Myachi Makes a Triumphant Return

by Crazy Ivan

There have been a few rumors circulating over the last few weeks but nothing was definite until a few days ago.  I've been pretty stoked about it and I've been dying to let the cat out of the bag but I've been sworn to secrecy until now.

Myachi will be returning to one of our all time favorite venues this summer.  It's a place we haven't been in almost 6 years and it's also the place where I got my first taste of what it meant to be a Myachi Master.  In case you haven't already figured it out, that place would be Dollywood.

I wonder if the Diggity I lost is still somewhere behind that sign...

Dollywood is chocked full of great Myachi memories (not to mention legendary Myachi stories) but more than that, the town is full of Myachi Maniacs that haven't seen us in ages.  Every time I think about going I think about the fact that all the 10 and 12 years old that were crazy about the game are now 16 and 18 year olds (that hopefully are still crazy about the game).

Our relationship with Dollywood started way back in 2003 and we came out for their "Kids Fest" for three straight years.  In 2006 we were so busy at Universal Studios that we couldn't afford to send anyone to Tennessee for the summer and after that we started moving away from the whole theme park paradigm.  Theme parks are great, but they're seasonal.  Places like FAO are full of people year round.

But back in 2006 there were 4 and a half Myachi Masters (Animal was only part time back then) so we had to keep our forces pretty focused.  Now that we've got a team more than a dozen strong, it's a lot easier to spread out a bit.  And that's exactly what we're going to do.

Nothing is set in stone just yet, but right now it's looking very likely that our Dollywood team will consist of Pinky, Bones, Bamboo and myself.  We'll be spending our summer outdoors, sweating like crazy over pitch black asphalt, hiding from every rain shower and working from sunup until sundown.  And it will be awesome.

Pictured Above: Awesome

See, working theme parks is tough.  It's physically exhausting and I fully expect to lost about eight pounds (all in sweat) over the summer.  The hours are long, there's no air conditioning and you've got to be on your game from open to close.  But the flip side of that coin is that you're teaching and playing the whole time.  There are no boring moments.  There are no "slow times".  If there's nobody hanging around our booth at any particular moment, we'll send a couple of people over to one of the rides so they can teach people in line or we'll wander the park and look for kids who aren't having fun.

Oh, and the contests... the glorious contests.

When we were at Dollywood before we would do golf contests every 2 hours and you'd be amazed by how many people would show up.  In the biggest contests we'd have over 100 contestants.  Some people would show up every couple hours all day long.  Still others would just hang out at our booth learning, teaching and jamming all day and hop in line when the contests rolled around.

In case this article hasn't made the message clear enough, we're all really stoked to be going back.  And it's not just because that roller coaster is so ridiculously cool (but it really is).

So if you're going to be in or around Pigeon Forge Tennessee this summer between June 17th and August 7th, be sure to stop in and see us.  No word yet as to where our booth will be, but if worst comes to worst, just look for me in line at the Thunderhead Coaster.

Or, on my day off, look for me here.