 more for a six-pack when I can stop by Carolina Place Mall on the way home? Come up with a home-made bakery and your own signature cinnamon rolls and I'll be all over them even for a premium price. Despite the high prices, kudos to the Chickie's and Pete's since that is unique to the area.

Now that the siding has gone up, I share the sentiment on Harmony Hall. That $7 mil must have been across the board for restaurant improvements because HH doesn't look to be over a $1 mil building. Hopefully it's just a shell and I'll have to eat my words but right now it looks cheap. In fact I priced a building like that to store my RV in (30' by 45') and it was under six figures, installed, including foundation and slab work.

[Firechaser]

I agree with every thing chick fil a has done call me a hater if that is what you think.

[Jay]

Unsurprisingly, we got way off topic.

Code of Conduct says...

15. Political and Religious Discussions
This forum does have an Off Topic section, but this does not extend to discussions surrounding political or religious issues. The prime purpose of this site is to discuss Carowinds, and controversial topics such as these bring out the worst in everyone on the Internet. This rule includes usernames, avatars, signatures, and profiles; these fields cannot be used to make political or religious statements.

Now that that's out of the way, Chick-Fil-A is free to open or close on whatever days they wish, that doesn't bother me. It's Carowinds knowing this, and still deciding to put it in their largest air-conditioned building that bothers me.

Perhaps with the opening of Harmony Hall, the park simply didnt want to have to have 3 big indoor places, Wing, Country Kitchen and Harmony Hall and only could handle or only wanted to handle 2. While right now it seems like this huge thing because they are only open Fri-Sun, it seems pretty stupid, but in the "big" picture, it is simply one day out of 7 they will be open and once Harmony Hall is opened, It wont be that big of a deal into future seasons since Chic/Petes and Harmony will be opened by then. Just my thoughts

Based on everything they are doing this doesn't make a lick of sense. They are adding the giga to increase the attendance. To keep all those people fed they need to make the food better, and increase the through-put for the restaurants. When one of the primary restaurants is closed, this hinders through-put. It's pretty much like if Intimidator only ran one train on Sundays. Even when the park does move to daily operation, Sunday will still be the 2nd busiest day of the week.

The entire goal is to 1) get more people in the gate 2) keep those people in the park as long as possible 3) keep those people (moderately) happy. These are things Roller Coaster Tycoon taught me anyway.

Oh yeah.. footer markings too. Exciting right?

[Wormy]

In case you’re wondering, the second marking Jay found was in this area. Pretty sure that doesn’t cut straight through the Paladium.

marking2.jpg (441.87 KiB) Viewed 4798 times

I didn’t pay much attention to the stand in the “poultry section” between Chick-fil-A and the Chicken Shack, but I don’t think they’re smoking the turkey legs just yet.

[Chris]

[Jay]

I think it was just East of that Doug. Right on the corner there.

The White "x"-es are paint, the Orange "x"-es were where I saw stakes. Going to have to look through my pics more to see if I see any others.

markings.png (1.3 MiB) Viewed 4771 times

[swampfox43]

I'm thinkin' it's gonna be a sweet view driving in towards the toll booths. Kinda like what SFoG did with Goliath. I wonder what the construction code for TUNNEL is? Those earlier blueprints had a ride tunnel somewhere in the vicinity of the lower right yellow and white x.

Also looks like maybe the ride will turn right and take a similar style path as Intimidator. Pure speculation at this point though.

[Jonathan]

To me it continues to look more and more like this is going to be extremely close in layout to Leviathan. I can pretty much picture how the entire thing might look in my head at this point.