We're passionate about all things Dollywood and Sevier County, and we want to share that passion with you. Come along as we explore all that this beautiful area has to offer. From Dollywood and Splash Country to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cades Cove, there's something for everyone in Sevier County.
We're also big fans of Dolly Parton, and we'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on her latest news and projects. We're sure you'll find something to love here.
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying Spring. If you subscribe to my YouTube Channel, you know I have been slowly publishing new videos from this past Opening Day on March 8th, 2024.
I am pleased to tell you all of my Opening Day Videos are published, and I hope you enjoy them.
This one is from the Country Fair area. The Scrambler has been polished to its mirror finish for the start of the season. I was looking at a video from October of the Scrambler and it was silver, but not at all polished and kind of had a matte finish about it - the seats I mean. But it's all polished and looking sharp for the start of the season. I love the freeze-frame aspect of catching one little moment of joy in everyone's faces.
This one is from Jukebox Junction. I do believe the new drink fountain outside of Red's is new for this year. A couple of years ago Dollywood mentioned that they were going to spend a lot of money on improvements to all of the restaurants in the park and so I suspect this is part of that effort. I love seeing all the little changes from one season to the next. Some are more obvious than others, some more exciting than others.
This is from the brand new Dolly Parton Sing-A-Long show that is at the Back Porch Theater in the Riverside Area. I mean, this is fun singing Dolly's biggest hits alongside your friends and family.
I also published three short videos from Opening Day, including the Dolly Parton Parade that is so much fun. Dolly rides in her floral covered vintage DeWitt through parts of the park and everyone is so excited to see her...it is quite the site to see and experience. It never gets old.
Here is Part One, check that out below...
Here is Part Two, check that out below...
Be sure to Subscribe and select to receive notifications when I publish videos. Also follow me on my Facebook Page for updates there too.
I hope you all are enjoying your summer! Dollywood's Summer Celebration just concluded, but you can watch all the highlights from my day at the park! I have TWO videos to share with you from my day. In Part 1, I will take you around the park to check out all the decorations, watch some of the rides, and of course people watch! I have the Full Performance of Good Vibes and a couple of songs from The Smoky Mountain String Band.
In Part 2, I will take you up to Wildwood Grove for the dance party. After that, the Fireworks and Drone show takes place and is definitely a must-see attraction!
I have a new video to share with you all! This is from Dollywood's Flower & Food Festival for 2023.
In this video I focus a lot more on the "Flower" end of things with this festival. I shoot the festival by myself, and I can only eat so much, so, check out all the other vloggers who will show you that side of the festival. I love filming all the great landscaping and you can see that a lot of thought and planning goes into making this a reality.
Speaking of landscaping, The company that Dollywood partners with to create their mosaicultures is called Mosaicultures International and they are based in Montreal, Canada. Check their website out below - they feature lots of photos of Dollywood and lots of other impressive installations at other locations.
While enjoying my day admiring all of the festival decorations, I took in two very popular shows at Dollywood right now. A Brighter Day at the Back Porch Theater and later in the day I saw The Hall Sisters perform their show on the porch of the chapel. I wasn't sure what to expect exactly with the Hall Sisters, but they harmonize and play well together, it was definitely a great highlight from this day at Dollywood. And of course, A Brighter Day never disappoints, and the cast and crew are all amazingly talented singers and musicians. See Both Shows If You Can! This festival runs until June 11th, 2023.
Big Bear Mountain is OPEN!
I will share with you this video of Dolly Parton and Eugene Naughton (Dollywood President) open Big Bear Mountain on May 12th, 2023. Dolly Parton performs an original song that I placed over a POV video for Big Bear AND you can sing along to her catchy tune. I love playing it over and over.
Dollywood was gracious to invite some season pass holders to a Rider Preview Day for Big Bear and that was on Monday, May 8th for me - there were several days to choose from. I have a very extensive look at Big Bear in my video that I'll share below.
I really had an excellent first impression with my ride on BBM. I'll break down the different elements below:
Ride Plaza / Queue Areas / Station - The ride plaza is very spacious and there is a lot of room to check out the roller coaster from countless angles. There is a great ride sign for Big Bear. I've already seen a lot of selfies on social media in front of it. The queue has room for hundreds of people if needed, and it probably will be for a while. The overall theme of the ride is that we are all looking for Big Bear, and so the queue fits with that type of expedition/rugged theming that they chose. Lots of maps, photos, trinkets and whatnot all add to the experience. The station is set up much like the other coasters at Dollywood. The cubbies come in small and large, and I was able to fit my backpack in the larger cubby no problem. The station is at grade level, so folks in wheelchairs and ECV's should have an easy time accessing the station.
Trains - I found them very comfortable. They are bucket-style seats that are padded, and the only restraint is an individual lap bar that I didn't have any issues with. I'm 5 foot 8 inches, so I don't have a lot of legs to scrunch up into the train. For a comparison, this seemed a whole lot roomier than Lightning Rod and a bit roomier than Thunderhead - to compare to other Dollywood trains. I noticed on one row of the train, the side wall was on a hinge, so that may be the row that has more room for those with prosthetics or other considerations. I didn't' see it in action, so I'm not certain, but that's most likely what that particular row is for. Of course, the folks at the Ride Accessibility Center near the front gate of the park will have all of that information available.
Furthermore, I think the trains look super cool. I love all the little details on them like the jerry cans on the back, and the little bits of mud splatters that are near the wheel wells - all of it is so cool. The headlights and taillights both illuminate and look great. The on-board audio sounded really well. I think they had some speakers in some areas too, maybe for a backup or maybe to reinforce the audio sound effects? Not sure, but either way its a nice addition. It takes me back to my dear Opryland and the stuffed bear on Grizzly River Rampage.
There are two trains that I saw, not sure if there is a third train. On preview day one train would launch from the station as the other was going into the brakes, so a third train would stack if they used it. They may have a third train coming later so they can have a spare to do maintenance on - since Dollywood's season is nearly year-round at this point. That would be some insurance for always being able to run two trains.
Ride Itself / Layout - I love this layout. I have ridden lots of record-breaking rollercoasters and those are fine, but what I love most is just exactly what Big Bear is, and that's forceful launches, and lots of meandering around side to side, up and down. Nothing too crazy that snaps your neck back and forth like I-305 or Maverick. The transitions were so smooth in between all the direction changes that it all just felt so natural and well designed. It's zippy! The first launch out of the station gets the job done, which is to get you to the second launch. I love love love the fact that the train does not come to a stop before the 2nd launch. So many new multi-launchers will bring everything to a grinding halt before a launch and I despise that - such a buzzkill for me (see: Copperhead Strike, Maverick, Time Traveler, there are many others). Big Bear Mountain avoids that nightmare and really, once you are on your way you will not stop for 3,990 feet. The pacing for me is fast and it stays fast until the end. The little dip under the pathway is cool finale to the whole ride. Super smooth brake run and then the friction wheels whisk it right in to the station pronto.
The waterfall area is cool, but you go through it so quickly that it's over before you know it. Don't blink!
Overall - I'm really impressed with everything about this new coaster. I think it will impress many who look at it and go meh. It's definitely not meh to me. I can't wait for summer so I can see how it looks and rides in the dark of night. I'm sure it will be as fun in October-December when the sun sets around 5 o'clock.
I finished my video of my day at Dollywood and you can watch that below. I have over 30 minutes of Dollywood performances for you to enjoy, after touring around the park, including a Big Bear Mountain update. Under the video is my trip report and lots of pictures from that day.
Dollywood opened for its 38th Season on Friday March 10th, 2023, and I have made this photo trip report. The weather was rainy early on, but the skies cleared, and it was a pretty great day to be at Dollywood. My day, basically: I went around the entire park to see what changes I noticed. I took in three shows, Love Always, The Smoky Mountain String band and the Tones show at the Village stage next to the train. They were all great and polished - no indications of opening day jitters! And then I finished the day with the Dolly Parade, which was surreal.
What I noticed first as I entered the park was that the entry plaza, Showstreet and Market Square were decked out to celebrate 50 years of Dolly's musical see-you-later to Porter Waggoner, "I Will Always Love You". There are new photo opportunities throughout this part of the park, new related merchandise and even new limited time treats you can enjoy celebrating IWALY.
General Observations: The crowds seemed heavier to me than a year ago. I'm not sure the reasoning behind that. Dolly was expected to be there, which draws people in. The weather forecast was iffy and at some point, included potential snow. In the end it rained in the morning and turned into a beautiful sunny day. The park looked great I thought. It felt to me like most of the projects were wrapped up before opening day. There's always lots of little changes that I go around and try and notice. I will point those out in each area below.
The ride operations that I noticed were mostly uneventful. I checked the app and the boards around the park from time to time. Lightning Rod went down for the day sometime in the afternoon. Dizzy Disk wasn't running and had a sign in front of it. I saw some social media reports of ride stoppages and evacuations, so there were some minor hiccups, but those happen every day. These types of events are perfect indicators of how safe Dollywood's rides are. They are designed to come to a very safe stop when there are minor issues that pop up during the course of operating heavy machinery. They can seem frightening when you're less familiar with how it works, but when a ride stops it's nothing to worry about. Stay in your seat and wait for instructions. Here's a couple of posts you can see - safety first!
Here's a area-by-area breakdown of my day looking around the park:
Tram Station - I didn't notice any changes.
Entry Plaza - Permanent structures replaced the temporary tents for ECV Rental Annex as well as the Security Screening pass through area.
ECV-Wheelchair-Stroller Rental Annex
Security Screening Pass through area
Showstreet Right (from the front gate perspective) - It was decked out for the "I Will Always Love You" 50-year celebration. There was a pop-up merchandise spot next door to Showstreet Snacks that has a huge selection of the 50-year Merch, so check that out. There are other places in the park to get the 50-year merch as well. You can see the photos above of Showstreet in IWALY finest.
pop up IWALY merch on Showstreet
Showstreet Left - The ECV/wheelchair/strollers Rentals, Lockers and the Ride Accessibility Center has been rearranged in a more spacious way. Next to the Emporium you'll find the Measuring Center and, on the right, adjacent to the Palace Theater you'll find oversized lockers and the ECV/Wheelchairs/Strollers Rental location. I'm not sure if this layout is final but take note that it has changed around.
Wildwood Grove - seemed to me to be the hotspot of activity in the park. As I got closer to Big Bear, I noticed some of the planters in the middle of the pathway had changed shape a bit. A new permanent fence has replaced the wooden work-fence at the Waterfall part of the ride. All the track is complete, so now the focus is on wiring up the ride components, and lots of hardscaping and landscaping yet to be completed. There is quite a bit left to do before the opening sometime in May.
I spied a bunch of new Big Bear merchandise at Mountain Grove Merchants in between Frogs n Fireflies and Black Bear Trail Ride.
There's a lot of work left to do for a May 2023 opening.
Big Bear Nano Coaster, $34.99.
Timber Canyon - the major change that I saw was Thunderhead has had a lot of wood replaced in areas near the station. I think this is the last phase (maybe?) of the multi-year phase full replacement of track. IIRC they were switching to a Brazilian wood - Ipe, I think it is known as. It's much stronger than the pine that it's replacing. According to the social media comments I saw about Thunderhead this weekend, the changes were described in extremely positive terms.
new wood on Thunderhead!
Wilderness Pass - The Food Truck Plaza was back with two Food Trucks there.
Craftsman's Valley - I noticed a new water wheel outside of the Bird Show theater, and some work on the water trough has happened as well. Daredevil Falls' exit ramp was looking good with new paint. The Food Truck Park was back in the Tennessee Tornado Plaza. The setup has been rearranged a bit.
Lots of new paint on the exit of Daredevil Falls
Rivertown - Butterfly Strings. A new shop with Dolly, Elvis, Willie, Johnny Cash merchandise, and other cool music stuff. It's next door to the Back Porch Theater. If you're looking for the Dolly Funkos, they can be found here.
Country Fair - Dollywood has expanded its picnic/Group pavilions. The Celebration Hall has been converted into group dining space. CH is next door to the Blue Ribbon Pavillion which, both buildings have been there for a million years, at least. I imagine both pavilions will be busy on weekends for the warmer months. Scrambler received some paint-love in the off season and is looking sharp in its mustard-ketchup color scheme. Does anyone know what has happened to Lemon Twist? It turns as fast as a minute hand on a clock, and it has not always been this way.
All Smiles on the Scrambler
Scrambler with fresh paint
The Village - New accessibility ramps for the train. This will hopefully make this easier for those that need the ramps.
Adventures In Imagination - The biggest news came from Dolly about the replacement for Chasing Rainbows Museum, expected to open in 2024.
Chasing Rainbows prepares to morph into Dollys Interactive Experience
Dolly Parade - Dolly made one parade appearance this opening weekend and it was on Friday. Enjoy my video below of Dolly going down Showstreet.
That wraps up my Trip Report. I am working on several videos to share, so do be sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel (HERE) and click the bell for notifications, and you'll catch all my Dollywood videos.
Posts
