This ride system looks really interesting in theory, but it's clearly not what Epic needs at all. If we had actually gotten an outdoor 'Rockin' Boat' Creature ride, we'd probably be stuck with a second Mine Cart Madness. Low capacity, operationally challenged, new and expensive, and down at the first drop of rain. I think it was the right call to look to other ride systems.
For Dollywood, I can certainly hope they can get everything together here. I've been looking forward to this one for awhile. My family was going to take the trip down this summer to see it, but ended up skipping this year as it didn't seem to be opening anytime soon. I'm sure both Dollywood and USH penny counters have had their nails embedded in their armrests watching the entire summer fly by without their big rides open to bring in that critical revenue.