Dollywood Discussion Thread

[I306]

I was excited about the renewal offer until I saw the $85 upgrade fee for gold. Not sure a 6-month extension is worth that much, even though I'm sure it would pay for itself for a lot of people. Just seems crazy that an upgrade would cost more than the pass itself.

[TEDodd]

1 minute ago, u4icmusic said:

Did you actually try to renew? Mine come up with the correct price, but won't let me pay for it. $164 includes the renewal discount.  Like I said in an earlier post, not much of a discount for only 6 more months extension.

 

Like I said, I went to the page. It showed all 3 passes with no warnings like you get.

I didn't click farther as I'm looking into a refund because of the Gold pass pricing.
I'd pay $80 to renew all 3, or even a few bucks more for the gold one, but not the full $85 upcharge.
 

[u4icmusic]

2 hours ago, I306 said:

I was excited about the renewal offer until I saw the $85 upgrade fee for gold. Not sure a 6-month extension is worth that much, even though I'm sure it would pay for itself for a lot of people. Just seems crazy that an upgrade would cost more than the pass itself.

It doesn't cost more than a full season pass. It is slightly cheaper, but it should have been a way better deal than they gave us.

[TEDodd]

It doesn't cost more than a full season pass. It is slightly cheaper, but it should have been a way better deal than they gave us.

It's more than the renewal price of $79.

I could agree with the upgrade price for an actual upgrade, regular to gold. But for existing gold pass holders it should be much less, like $35-40.
And current gold passes should stay gold through June 15 even if renewed as regular, like they would if not renewed, but I'll bet they screw that up.

[u4icmusic]

18 hours ago, TEDodd said:

It's more than the renewal price of $79.

I could agree with the upgrade price for an actual upgrade, regular to gold. But for existing gold pass holders it should be much less, like $35-40.
And current gold passes should stay gold through June 15 even if renewed as regular, like they would if not renewed, but I'll bet they screw that up.

That renewal price is just for the regular season pass. A regular gold season pass is $219 plus taxes and fee (right now, it may go up). You are right, the "gold" add-on should have been at least half of what they are offering us. I still can't get the website to work for me and I've tried two different browsers. Not sure if we can upgrade at the park or not or only online.

[u4icmusic]

On 10/19/2020 at 2:53 PM, TEDodd said:

Maybe you missed it.

I got a letter last week saying $80 to extend through 2021 (vs just mid June).
Included a refillable mug ($1 refills) plus 2020 Christmas BAF and 3 BAF tix good for full 2021 season (subject to blackouts) instead of each only being valid for certain days.

I think $80 renewal is an OK deal.



That said, 2 of my passes are unused in 2020 (other one was used last fall), so I might just get them refunded and get 2021 passes. Either way would be good for all of 2021.

 

Mine came in the mail yesterday. It's a fold-out brochure, not a letter. Don't you find that strange?

[u4icmusic]

Yesterday i was on hold at Dollywood for over an hour. Nobody ever picked up.  I also did the think where you key in your phone number and a rep is supposed to call back before 8 pm. That didn't happen either. It still won't allow me to renew my 2020 season pass online. It still says "this pass is not eligible for renewal or has been refunded." Something is wrong and there is nobody at the park to help over the phone or via email.

[teacherkim]

On 10/19/2020 at 1:46 PM, bert425 said:

we saw several of his T-shirts on Sat at Fiesta Tex. . . and noticed he's using the SLC "Serial Thriller" as the imagery.

 

so NO THANKS.

 

but, back on topic, I really do want to make it to Dollywood in 2021.

Bert we are talking about a little Carowinds, Dollywood, SFOG, run in the summer if Joel can get off work for everything we want to do. Let me know if you start planning something.

[megan]

Dollywood has been BEAT UP in social media for their customer service all around this year yet they stay mum on everything. I’m not sure it’s ALL warranted, but they have certainly tarnished their image a lot and I’m not so sure they will get some of the shine back  

 

 

[Canobie Coaster]

On 10/21/2020 at 11:13 AM, u4icmusic said:

Yesterday i was on hold at Dollywood for over an hour. Nobody ever picked up.  I also did the think where you key in your phone number and a rep is supposed to call back before 8 pm. That didn't happen either. It still won't allow me to renew my 2020 season pass online. It still says "this pass is not eligible for renewal or has been refunded." Something is wrong and there is nobody at the park to help over the phone or via email.

Over the summer when I tried calling Dollywood to check if Lightning Rod was running, I was on hold for over an hour.  Someone eventually did pick up though for me.  In the past, I remember getting through to the park almost immediately over the phone.  I'm guessing there was increased volume and less staff to take calls this year.

[coasternut79]

Thinking about a day trip to Dollywood on a Friday in the next few weeks.  What are the crowds like and would I need a Timesaver?  Are people obeying the rules and wearing masks?  I'm apprehensive about visiting as I haven't been to a park since the pandemic began.  

[coasterbill]

If you're apprehensive about going to a theme park that alone is a reason to get Timesaver because nobody is going to be social distancing in queue lines at Dollywood and mask-wearing will probably be decent but far from perfect. That was our experience earlier this year. If you like Mystery Mine and Firechaser then you should absolutely buy it anyway because their capacities suck anyway and now they'll drastically reduced.

[Taylor Finn]

2 hours ago, coasternut79 said:

Thinking about a day trip to Dollywood on a Friday in the next few weeks.  What are the crowds like and would I need a Timesaver?  Are people obeying the rules and wearing masks?  I'm apprehensive about visiting as I haven't been to a park since the pandemic began.  

I would recommend reading some other folks thoughts on here as well as on trip advisor. Especially of recent, because crowds seem to have ticked up. Also you need to make a reservation, they’ve been filling up most days.

[dstephe9]

Mines stuck saying can't renewed. Dollywood needs to fix their shit has anyone successfully renewed?

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[coasterbill]

Their season pass renewal system is running on the same server as Lightning Rod. 

[DBru]

On 10/18/2020 at 10:01 PM, Djwadeknox said:

If anyone likes park magnets. Dollywood has one that will be a collectors item. See photo for details. 🥸

Just needed to point out that the second arrow down says “Mystery Line.” Purely a mistake, or an intentional combination of Mystery Mine and Drop Line? The world may never know...

[u4icmusic]

On 10/21/2020 at 11:33 PM, megan said:

Dollywood has been BEAT UP in social media for their customer service all around this year yet they stay mum on everything. I’m not sure it’s ALL warranted, but they have certainly tarnished their image a lot and I’m not so sure they will get some of the shine back  

 

 

Unfortunately, I agree. I spent several days trying to get through to someone on the phone at Dollywood to renew my season pass that would not renew online. I finally got a call back and was able to do it over the phone, but here's the catch. If you upgrade over the phone, you can't use the payment plan, which I think sucks. Also, the $85 Gold upgrade was way overpriced for just 6 months of use. Over the last year I've written several letters of complaint and not once have I received a reply from anyone. Not even a form letter. I'm sure they are way understaffed because of COVID, but it is still inexcusable to treat season pass holders that way.  I live in Knoxville and go to the park often, but there have been a lot of misses for the part this year. The Lightning Rod debacle was one of them.  Another was their truncated schedule. I actually had a reservation in hand to go on my birthday. They decided to close the park that day to reduce their operating costs, which was wrong to do after they were taking reservations for that day.

 

[megan]

Try sending communication directly to Pete Owens in charge of PR. I at least got a “halfway personal not totally form response” last year during the Wildwood Grove “that’s not exactly what we promised” fiasco. Their entire PR team is seriously lacking and has been for a while. Not sure if it’s staffing or ineptitude, but if they want to be the “national destination” they are striving to be, they HAVE to get better at social media responsiveness. Having a successful Facebook feed is not just posting what you want (good about yourself) and ignoring all the negative comments hoping they go away. 

[dstephe9]

I'm going to give them this week to fix the site. I know they have a tiny IT team, I applied for it a few years back. I'll be taking screenshots everyday I try. Towards the end of next week, I'll start calling and then finally pull out the big guns and contact HFE directly or folks like Pete

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[TEDodd]

Having a successful Facebook feed is not just posting what you want (good about yourself) and ignoring all the negative comments hoping they go away. 

While they've never really responded to comments on FB posts, they were responsive to messages on FB. It was a good communication channel.

But not right now. My question from Monday still hasn't been responded to. All indications are they haven't seen it yet. So I don't know what's happened to the team that used to respond.

[tndank]

Indoor shows return this Christmas along with fireworks on Fri/Sat.

 

https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Festivals/Smoky-Mountain-Christmas

[PKI Jizzman]

Yikes, sounds like they need to grow their internal team to help with all of the extra communication that's needed during these times. 

 

That's exciting that they get the indoor shows and fireworks for Christmas time!

[Djwadeknox]

https://youtu.be/sCnx9JKaQ24 If you are heading to Dollywood this weekend. Checkout the haunted mountain coaster. Coast and Ghost. 

[u4icmusic]

On 10/25/2020 at 10:07 AM, tndank said:

Indoor shows return this Christmas along with fireworks on Fri/Sat.

 

https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Festivals/Smoky-Mountain-Christmas

It is not safe to be inside a movie theater, a Dollywood show or any indoor activity at this time due to COVID-19 running rampant in the area. Even with reduced capacities in the theaters, everyone is still breathing the same air and germs swirling around. Not happening. I wonder if the health department signed off on the theaters reopening as the pandemic cases are soaring.

[coasterbill]

^ Magic Kingdom has been running indoor shows for months (only because they haven’t found a way to layoff or furlough animatronics yet) with masks and social distancing and there have been no cases traced back to their parks or any theme parks since reopening...

Personally I think It’s great to see shows returning. Some of them already have capacity issues though so hopefully they have some unique solutions so people don’t have to show up hours early on weekends...