Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Hydraulic lap barslap bar only, no shoulder bars 3,990 ft of tracklonger than Lightning Rod's 3,800

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Big Bear Mountain

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“Fun floater airtime, long layout.”

POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
I especially love going under the water fall!
a joyous little tune playing throughout
What riders love
  • At 39in many 3 year olds can enjoy this ride, and, considering this restriction on intensity, I’m amazed how awesome it is for adults too.
  • I had no idea family coasters could be THIS good, but Big Bear's interactive storytelling, amazing launches, and long, enjoyable layout showed me that they could very well be.
  • If I was younger, this would be my favorite ride on the planet.
  • The launches are definitely nice, and the view is great too, but the fact that the ride is very nicely paced and gives you a really nice long ride is probably the best part about it.
  • It has some nice floater airtimes sprinkled throughout, but its pacing and duration is really impressive.
  • Reaaaalllly long and fun, with some good launches to boot.
  • The launches are more intense than I was expecting, and there lots of fast-paced transitions and decent positives.
  • The launches are all punchy and the layout has some great moments in the first half.
  • It has multiple launches that will send you up large airtime hills and around sharp curves.
Big Bear Mountain Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

Big Bear Mountain | Dollywood | Full Ride POV | Front Row | 4K

youtube.com › Michael Nelson

Big Bear Mountain On-Ride POV [4K] Dollywood 2023 Back Row

youtube.com › Haunt experience

Big Bear Mountain POV 5K SCENIC Family Coaster! Dollywood, TN

youtube.com › East Coasters

Big Bear Mountain 4K off-ride Dollywood

youtube.com › CoasterForce

Big Bear Mountain Review | Dollywood's Groundbreaking Vekoma Family Multi-Launch Coaster

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

First Ride Reaction Of Big Bear Mountain Roller Coaster At Dollywood

youtube.com › Adventure Is Out There

Dollywood's Big Bear Mountain / 3 year old FIRST RIDE + REVIEW

youtube.com › Coffee Family

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Dollywood

It has some nice floater airtimes sprinkled throughout, but its pacing and duration is really impressive.

Ryan Hanna

Fun floater airtime, long layout.

Sam Palermo

The launches are fairly weak, and the profiling on the hills makes it so that there is no airtime to be found on the entire ride, even though they had potential for some.

A Wild Walter

I wish it had a few moments of airtime, but it’s not a big deal, it’s still a great time overall.

MapleFlakes

It’s a lot of fun, has some great launches, comfortable trains/restraints, nice theming, and is just so smooth and easy to ride.

Your Coaster Friend

It has an incredibly smooth, long layout with some fun twists and turns and a couple solid launches.

MapleFlakes

the whole ride is incredibly smooth, and the three launches are well placed and the perfect speed for the intensity of the ride.

Rowan L.

4 solid launches, really long ride, glass smooth, and of course that amazing soundtrack

Gwazi Three Two Five

I can say that Big Bear Mountain is glossy smooth, zero complaints, 10 rating.

XscreamThrills

I really loved the smooth, quick feeling it had.

@emilyskelton5484

The launches are more intense than I was expecting, and there lots of fast-paced transitions and decent positives.

Ben Lilly

Big Bear also has surprisingly whippy transitions in some parts of the ride and one pretty strong sustained helix for a family thrill ride, which can catch you off guard.

HockeyNinja

At 39in many 3 year olds can enjoy this ride, and, considering this restriction on intensity, I’m amazed how awesome it is for adults too.

Andrew Price

While I don’t believe this is a bad ride whatsoever, I do think that it is way overhyped and provides very mild thrills.

b 335

so this is quite possibaly the greatest family coaster ever, the launches arent powerful but i do feel the speed.

markerman yeahh

...are quite forceful and while the rest of the ride doesn’t pull much force, it’s an extremely long ride that is packed full of fluid transitions and fun elements and it never seems to lose its pace.

Carter Eckhart

The speed of this coaster is definitely a strength, and you definitely feel some strong G forces.

Ian Alspaugh

It has a very long layout, good speed and pacing, and some really fun launches.

Rollertoaster

Great positives, phenomenal sense of speed, surprising laterals, excellent launches, and awesome onboard audio.

@justiceleaguebattleformetr9239

I was impressed with the ride ops too, and maybe it’s because of the ride’s newness, but I rode it three times the day I went and every time I only waited half the posted wait time.

Ethan Finn

It’s extremely long, with punchy launches, and it had generally short lines when I went.

CoasterBroCam

Should’ve been called Line Mountain because of constant downtime and sad capacity.

roller rider

Long lines are pretty consistent throughout the day and time-saver options are limited, but while you may lose an hour waiting, you won’t lose the day and it is worth it at least 1x on a visit to...

Sean Reardon

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

66 ftHeight
210 Wild Eagle 164 LightningRod 163 TennesseeTornado 100 Thunderhead 85 MysteryMine 66 Big BearMountain
48 mphTop speed
Lightning Rod73 TennesseeTornado63 Wild Eagle61 Thunderhead54 Big BearMountain48 Mystery Mine44 073 mph
0Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

FunSmooth rideLong rideGreat launchGreat themingFeels fast

Criticised for

Little airtimeWeak theming

One of the best family thrill coasters that I think I have ever been on.

HockeyNinja, Captain Coaster review

While I don’t believe this is a bad ride whatsoever, I do think that it is way overhyped and provides very mild thrills.

b 335, Captain Coaster review

It’s a bit forceful on the launches, and it has a long layout with a killer soundtrack!

Sena Coasters, Captain Coaster review

I had no idea family coasters could be THIS good, but Big Bear’s interactive storytelling, amazing launches, and long, enjoyable layout showed me that they could very well be.

Anthony DeNight Jr., Captain Coaster review

The launches are all punchy and the layout has some great moments in the first half.

Chris Jones, Captain Coaster review

I think the best part about this coaster is the long ride time.

Sam Dickson, Captain Coaster review

Photos

Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Roc0ast3r, CC0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Roc0ast3r, CC0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Roc0ast3r, CC0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Roc0ast3r, CC0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Freddo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Freddo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood
Roc0ast3r, CC0

10 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

May 12, 2023Opened

Built by Vekoma.

$25 millionTo build

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 4 polls, 2023 to 2026

37th2023, its first poll
32nd2024, its best placing
40th2026, most recent

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, youtube.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Freddo (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0), Roc0ast3r (CC0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

Quote at the top of the page: Sam Palermo, Captain Coaster review.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Your Coaster Friend, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I watched 6yr olds get on this, looking terrified…”; Andrew Price, rider review on Captain Coaster: “At 39in many 3 year olds can enjoy this…”; Anthony DeNight Jr., rider review on Captain Coaster: “I had no idea family coasters could be THIS…”; Finn V., rider review on Captain Coaster: “If I was younger, this would be my favorite…”; Ethan Finn, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It’s lengthy, which makes for a good value, and…”; Sam Dickson, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The launches are definitely nice, and the view is…”; Ryan Hanna, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It has some nice floater airtimes sprinkled throughout, but…”; Birb from not Canada, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Reaaaalllly long and fun, with some good launches to…”; Salem Newman, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It's a silky smooth ride with a surprising amount…”; Ben Lilly, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The launches are more intense than I was expecting,…”; Chris Jones, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The launches are all punchy and the layout has…”; Ian Alspaugh, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It has multiple launches that will send you up…”; Thunderbolt, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I especially love going under the water fall!”; MapleFlakes, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I'm a sucker for onboard audio, and this ride…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: Haunt experience's back row POV, Big Bear Mountain On-Ride POV [4K] Dollywood 2023 Back Row (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.