coasterdude28 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Hello everyone. Hope you are all have a great day. I will be on vacation with my family in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area for 7 days in August. I will definately be going to Dollywood during this trip and was curious as to how many days I should plan to spend at the park. There will be four, maybe five who would go the park at least once and two of us who may go for a second day. I was wondering what our best ticketing option are for these circumstances. If you have any tips, suggestions or insider information that might help make our vacation the best it can be, I would truly appreciate your input. Any information on Dollywood and the area in general would be great. What is your favorite mini-golf place in the area? What are the best hiking areas? Any tourist trap attractions that are a must see? I have been keeping up with Electerik's awesome Smokey Mountains thread but wanted to create this as to not hijack his thread. Again, thanks in advance for any help regarding ticketing, what to do and how to enjoy my first visit to beautiful Tennessee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Having just visited Dollywood and Pigeon Forge a week ago, I will recommend one specific attraction to you over three words: Jurassic Dark Ride. For $15 I received one of the quirkiest attraction experience's I've ever had. I can't really describe it too easily, but the price is well worth it. Also, let me note that spending the $45 and the hour and a half time for the Skyzip attraction at Dollywood is absolutely worth it! That was hands down the best scenic experience I've taken in while traveling within the United States. Adam "The dark ride has all the fun of Jurassic Park River Adventure minus the Park and Adventure!" Roth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacups Make Me Sick Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 EDIT: I'm a jacka$$ and didnt read your ENTIRE post....therefore my advice just seems silly. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Adam "The dark ride has all the fun of Jurassic Park River Adventure minus the Park and Adventure!" Roth But did it have TWO T-rex's????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFreak Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44192 Dave's TR from a while ago is another great thread you may want to check out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude28 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I am currently reading Dave's TR and it is very good. Thanks for the link. Do any of you know of any good discount opportunities for tickets? Would it pay for one or two of us to get season passes? What's the best bet regarding that? Thanks so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Your best bet if visiting more than once is a season pass... there are not many discounts offered for Dollywood admission. (However, they are offering free meal vouchers with online ticket purchases to be used before August 30). If you enjoy aquariums, Ripley's in Gatlinburg is suprisingly good. Also, Hillybilly Golf in Gatlinburg is great as well (and you get an awesome ride on the incline)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Like the above poster just said, you can not really get much of a discount off of Dollywood tickets. There may be a small one for participating McDonalds, but I am not sure. They do have a couple of promotions that could work for you. One is if you arrive on the first day after 3:00 P.M., you get the next day free. The other is if you buy a one day admission, you can get the 2nd day for 20 bucks more. I am pretty sure this puts you about 10 bucks cheaper than a season pass, so I wouldn't get the season pass unless you wanted to go for 3 days. As far as the tourist stuff, you can not go wrong with Electerik's thread. I would definitely spend a day or two just exploring downtown Gatlinburg. If you are into corny haunted houses, Mysterious Mansion is a childhood favorite of mine and is just off the main drag in Gatlinburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 This thread is also a good one to check out... http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50420 Have fun in my home state! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 If you'll be staying at an area hotel, check to see if they sell Dollywood tickets. Many offer a full 2-day "Play Another Day" ticket for the same price as Dollywood's 1-day ticket ($53.50). Since I don't know how into hiking your whole group is, I'm going to play it safe and recommend the Laurel Falls Trail. It's easy to get to/close to Gatlinburg, fairly scenic, and the first mile or so (to the falls) is paved. So if worse comes to worst, the wusses can hang out at the falls for a while while the rest venture onward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude28 Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Thanks for all of the input so far. Every little bit helps. There seems to be plenty to do in the area so I can't wait to get down there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude28 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Hi everyone. We are leaving on Saturday to head down to Tennessee. We will either go to DW late on Monday and use the return a second day option on Wednesday(not open on Tues.), or we will purchase online to get the free meal vouchers. As for area attractions... We definately are going to go to Hillbilly Golf and maybe another golf place. A tour of SM Vineyard, some hiking and a lot of relaxing. Other than that we are going to play it by ear. Thanks again for the help everyone. Any last minute information would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sclisso Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I would Recommend all the Ripley's Attractions, they are all really great. Out of all of the Ripley's attractions, I would say the aquarium, Believe it or not, moving theater and the mini golf courses are the best. Wonderworks in Sevierville is great also. As far as Mini Golf, Professor Hackers Mini Golf is one of the greatest mini golf attractions next to the two Ripley's mini golf courses. Oh and If you're thinking about getting breakfast one morning, I highly,highly recommend Duff's Smorgasbord . It doesn't look that great from the outside but the breakfast buffet there is to die for. The staff/waiters are super friendly and It has just a great atmosphere. Plus it's close to the road you turn on to go to Dollywood so it's convenient for someone who plans to grab breakfast and go straight to Dollywood. You should definitely try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tatertot3710 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 If you don't have hotel reservations yet, I would reccomend Wilderness at the Smokies in Sevierville even if just for one night. The hotel has an indoor and outdoor (2) waterpark. We stayed for just one night and the wristbands were valid for 2 days. They have 2 wave pools (the indoor one being very wild), a lazy river, a giant hot tub (starts indoor, but you can swim through a small doorway to go outside), a toddler play area, an indoor/outdoor activity pool, a funhouse-like kids play area with a body slide and tipping bucket, a waverider, 2 tube slides, and "Storm Chaser" which is a 4-person funnel slide. There's also a small outdoor waterpark at the other building which is right accross the street with 2 small slides and what looked to be a kids area. Don't know if you're in to that but my family thought it was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude28 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thanks sclisso and tater. As far as lodging goes, we have a timeshare booked for the week. I was looking at Wilderness in the Smokies for the hell of it though and it does look pretty nice. Thanks again for the tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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