Electerik

Don't think I've been to that one. Must be way out on 66. Guess I'm free to do the more central ones now. /Yay for me?

Seriously? They have tons of space. If worse came to worse, they could borrow 1% of the open space the animals roam around in for it.

I guess we don't know what the "thrill rides" are going to be yet...? Something from Cypress Gardens, perhaps? I've only been to Wild Adventures once, and I wasn't knocked out by it. But I suppose I need to give it another chance. Good to hear that they're still (presumably) doing okay.

Just because they've worked with them once doesn't mean they're happy with that collaboration. Perhaps just the opposite. If Busch thought Gwazi was awesome, I would expect to have seen another woodie somewhere else by now.

Hey, thanks for the trip report. Good stuff!

I only just started watching the Bryan Adams Show this season, but I've since downloaded and watched all of the first season, as well--so I feel I'm now qualified to make a demand: I demand lewd and/or ridiculous poses with the zax! Thank you.

I have never seen Pushing Daisies. However, there is room in my heart for both cake and pie. /With Boston Cream Pie being a sort of perfect compromise.

And people say we take this hobby too seriously....

I had been to the Sir Goony's in Chattanooga, but wasn't even aware that there was one in Knoxville until just a few days ago. Amazingly, this one is even more funky and awesome than the original. Sir Goony's Okay, I'm going to say it: Sir Goony's, in Knoxville, is the epitome of old-school miniature golf funktasticness. You owe it to yourself, and to the brave men and women who gave their lives to construct it, to go there as soon as possible. Thank you. "Don't mind me. You're doing great!" Smisty rockin' her Deep South/Texas shirt. "And I've got a hole in my tentacle! That makes me evil!" "I've got a fang." Does this look really kinky, or is it just me? Care to sit down for a moment? Not much better. Those are some effed-up looking ghosts. Pretty good likeness. The score card doubles as a coloring page. There are two courses: Championship and Goony. "I'm a crazy rock monster! Gimme your balls!" The spray bottle is in case you don't like cats. No, seriously. Note the penalty cup on the left. Don't get too confident. Kitty lies in wait. The haunted house was pretty cool. Mmmm, the open sea...the smell of fresh pond scum.... "Is there a problem, officer?" "Hey, where'd my ball go?" This allowed me to get a zero on this hole. (While Misty fell into the cat trap.) Several holes have "bonus" and/or "penalty cups." Often, the key to mini golf victory is humping each hole into submission. (Wait, did that sound dirty? Oh...I guess it was supposed to.) Hmmm...water doesn't look too good. "Let me show you hole #1." "Hello. I'm October, and I will be your designated kitty escort at Sir Goony's today." This is where you go to buy tickets and be assigned a cat. Yes, there are go carts--and paintball, too--but neither were operating when we visited.

No, there were at least two, sort of following us around. They were quite good. Even made Misty jump a couple of times (and she's a rock). Best bit: One of the actors running a grinder (or something) across a metal grate, shooting sparks at you. /Nothing beats Hauntings, though.

James Bond exhibit? Add +4 to trip report awesomeness. Thanks for posting this!

In addition to Hauntings (covered earlier), there are two walk-through haunted houses in Gatlinburg: Ripley's Haunted Adventure (still to come) and Mysterious Mansion. All in all, a very nice walk-through haunted house. The staff was great, and seemed to actually be monitoring our progress, which was a nice (creepy) touch. At one point, a ghostly voice even gave us hints when we were stuck. Highly recommended. How do we get out of here? Hmmm, that seems bad. It's very effectively laid out, crossing over and around itself multiple times. It's $8.97 for adults and $6.95 for children. I think we got the children's price as locals. It is good. In fact, it reminded me quite a bit of Dr. Frankenstein's Castle at Indiana Beach. Photography within the experience itself is frowned upon, so this is me in the lobby. Sign me up for fun filled apprehension, please. The fact that these are real bumper stickers is what's funny about it, to me. The Mansion is accessed by going around a hearse parked on a bridge over the river.

All five look really good, but I'm pretty sure Misty has her heart set on England. /Yes, I'm gonna try to try again.

Nope. It's all yours, bro. But I do expect great things from it. /Which "As Seen On TV" store?

Okay, I confirmed it with Dollywood: It must be at least 40 degrees for any and all of the coasters to operate. Sorry to Rastuso (and everyone else) for the misinformation earlier.

Parrot Mountain is one of those attractions I've always wanted to check out, but hadn't gotten around to because I was concerned that it would suck. But, that's the beauty of this thread: It gives me an excuse to go to those kinds of places anyway--secure in the knowledge that, at the very least, I'll be able to post pictures about how bad it was. However, suction turned out not to be the case here. All I knew about Parrot Mountain, going in, was that there were lots of birds, it was religious, and that it was so high up a scary mountain road that we'd have to do it when we had a car. I think it's safe to say that we were pleasantly surprised. And that's Parrot Mountain. It's actually pretty darned nice. And right next door to Dollywood. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not religious. Still, I do appreciate nice sculpture and pretty fountains. And no one tried to convert me. So I'm not complaining. "My child." - "Yes, God?" - "You must collect birds!" It also houses a snack bar. The cheaper gift shop. The basketball hoop is really not helping dispel the illusion that these restrooms and gift shop are in somebody's house. Photos are not allowed inside, but this is where they keep the baby birds. It also doubles as the world's most expensive gift shop, as you can buy them. This is a toucan. There is absolutely no evidence that his name is Sam. Or that he is even a "he" for that matter. Or that he or she enjoys milk. These guys hate their own sign. "Stop telling people about us!" Let's not take grandma here. 'Ello! Kookaburra. They make that "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" noise you here in movies when people suddenly realize they're in a scary jungle. "How about some more caged birds, then?" Oh yeah, she hates me. Misty recovering from her ordeal. "Who's a pretty birdie?" "I WILL KILL YOU!!! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!!" "I really don't see what the big deal is...." "AHHH! They're injuring me! HELP!" "What? They seem friendly enough." "Oh crap, get 'em off me!" And now, the highlight of our visit: We get to feed the lories some juice! It is rather pretty. S'okay, I found him. Jesus's tomb, I presume. But where's Jesus?? Though there are lot of statues and such throughout, this area is the most religiously-concentrated. "Let us out of here!" "This bird prefers open grasslands, so we've stuck him in a metal cage with a concrete floor. We're sure he'll like that." Moving right along.... "I'm a stupid bird." "Oh, come on! We won't bite you that hard!" Misty sticks to the small birds. Wait, almost every pole has the warning sign on it. Smisty decides to give it a shot. I like rule #7. It sort of makes it like a video game: Come feed the birds, but watch out--some of them bite! Not very many birds in this one, oddly enough. Oh, it's an aviary! (Or, as my old co-workers back at Discovery Cove used to call them--much to my annoyance--"a bird aviary.") Well, it's not gonna stay a secret for long with that sign out there. Hello. It's also a "gardens," which makes anything better, in my book. Some birds are in cages, some aren't. This is actually the exit gift shop. Nice, eh? The entrance is very photogenic. Admission is normally $15.00 for adults, but Misty got us in free through her employer. The parking lot at the top is not entirely straight. It's about a mile or so from here to the top, all of it steep and winding. Interestingly, bus parking is down here. So good luck to those folks. The parking lot in the foreground is actually Dollywood's.

"Suckered"? Rock City might very well be my favorite (non-amusement park) place on Earth! Anyway, nice TR so far.

Okay, I admit I'm not sure. I thought it was freezing, but I could easily be wrong. It could also be that they have different temps for different coasters. I'll try to find out the official answer and report back. But, for now, we have two remembrances of 40, so let's go with that.

Huh. Who would have thought that they would fail again so soon after taking out all their rides? That usually works great. I did enjoy my one visit to this park. But it was already gone, so far as I'm concerned.

Two days ago. But it was the one in Knoxville, not Chattanooga. (And this one was even funkier!) Photos when I get around to it.

That one's pretty short. I recommend the one at MagiQuest instead. In fact, the only thing that keeps me from calling MagiQuest itself a "must do" is the fact that it's a chain. It is really cool, though.

^ I've often thought how fulfilling it must be to be so well-regarded back home that they paint you on gourds.

The changing of the leaves is something many people come to the Great Smoky Mountains to see, but I still think October's "crowded-ness" is often overstated. In any case, a crowded day at Dollywood is usually more of a problem for seeing all the shows than for riding all the rides--though Saturday will obviously be the worst day of the week. Any lingering concerns on that count can easily be countered by a relatively-cheap Q-bot rental, though. All of Dreamland Forest is closed for the season, including the Slidewinder. I can only assume this is a cost-cutting measure, since all the other water rides remain open. Still, it's a very small section of the park that you probably wouldn't have spent a lot of time in anyway. The 1-day or 2-day argument probably has more to do with how you like to experience a park than it does with Dollywood itself, and it sounds like you already knew the answer to that one going in. The Smoky Mountain Brewery has a location in Pigeon Forge, as well, if you don't want to drive into Gatlinburg for it.

Never been much of a fair guy. But Smisty wanted to go, and I thought it might be a fun addition to this thread, so.... Sevier County Fair 2009 Arrrg! A sea ray has eaten me leg! Not really sure why the pirate ship is called "Sea Ray," but I got a nice picture of its sign. ...and a couple of fun houses. There were two or three kiddy coasters. There is nothing about this ride that isn't weird. Smisty was in black & white heaven. Okay, onto the rides. A couple of fine heifers. 'Ello, gov'ner. Mmmm, zoo food.... There was a "cutest dog" contest the day we were there. A room full of old stuff. (Honestly, I thought my fair captions would be more hilarious, too.) Well...isn't that something. Not the bees! Lamest science fair project ever, or awesomest? This is the sort of thing they do at fairs, right? Yup, we're in Tennessee. Kind of a "midway of crap." It didn't open until 5:00pm. (Not sure if that's normal or not for fairs, to be honest.) Held at the Sevier County Fairgrounds, in Sevierville. I think I did a really good job with my black and white photos that I took. Don't you, Smisty? Dizzy Dragons, presented by Angry Abdul. Kiddie "coaster" #3. Anyone who counts fair kiddie coasters is just sad. I do know who these people are. (And they're awesome.) I have no idea who these people are. I'm pretty sure they lived, though. Interesting food and drink stand. There were, like, ten Ferris Wheels at this fair. I like the way this photo of the evil zipper turned out. There is nothing on the planet better than dunking a clown. Yes, there you have it: The 2009 Sevier County Fair. It was very fair-like.

HOLY CRAP!!! I WAS STANDING WITHIN 20 FT OF A TPR MODERATOR!!! I apologize, oh greatness, for pestering you. Forgive me! (I'm not kidding, I was there that SAME DAY!) Overall this TR is going well. Great photos and good comments. EDIT: You spelled "Enthusiasts" wrong. Amazing! Larry wins the internet.