Dollywood Discussion Thread

[Djwadeknox]

Sorry duplicate.

[coasterbill]

Zamperla is absolutely crushing it with that model. It's amazing how many of them they've sold.

[mordecai-75]

I would find hard to believe that Sideshow Spin will be taken out this season because the station was just repainted this past season, however i do think a Country Fair area overhaul is part of their $300,000,000+ expansion plan. So i do see it being sold off or trashed at some point. (That will make me sad as it was my son's first coaster) But i think the direction Dollywood is moving in will bring a major attraction to that area with the revamp. (The area needs it, and it would help with crowd dispersion) As far as the Backstage Resturant makeover, as long as they keep the club sandwich and the pimento cheese appetiser (< this is me licking the jar) i'm good. The thing that made me the most excited about the video when i found it was that Drop Line is gonna be 230ft, that extra 30ft that we didn't know existed will make a huge difference on the spectacular view you'll get from the top. I still didn't think Dollywood was aloud to build that high, (i guess Dolly can get the county board to do whatever she wants when she has mountains that can hide the park from being seen at a distance on her person ), and God bless her for it! The expansion future of Dollywood is looking bigger and better, imo.

[Gerstlauerguy]

please please PLEASE let there be an overhaul of county fair. It really needs it. Fresh paint, maybe different layout, LEDs, ect...

 

On food- Lumberjacks is my go-to honestly, I love pizza behind chicken fettuccine so obviously a 1 pound piece is literally a dream lol.

 

but drop line with the extra 30? e x q u i s i t e

[dstephe9]

Hopefully they are trying to increase capacity at lumberjacks.. it was always very busy and they tried moving the location where you pay and order to the front this year, but I'm not so sure that helped much.. they also had the slices precut this year and I know a lot of folks didn't like that because it didn't seem as fresh as when they used to "cut" it in front of you. Believe me, it was just as fresh haha

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Nrthwnd]

...I love pizza behind chicken fettuccine so obviously a 1 pound piece is literally a dream lol. but drop line with the extra 30? e x q u i s i t e

 

Explain, please?

[STDog]

...I love pizza behind chicken fettuccine so obviously a 1 pound piece is literally a dream lol. but drop line with the extra 30? e x q u i s i t e

 

Explain, please?

 

Each slice of pizza is supposed to weigh a pound (16 oz).

 

Drop Line is supposed to be 230ft tall instead of the earlier 200ft so an extra 30ft tall that was previously thought.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Ok. Got it, thanks.

[jonskinny12]

So I'm looking for a little advice on visiting Dollywood. My brother and I have been planning a trip to this general area of the country for this upcoming summer, visiting parks from Holiday World to Carowinds and a few in between, including Dollywood. The dates we're looking at are Thursday June 1 through Sunday June 11. We've looked at a number of different ways to do this trip, and what I'm really wondering about Dollywood is what are weekday and weekend crowds like that time of year? How many days can one spend in this park? We mostly only care about the coasters and maybe some of the more interesting non-coaster rides, but since I don't know when I'll get back to this park I don't want to rush my time and I want to get many re-rides on the bigger coasters like Lightning Rod (assuming it's running more reliably this summer), Thunderhead, Wild Eagle (when are wasps commonly a problem?), etc.

 

Any tips on days, how to best get through the park, cool stuff to do/see (other than the shows - those have never really interested either of us at any park), food, lodging, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

[coasterbill]

I would suggest spending 2 days. Dollywood is easily a one day park, but if you really want to take your time and see a lot of shows then 2 days is absolutely appropriate.

 

I've only been to the park for Smoky Mountain Christmas so I can't speak to crowd levels or wasp levels. Aside from staying 2 days, the only major tips I have are to eat the cinnamon bread at the grist mill and eat the pit ham at Lillian's.

[thrillerman1]

^^ Assuming Dollywood will do this again in 2017, in years past they had an enter after 3 pm deal where you get an additional next day included with the one day price of admission. That might be enough time for you. In the past with this deal, I was allowed into the park by 2:30 pm on the first day.

[STDog]

^^ Assuming Dollywood will do this again in 2017, in years past they had an enter after 3 pm deal where you get an additional next day included with the one day price of admission.

 

The time for that depends on park closing time which depends on the time of year.

 

Generally if you only have a few hours til close on day 1, then you can come back for free.

 

Given his stated goals, and typical operating hours in early June, one full day might be enough.

 

To me the park is a lot more than just coasters and I'd rather have 3 days to enjoy the rest of the park.

[coasterbill]

You could also just get a Season Pass if you stay for 2 full days, this generally pays for itself in 2 visits, gives you free parking and gives you discounts on in-park spending.

[michaellynn4]

You could also just get a Season Pass if you stay for 2 full days, this generally pays for itself in 2 visits, gives you free parking and gives you discounts on in-park spending.

 

This is what I did last year. Highly recommended. It even helped justify visiting again later on in the season as expenses were lower the second time around.

[coasterbill]

We get one every other year. We go for Smoky Mountain Christmas when the passes are good for that year and all of the following year and just buy the passes on alternating years.

[STDog]

I was looking at the season passes, and it said prices will go up after Jan.1. Anyone know how much they will increase?

I believe the prices are already a little higher for the 2017 season passes but don't fall for the prices go up trick..

 

Have to check a few time through the season to see if anything else changes. I've never done so.

 

So, I wrote down the prices back in Dec after this post. Then I just checked them today.

Everything went up $4.

 

2017 Season Passes (Quantities 1-3) (Super Regular) $148 $152

2017 Season Passes (Quantities 1-3) (Super Gold) $200 $204

2017 Season Passes (Quantities 1-3) (Regular) $99 $103

2017 Season Passes (Quantities 1-3) (Gold) $151 $155

[dstephe9]

Guess they weren't bluffing this year! Lol

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Midgetman82]

Not a horrific change, imo. They could've ended up doing like some parks and bumped it up by $10 instead (or more).

[dstephe9]

Well overall change for next year's passes is close to a $10 increase now.. stepping it up this way, makes it not as noticeable though which is a good thing.. Just makes me wish I renewed already haha!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[STDog]

Well overall change for next year's passes is close to a $10 increase now.. stepping it up this way, makes it not as noticeable though which is a good thing.. Just makes me wish I renewed already haha!

Back in Dec I checked the records I had and found:

 

2016 Season Passes (Super Regular) $142.00

2016 Season Passes (Super Gold) $187.00

 

2015 Season Passes (Super Reg) $136.00

2015 Season Passes (Super Gold) $175.00

 

2014 Season Passes (Regular) $84.00

2014 Season Passes (Gold) $123.00

 

I believe those were all during Nov.

[jonskinny12]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions and feedback over the last couple days. It's very much appreciated. We're planning to buy season passes and go Thursday and Friday June 8-9, with possibly a few more hours at the park Sunday afternoon before our flight leaves from Knoxville in the evening. We're going to head over to Carowinds on the Saturday in between.

 

To me the park is a lot more than just coasters and I'd rather have 3 days to enjoy the rest of the park.

 

What else do you enjoy doing at the park to spend 3 days? Sometimes a park is just enjoyable to be at. For me, that's Holiday World. I spent two full days there at HoliWood Nights in 2015 and could have stayed longer (and I never touched the water park...shame on me lol).

[STDog]

What else do you enjoy doing at the park to spend 3 days?

 

The shows, the crafts (glass blower and candle shop are always fun), the food.

Just walking and enjoying the scenery.

[A.J.]

I would at least take some time to just take it all in. If you're going for two full days, I would definitely spend an hour or two on the first day just making a walking loop around the park without riding anything.

[LukeFlynn]

For those wondering about weekend crowds:

 

Dollywood is my home park, and only about 30-45 minutes away depending on traffic.. so I'm there fairly often and have season passes. Since I'm local, I honestly don't bother with the shows, I might watch them once, but that's it. It's probably more appealing to people traveling a greater distance to come to this park. Without the shows, (even as a beginner to Dollywood) everything can be done in one day easily. It's also fairly easy to navigate the park, but do expect to walk a lot as most of the rides are decently spaced away from each other.

 

Saturdays are definitely the most busy days during the non-summer months. Sundays are pretty much a guaranteed light crowd regardless of the time of year due to religious reasons, etc.. I tend to go less in the summer, and if I do, I go on a Sunday or sometime mid-week.

 

Other info & coaster recommendations for newcomers:

 

Of course, this would be a somewhat moot post if I didn't mention Lightning Rod - I've ridden it at least 15 times, and it's a great ride.. I would wait 90 minutes for it, but that's probably pushing it if the other rides have shorter lines. Unfortunately, it had some issues in it's first season, but I suspect they will have worked these out over this off season.

 

Definitely ride Tennessee Tornado, it doesn't look like much compared to Wild Eagle, but it's a great (and IMO better) ride. It is on the short side, but it's intense (and designed by Alan Schilke). Easily my favorite coaster at Dollywood right now, this may change if Lightning Rod becomes more reliable.

 

All of the other coasters are worth a ride too, Firechaser Express does get a rather long wait, especially on busy days.. it's definitely not something I would make a priority.

[mordecai-75]

^ Ummmm?!!!, If your someone who isn't gonna visit the park on a regular basis, most definitely make Firechaser a priority while visiting.

Edited January 17, 2017 by mordecai-75