Dollywood Discussion Thread

[Firechaser]

Off topic but if you are watching abc's "the middle" right now there are some dollywood references. Sue just said she got a job at Dollywood at Aunt Granny's buffet and her friend will be performing at Country Crossroads show. Too funny!

That is neat. I love that show and catch almost every episode, but missed tonight's! I'll have to watch it next week on ABC Go...

[Nrthwnd]

^^...and that goes for when they've had a Great Experience, too.

[rebelrailroad]

Just saw that they have a job opening for a Senior Digital Marketing Manager. Maybe that explains their lack of response to comments, etc.

[ernierocker]

Update for I-75 in Campbell County...

 

One lane will be open tomorrow for I-75 Northbound. If you are coming down to the park this weekend from Kentucky and northward you will not have an issue as all lanes are open. However, I would still be prepared going back for long delays as interstates usually don't operate well at one lane.

Edited March 24, 2016 by ernierocker

[DoinItForTheFame]

...I know there isn't much Dollywood can do for long lines but there are little things they can do for long lines at a Pizza place.. Meal Voucher? Free Soda?? Something to say "we are sorry"...

 

Maybe it is just me, but I really don't see the need for Dollywood to give out free meal vouchers, or free soda just because there are long lines at a meal place. . .

 

I don't get the whole "The park needs to apologize for being busy" mentality. It's a theme park... People know going to a theme park that they are going to be waiting in line for things. Everything from the rides, to the restaurants. Waiting in lines is part of what goes on at theme parks, and people know that. (or at least they should know that.)

 

I don't think a park needs to give things away as a way to "apologize" for being busy. Just because a park is busy doesn't mean "give me free stuff" should be what people expect.

 

I guess I'm just old school, but when we were at SDC and we waited 45 minutes for food the park employee simply said "I apologize for the long wait, but the park is really busy today and turns out, everyone is hungry!" (They said jokingly, yet sincerely.) Just the fact that they took the time to apologize and tried to lighten the moment was enough for me. I didn't get all angry and start expecting free stuff.

[SFOG1991]

^It's all relative to the situation.

 

I've been to Six Flags parks when they are clearly just too busy and they do not provide the proper amount of service or the proper efficiencies for the crowds that they are so thrilled about having. If a park is taking in a certain capacity it should be providing for that capacity.

 

The industry is a tourism hospitality service industry so it is all about the quality of the service and people have every right to judge that service and the park has a responsibility to fulfill their customers needs and wants if they want to continue to operate successfully.

 

Regardless of all that I do think people expect too much from parks sometimes and have unrealistic complaints like "the park was too expensive and too busy" ...what do they want? Lower prices and lower demand? Impossible.

 

On the topic of Dollywood, their level of service is far better than the majority of parks even if there are a few small holes here and there.

[DoubleDown]

In my humble opinion, ANY amusement park that has operated for over 50 years, and has charged exorbitant prices for concessions during that 50 years, should by this time, have been able to find ways to serve people food efficiently, no matter how crowded. It's 2016, and they're still using the same line system from 1970. It's absurd.

 

Food/Beverages is a friggin cash cow. $4 for 10 cents worth of soda. But instead of getting that $3.90 of profit super quick, they instead have huge lines with hour lines where they're missing out on profits. You'd think they'd streamline the concessions as well as, if not better than the coasters.

 

Think of In N Out. They've got it figured out, and it's really not all that complicated. Amusement parks have had a template, and an opportunity to provide that kind of service to guests for decades, but instead they've decided to go the cheap route, and people are waiting 3/4 of an hour for food.

 

Oh, and about Lightning Rod. I would guess either the high speeds, or the lift launch, are what are most problematic right now. I mean in that circuit video provided by the park, that train is FLYING through the course. I totally would have been a dummy in the backseat to test that!

 

There's a lot of new things RMC is doing with this ride, and based on everything they're doing, I don't doubt they can get it to run how it's supposed to, but it's just going to take some time to make sure it's perfect before they release it to the park. Honestly, I didn't really "get" the launch lift, and thought it would be problematic. I think as standard lift hill would have done this ride just fine, but waiting a couple weeks so that they can do it, is really amazing, and after all is said and done this is really going to be an amazing attraction.

 

I'm pulling for Dollywood and RMC!

[Dollywoodlover20]

Here's a photo taken from today, there are workers on the launch and some on the break run. The coaster could even be coming into the breaks too rough, in a sense like Tennessee Tornado sometimes does. This is what I like about the park being open, guests can take pictures from far away (such as River Rampage) and get perfect views of what's going on.

[mordecai-75]

^^ Dollywood just celebrated their 30th anniversary last year. (not even close to 50) As far as i know, In And Out Burger doesn't exist in the great state of Tennessee. (however we do have a whole lot of Chipotle franchises that are closing down due to the fact that their food can potentially kill you)

[ASE]

To clear up some confusion about the years of Dolly and Dollywood… Dollywood started as Railroad Road in 1961. It changed to Goldrush Junction in 1966 and then Silver Dollar City in 1977... and finally Dollywood in 1986.

 

As far as 50 years goes… Dolly and her husband Carl Dean will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this May.

[jjzadero]

I don't really agree that Dollywood owes guests free stuff for long wait times. However, I do think they owe guests the best experience possible. Running a skeleton crew on extremely busy days just isn't going to cut it. It's one thing to stand in line for pizza for 2 hours because the crowd is so large, but it's unacceptable for that line to be moving so slowly because there aren't enough employees working the pizza place.

 

On the Facebook issue, Dollywood can have the best in-park customer service on the planet (and they sorta do), but in this day and age Facebook is a lot of people's first stop when reviewing, seeking customer services and other general info. If you have never been to Dollywood and visited their Facebook page, they would come off as a company that simply doesn't care about their customers. It's not a good look and I hope they work on it soon.

 

Finally, I'm a bit peeved that they haven't given an update on LR. There's obviously issues, I get it... but at this point I expected more info from Dollywood or RMC. RMC released their initial statement last week saying they would release more info "shortly." It's been a week now... I'm actually getting a bit worried

[dstephe9]

...I know there isn't much Dollywood can do for long lines but there are little things they can do for long lines at a Pizza place.. Meal Voucher? Free Soda?? Something to say "we are sorry"...

 

 

 

Maybe it is just me, but I really don't see the need for Dollywood to give out free meal vouchers, or free soda just because there are long lines at a meal place. . .

 

I don't get the whole "The park needs to apologize for being busy" mentality. It's a theme park... People know going to a theme park that they are going to be waiting in line for things. Everything from the rides, to the restaurants. Waiting in lines is part of what goes on at theme parks, and people know that. (or at least they should know that.)

 

I don't think a park needs to give things away as a way to "apologize" for being busy. Just because a park is busy doesn't mean "give me free stuff" should be what people expect.

 

I guess I'm just old school, but when we were at SDC and we waited 45 minutes for food the park employee simply said "I apologize for the long wait, but the park is really busy today and turns out, everyone is hungry!" (They said jokingly, yet sincerely.) Just the fact that they took the time to apologize and tried to lighten the moment was enough for me. I didn't get all angry and start expecting free stuff.

 

∆∆∆ Bingo, you and I wrote pretty much the same response at the same time

 

See that's the thing.. I didn't expect a meal voucher from Six Flags.. Didn't use the meal voucher. But it was just nice customer service.. And again all I did was tweet or Facebook.

 

I'm more of a fan of someone answering g questions on Facebook than apologizing.. Unfortunately society is changing and not everyone likes picking up the phone.. And what they read on Facebook is the truth (on a side note I don't have any friends on Facebook.. I only have an account to check on official Facebook pages of companies and stuff)

 

I expect lines at every park and Dollywood really does, or has done, a good job managing those lines, at least when I am there.. Six flags on the other hand is a different story!! 9 food window's with one open isn't what a customer should expect.. If there are 9 food window's and still lines, fine you can't help that

 

I'm afraid reading this issues on Facebook, it sounds like the same situation at Dollywood.. It sounds like they aren't preparing for the long long lines and when it comes to food they could prepare better.. They might be prepared but again the look on Facebook is that they aren't

 

Would we rather Dollywood be like Disney and run efficiently or like Six Flags and be ran like a cash cow like Wal*Mart. Get people in and that's all they care about.

 

On a good note, I really haven't had line issues at Dollywood except for the trams.. I have been there when they should have several more trams running and haven't.. Most of the time when I have been there food and rides are running top notch as expected.. I have had some of the older employees be very sour with me in the past but I normally blow that stuff off.

 

And here's the last thing, I haven't been there yet this year so I have no idea if the complaints are true, but the fact is the complaints on Social Media are getting worse, which does in fact hurt Dollywood and their reputation. Even if a lot of people like us blow them off and know they aren't true.

 

I'm going today.. Hopefully everything is running more efficient than people are posting about. I'm looking FWD to today

 

Maybe I should get on Facebook and blame Dollywood for the rain today! Ha-ha no I know I'll have a great time even if it rains

[Fast7up]

We were there Monday.Had lunch at Red's Diner,wasn't crowded in the park at all.Was kinda slow service though.But in the workers defense looked like they were a little short staffed to me.Also they have down sized the dressings bar.Do not have the ketchup dispensers any more,so you gota squeeze everything out of little packs now.But there's more seating room inside and outside.The renovations they have done there look great too.

[Benmeins]

Cool

Hmmm opening?!!!

[ernierocker]

No. The ride isn't opening, its just a media day featuring the coaster.

Edited March 24, 2016 by ernierocker

[Benmeins]

Oh

[Dollywoodlover20]

Dolly officially "opened" the attraction today as she always does while taking questions, singing songs including her first single as a teenager "Puppy Love" to fit the era. Now to continue the waiting game, or for some the crying game haha. (Cues Brenda Lee) I love this coaster because I'm a 50's and 60's GEEK! From cars, history, music, etc.

[kickflipbacktail]

A media day for a roller coaster not opening. I've seen it all.

[moneygrabber]

Man, that sure is a decieving tweet.

[coasterbill]

A media day for a roller coaster not opening. I've seen it all.

 

Yeah I don't get this at all, lol. Can't wait for the Orphan Rocker media day next week.

[kickflipbacktail]

I'll give the park credit for having Dolly show up at the park in spite of the rides delays. Does this mean there wont be a real media day when the coaster actually opens?

[ernierocker]

^It wouldn't surprise me if they did anything major now or if they just open the ride when it is ready. There will still probably be a media ride day so they can do their POVs and media can be filmed riding.

[TrippinBillie]

They're really marketing Lightning Rod for Thrills in the Hills:

 

http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Festivals/ThrillsintheHills?cid=sf45200699+sf45200699

 

Got to believe it's at least a week or so away from opening......?

[brenthodge]

Did Dolly make any remarks as to why her big rod isn't ready to ride on yet? Something like it "taking longer than you planned to get a country girl ready for a fast ride"?

[NegativeGLover]

A couple questions for those who have been to the area multiple times:

1. We are going for 4 days in April, probably hitting the park 2 of those, is it worth staying at one of the Dollywood cabins for the ticket deal? Do they ever run last minute deals on their cabins? Or should we just go ahead and book elsewhere and save a little money?

2. How does the child swap policy for riding work at Dollywood? We've encountered a LOT of variation even from what the park employees say from place to place, and there will be multiple parents with kids swapping out.