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The 25th annual Golden Ticket Awards ceremony was held at Dollywood on Saturday September 9th, 2023. Both Dollywood and Dolly Parton were recipients of Golden Ticket Awards.
Amusement Today sets up the story...
Host facility Dollywood had its biggest year ever, snagging five awards, including the night’s biggest upset. For the first time ever, the Pigeon Forge theme park took Best Park, only the third park to ever do so. Other wins were for Best Guest Experience, Best Christmas Event of 2022 and Best Kids Area. The park also took AT’s newest category: Best Family Coaster. Big Bear Mountain was Dollywood’s largest investment in an attraction to date, and it paid off.
The Best Park award for the previous eight years, has been awarded to Europa Park in Germany, so that is an impressive award for Dollywood.
KnoxNews has a lot of great information, so let's let Davarrick Turner take it away...
She built a career that made her a global icon, but it was Dolly Parton's dream to build something that would make her parents proud and honor all the people she grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains.
And she did exactly that with Dollywood. The theme park in Pigeon Forge she opened in the mid-1980s is now crucial to East Tennessee’s tourism, economy and culture.
“There's that old saying that you can never go home again. Well, whoever said that? I can’t ever get out of home. I mean, home is in my heart. These mountains, I’ve always cared (about them),” Parton told Knox News this weekend.
“I’m the only person that ever left the Smoky Mountains and took them with her,” she joked as only she could. “But seriously, I love these mountains. I'm so proud to be a Tennessee girl, and I'm proud to be a Smoky Mountain girl.”
Because there’s not a Dollywood party without Dolly, she was in Pigeon Forge on Sept. 9 to celebrate the theme park's big wins at the annual awards ceremony considered the Oscars of the amusement industry.
Dollywood is a huge part of her legacy, and it delights her to know that it continues to have a profound impact on East Tennessee, especially contributing to the growth of other businesses in the area.
“I'm just proud to have been part of the people that have provided jobs and watched it grow. And it's a good feeling to have been a part of that,” she said.
A golden night for a golden lady
It was truly a golden night for the popular theme park, earning recognition in 10 categories in total. In addition to best park, Dollywood also won top honors in the best guest experience, best kids’ area, best family coaster and best Christmas event categories.
And it earned notable recognition in the most beautiful park, best food, best new coaster, best wooden roller coaster and best new attraction installation categories.
The Golden Ticket Awards were held at the Showstreet Palace Theater in Dollywood. The Pigeon Forge amusement park last hosted the ceremony in 2012.
“Each time I enter the park, I am immersed in a sense of welcome,” Golden Ticket Awards spokesperson Tim Baldwin said in a news release. “The food, the music, the rides, the atmosphere — there is a heart to it.”
“Just as Dolly likes to treat people with kindness and love, Dollywood exudes a sense of happiness. It makes you want to come back,” Baldwin continued. “This is why Dollywood has grown exponentially from a regional destination to a national one — and beyond.”
What are the Oscars of the amusement industry?
The Golden Ticket Awards are presented by Amusement Today, the amusement park industry’s leading trade magazine.
The awards are voted on by hundreds of industry journalists, ride manufacturers and experienced and well-traveled amusement park fans from around the globe. The pool of voters changes every year, according to Amusement Today.
Dollywood’s newest and longest attraction, Big Bear Mountain, was a major factor in the park’s 2023 accolades. It won the inaugural best family coaster category and solidified the park’s best kids’ area win.
Go read the whole article at KnoxNews....there are some pics to see as well.
Just a bit more info, from WATE-TV (ABC affiliate) about Dolly's operating partners for Dollywood....
SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — Dollywood hosted the Golden Ticket Awards Saturday, where the park took home five awards.
In addition to the park awards, Dolly Parton and her business partners Jack and Pete Herschend were named Golden Ticket legends. Parton said the park had always been a dream of hers.
"We have so many wonderful things happening here, I have wonderful partners with the Herschends, but I've been blessed to do tons of stuff, and at my age I'm still doing it and I'm as excited about everything as I was back when I left the smokies dreaming years ago," Parton said.
She said she's proud of more than just the park.
"A lot of my own relatives even work on the park which is great, especially in the show, the family show. I'm proud of all of that, but I'm just proud of the whole area, Dollywood is just the star of the area, of course I would think that, or I want to believe that," Parton said. "I just think the whole area from Sevierville through Pigeon Forge through Gatlinburg I'm proud of this whole area."
Parton has many projects outside of music, that showcase her love for East Tennessee.
"I'm just proud to be a Tennessee girl. So, of course I wanted something in my own hometown, I always used to think if I make it big, if I make it like I'm dreaming of doing, I want to go back home and do something great for the people in my hometown," she said.
That's exactly what she did. Dollywood employs thousands of people and has been ranked a top workplace in America.
"It's something I can always be proud of, something my relatives can be proud of, and all my neighbors, the people I grew up with. Just to say that's my hometown, I got something special here, and that has all come true, and I cannot tell you how proud I am of that."
She and her business partners at Dollywood, Jack and Pete Herschend, were also named Golden Ticket Legends at the awards ceremony.
"At Dollywood, we give back too. Of course we make money, if you go in business you're hoping to make money, but it's not about the money at this point in my life as much as it is about making sure that I show my gratitude toward life and toward God and toward the people that have made life good," she said.
At the end of the day, she has one goal for visitors at Dollywood.
"Well, hope they go away thinking 'I've never has so much fun in my life,'" Parton said.
I think that's really impressive to win awards that are voted on among your professional peers and amusement park enthusiasts, so Congratulations to Dollywood!! I mean, if you are reading this you are probably at least low-key obsessed or maybe even Obsessed-Obsesssed, but either way you already know how awesome Dollywood is. I love sharing part of my oddball obsession with Dollywood, with all of you.
Speaking of which, Check out some of my videos that relate to this post, like Big Bear Mountain Preview Day, or any of the festivals from 2023.
- I Will Always Love You - Celebrate 50 years of IWALY.
- IWALY Short Video if you only have 60-seconds to spare.
- Food & Flower Festival 2023
- Summer Celebration 2023
- Part 1 - A Day at the Park
- Part 2 - After Dark - Dance Party, Drone & Fireworks from Wildwood Grove - a Golden Ticket award winning Area.
- Big Bear Mountain Sing-Along With Dolly Parton
- Watch the Cued-Up Video of that - HERE
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