dstephe9

Looks like TN Tornado is closed again for the day.. Wonder what's wrong? I know they aren't open yet, but they already have that one listed in the app. And I'm always so confused why Dollywood doesn't open for the areas largest Spring Break every year? (March 13 - 17) I know the past few years they miss Knox County's break and looks like they are again this year. They open the final weekend of it but that's it. You would think that would be a busy week with the locals plus a lot of college spring breaks are that same week or even the week before. I know Gatlinburg gets a lot of Spring Break goers.. I know HFE has a lot of good data on attendance but this one I have never understood Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Yup, it closed for season a few days ago. Made my last trip to the park for the season tonight with a few friends.. Finally ate at aunt granny's buffet this season.. good as always. Lines just been very long for it all season it seems so always bypassed it. Today was about 45 min wait but well worth it. Had their Holiday Turkey which seemed better this year than previous. I love their cream and vegetable soup! Good deserts and all you can eat is a great thing! I guess Tennessee Tornado was down most of the afternoon. It was up earlier I thought, at least according to the app it had a wait, but when I arrived it was closed for the day.. Got a few rides in, great like always. Wild Eagle was the only one still running when I left due to cold weather but night rides on it are always great! Operations were fine, park was decently crowded. A lot of places were running out of things though, I was surprised how many kiosks didn't have soda in their fountains! Doing bottles instead.. I guess preparing to close for the season.. wasn't an issue because I larger restaurants had soda in the fountains just had to wait a little longer.. Overall fun night! Arrived around 4 and left at 8:15 (beating the parade out, earlier this season it was a nightmare leaving after the parade) Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Wing coasters have little lights but they are always on as far as I can tell and not really anything to do with the restraints. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

IDK, I haven't noticed what seats they go with on LR but how you described is like Mystery Mine. Mystery Mine staff makes it like a game at times "I need you to get one more light back here before we go" drawing attention to it and the seat they belong to.. my rides on LR, no one ever really drew much attention to them so I have no idea what seats they went with. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

And i think those lights are great for both riders and ops.. if the rider knows what they are, it gives them a visual que that everything is OK.. plus, for ops, it works much better than Six Flags yelling out "row 3 seat 4", "row 8 seat 1", "row 2 seat 1" and so on, Everytime they dispatch a train. And I mean everytime my last visit! Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I like those lights! Mystery Mine has them. Two or three dots and you are a go! (Mystery mines are on the back and more for the ride op but hey they are there) And exactly, I can tell you I feel safer at Dollywood with them pulling on the restraint than Disney saying "push up to make sure it's locked".. Same purpose but mentally better IMO. I know, neither are going to fail and I do feel Dollywood is one of the safest parks around.. I hate drop towers but for some reason I already feel safer on theirs than Acrophobia at SF. Just seeing how well Dollywood maintains their rides over six flags helps that. The visual impressions really help some customers, even people like me who love Amusement Parks and no that nothing will fail. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

That's the sad part that makes me want a cry.. SFOG has a BBB rating of B+ Dollywood has a B! Is this a true representation of the parks? No but it is a public representation that goes back to a better social media presence or CS presence overall. With the BBB it's more about a better complaint resolution process. Six Flags obviously does better in this department even with a lot more complaints. We all know Dollywood is a better park but publicly, for people who check stuff like the BBB, six flags looks better. (And yes we can't ignore the fact that people check this stuff even if we don't want to believe it) Of course six flags trip advisor reviews are in the tank haha Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Flagging is fine but don't do it publicly. Dollywood should leave the flagging comment out all together. I'm glad none of you guys work customer service because you clearly don't understand CS. I know when I worked for US Cellulars Call Center here in Knoxville, I would be written up that second if I said something like that to a customer. On a side note I advanced quickly at US Cellular to a CS coach but the pay was crap and at that time all I did was attend meetings and not help customers and hated that. So maybe this is why small things like this bug me. Maybe working in customer service created higher expectations. We had Mottos at US Cellular like "Give them the pickle" (This was a saying we used that came from restaurants when people used to ask for an extra pickle and restaurants would say no. All US Cellular CS agents had a daily budget of incentives they could give out without manager approval. Most common was a $5 credit)(They also received commission if they are able to make a customer happy without using all their incentives) (this also goes back to Dollywood requiring a manager to override my replacement season pass fee. Modern companies give basic control to the guys and gals on the frontline. This should be something the front line can do) "The customers perception is their reality" (They feel unsafe, we need to prove to them they aren't.. Dollywood does a good job of this by physically pulling on restraints BUT they failed with the customers review I posted by not showing any sympathy towards the reviewer. This could lead to even more readers of the review not feeling safe. I'm not saying they need to inspect after a complaint but they need to make the customer feel valued and that their feedback was valued) "Make a customer, not a sale" When I was a coach at US Cellular my entire team had the old Ghandi Quote in their cubicle "A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so." Our centers also had a social media department (this is actually located in the regional office on the same campus as the call center) in which we required all agents to be sympathetic even if they couldn't help. This department handled Facebook, Twitter, Cell Phone Forums, and other public places. We couldn't always help but we responded to all we could find and showed that we understood.. never mentioned reporting the reviews to the reviewer.. on the inside, we tried. We reported everything under the sun.. had success at a lot of it. we had people who specialized in reading TOS on sites and finding loophole's we could report. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I think the park should of requested more information but my main point of this review is that the park basically publicly said the reviewer wasn't telling the truth by saying we disagree and flagging the review. Of course, TripAdvisor disagreed because they didn't remove the review or place a warning beside it On a side note, Trip Advisor only allows flags if you feel the review is fraudulent, has rudeness directed towards a person, contains identifiable information or foul language. The only one of those Dollywood could flag for is fraud or not bring a truthful review Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Tell that to six flags who had a death because a ride op didn't stop a ride when someone said their restraint didn't feel locked down. The reviewer specifically said they felt unsafe, not just scared. Safety is a legitimate concern and it shouldn't be responded to with a "flag" no matter how many complaints you get a day from it. It might be trolling or it might have been caused by a bad experience on a ride.. eitherway, half the reviews on TripAdvisor ask for more details by email but this one didn't. Dollywood simply disagreed and reported the comment. You can disagree and report the comment privately but don't do it in public I had a bad experience on a six flags coaster when the ride op didn't check restraints.. they were texting on their phone.. I reported it and I hope it was followed up on.. I was told it was and that was enough for me. I knew the ride was safe and I was locked. But obviously that is against their safety guidelines and if I had wrote a review about it instead of just complaining to guest services I would want to know it was followed up on not a disagreement and telling me I was flagged. Maybe something similar happened on a ride at Dollywood and the reviewer just didn't do a good job explaining why they felt unsafe. A simple, please send more details to this email so we can follow-up shows the park is at least trying. I don't expect them to inspect and close every ride when someone says, "that's not safe" not at all, but they should at least try and figure out if the ride just scared them or their is a possible issue with the ride or an employee.. Employees cause most theme park accidents, injuries, and deaths. Sensors can't help employee errors. As seen by other parks, it takes one employee error to ruin a perfect safety track record. But admitting to flagging the review just tells the reviewer they aren't telling the truth and you don't believe them. That's never customer service.. apologize, try to follow-up, and flag privately if you wish. That's customer service Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Trying to flag negative reviews shows me as a customer you would rather hide it than apologize or dig deeper into the situation about why they felt unsafe.. maybe they dealt with a bad ride op that wasn't checking restraints like they should. Maybe this is a legitimate complaint they should dig deeper into for safety of other guest. Or maybe they are a troll just trolling and writing bad reviews. Eitherway don't try and hide it which is all flagging ends up doing. That shows other people reading, you really don't care especially if you fail and TripAdvisor doesn't remove the review. So so's family reads that complaint and wonders why the reviewer felt unsafe and sees Dollywood didn't dig deeper into it. What should they think? This is the cyber society we live in even if we don't want to admit it. As a side note, my TripAdvisor review of Dollywood is positive.. I for one do use Social Media now for tips.. I just purchased a new 65 inch 4k TV and what won me over to the brand I decided on was how that brand handled complaints on Facebook.. The brand I decided on had more complaints and negative reviews than other brands but they replied and offered free in home repairs to the complaints while other companies just ignored complaints.. this actually caused me to go with a lesser known brand over LG or Samsung. The society we live in is doing this more daily and how you deal with Facebook, Twitter ,and other Social Media is key to customer growth. I will admit though, most theme parks don't have a very good social media presence anyways Most don't even respond to general questions, even Disney. Carowinds does some but that's it. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Here is a good example of the new Customer Service at Dollywood! Really, they would admit at flagging the review because someone posted they didn't like the rides and felt unsafe? Of course the review is still up so Dollywood lost. I have never felt unsafe on a Dollywood ride, actually I feel very safe, but this isn't how you handle a complaint about it.. instead, be polite, explain your safety record, and just apologize. Never say you are flagging a legitimate complaint just because you disagree. A customer service class I took one time said to always be sympathetic even if you the customer was wrong and you couldn't help them. Sympathy always goes a long way. Sympathy shows you understand their complaint, even if you don't agree. Instead, in this review, Dollywood just disagrees and "flags" it. "We never like feeling unsafe on rides either and we apologize this happened. Dollywood has an a+ safety record and we are sorry you didn't feel this way and hope you give us another opportunity in the future." That would be a good response and just leave it at that or ask for more details to why they didn't feel safe. It could be a legitimate concern that the park needed to dig deeper into. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I actually get email surveys everynow and then.. I fill them out, usually positive. I did fill one out negatively Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

They give you the option to keep your previous year passes and skip the line. One year they did require a new card, but they never say you have to get a new card every year I wish they would just go to a membership system in general and just pay monthly like I do for Six Flags.. no renewal, just a fingerprint and my old card with a barcode and a picture you can barley make out haha Also, we might be in the minority here that has issues with Dollywood but look at TripAdvisor or even the BBB.. Dollywood has 13 lifetime complaints on the BBB.. 80% of them are this year.. They are having growing pains, it's apparent if you look around.. even their Facebook is full of complaints (I actually defend Dollywood on Facebook some) Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I mean, I love Dollywood and always will.. just because I feel their Guest Services is lacking doesn't mean I hate the park.. it means I don't like dealing with their Customer Service and hopefully I won't have to often. I love their food which is a big draw for me.. Shows are decent. I have tons of memories at the park.. Create new memories every year.. I do remember old memories that don't seem as great now as they did though, mainly Christmas.. I noticed this year, not nearly as many traditional Christmas songs or Christmas songs from Dolly. Now it's more mainstream stuff which loses some of the charm. I remember the old Mayor in the black top hat as a kid! He always made me smile when I was younger But yeah I can see Dollywood turning into the old "Paramount Parks"..I believe those are most of his older parks that he has had management in. When it comes to the old Paramount Parks, I only have experience with Kings Island though I mean, the big thrilling rides to bring people in aren't bad (I am actually a fan of these) but they don't have the charm of the Dollywood rides I grew up with. But again I am very excited seeing Dollywood grow! And big rides allow this. But there is a new level of "corporate" feeling in Dollywood that has been getting worse and worse over the years. At times worse than Six Flags. For example, policies like the no rerides.. Six Flags builds excitement by saying "you know you wanna ride again" when rides are dead.. Dollywood just reminds you that you must walk around (or run) and get back in line.. Honestly though, I have noticed the younger ride ops don't follow this rule as much as the older ones do anymore and it depends on the crew. Last year I hated when they said "it's against copyright laws to have your cameras on rides" (I haven't heard that once this season though).. All the fine print on their Bring a Friend passes.. Again just corporate feel BUT a lot of this is needed to allow growth, however, Customer Service is something that can allow growth without changing for the worse Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

The park itself is great, it just made up my mind about their customer service and that it is lacking. Hopefully I'll never need their Guest Services again but who knows. Yeah the park itself has bad days but majority of their days are good.. yeah they have policies I don't like (mainly their no rerides even if the park is dead. I feel telling guest to run back to the entrance is more dangerous than allowing rerides) but the park itself I have positive experiences with.. Customer Service is what I feel is lacking at Dollywood Now I don't mean customer service between myself and ride ops or sales associates at the park (Overall that's very positive).. I mean guest services. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Fine I'll give and say it was OK for the lady at the Cinnamon Bread place to question and say my Gold Pass was no good.. Which snowballed to guest services who sent me to the season ticket office who tried to make me "pay" for a new season pass because mine wasn't damaged until a manager came which took 30 minutes of waiting. No matter how you look at it, that is not customer service.. Simply put. Even if Disney had a flex policy in place, it was a positive experience vs Dollywoods negative and that's what it comes down to. You have one opportunity to provide good customer service before folks form an opinion. And their opportunity to me wasn't a good experience. It might be better if I ever need their CS again, who knows and Disney might be worse.. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Yeah, honestly, if their food locations were all open and running at full capacity, it wouldn't need much of an expansion aside from more seating areas. My last visit, half of the locations had been closed and never opened. Eitherway, this will be a great improvement if done correctly. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Exactly. And with Dollywood I was just trying to get them to waive the $15 or $20 fee (whatever it was for the replacement season pass). It's not like it was a huge loss to them vs 5 days of tickets and 6 nights at Disney (when they only closed 1 day) I had asked just to move it to later in the year Now I'm just going to get a new card every year when I renew so I don't have to deal with the hassle again. It's free then. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

But hopefully the food court will be staffed properly or being expanded really doesn't help.. I'll probably plan on getting a meal plan next year again so more food options are great! With that being said, I received a survey about a very nice new homemade bakery.. Wonder if that will be built in the expanded food court? That would be sweet! If it's anything like the survey it'll be awesome! It also mentioned a chicken place and more pizza but the majority of the survey was for the bakery Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

But my point on Customer Service is still valid.. a positive experience from Disney vs a negative experience that took manager intervention from Dollywood just to print a new season pass with a current date. Again, Disney didn't have to refund according to their policy. Who in my mind should receive "the better customer service award". And that's because personally I have never received that level of CS from dollywood. Maybe it's because I have a season pass and it's like "Oh Well, you will be back" vs potential customers that will not be back if they leave upset Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

No I compared it to Dollywoods raincheck policy, someone made a comment about the Dollywood raincheck tickets if they are closed for an hr and a half or longer so I compared the two. Disney's Hurricane policy actually states they do not give refunds. But they did no questions asked.. My point is Dollywood sticks to the book unless you get a manager involved.. Disney did not, it was a one call resolution Again, I was just calling Disney to move my reservation (I hadn't used the tickets yet so no need for raincheck tickets or anything) and they offered the refund so I could book whenever I wanted on my own time Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Now with that being said, Dollywoods still my favorite park and not just because it is local.. I'll actually be there tomorrow, probably for the last time this season Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Actually, I personally feel Dollywood is understaffed and lacking in customer service (from my last experience with their CS). if you send them an email it takes 10+ days to respond and while they try to help in person, most of the time their hands are tied until a manager comes. I have received far better customer service from Disney and even six flags! Dale (park president of SFOG) responded to one of my emails personally on a Holiday due to a T-Shirt with a hole in it. Overnighting a new shirt! My last complaint to Dollywood was due to a cinnamon bread associate not taking my Gold Pass because it had a date from several years ago.. I renew it online so yeah the pass had an old purchase date on it, but she never scanned to see it was good (I posted the complaint on this forum).. I finally talked her into taking it but I then went to the season pass center to print a new one so I didn't have the issue again with other new associates.. They wanted to charge for the "replacement" because mine wasn't broken.. They finally said they would have to call up a manager who approved it but it took 30 minutes for the approval.. I sent Dollywood and email with my complaint.. 12 days later they responded saying they love receiving comments both positive and negative and use those comments as a coaching tool.. That's it no apology or anything.. Just a canned response after waiting 12 days.. That's not really the best customer service.. Now I don't use Dollywoods customer service often, this was the first time in a few years, but it only takes one time to make people think the customer service sucks. As for the raincheck tickets, I have never needed one but I do like that Dollywood does offer them.. BUT Disney gave me a full refund on tickets in October due to the hurricane.. No raincheck ticket offer or anything, just a refund.. Raincheck tickets are good but not helpful for people who traveled long distances. Disney even refunded the hotel and deposit. I would have actually taken raincheck tickets for Disney because I am going there next week but I received a much better deal to Disney next week anyway Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

No, I just think folks on this forum overlook general customer service due to this being a hobby of theirs and think that customer service like this is "OK" when in reality it isn't. Personally, I even feel the "technical rehearsal" was a joke and just a way to cover Dollywoods back without them saying "the coaster is closed" I have seen several people on this forum say if you go to the park for LR and it's closed, it's your own fault. It's not like you can buy a ticket, find out it's closed and get refunded without a fight. Again, these are just my opinions but I'm also not blinded by my love for the park and on the parks side even though I do love the park and think it's a great place Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk