Gadling

The Mystery Mine at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is a ride I'm just going to have to go on one of these days. Not only is it a roller coaster, it has some sort of light show as a feature. The theme of this 2 ½ minute ride is an abandoned mine that takes you on a journey of a vertical climb followed by 55 mph of straight down tracks-think 95 degrees. Then there's a feature called the "heart-line roll" and another called a "roll-over loop."

This is the first such roller coaster in the United States. According to the description of it, this is a Gerstlauer's Euro-fighter ride which adds a twist to the interactive experience. If you spend some time on the Mystery Mine Web site, you can watch a series of videos of a man telling a story of the mine to two children in the tradition of a campfire ghost story. There's also a cool mine animation video complete with mood music, screaming, and roller coaster wheels clickety-clackiting against the track noises.

In pure ghost story spirit, the ride opened on Friday, April 13 (Friday the 13th). The first 56 people who road the rollercoaster paid $625 each for the experience as a way to raise money for charity.

Filed under: Business, Festivals and Events, North America, United States