Here you come again...
Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
61–70 of 218 posts
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#62The irony being, of course, that it is surrounded by an area where it is basically impossible to get by without a car. My wife and I once left Gatlinburg after a week there and our tire blew out on the way out of town. It was a Sunday morning. Literally our only option to get it replaced that day was a Walmart location 15 miles away. So we had to wait for AAA for an hour and a half to tell us we were stuck using a do…
Isn't that standard though? If I get a flat, I hop out and replace it with a spare. Then I drive to a shop to have that flat tire either patched or replaced entirely.
I know some new models don't include spares, but they often have run flats and temp sealant kits included.
What are the other options?
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly, more rails would not be useful because there is lower density in the US. Denmark is 141 persons/km^2, whereas the U.S. is about 36 persons/km^2 (census data). Even if you built train lines everywhere outside urban areas, any stop you step off at would still require a 20 minute drive to get to where you are going. (Or in your case 15!)
I'm sure that density is even lower in most of the US south
Yeah, and in the mountain west probably much lower still. I think to be useful, the numbers need to be regional
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#64Took the family to Dollywood this year and it was by far the best run theme park I've been to. I was amazed at the cleanliness, friendliness of the staff, and how well maintained everything was. The train was really cool too. One of only two times I've been able to see a real coal fired steam engine functioning.
I never really liked theme parks. They are always noisy, crowded and tacky. When I was in high school we made a family trip to Dollywood on the way to somewhere else. The fact that I remember Dollywood but don't remember our intended destination says a lot.
We all had a blast and didn't expect to love it so much. Just a fantastic place and they are doing a great job.
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#65The irony being, of course, that it is surrounded by an area where it is basically impossible to get by without a car. My wife and I once left Gatlinburg after a week there and our tire blew out on the way out of town. It was a Sunday morning. Literally our only option to get it replaced that day was a Walmart location 15 miles away. So we had to wait for AAA for an hour and a half to tell us we were stuck using a do…
Isn't that standard though? If I get a flat, I hop out and replace it with a spare. Then I drive to a shop to have that flat tire either patched or replaced entirely. I know some new models don't include spares, but they often have run flats and temp sealant kits included. What are the other options?
The problem was less that we had to replace it and more that it was a fairly significant distance away. (A distance made longer because we weren’t on the freeway but heavily trafficked roads in a tourist-heavy area.) We were near downtown Gatlinburg, and there were places that were closer, but they were all closed because it was a Sunday.
We also would have had a better shot at not having our tire blow out if the closest gas station wasn’t 10 miles away.
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't that standard though? If I get a flat, I hop out and replace it with a spare. Then I drive to a shop to have that flat tire either patched or replaced entirely. I know some new models don't include spares, but they often have run flats and temp sealant kits included. What are the other options?
The problem was less that we had to replace it and more that it was a fairly significant distance away. (A distance made longer because we weren’t on the freeway but heavily trafficked roads in a tourist-heavy area.) We were near downtown Gatlinburg, and there were places that were closer, but they were all closed because it was a Sunday. We also would have had a better shot at not having our tire blow out if the clo…
15 miles is nothing on a spare tire. I'm not sure how many poor people you've spent time around, but I regularly see Nissan sedans driving around with multiple spare donuts on them.
For some reason, it's always a Nissan.
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#67It's a dream, but I would love a small planned car free community. Bikes only, with a train station to a larger city. I think theirs a project like this in Arizona.
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly, more rails would not be useful because there is lower density in the US. Denmark is 141 persons/km^2, whereas the U.S. is about 36 persons/km^2 (census data). Even if you built train lines everywhere outside urban areas, any stop you step off at would still require a 20 minute drive to get to where you are going. (Or in your case 15!)
I'm sure that density is even lower in most of the US south
Most of the land area of almost every state is below that number, but there are 23 states below that number overall and only 3 are Southern.
Nearly all of the low population density states are out West.
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#69The irony being, of course, that it is surrounded by an area where it is basically impossible to get by without a car. My wife and I once left Gatlinburg after a week there and our tire blew out on the way out of town. It was a Sunday morning. Literally our only option to get it replaced that day was a Walmart location 15 miles away. So we had to wait for AAA for an hour and a half to tell us we were stuck using a do…
Isn't that standard though? If I get a flat, I hop out and replace it with a spare. Then I drive to a shop to have that flat tire either patched or replaced entirely. I know some new models don't include spares, but they often have run flats and temp sealant kits included. What are the other options?
Ya, changing a flat tire was once part of learning to drive. Also, manual transmissions, jumpstarting, swapping a fuse, and basic low-speed maneuvers like rocking out of snowbanks or crossing large potholes. All that is now gone. Most care owners dont know what a tow eye is, let alone where to find one. It is so bad that there are now university-level "adulting" courses for millenials. First up: changing a tire.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/adulting-101-life-skills...
Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express
#70“ I love Disney and I love Dolly Parton, but it says something deeply broken about our national priorities when their theme park trains outclass public infrastructure in billion-dollar economies. Be serious.” Europe has lots of train infrastructure because it was very poor after WW2, and its people could afford nothing but train fare. America has lots of car infrastructure because it was very rich after WS2, and its…
I came here to say this as well.
I don't know why public transit nerds can't accept that their preferences are wildly unpopular with the American public at large, why they can't understand that public transit is a substandard option for anyone who isn't a single, healthy individual of limited means in a relatively urban area (which in case it's not clear, is a tiny percentage of the US population), or why they ignore that almost every human on Earth chooses to buy a private vehicle as soon as they can afford it.