Defunct Coasters: Thunder Express at Dollywood

By Ashley N. Schaffer

May 24, 2021

Credit: Michael S. Horwood

Thunder Express at Dollywood is widely regarded as the very beginning of the Dollywood we know and love today. Before Wild Eagle and Lightning Rod came Thunder Express, the first outdoor coaster at Dollywood. To go with the theme of the surrounding area in the park, Thunder Express was, of course, mine themed. Situated in the back (where Tennessee Tornado is today), Thunder Express brought many riders joy throughout the years, and who could ever forget their ride on such a monumental coaster?

Before Dollywood

Unlike many of the coasters I have covered and will be covering in the future, Thunder Express did not have a life at just one park. Before coming to Dollywood, Thunder Express had a very lengthy stay at Six Flags St. Louis as River King Mine Train. Thunder Express had a very confusing history at the start. When it opened at Six Flags St. Louis, it actually had opened as two different mine train coasters side by side. By today’s standards, Thunder Express was not anything to write home about, but when it had originally opened in 1971 at Six Flags St. Louis, it was exciting enough to warrant two different tracks. In 1988, the second track was sold to Dollywood. Before that had happened, however, there had been a devastating accident on the ride while it was at Six Flags St. Louis, so no real changes have ever been made to the very simple ride model (as it is believed that shifting the ride to a standup car style instead had caused the fatal accident). The second track was not removed because of this fatal accident, but because Six Flags St. Louis had gotten another coaster to take its place. Rumors still circle around that they chose which track to remove because of the fatal accident, seeing as though the second track that was sold to Dollywood shortly after was the one that had been involved.

Dollywood Era

Credit: Michael S. Harwood

Unfortunately, even though Thunder Express was Dollywood’s first outdoor coaster, there is a serious lack of information about its time at the park. We know general specs about the ride, like its manufacturer and when it opened and closed, but documentation on the history at Dollywood is nowhere near as extensive as it was at Six Flags St. Louis. This is because it had less of a controversial history at Dollywood. We do know a few things about this coaster, however. One thing we do know is Dolly Parton’s reaction to the coaster being “My brothers and sisters and me came up with some pretty odd contraptions when we were little, but our imaginations had never conjured something up quite like this.” Dolly Parton’s reaction was pretty common for the coaster at the time of its’ opening. By today’s standards, the ride is extremely underwhelming, even compared to what is apart of Dollywood’s lineup today. It only reached about 32 feet in height, had a drop of 41 feet, and reached speeds of 37 mph. The only thing that people consider special about this ride is its feature of 3 different chain lift hills. That is often not enough for people to write home about it, especially considering the general consensus is that Thunder Express had more lift hills than actual ride time. It might be because of all of these reasons why documentation of its time at Dollywood is weak and the eventual removal of the ride for something “bigger and better”.

Where is it now?

Source: Martin Valt

At the end of the 1998 season, Dollywood announced that Thunder Express would be closing. Thunder Express would be closing because a new coaster by the same manufacturer would be taking its place, Tennessee Tornado by Arrow Dynamics. Thunder Express would now be moving to a small amusement park in Arkansas, Magic Springs. It arrived and became operational at Magic Springs in 2002, and got a new name, Big Bad John. This would be the first name change in over 20 years. Big Bad John still operates at Magic Springs today!