© DollywoodWelcome back coaster fans. I'm back on the blog-scape to present this two-months' worth of the Coaster of the Month. For the July-August period, I have chosen to review the Dollywood GCI blockbuster, Thunderhead.

I first encountered this magnificent woodie in Summer of 2006. It was 2 years after its unpresidented debut, making top ten wooden coaster lists and was the best new wooden coaster that year. And who can blame the rankers?

Dollywood certainly chose wisely in choosing GCI to conjur up an original woodie with that southern charm and theming. Sitting in the newest section of the park, Thunderhead Gap, the ride is named after what weatherman call the frontside of an incoming summer thunderstorm. The racket the Millennium Flyer trains make as they fly along the 3200' course makes you think you're in one. Among the amendities this forest side woodie brings is an S-curve first drop, tons of cross overs and high banked turns, and more uniquely, the first station fly through. Midway through the course, the train makes a fan turn behind the station where it lines up and thunders through, 8 ft above guests at 40 mph.

Riders will find Thunderhead by heading left from the front entrance where you just follow the path until you see the wooden tracks of Thunderhead. Once seated in the 12 car, single bench articulated trains, the thumbs up is given and the adventure begins. Straight out of the station, the train makes a unbanked, downward helix heading below the station, makes a small rise coupled with an s-curve to the right, and engages the 100 ft lift. With the ride buried in a valley, its easy to mis-judge the 10 story height at which you will be dropped from. As soon as the lift is crested, the stylish trains angle down and bank hard, reaching the bottom at 53.7 mph. A few s-curves have riders at the top of the first fan turn, circling around to the right. After aimed back at the lift, the train plummets through the other wood track and supports, only to rise again and curl upwards to the left, rising above the lift. The train goes towards the outer edge of its course by making a banked dive aside the loading station. A short straight-away allows riders to pose for the onride photo. After creating the ultimate photo, the train races around another fanturn to the right, ready to dive back down and into the station. Riders rocket passed the waiting train and riders with cheers all around. Its short lived, however, as the train thunders down a drop back into the main layout. The train darts up and down, right and left as it bridges the valley of the first drop. A helix whips riders around for 360 degrees of woodie craziness. As the train heads over the first valley again, the wood track heads below but mirroring the first fan turn. The final dive angles back towards the crest of the lift only to make a high banked turn to become parallel with the lift and into the final brakes. After passing through the train storage shed, riders finally disembark at the station, with the possibility of the other train rattling overhead.

This is definately a woodie every coaster enthusiast should ride. Its a non-stop fast paced layout, the Millennium Flyers do great in maneuvering through the course, and in one of the best run parks in the US.