Dollywood, TN

I guess there are two kinds of families in the world: those who go to amusement parks and those who don’t. I grew up in a family that didn’t do amusement parks often at all. My family now goes much more often, but probably still only once a year. Two family members love them and two family members like them about as much as mayonnaise. (Yes, someone actually made the comparison a few years ago.)

When we lived in Pennsylvania before having kids, I had been to Hershey Park several times. It became the standard by which I measured every other theme park.

Since our boys have now been to Hershey Park two or three times, they will still ask, “Is it like Hershey?” or “Compared to Hershey, does it have better coasters?”

For summer vacation last year, we went on a whirlwind road trip and decided we needed a day at an amusement park to let off some serious steam. Where to this time? We decided to pass on two parks we had enjoyed before. We chose a new experience that was directly on our route— Dollywood!

Dollywood is a cute theme park located in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Yes, I said cute. I had wondered how Dollywood would organize a whole park around one twentieth-century singer-songwriter. The best way to express my thoughts is: cute. The theme park keeps Dolly Parton’s story central throughout. I thought it might feel a little Hollywood or Las Vegas, but it wasn’t. Far from it. It was a fun mix of quaint Americana scenery, representative of Dolly’s love for the area, her family, and music.

Uniquely Dolly

Upon entering, we noticed some things that were uniquely Dollywood. We saw her signature butterfly all around the park. Butterflies served as a constant reminder of where we were and whose home we were visiting, much like Mickey’s ears at Disney.  The park’s storefronts and vendors are all in Smoky Mountain-themed buildings: rustic yet picturesque to remind you of Dolly’s Smoky Mountain upbringing.

We bought our tickets when we got to the park in the morning. We wanted to go on a weekday so that the crowds would be smaller than on the weekend. I’m glad we were able to organize our trip that way because our waiting times in line weren't terrible. We didn’t want to spend the extra money for the expedited lines. It might have been worth it on the weekend, but we were able to get through most of the lines in 10 to 20 minutes.

The good news about the ticket prices was that they had a military rate. The bummer was that the only thing with a military discount was the park tickets. There were no military discounts on the restaurants or vendors in the park. We played at both parks (back to that in a bit), so there was a little discount for bundling our tickets.

Park Highlights

Dollywood is fun. It reminded me of an average Six Flags amusement park, but with Dolly Parton “vibes” everywhere. The ride themes are all based on being in the Great Smoky Mountains.

You like the flume? Go to Daredevil Falls in Craftsman’s Valley. The pirate ship? Check out the Great Tree Swing in Wildwood Grove. Rollercoasters? The FireChaser Express was one of our favorites (slower) or the Wild Eagle (well, wild) in Wilderness Pass.

We entered the park through the designated cue and parked, then walked straight to the front entrance rather than taking a tram, as some theme parks require. We brought all our belongings for the day and put them in a rented locker just inside the entrance. The rented lockers are great since the park doesn’t allow you to bring items on the rides. This is pretty standard now, and the lockers are inexpensive to rent for the day, so I highly recommend taking advantage of this convenience.

The one hiccup was that my cell was in the locker. That means I didn’t get a ton of photos of the park. Fortunately, Tim did because he had pockets!

The walkways between the various “neighborhoods” were lined with restaurants, vendors, and shops, all resembling what you might find in the surrounding area of Tennessee. There was southern cooking (we had some great barbecue), glass artists' demonstrations, and metalwork shops to name a few.

I have written about going to theme parks in the past. We always had fun, but we were always together. This is the first time we split up or let the boys go to one place while we stayed somewhere else. While it was totally age-appropriate, it was a different experience to go on rides separately.

The Rockin’ Roadway, also known as the race car track, was one such “ride”. Tim and I got our own car, and each boy got their own car. It was fun to wave at each other as we passed around the track loop. It was also fun that each boy was happy not to have to share!

As alluded to earlier, one of us is less than enthused about theme parks. Being able to split up helped the situation this time around. Two of us were interested in the slower roller coasters, and the other two went to the faster ones. The lines weren't bad, and we were able to keep track of each other using easy-to-spot landmarks among the rides. While team one went on the Wild Eagle, team two went on the FireChaser Express a second time. Everyone was happy!

Dollywood’s Splash Country

The water park was a short tram ride from the amusement park. We decided to spend the second part of our day there.

Dollywood’s Splash Country was even more fun than Dollywood! Unfortunately, we put ALL of our belongings in the lockers this time and totally missed any photo ops. At least it was fun!

The water park was busy but clean (a big plus for mom), and small enough that we felt comfortable letting the boys, who were 13 and 15, explore it on their own (a big plus for the boys).  Tim and I used the time to float on the Downbound Float Trip for an hour. Think Lazy River.

After a bit of relaxation, we joined the boys for some of their favorite slides. There were slides that used inner tubes, some that didn’t use any flotation devices, and several that used mats. We all agreed the Tailspin Racer was fun because we got to go down the attraction at the same time, each of us in one of four different slides. Essentially, we got to race each other. I was always last. (Feature of being smallest, I guess).

Winding Down the Day

For dinner, we went back to the dry park after we were sufficiently waterlogged and used the meal ticket that we purchased with our admission. We hadn’t considered that the restaurants might be starting to run out of food by 7:00 PM because, well, teen boys playing! We found a restaurant where most of the menu items were still available. It had good pork BBQ and delicious southern sides. Truth be told, most restaurants probably had similar menus. They were not chains like some parks. In many ways, I was thankful because it seemed that keeping similar menus across the park spread out the crowds at mealtime. (Unlike places that have chains where the crowds all seem to wind up at Subway and Chick-fil-A).

After dinner, we went on a few rides we passed up earlier since we had ridden our “most important” rides first. We watched the boys on the Shooting Star, where they went 3 times in a row, but I thought for sure one would lose his dinner. It was a lot like the “pirate ship” but just a single line of seats open in the front, swinging back and forth. We then watched the boys “climb” a tall pole while seated on the Lumberjack Lifts in Timber Canyon. That was a lot slower pace and made for happier tummies.

On the way to our final event of the night, we learned more about Dolly at the Dolly Parton Experience. It was a short experiential walk through her life. I felt a little bit more acquainted with her by the end of the brief tour. Some highlights: she started out in music as a child, broke into cinema with the 1980’s hit 9 to 5, and her marriage to Carl Dean had been a secret for years. (Update: by the time he passed away, they had been married 60 years).

Once it was dusk, we headed for the Wildwood Grove, the part of the theme park where the Sweet Summer Nights 3D Drone and Fireworks Show can be observed. This show also told some of Dolly’s story using her music and unique “dancing” drones.