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I'd argue the original (Walt) was in it for more than the money.

Friendly reminder, folks... there has been been, and will never be, a CEO of the Walt Disney Company who cares more about anything than he cares about money.

Part 3 - Pigeon Forge If you are visiting Dollywood, you need to spend some time in Pigeon Forge. This area has pretty much EVERYTHING you can ask for, and some things you didn't really know you needed but can enjoy as well. Unfortunately for me, one of my days in Pigeon Forge was cut short due to some nasty weather in cold rain, sleet and freezing temperatures. There is so much to see but make sure to do your research and enjoy what you want to do while there. Enjoy the pictures! No one is paying me to say this, but this place was great and just off the main strip in Pigeon Forge. Great breakfast and great price! One of like 50 different mini golf places along the main strip. This one was right across the driveway to my hotel. You can mine for gems just like in Stardew Valley! One of like 46 different go-kart tracks along the main strip. I didn't get a picture of it, but the best one I have done in Pigeon Forge was Nascar Speed Park. When there's a dinosaur, insert Jeff Johnson joke. I have had my fair share of those jokes so I will leave this one up to everyone's imagination. There are a ton of strip malls along the main road and they all offer different types of things. I mean who knew that right next to Ice Cream you can do sports and then eat fudge and then have black bears tell you that Jesus Saves! Great entertainment just reading some of the stores and signs. A classic? A rip-off? A local gem? A conspiracy theory that dinosaurs really are roaming our earth and they only live in this attraction? You decide! It's nice that some restaurants have mascots that you are about to eat. Looks delicious! Johnny Depp now showing his acting chops in Pigeon Forge. Come see him nightly at "Pirates!" There is absolutely nothing funny about the color scheme of this building. One of 63 different types of Arcades throughout the main strip. It looks like the storm was a lot worse than feared! An entire building has flipped upside down! But the trees remain perfectly intact in the ground upside down...not sure how that works! There are a ton of dinner shows all along the main strip. I have heard nothing but great things about this one. Plus, a dinner show that shows you the live animals that you are about to eat for dinner is always a win in my book. Hi Reed! Hogwarts is even in Pigeon Forge! Who knew? But in all seriousness, this is a great attraction for kids and families and well worth the price tag. The "other Hogwarts" though...might need some magic to convince people to enter its castle. The Hollywood Wax Museum is like Madame Tussaud's...but it's in the South. But I couldn't figure out is King Kong was made of wax or not. If Mt. Rushmore was built in the 1970's instead of earlier, these would be the faces on the mountain. This is where they take all the rowdy people from Dollywood...Alcatraz East Jail. The Island in Pigeon Forge is an area with attractions, restaurants, rides, hotels, and just a lot of different and unique things. They even have a Bellagio Fountain show out front. Pretty sure some people will be wasted away again in the Margaritaville Hotel...and I mean WASTED!!! SkyFly in Pigeon Forge is like a Soarin' ride. It has a unique pre-show and a fun concept that you are in a steampunk-esque type of hot air ballon. Did I ride it you ask..... Since it goes to places that I can see in my backyard, I did not ride it. Plus, the ticket prices were pretty steep so unless there was a multiple attraction pass, I wouldn't spend money on this since I love Soarin'. I wonder how tasty the pizza is if the employees have been "baked" since the 70's. There's also a coaster credit for those of you that keep track of that sort of thing. And one of these giant contraptions as well. Construction workers were adding some other rides so it looks like The Island will have a lot of newer rides in the near future. This thing was massive! A 200 foot tall Ferris wheel. The views on top were amazing! It really dominates the skyline at The Island. I don't know how many more D's you can have. Goats on the Roof where you can see LIVE B ABY. GOATS! (more about this place later) Goat Coaster! Fun fact, there are like 15 different alpine slide/mountain coasters throughout Pigeon Forge. I have read a lot about some of them and look at videos of others. Out of all of them, this was the one I heard great things about. This mountain coaster was a lot of fun. It wasn't like some others where over the half the ride is the lift hill. This was also a nice relaxing ride through, over and down the mountain. Plus, they had some fun photo ops in the parking lot. And of course, LIVE B ABY GOATS! Another fun one was Alpine Coaster. Unfortunately, I didn't see any bears. This one had another unique layout and I thought it was actually faster than Goat Coaster but not as long. But this place has the most unique ride out of the alpine slides/mountain coasters... Again, another Bear...and this one likes to get Rowdy! Here it is...the weirdest thing I think I may have been on. Part chair lift, part suspended coaster, part mountain coaster, and part shooting ride. You sit in these chair lift type seats and your speed is controlled throughout the entire course of the track. While swinging through the track, you are supposed to shoot targets scattered throughout the ride. Once I found out how freakin hard the shooting part was, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. They had other things here as well, like a playground for kids. And since I was there in the winter, they had Snow Tubing! That's pretty awesome! As I head back to my hotel, the architecture around Pigeon Forge is definitely something to see. I love this type of stuff and just enjoy seeing the weirdness around the main strip. Oh yeah, and if you want to learn about how a bunch of people died on some famous cruise ship where a girl couldn't move over on the piece of wood she was laying on and her lover died in the cold water, they have a museum for that too. Since I love candy, and I love Mini Golf...I decided to hit the green (or sugar coated wasteland) at this mini golf course! They had some unique elements, like the atomic bomb candy mushroom? But they had 2 courses, one of the roof and outside, and one inside. And if you wanted to spice up the way you play, at the beginning of each hole they had different things for each member of your party to do! Selfie! #cravegolfclub I will have to admit, I really wanted some candy after playing through all these holes. But then I saw that they spilled a whole bunch of cocaine...I knew the candy wasn't safe to eat. The inside section was nice and had a Christmasy theme to it. I really wanted to eat these guy's faces off after they were laughing at me for being so bad a mini golf. I still had fun though! Oh man...I think someone ate the candy and couldn't make it to the bathroom. The Gingerbread house hole was a nice touch. All in all, this mini golf course was really fun and had a lot of unique holes to it. Plus, having to do something different before each hole was a fun twist on the game. ' If you thought the daytime looked cool along the main strip in Pigeon Forge, you'd be wrong. It's a lot like Las Vegas, daytime looks cool but nighttime and how they light up all the attractions is really awesome. Until next time you awesome little money taker! I also saw these cute little guys all throughout Pigeon Forge. So if you see them, tell they I say hi! And that's it. I hope you enjoyed the report and if you haven't visited Dollywood or Pigeon Forge during the holiday season, it is a must for anyone who loves this type of stuff!

This is a good move, there are Build-A-Bear shops at SWO/BGT and they always look busy. My youngest is 13 is she still loves BAB, in fact she got a leopard with an Iron Gwazi shirt on our trip to BGT this summer!

Roy

Our long, national nightmare is over. Bob Chapek has been fired and replaced by Bob Iger. The shocking shakeup was confirmed by Disney’s board of directors late Sunday. “We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” said Susan Arnold, Disney’s chairman of the Board. “The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period.” https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/bob-iger-replace-bob-chapek-disney-ceo-1235438423/

It's been 21+ years since I've done a Build-a-Bear, but I believe that indicates that the speech box is located there so that's where you squeeze.

Coming soon to SWSA - in the store that connects the walkway by Beluga Stadium with Sesame Street area. not very well "hidden". . so I'm guessing they want folks talking about it. SWSA is getting a Build-a-Bear! i'm not gonna lie. . I'll TOTALLY do this, as i love that Hammerhead Shark "only in this store" offering!

Weee

^ Heh, those cut out 'hands' in the first photo, look like the park's having some fun.

and dropping into separate post, here's the "welcome packet" / "room packet" one gets when checking into Hotel Charles Lindbergh: postcards included! and map of hotel (with "pods" and bar/restaurant info and map of the Rookburgh area (not whole park, because remember.. we're Aeronauts on a stopover in Rookburgh. . not at Phantasialand). F.L.Y. skip the line passes (only way available. . you cannot do any kind of fastlane/flash pass on F.L.Y. . . . you must stay at Hotel Charles Lindbergh to get these) oh. and each room has chocolate bars in em for each occupant too. DAMN good chocolate

Day 5, part IV - the conclusion of the day: arriving at Phantasialand ! it had already been a packed (and thrilling) day, but we weren't done yet! Soon, we pulled up outside of Phantasialand (which is really well hidden from the surrounding area, as you couldn't really see any rides at all), stopped in front of our home for the next two nights: Hotel Charles Lindbergh - a fully immersive ON SITE boutique hotel that is heavily themed from the moment you walk inside. unloading bags from the bus and waiting outside for our room keys/directions. so I wandered and took some pics of the outside of the hotel facade as noted, it's heavily themed. you are an "Aeronaut". . . traveling thru time and space, and you've checked into this steampunk/time lost hotel to rest between time jumps. here's the lobby check in: these long hallways connect the lobby to the main "Pod A" (tower) of the hotel - which has, I believe, 4 "pods" of rooms. Although Pod A also has the access into Rookburgh. what is Rookburgh? well, Rookburgh is the themed area of Phantasialand where the new F.L.Y. coaster is. It's also where the Hotel is located, and guests at the hotel have access to the area after the park has been closed to guests. (no the coaster is not operating after hours. . . but holy crap is it cool to wander around that area, JUST with hotel guests - as you will see coming up). anyways - the walkway that would lead to Rookburgh/Pod A: and the way we went to get to our Pod C rooms OMG. . yeah, the coaster is RIGHT there. interacting very closely with the hotel. this is going to be so cool during the daytime operating hours! the coaster is literally outside the walkways to the rooms! love the old-timey / lost in timey tin ceiling tiles in the stairwells between floors. looking across at Pod B tower. . those are the back-side of rooms (ie: the bathroom windows) here's me looking out our bathroom window in Pod C and the view from said bathroom window: (went a little out of order). . . here's the door to our room and what the inside of the room looks like. Very small - in keeping with the theme. and a LITTLE cramped with two people plus luggage. But OMG, so cool, it doesn't matter. again, heavily themed (we didnt' turn the tv to anything other than the "old time static" broadcast it was on when we came in the whole time). James and I standing in doorway to get a pic of the walkway across to Pod B (and the access to the rooftop viewing platform that only guests of the hotel have access to) Bathroom. Small, but decent. again, the theming is that you're an Aeronaut only resting briefly before your next jaunt. ok. . settled into the room. . it's time to stretch our legs before dinner (which is included in the Restaurant attached to the hotel. (the only area of the hotel that during the day, non hotel guests have access to). from the end of our pod walkway, you get an EXCELLENT overview of Rookburgh area, and the F.L.Y. coaster and how much it weaves in and out of the theming in the area. SO well themed. . other than Mystery Castle - the tower off to the right in the distance - you can't see anything else of the park other than Rookburgh. They really put some thought & design into this theming! the steps under the rounded turret on the right are the ones that lead down to the Hotel Entrance into Rookburgh snapping pics, as we walk over to Pod A and head up the steps to the Hotel Exclusive viewing area. . . up on the viewing area, we bumped into Andy (the Great Zo), who had the same thought to come up and see the view/take pics. so we took a pic of all of us. the view from up here is SPECTACULAR. and even up here, other than Mystery Castle, you can't really see any other parts of this park! Pics taken. . let's head down into Rookburgh popper, since we still have about 30 minutes until dinner seating. such an amazing job with the Steampunk/time lost theming. . the private gate out of the hotel into the park. and looking back into the hotel entrance - during the day, there is a staff member stationed here that only will allow Hotel guests in and out of this gate. down the steps and into the deserted Rookburgh. the park had closed a couple of hours earlier, so we were the only ones there. . one of THE best reasons to splurge and stay onsite here. the theming is incredible, and it's so cool that you can see it / touch it/ take pics of it - without hundreds of people around! fully immersive. . . one of the "exit gates" into the other sections of the park. . .tho as noted, the park closes off this area at park close, to keep Hotel Guests inside Rookburgh and maintain the "Aeromaut" role-playing. . . the special gate for F.L.Y. that we would use our hotel passes at tomorrow or the next day. the main / standby line entrance for the ride. (which by the way is an AMAZE-BALLS flying coaster. . that some in the group didn't realize was a "flying" coaster until the seats tilted face down on the main lift/launch. . LOL). security stands here during the day. but off hours? yup, photo op! and I absolutely adore how they keep all the theming on even after park close in this area. steam and lights stay on until well after 11pm for hotel guests to enjoy the area/atmosphere. another "gate" that would lead to the indoor section where Winjas is located (tho oddly, these doors never opened while we were there. . so maybe they just don't use these any longer, as the other entrance - thru the tunnel - is way more immersive into the Rookburgh area) peeking across/thru the coaster track & theming, you can see folks sitting in the private Bar patio in our hotel. . only hotel guests have access to this bar/patio. (based on that blue shirt? I *think* that's Daniel sitting there?) tho it would be cool if they operated this coaster after hours for hotel guests? I can totally understand why they do NOT. can you imagine the noise in the rooms? I mean look how close it gets to the pods. Instead they give hotel guests "skip the line" / "special Hotel entrance" passes to use during the day. (so cool! and because we had ERT one day, and some folks gifted us extra passes, I didn't have to use all my passes and had some to take home as souvenirs) it was just about time for dinner. . so we headed to the restaurant parkside entrance (again, the only area that is open to park guests during the day). the downstairs level of the hotel houses the private bar, and the restaurant, UHRwerk: a peek at the menu. almost everything we had was excellent by the way, tho I thought the pastas were way stronger than the burgers. But all were decent. James showing off his Tartar appetizer (and that "newspaper" on the table? thats the full menu, and also filled with themed "stories" - none in English, but I still took one as a Souvenier, as they are also avail. in the lobby) I had the triangle fried ravioli like things. . . eye candy in our waiter (he was so nice too) TPR took over about 1/2 of the dining room, since it has limited seating (hence an assigned dining time, like on a cruise ship) John showing off his massage skills to Daniel. our table. . clockwise from Noon: Smisty, Erick, AJ, me, James, Ryan my Main - one of the Pasta bowls, but can't remember which one. Only that it was really good! one of the slider options (I think it had various meats depending on which one) one of the Burgers, another tablemate got. look how juicy! and of course, a stacked desert - I think the Nougat Surprise (which was dryer than it looked like it would be, but still was very good) by the time we finished eating, the sun had set, and the lighting in Rookburgh had come on. holy crap, as amazing as this looks during the day? INCREDIBLE at night. (and really the only way to see it at night is to stay onsite at the Hotel Charles Lindbergh) so I wandered around a bit in the area taking more pics: heading into the tunnel (which, as noted, was closed off at the end that would put you into the main street of the park). . but even inside the tunnel the theming is impressive. and with no people around, can get good pics of the design work on the walls. exit side of tunnel: entrance side of tunnel: peeking thru the closed gate into the main street of the park: it had been a really long day, but not heading up to the room to sleep without checking out the bar 1st! so went back into the hotel, and down to the private 1919 Bar it has indoor seating as well as the outdoor patio that is under the coaster, and between Pods in the hotel. looking up from the outdoor patio. . some of the rooms (bathroom windows of Pod A) after a cocktail, taking the steps back up to our room, so I could enjoy the tin ceilings (rather than wait for the elevator) one last peek down into the outdoor bar patio from the walkway outside our room, before I headed inside for shower and sleep. and then I passed out. . and probably kept James up with my snoring in the tiny sleep pod room. . LOL. . . but yeah. . stay here. COMPLETELY worth it. and with that, day 5 concludes. Day 6 (and 7) are full days at Phantasialand. . and I could not wait for these, as I knew very little about this park, other than I'd heard some rumors about the river raft ride, and of course knew about Taron and Black Mamba. So I was excited. and starting the day off with F.L.Y. ? yeah. . good thing I was exhausted (and slightly buzzed) otherwise would have been up all night with excitement. thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed. Day 6 coming up in the near future!

Day 5, part III: Klotten Klotten was a wonderful park, and I'm so glad we got a chance to stop in here. It's a very traditional "smaller" park, but it has a few big rides. In addition to animals/petting zoo like, gardens, and a ton of "self operated" rides - things I've never seen before. the main sign Park map: Klotti - I'm pretty sure he is a Bear, tho he reminds me of the Buccees Beaver the main reason I was so happy we got to stop here was that Klotten has one of the TPR famous "Boat jump" self operating rides. we didn't have a lot of time here, so Elissa had advised to go do what was most important to us FIRST to make sure we got it. what most important to me was this.. so went and got in line for it a bit slow moving, but because you can only do one at a time as it's self operated. the instructions: my turn! wheeeeee! over the self operated boat jump is the self operated skyline. . . it had a weight limit tho, so I didn't do that one. . LOL and a pregnant goat. . after the boat jump, we headed to the main "big ride" section of the park. passing by the giant slide in and around this "mountain" are 3 rides. a bobsled coaster, a flume with a vertical lift, and a dark ride. the Bobsled was up first, and tho I can't recall the name of it, this one was recently in the news because of a death on the ride. But I believe it has already reopened. some of the TPR crew cued up in front of us in the line. hi Daniel - and Happy Birthday! beautiful setting, and a great ride. really fun, and fairly extreme for such a small, charming park. walking down the pathway to go to the flume ride. . . a peek at the vertical lift for the flume out of order, but a few pics of TPR folks on the bobsled. . I believe courtesy of Andy? back to the flume. . . they are pretty serious about getting the weight distributed correctly (likely because that drop is so steep) after the flume, we walked over to this self operated "whip" ride. there was one attendant just making sure that folks buckled the seat belt, and started the spinning. . but otherwise, the riders controlled how far you swing out, and when, as the ride rotates. never been on anything like it in my life, and it was a pretty amazing experience. More animals right over the ride enclosure, that one can go interact with. . wheeeeeee! About to walk back to the main ride structure, to ride the coaster again, and to take a spin on the dark ride in the base of the "castle". I like how the rides interact with each other. . . um. . yeah. this is the "magic wand" that you use to "shoot" at things in the dark ride! you point it at the targets and push the button. BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAAA Pic courtesy of Robb. . . as I forgot to take a pic of it as I was so busy giggling about it. Doggies were welcome in the park as well.. this doggo was so pretty back to the coaster! getting a little overcast, but still a beautiful day no Carousel here. .but they did have a single rail "horseback" ride, so of course, i HAD to ride that. it's like a zoo crossed with a park. What Elissa said about Knoebel's vibes above, is very accurate. I really liked this park, even tho not hugely themed, or a big park. I had decided that Klotti was a Bear. . so I wanted a pic with the bear: and then John volunteered so I could take a pic hugging a real Bear: headed back towards the front of the park, as it was almost time for us to head out to go to Phantasialand for hotel check in. more of the self operated rides in this park: this one was hysterically odd. you ride the "wave" and you control the "swing out". . but the entire point seemed to be just to swing out under the waterfall that comes on when the ride starts. yeah. the kids seemed to be having a BLAST on this. I just watched: glad we did the boat jump early! some of the self operating rides closed down early! a trash can with a pourpose a self run "swinging rocket" is hidden behind these trees and a "pull yourself up" tower adult "death" versions of kiddie playground rides. . . LOL. .this sucker spun FAST one last view before heading back onto the bus. . pic courtesy of Elissa. . and the group shot, courtesy of Robb, before we got back on the bus and headed off to Phantasialand for check in at the Hotel Charles Lindbergh to be concluded in part IV. . . .

Day 5 part II: the drive to Klotten (part III will be coming up soon. . but didn't want to bog down the park pics with the journey pics) the German countryside is GORGEOUS. .and the road to Klotten involved narrow roads, that twisted back and forth, very much like that famous street in San Francisco. HUGE kudos to our driver, who expertly navigated multiple sharp turns with a giant bus (much to the annoyance of Motorcyclists and bikers, who were also on the road with us, but had to wait for the 3-4 point turns around some of the sharper curves. it was pretty anxiety inducing for me, but I calmed myself by looking at the scenery. . I mean, just LOOK at these pics. the tourist town we went thru was lovely as well, and then back up the hills on the other side of the valley to the park entrance. enjoy these pics, and actual pics from the park soon! and we're here! just LOOK at that view from the parking lot! and they know the view is incredible. . . they set up a photo-frame op for it (I took a pic in front of it, but got a better one on the way out)