Dollywood Discussion Thread

[Dollywoodlover20]

Is Dollywood 11-9 tomorrow or 2-9? The app says 11-9 but a brochure I have says 2-9?

[DoinItForTheFame]

Is Dollywood 11-9 tomorrow or 2-9? The app says 11-9 but a brochure I have says 2-9?

 

I'd probably go with the App. If they have decided that they want the park to be open longer because they are expecting better weather or something along those lines, it's easier to change the info on the app rather than changing brochures.

[dstephe9]

Is Dollywood 11-9 tomorrow or 2-9? The app says 11-9 but a brochure I have says 2-9?

Due to the Holiday Weekend I think they extended the hours tomorrow, I believe this was one of the days they mentioned earlier in the season they had extended when they added a few extra operating days.

 

I ended up not staying tonight, the operations were so bad it wasn't even enjoyable.. waited 50 mins for cinnamon bread and the lady at the counter took my gold pass and said "sir this is expired, can't use it" I politely said "mam you didn't even scan it" and she said "it says 2013 on it" so I explained to her that I renewed online like most people probably do and opted to keep the same card. I can't be the only one who does this can I? . She got snippy and said "I'll manually do it one time"

 

Still never scanned my card to see it was good!

 

After that instead of eating real food like I always do I just got a hotdog on the way out (who did scan it and it worked fine) and just left and went up to NOC to shop.. I'll eat the Cinnamon bread later tonight and I'll come back during the week for the parade, I was just fed up with them tonight ha-ha.. and yeah, the park was busy but not that busy.. they just seemed way understaffed, especially in food services.

 

I mean heck, even getting into the park I waited 10 mins to park.. they had only 2 booths 3 or 4 windows open at that time at the parking lot.

 

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[MindbenderManiac]

We went the Friday after Thanksgiving day. We knew it was going to be busy, but honestly the park had "all hands on deck" and operations were great. People were of course having to park at Splash country. As I expected closing was extended until 10pm on Friday night. They may have staffed well for Friday, since it's traditionally one of their busiest days, but didn't have enough staff to carryover for Saturday.

 

Didn't do much riding since I took a couple "newbies" to the park. We walked around, shopped, watched shows, watched the parade and ate at Aunt Granny's. I thought the new parade was excellent, it's about 10 or 15 minutes long which is much longer than in years past. It's very well done.

 

We rode LR twice, TH and BF once each. We actually got evacuated off Blazing Fury at the top where the waterfall is. It was neat to see what things look like in there with the lights on. Lightning Rod was amazing as always, running both trains with a 60 minute wait throughout the day - was "TC" twice during the day from what I noticed. Once apparently because someone had lost a wallet so they had to inspect the track before reopening. The second time they ran a few empties through, then maintenance was looking at one of the wheels in the front car. Lowered the train and put it into the shop, worked on it for just a but, then put the train back on. Ride was reopened in about 30 minutes.

 

My Canadian cousins were super impressed with the park, and are already planning a trip for August!

Edited November 27, 2016 by MindbenderManiac

[MindbenderManiac]

Here are a few photos from the parade.

[Dollywoodlover20]

In line for my 2nd ride on LR. Doing test runs it went down earlier. Row 1 is closed off but my first ride was in row 2 and this is the best coaster I've been on in my life. Sure packs a hell of a punch! Currently one train ops with a 35 min wait but it's building. Ride op told me earlier they're only doing 1 train ops today.

[dstephe9]

Heads up for anyone headed to Dollywood, 441, through the mountains is closed due to wildfires.. I know most probably come down the interstate though but just a heads up

 

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[Djwadeknox]

Heads up for anyone headed to Dollywood, 441, through the mountains is closed due to wildfires.. I know most probably come down the interstate though but just a heads up

 

Here are some pictures of Dollywood today. The smoke from the National Park fire is really bad right now. (Photo credit Mike Smiley Facebook)

 

On another note the news said Dollywood trains has been down since 11-17 due to the dry conditions. It been over 144 days since we have had a inch of rain in one day. Pray for rain and the folks in the way of the smoke and fire. Dreammore is not doing any fire pits right now either.

[The Great Zo]

Downtown Gatlinburg is now under a mandatory evacuation. The wildfire is within a mile of the downtown strip, with very strong winds continuing to blow it to the north off the crest of the mountains.

 

Rain is coming in tonight, which will help to some extent.

 

edit: update that Pigeon Forge south of Traffic Light 8 (Dollywood Lane / TN-449) is also under an evacuation order.

Edited November 29, 2016 by The Great Zo

[Nrthwnd]

Wow, my my. I hope Gatlinburg makes it through the night.

Good thoughts go out to everybody there.

 

[bluestreak]

Very concerned. Well wishes to everyone down there.

[Shavethewhales]

That freaking sucks. I can't believe this isn't getting media attention. Driving through the Smokies after DW was a big highlight of my last trip there. It sucks that it will be scarred for awhile. Hope it doesn't hurt the tourism too badly, though the trails should still be pretty awesome and it will green up again quickly.

[ernierocker]

Local news finally broke in to regular programming to cover it. The rain should be there in an hour but this will be a very tense night.

 

 

This video should show how intense it is getting. This is the main road between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg that many of you have been on.

[CedarFanboy]

Praying for the towns and the people who live there. I hope they get plenty of rain this week.

[The Great Zo]

The Gatlinburg area is going to get a shot of rain tonight (probably under an inch) with more rain expected Tuesday night and Wednesday (hopefully a little over an inch). Also, the strongest of the winds are going to diminish in a few hours, which will help keep the fire from spreading so quickly after that occurs. With as bad as the drought is, though, it's unlikely the rain this week is enough to totally end the threat, especially with little-to-no rain in the forecast after Wednesday.

 

Dollywood is closed as regularly scheduled tomorrow (Tuesday), but at least as of now, has listed hours of 2PM-9PM on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

[coasterbill]

Here's a pretty terrifying video from Gatlinburg. This was taken at the Gatlinburg Park Vista hotel which may or may not still exist. This is only a few blocks from the main strip. Hopefully the few people inside can make it out of the building.

 

Edit: No link yet but it seems as if about 90 minutes after that video was shot (or about 20 minutes ago) they rescued everyone still in the hotel.

Edited November 29, 2016 by coasterbill

[ZambeziZinger]

I'm having trouble remembering... has this area had this big of a wildfire this close to town/attractions in recent history?

[coasterbill]

Dollywood is being evacuated. They're not on fire at this point but they have crews on standby. 19 cabins and 50 rooms at the Dream More resort have been evacuated.

[Coaster19]

Everyone thank you for the updates, just heard about all of this craziness. Praying everyone's family and friends are ok and safe. Hope this rain that is to come does help.

 

 

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[ernierocker]

We haven't had significant rain in weeks/months and a huge line of rain has moved through and appears to have saved the area around Dollywood for now. Everyone has been evacuated from the Park Vista hotel as reported so that is good news. There are still active fires on the spur/highway between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. National Guard has been called to the area, so I wouldn't recommend making a trip here until this situation has cleared.

[dstephe9]

A few very recent reports are reporting the fire at the edge of Dollywood property right now as of a few mins ago. Also about 30 structures in Gatlinburg, including a 16 story hotel (I assume the vista which is 16 stories) are on fire. Nothing on the strip yet.

 

I also confirmed this with some of my outdoor buddies that I hike with that are up there now helping with efforts

 

Remember, Dollywood had a lot of land that is unused

 

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[ScreaminNewEngland]

Word on the street is that the park has been hit and lightning rod is dangerously close.

[dstephe9]

Word on the street is that the park has been hit and lightning rod is dangerously close.

My buddies have confirmed it is at the edge of the park, the fire is but I believe it's on the other edge of the park from lightening rod

 

Edit: being reported that there is a fire on the other end of Dollywood as well now. I'm more concerned about the mountains though I'm up there weekly hiking or camping

 

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Edited November 29, 2016 by dstephe9

[ernierocker]

^^No damage to Dollywood as of now. The rain couldn't have come at a better time. People were reporting and posting videos of fires to the hills all around the park before the rain came.

[ScreaminNewEngland]

^ im hearing different, apparently fire fighters are on site guarding the park. NBC Nightly News is reporting.