My mom, dad, wife & I just returned home from a 4 day trip to Gatlinburg / Dollywood. We had a wonderful time, great sunny weather, and a little cooler than it is down here in Little Rock.
We got our 50% off at Dollywood using our SDC passes, and headed straight to The Spotlight Bakery for coffee & pastries (This was around 9:00 when the park opened). I really like Dollywoods entrance, very pretty with all the flowers & Victorian style buildings. To me, it kinda resembles "Main Street" at WDW. We then toured Dolly's "home on wheels"
and caught the "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 4D Experience." Walking past the former "Inventors Mansion" we headed to "Dollywood Express." That train is HUGE! No skit, no stops, just a train ride through the smoking mountains, but a lot of fun. My mom, wife & I rode the Carousel, while dad watched. Then the wife & I headed down to the scrambler (yea yea...I know
).We toured Dolly's homestead, then had lunch (1:00) at a BBQ place in Craftsman Valley (this was the original section to SDC). They have the same water clock like we do, next to the Dollywood Gristmill. Then it was up to Blazing Fury. I give a detailed description of it in the "Blazing Fury's Finale Neutered" thread. Then dad & I rode Tn. Tornado, LOVED IT...3 loops and fast! We then headed thru the somewhat new "Wilderness Pass" section where we saw their version of River Blast; ours is much better themed. I rode Mystry Mine by myself. Rode it back in 07 when it was new. Absolutely love that ride, and think it would make a great addition to SDC. After looking at the defunct Timberrr Tower, my wife & I rode Thunderhead. I think this might be one of the fastest wooden roller coasters I have ever been on. This was a great ride, and also think if SDC goes for a woody, it should be something done on this scale. GREAT wooden roller coaster! We then headed back down to “Show Street” to watch the “Gazillion Bubble Show.” Great show with lots of bubbles and lasers. After the show, we headed over to “Jukebox Junction” just to walk around and check out the old cars. We headed back to “Craftsman Valley” just to take in some of the sights of the former SDC and tour the stores. We walked up to the new “Owens Farm” to see the Barnstormer. It is in the location that use to have “Dreamland Forest” (their version of Geyser Gulch), and before that it was “Daydream Ridge” (their version of Tom Sawyers Landing, which had yellow balls instead of blue). About this time it was 7:30, so we tried to have dinner at “The Backstage Restaurant,” but apparently it closes an hour before park closing. We went through “Dolly’s Emporium” (their version of Ozark Marketplace) where I bought a t-shirt/hat combo.
We stayed from open-close and had a wonderful day. All of the employees were nice, polite and helpful. When asked “Do you have a Dollywood Season Pass?” I always answered, “No, but I have a Silver Dollar City Pass.” It always got a laugh or a smile, except for one very nice older gentleman, who responded with “Good enough for me” and gave me the discount!! He was very nice, and we visited with him a good while. It was nice to go somewhere different for a change; the grounds are beautiful, the staff is great, the rides are fast & well themed, but I will always be a DollerCityBoy.
(Pictures to come, as soon as I can find the cord!)
