A bit bored tonight (rarely EVER happens), so I'll write about my trip to Dollywood the day before Christmas Eve. It wasn't a destination - just passing through on my way out east. The weather was rainy, there was a long line to the parking area, and we almost turned around to leave about 5:00. When we made it to parking, we were told to look hard for a spot as there were probably less than 15 left (and the tram wait could be 45 min.) We finally found one close enough that we could skip the tram. It was close to 6 when we walked thru the gate, and my first impression was ...meh. The park was very lit up, but the lights at the front were mostly pink, purple, and blue - not so Christmasy, but very "in your face" Dolly! The bakery was listed as having gluten free muffins, but there were none and no one seemed to know anything about them. Very few places I can eat, but we found a restaurant that had a smoked ham dinner that I could eat with substitutions, and it was grea! I wish SDC had more plate dinners like this for $13. We didn't have much time, so we walked toward the crafters area so hubs could see the blacksmithing. I think it was on the way there we ran into the Glacier area - very cool! Very, very cool! Hundreds of strands of twinkling lights above your head with wave patterns, fog machines, and space music symbolizing northern lights. We loved it! The entire area was very cool with icy white lights, icebergs, bears, trees, etc. The big tree looked very similar to SDC's, but with the addition of snow machines dropping pretty heavy amounts of snow on visitors near the tree. That was cool! The parade was okay; promoted Dolly quite a bit; not as good as SDC's. I did like the guy with the banjo walking the line to entertain you with music as you waited for the parade. There were over 20,000 in the park that night.
My honest opinion? I had very little time in the park, the roller coasters looked cool, the crafts are way more expensive than SDC - mugs from the pottery shop were $35. Northern Light show was worth the trip! I liked it much more when I quit comparing it to SDC. I still wouldn't make it a destination, but I wouldn't mind stopping by again to see the whole park, shows, and music. Oh, and there are no perks in the park unless you have the more expensive Silver Pass.
