Smoky Mountain Fun: Our Dollywood Review

Dollywood has always been one of those pie-in-the-sky destinations for our family. This fall our family spent a few nights in the Pigeon Forge area and while we were there we had the opportunity to visit Dollywood. Having visited the area a few times before we, of course, had seen Dollywood advertised everywhere! Since the kids are getting older (funny how that happens!) and have been begging to ride roller coasters we were excited to try it out with our preteen kiddos and decided this would be the perfect trip to visit the amusement park.

We are so glad we did! Y’all if you have never been to Dollywood you are definitely missing out. I can say that we had no idea what all there was going to be to see and experience. Our kiddos were 10 and 12 when we visited and they had so much fun in the park. Truly a place made for family with fun and faith interwoven, it is a haven where you don’t have to worry about inappropriate displays or if attractions will be too scary.

We arrived pretty much first thing when they opened. I enjoyed that they do not open at dawn’s early light because this momma always feels very bad if we don’t cram in as much as earthly possible. I mean, we’re paying for it so we’ve got to get our money’s worth, right? So I am right on track with Dolly’s thinking that we all need our beauty sleep so we should all go a bit later. They opened at 10 am and it was a perfect time to set out on our day’s adventure!

The main street is very disney-esque but the thing I loved is that you didn’t get the feeling that they were trying to be Disney. We’ve been to plenty of other places that are trying to be something they are not but this was not the case at Dollywood. They are their own attraction and they own their own unique identity and flavor. The main street was a great place for our family to get out sea-legs so to speak. We could tell when we walked in that Calvin was very overwhelmed by everything there was to do so it was nice to have a bit of a stroll before we jumped right into activities.

We walked down main street and found ourselves in the Craftsman’s Valley area, an adorable area with shops and craftsman galore. We loved looking through the glassworks store before deciding that we were ready for our first ride. We sat down as a family and became acclimated with the park through the map. They also have a very immersive app that Nick and I each downloaded onto our phones. Sometimes it was handier to look at the paper map and other times it was nice to refer to the app…I would say you should definitely use both when you are there. Also, one of my homeschooling mom tricks is I make my kids use maps. Things like directions, map keys, distance…so many things are understood and learned through maps and in these days a lot of kids are not learning how to use maps. It’s fun for them to practice using the map and being in charge of helping the family find our destination. *Okay I’ll step off my little cartography soap box now, but we just love maps!

Once we walked to the ride Calvin got scared but Nick and Emma had a blast riding the Barnstormer. Calvin and I remarked how it was almost as much fun watching the rides as it was riding the ride. Maybe not. but it was fun to watch!

I will spare you the joy of reading every.single.blessed.thing we did as you would be here until doomsday reading everything we did. Suffice it to say…we had an amazing time! To break it down for you there were three categories of things we enjoyed: the sights, the food, and the rides!

The Sights

Dollywood is for everyone which I love! I remember my grandparents visiting when Dollywood first opened back in the ‘80s and I can understand why now. Tons of seating including droves of lovely rocking chairs to rest and relax in. Older people were there, families, young adults, seriously…everyone. I’m guessing one of the reasons so many retired folks love this place is because there is so much to do outside of amusement park rides.

To be truthful, on a Dolly Parton fan-level we were pretty much non existent fans upon arrival. Then we came across her museum, Chasing Rainbows, which tells The Dolly Parton Story. It was so amazing to see her actual momentos and treasures from her journey to success, to see her story unfold from where she started to where she is now. Such an amazing story of God’s provision. And now we are huge fans of hers. If you want to see all of her awards, her gowns, her shoes, her purses, her magazine covers, then be sure to go spend time in Chasing Rainbows.

Another one of our favorite things was the train! A coal powered train from Alaska that was used during WWII, the beast has been at Dollywood since it opened and is so iconic to the park. It was so much fun to ride and see all of the sights around the park. A must-do if you visit.

Other fun things included a drum garden to make music, and statuettes like this axe to try to get out of the ground. Calvin insists he got it to wiggle ;). There were animals to see, shows to attend, concerts to listen to, you name it.. So many things to do!

In the Craftsman’s Valley area they had so many hands on projects and shopping to do. Seeing as we visited in the fall there were lots of Christmas ornament options. There were woodworkers to watch, iron forgers to get lost in their process watching, and you could even blow your own glass. The kids went to the candlemaker and dipped their own candles.

The buildings are amazing to see too! So many building are designed to look like historic Smoky Mountain buildings…the chapel and the mill were some of our favorites.

Something super surprising to find in an amusement park…Towards the tip of the park you will find an incredible sight…the Nation’s largest Bald Eagle Sanctuary. We’ve seen eagles several times….we have a family of eagles that live outside of our lake cottage but this was absolutely awe inspiring. This National Parks caliber sanctuary gives you a chance to watch multiple eagles soaring in their own environment. You simply must check this out!

Another aspect of Dollywood I would like to add is that they always seem to have a fun theme or something going on, on top of the already amazing selection of attractions. While we were there the Harvest Festival was going on. Craftsman from around the country were all around to watch and there were Southern Gospel Singers, Country and Western Acts with concerts every few minutes. Even comedy and dance based musical shows. The extra sights were so much fun to take in and enjoy as we walked along.

The Food

You guys all have to try the cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill! I’m looking at you. That was the number one thing people told us whenever we would mention that we were planning on visiting Dollywood. And it is as good as everyone told us it would be. A sort of monkey bread loaf, this pull apart treat was enough to feed our family of 4 as a snack. I believe it was $7.99 so it was a bargain for a snack for all of us!

Beyond the cinnamon bread, all of the food we had was amazing. We didn’t do any of the sit down restaurants but we did sample quite a bit of food throughout the day. Fried Green Tomatoes, Jumbalaya, Funnel Cake, Ice cream…incredible. My favorite though were the fresh made pork rinds. People like them so much you can buy them by the bucket. A large bag was enough for our family to snack on through the day. You can see Nick in the photo beside eating the said pork rinds because we aren’t a proud people…we can post our eating photos.

The Rides

I am not a ride person. I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge ride person, but I do remember being young and experiencing the thrill of going on rides for the first time.

It was such a blast to be able to experience that with our kiddos and to see the looks on their faces when they got off of rides. For the most part they absolutely loved them!

Emma started off the excitement because after riding her first ride with Nick I talked about earlier, she was really wanting to go on more rides. Calvin however, still was not having any of it.

We all decided to go on an indoor ride and we all had a blast…it was fun and thrilling but not too scary.

After that Emma found a fire ride that she wanted to go on. This is the face of a girl who went on her first official roller coaster. She was so cute talking all about it and being flushed at how exciting it was! After seeing Emma’s excitement Cal started to warm up to the idea of going on a coaster but still wasn’t sure. Which is why having smaller rides is just perfect! They rode a smaller “tween ride” (as they called it) and had a blast together. I love when they have fun together.

Another ride they loved doing together was this lumber jack ride where they had to pull themselves up to the top and then the ride would lower them in unexpected intervals before they would repeat the process all over again. If your kids somehow have pent up energy to get out after walking miles and miles around the park then this is the ride you need for them!

If you have kiddos who are younger or do not like roller coasters, there is still so much to do! It’s basically an amusement park where the roller coasters are not the center of things to do.

Calvin’s very favorite area was the carnival area. There were lots of games and rides for younger children. We enjoyed the bumper cars collectively as a family. Be warned though that these are not bumper cars where you smash into people going every which way, there is a track and you have to go the way they tell you. I wish I had known that in advance as it was a little bit of a different idea for Calvin to understand, but after the first go round, he was a pro.

The kids loved the carousel! I love that our kids seek our carousel’s to ride wherever we go. It is always such a sweet memory and fun to pick a certain horse to ride on.

We feel so blessed that we had the chance to visit. The special needs accommodations they offered were so helpful for our family (I’ll be writing about that in another post). In short, Dollywood has taken the sanctity of our great nation and somehow combined that with thrills and fun for an idyllic theme park experience.

Our Wonder Collective’s Summary

Pros:

• There really is something for everyone. They don’t just say that…it’s true.

• There’s lots to do…you won’t be able to experience everything in one day. You won’t get bored.

• It’s a foodies dream. Seriously, so much food. Good food, for good people. Southern down home food with culinary twists thrown in.

• I don’t know how they do it but it is the best taken care of, cleanest, most peaceful place. It’s amazing.

• The best value is found with their multi-day tickets that cut the price of each day way down.

Cons:

• The ticket prices are very expensive. Once we were in and experienced it I felt that the cost of the ticket was justified and makes sense. But when you haven’t gone before it seems like a lot of money. Plus it is a lot of money to pay if you are taking your entire family.

• You cannot bring your own food into the park. You can leave the park and re-enter with your hand stamped but seriously, the place is huge and the parking lot is massive. If you plan on leaving make sure you are ready for a trek (even with the tram) to get to your car and get something to eat.

• Perhaps we are a bit directionally challenged but even my husband who has a degree in planning out cities admitted that the layout seemed a bit wonky. It took most of the day for us to get our bearings and feel that we knew where we were going.

Our Wonder Collective Suggestions:

• Drink water and lots of it. Iced water is free at all food vendors. Make sure you ask for lots. Lots and lots and lots.

• Wear comfortable shoes (of course!)

• Make a note of where you are parked. The parking lots (mulitple!) are massive and you’ll take a tram from the lot into the park .

• They have a service to have all of your purchases waiting for you at the front…use that service! It was so nice to not have to keep track of who has what bag and to make sure Sue Ellen (there’s no Sue Ellen) still has her bag and on and on. The less you have to carry the better, right? I will also say that keeping your receipts all together instead of shoving them into the depths of your purse makes retrieving your items a lot easier…not that I would ever do that but you know, just in case, don’t do that.

• If you are thinking of going make sure you get on their website and sign up for their email list. I did and I am not constantly alerted of deals they are having!

• When you get the cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill, just go ahead and get more than you need. You’ll want to take some home or to snack on later on in the day. The later in the day it gets, the longer the line becomes so go ahead and only wait once.

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Enjoy Dollywood! Comment below with your suggestions or questions. I’d be happy to help!

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