Dollywood's Splash Country guests soon will have an opportunity to take the plunge--the Big Bear Plunge--when the water park introduces its new $1.4 million attraction in June 2004.
Construction is under way on Big Bear Plunge, a white water rafting experience that takes passengers on a 548-foot-long ride through dark caverns featuring winding bends and steep drops reminiscent of challenging river expeditions.
"With our Big Bear Plunge, we've brought all of the thrills and excitement of white water rafting right here to Dollywood's Splash Country," said Dolly. "It's a great way for families to enjoy one of the most fun outdoor adventures we have to offer here in the Great Smoky Mountains."
The attraction will anchor Big Bear Ridge, a new themed area reminiscent of the Smoky Mountain's turn-of-the-century logging industry. A vital mode of transportation, the region's many rivers once fueled thriving commerce as the mountains' timber was harvested. Big Bear Plunge will offer passengers an adventure-filled white water experience as it travels a man-made waterway featuring design elements that make it similar to those once used to transport lumber through the rugged mountain terrain.
Passengers will take in the scenery as open 10-foot-wide channel sections send the rafts downriver banking through the tree tops before plunging into total darkness in a nine-foot-diameter tunnel. Accompanied only by the sounds of gushing water and echoing screams, the rafts are then dropped into a 12-foot-diameter tunnel before they are propelled upward around a seemingly never-ending sweeping curve before crashing through a wall of fog. Finally, the rafts re-emerge into daylight where they unexpectedly plunge down multi-bump cliff drops before splashing into the pool at the ride's conclusion.
Each high-speed raft will accommodate a maximum of five passengers, and powerful water volumes will move rafts at a speed of 18 feet per second allowing the ride to serve up to 1,000 passengers an hour. Big Bear Plunge is designed by Ontario-based ProSlide.
Taking its name from the Smoky Mountains' popular American Black Bear, Big Bear Plunge will be located adjacent to the Downbound Float Trip--the water park's lazy river--and the Mountain Waves wave pool.
Big Bear Plunge follows the successful 2003 addition of Raintree Hollow, a $1.5 million two-acre area featuring a large interactive water attraction for small children and a multi-slide complex.