🌺🌻New Videos - Flower and Food Festival 2024🌸🪷

Hi Everyone, hope your summer is well.  It sure is flying by, it seems.  I was able to get my awesome day at the Flower and Food Festival videos published.  There's Two Parts, one and two.  Check them out below!

🌸🪷 Dollywood's Flower and Food Tasting Pass Info 2024🪷🌸

Hi Everyone,

Spring has sprung in the Smoky Mountains, and Dollywood's Flower & Food Festival is in full bloom! This vibrant event transforms the park into a wonderland of colorful flowers and delicious treats. But with so many tempting options, how can you savor the best of both worlds? Look no further than the Flower & Food Festival Tasting Pass, your key to unlocking a delightful culinary adventure.

Let's dig into the menu items available during this amazing event.

Firstly,

You Can Buy the Tasting Pass at Dollywood.com at this link - here.

All this information is from Dollywood's website, which is at this link - here.

I have included a handy map featuring all the locations for these menu items in the Tasting Pass.  

Have you tried any of the menu items in the tasting pass?  If so, what did you think about it?  Let me know in the comments.

🚨New Video!🚨Dollywood's Flower & Food Festival🚨Plus the Hall Sisters & A Brighter Day Performances🚨

Hi Everyone,

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.

website:  Home - Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal (mosaiculture.ca)

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.

10 out of 10!

I hope you enjoy all my videos!!!

Post #2 - Dollywood 2022 So Far (and a bit of late 2021)

 Hi Everyone,

Right now in East Tennessee we are in the sultry throws of a June heat wave and it is really really hot, but I'm still working on content about Dollywood.   So far, 2022 has been pretty busy for me and for Dollywood.  Crowd levels are high on most days with a few exceptions that I hear about on social media where some folks have had the park to themselves....lucky ducks.

I recently published four videos related to Dollywood's Flower & Food Festival, one focusing exclusively on the Festival, another one of which is a general park update more or less, and two video updates of Dollywood's more popular stores....The Sweet Shoppe / Southern Pantry as well as the Mountain Blown Glass Shop.

Let's take a look...

I captured images of the menu boards at a few of the eateries - Front Porch Cafe, Aunt Granny's, Kettle Corn, Ironhorse Pizza, Food Truck park- Gus and Son's Greek Grill and Dazzle Delights.  AND, this was new to me, all over Dollywood are Picnic in the Park locations for quick grab and go meals.  They sell Turkey Wraps, PBJ, Apples, Pickles, Hard Boiled Eggs, etc - take a look at those offerings.  I've heard some constructive criticism that the food lines have been unusually long this season, so that might be a quicker option than waiting to eat at one of the restaurants.  These are spread out all over the park - I found four locations but I would think there are even more.  I believe the same stuff is at Splash Country too.   You can see the first one I found at 04:30 in the general update below. 

In March, I was at Dollywood for Season Passholder Preview day, this was on Friday March 11th and it felt so nice to be back at Dollywood, doing something that resembles normalcy again.  It was a great day and I documented my take on it in this video.

There were a lot of changes over the brief off-season.  I knew the parking lot was redesigned and the traffic pattern would be one-way, among other changes, so that's included.   I knew the beloved tunnel between Craftsman's Valley and The Village had been removed and renovated, so I included that in my video as well.  In Wildwood Grove work looks to be ramping up on Dollywood's 2023 coaster, so I captured that too.  The two food trucks are featured.  I learned on my April trip that the one next to Tennessee Tornado is the Food Truck Park, while the one up the hill in Wilderness Pass is the Food Truck Plaza, so keep it straight people!  You can take a look at that video - above this.

The Dollywood Emporium was transformed in the off-season.  My first impression was Wow, There Is A Ton of Dolly Merchandise!  In the past there was some Dolly merch for sure, but now, finally, this is where you want to go to find Dolly's mug on a mug, or on a t-shirt, or a shot glass or nearly anything else you can think of.   Plus, the aisles are clearer, the check out area is more organized and since its the main exit to the parking lot, that makes a lot of sense that they kept the high traffic areas a bit more open.

You can watch my video about the new Emporium here...

On this same trip I took a quick run through the Mountain Laurel Store and made a video about that.  You can watch that quick video here.

Back In February I took a trip to Dolly's DreamMore Resort to check that out and I think it's a nice hotel with a lot of benefits that one would enjoy if Dollywood or Splash Country are on your itinerary.  For one, there's door-to-door shuttle service from DreamMore to the parks.  Another is the Complimentary TimeSaver Pass that gives you access to shorter ride lines for Eight Dollywood Attractions of your choice, and Unlimited access to Shows (does not work at Splash Country).  They offer package delivery.  So, if you buy an oil lamp at the Mountain Blown Glass shop, they will deliver it to DreamMore and you can go about your Dollywood-day, and pick it up when you're delivered back to DreamMore - how cool is that.  Lastly, on Saturdays you can get early entry into Splash Country or Dollywood and get a head start before it opens to the public.  Much of this information is subject to change, so for the latest information I would recommend looking at their website, which is here DreamMore Perks.

In this video I walk around the entire property, taking a look at the lobby, the group meeting rooms, lots of patios, the pool area, the fire pit and cornhole areas around the pool, the indoor pool, playground, game room, excercise room, The Song and Hearth Restaurant and lounge, The Pantry, Dolly's Time Capsule, Dolly's Hallway of Album Covers, walk past the Spa (closed on the day I was there), and as an added bonus, Dolly's explanation of her "Gypsy Wagon", which, as you will see in the video, it's Dolly's recently retired motor coach and it will be transformed into a Suite available for booking at a later date...it's called the 1986 Suite and you'll hear what she has to say about it.  Another Bonus - I stopped by the Dolly statue at the Sevier County Courthouse to check in with her there - she's doing pretty good.

Please watch my DreamMore video here: 

Might as well go back a little further...we're all dressed up and our hair looks great!

In November of 2021 I published my nearly-hour long look at Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas.  You can watch that in it's entirety here...

In September of 2021 I published my look at Dollywood's Great Pumpkin LumiNights Event.  This was my first night time video and I was a bit disappointed in the footage when I took it into edit, so I am sorry it is so shaky. It is below my standards.  However, it was a learning opportunity and 2021 was the  year of the learning curve for me, so, important to learn from it....which I did make major adjustments for the Christmas video.

 
You can watch the LumiNights video here...it still turned out pretty good I think 😀

Finally, I am so thankful that I shot the Chasing Rainbows museum in 2021.  During the off-season, Dollywood announced that it would be closing, hopefully just temporarily.  At this time there have been no announcements about its return, so we'll have to wait and see what Dolly plans to do with it.  So, take a good look at it in it's last year of operation in the Adventures in Imagination area of Dollywood.

You can watch the Chasing Rainbows Museum video here....

Coming up is Dollywood's next festival, The Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration.  That runs June 18 to August 7th, so that will be my next video for Dollywood.  That will likely publish in late June I hope 🤞.  

Read more about that festival at Dollywood.com - here Summer Celebration.

Thanks for reading and watching! Until next time, take care!

Jeff