Dollywood Discussion Thread

[STDog]

Seriously...kill the vibe?

 

I said change, not kill. I'm sure it would change things, and not for the better.

 

It was 95 when we were at Dollywood once and I would have probably paid $20 for one 12 oz beer - but instead had to settle for a $3-4 bottle of water instead (I very rarely drink soda).

 

At 95* you didn't need something to dehydrate you further.

 

And you paid for water? It's free at any place with soda fountain (well except the Mill where they apparently have a screwed up fountain that only dispenses carbonated water)

[dstephe9]

Seriously...kill the vibe?

 

I said change, not kill. I'm sure it would change things, and not for the better.

 

It was 95 when we were at Dollywood once and I would have probably paid $20 for one 12 oz beer - but instead had to settle for a $3-4 bottle of water instead (I very rarely drink soda).

 

At 95* you didn't need something to dehydrate you further.

 

And you paid for water? It's free at any place with soda fountain (well except the Mill where they apparently have a screwed up fountain that only dispenses carbonated water)

Exactly.. Working in the outdoor industry we send people to the hospital weekly for dehydration and everyone of them usually has to do with to much alcohol. Hardly ever to the soda drinkers dehydrate. But it is all about personal regulation

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[chickenbowl]

I have seen the results in other venues and adding alcohol often is detrimental.

 

Beyond that though, alcohol in the summer heat isn't a good mix anyway. I've seen lots of dehydration cases due mainly to alcohol consumption.

Again, nobody would be going to Dollywood to get shitfaced. A couple beers aren't going to dehydrate people.

 

not having them wouldn't have made the experience bad.

You're right, but having a little alcohol makes everything better!

[defrocker]

As a native of Southwest Virginia I am obligated to correct this statement

 

Tennessee is the go-to place for legal American moonshine

 

But seriously, I do find myself on the fence here. I think as long as Dolly has her hands in it, things will remain as they are. However, after that, I would not be the least bit surprised if they were to open their own "distillery" on site.

[dstephe9]

I don't believe Dolly herself is against it.. they do have Alcohol at Dreammore..

 

I feel it just had to do with the older southern generation that Dollywood attracts, especially during the fall

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Philrad71]

Seriously...kill the vibe?

 

I said change, not kill. I'm sure it would change things, and not for the better.

 

It was 95 when we were at Dollywood once and I would have probably paid $20 for one 12 oz beer - but instead had to settle for a $3-4 bottle of water instead (I very rarely drink soda).

 

At 95* you didn't need something to dehydrate you further.

 

And you paid for water? It's free at any place with soda fountain (well except the Mill where they apparently have a screwed up fountain that only dispenses carbonated water)

 

Just a beer or two is not going to dehydrate me, especially when I will still drink water in between as well as try to hit up water rides when it's hot outside.

 

In terms of the free water, if I can walk right into any place that sells soda at DW, ask for (or grab) a cup with ice and fill it with water and walk out, then I will definitely remember that the next time that I visit the park.

 

Most parks drinking fountains are nothing more than lukewarm tap water that tastes like sh%t and most are onto asking for free water to where they will only give you this tiny-ass cup with no ice. Most parks (excluding some smaller parks like Holiday World and Lake Compounce) are not into providing free anything because they want you to spend more money during your visit.

[dstephe9]

Yeah, a good perk of Dollywood is free water.. nice size cups with ice unlike six flags that gives you tiny cups!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[defrocker]

Parks do like making money. However they like not having lawsuits even more. If they didn't provide free water on scorching days and people (especially teens/kids) walk around with no cash and "can't" get water and having heat stroke and dehydration. It's just not worth it. In parks in the south (Carowinds, SFOG, etc.) where 100+ degrees isn't super rare, you'll hear announcements and all concessions will have trays already filled with ice water.

 

Most summer park visits we follow this agenda:

 

Get in line - ride - get free water - repeat

 

Dehydration headaches and amusement parks do not mix well.

[Philrad71]

^^ That's good to know about DW...thanks!

 

^ Actually, I do remember visiting Carowinds when it was like 100 degrees. We did the water park from like noon-2, went and rode a few rides, saw the Snoopy On Ice show (to get out of the heat mainly), left the park to go get a bite to eat (as well as a few beers), went back to the park around 6:30 and hit the rest of the rides after it had cooled down a bit.

 

I do seem to recall that they had trays of (small cups) of ice water at a couple of places we ducked into to escape the heat.

 

The biggest problem with dehydration or over-intoxication at a theme park just boils down to stupidity more than anything else. As you mentioned, make a game plan for hydration on a day for when it is that hot and stick to it.

[dstephe9]

I was at SFOG last year and they had trays filled with water already so you didn't have to wait in line. It was a hot day but still in their standard tiny shot glass cups haha

 

Dollywood usually makes you ask but like I said, they give nice sized cups unlike six flags.. Disney also offers free water in places that don't deal with bottled drinks only.. Disney offers nicer sized cups as well

 

At Disney though, they let you carry on water bottles already filled so I just take my giant HydroFlask filled with ice

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[STDog]

Just a beer or two is not going to dehydrate me, especially when I will still drink water in between as well as try to hit up water rides when it's hot outside.

 

Not everyone is like that. Way too many don't get it, to the detriment of others.

 

I don't drink beer and refrain from alcohol when out in the heat.

 

In terms of the free water, if I can walk right into any place that sells soda at DW, ask for (or grab) a cup with ice and fill it with water and walk out, then I will definitely remember that the next time that I visit the park.

 

That's exactly what you can do. (Except the mill as I mentioned)

Walk up and ask for a cup of water, w/ or w/o ice as you prefer.

 

The last few visits, that's all my wife has put in the mug she carries.

 

At Disney though, they let you carry on water bottles already filled so I just take my giant HydroFlask filled with ice

 

We took frozen bottles of water in a small insulated bag. They thawed slowly through the day, but we generally had cold water form 5 or 6 bottles all day.

 

Did the same at DW in the past, before the bag check nonsense. Don't know if they would balk now or not. Haven't been when it was that hot.

 

Since we always have the park mugs with us, the small cups don't matter.

[dstephe9]

Yeah I haven't tried at Dollywood yet either.. before bag checks they didn't have an issue.. my bottles are to expensive to lose though.. I know Six Flags only allows empty bottles but they at least don't confiscate them.. I need to ask Dollywood on their policy now haha

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[coasterbill]

At 95* you didn't need something to dehydrate you further.

 

Oh god, who are you to tell an adult that they shouldn't be drinking a beer when it's hot out? Everyone's different. If you don't want to drink when it's hot then don't but don't try to impose that on everyone else.

 

I can't comment on effects at Theme Parks, but I have seen the results in other venues and adding alcohol often is detrimental..

 

Probably because you can't think of a single theme park where serving alcohol has caused the overall guest experience to decline. This is most likely because this never happens ever (again, with the possible exception of a few select Halloween events which are obviously completely irrelevant when discussing Dollywood).

[MidwestThemeParks]

Just a beer or two is not going to dehydrate me, especially when I will still drink water in between as well as try to hit up water rides when it's hot outside.

 

But not everyone is going to do that. I personally don't see HFE starting to sell alcohol at either SDC or Dollywood in the near future. What would it benefit them to start selling alcohol? It would just create more work for them and like others have said, people aren't going to go to a park for alcohol.

[knaiwear]

I personally don't see HFE starting to sell alcohol at either SDC or Dollywood in the near future. What would it benefit them to start selling alcohol?

 

[coasterbill]

You people act like there's an epidemic of people walking around theme parks dying of heat exhaustion because they're drinking beer and didn't realize that they should also drink water when they're walking around all day outside in the summer. I have never ever seen that happen. I'm sure there are some extremely isolated examples of alcohol being a problem at theme parks if you browse the internet but overall this isn't a thing. Every major park in America offers free courtesy cups of water, has free first aid, had tons of water fountains and sells bottled water at almost every store in the park. If you're too stupid to drink it then it's not their problem but you're honestly just inventing a problem that doesn't exist.

 

This whole "not everyone can be trusted to be as responsible as I am so there should be rules to cater to stupid people" mentality is arrogant and ridiculous on so many levels.

[WOFanatic]

At 95* you didn't need something to dehydrate you further.

 

Oh god, who are you to tell an adult that they shouldn't be drinking a beer when it's hot out? Everyone's different. If you don't want to drink when it's hot then don't but don't try to impose that on everyone else.

 

I can't comment on effects at Theme Parks, but I have seen the results in other venues and adding alcohol often is detrimental..

 

Probably because you can't think of a single theme park where serving alcohol has caused the overall guest experience to decline. This is most likely because this never happens ever (again, with the possible exception of a few select Halloween events which are obviously completely irrelevant when discussing Dollywood).

I can think of tons of instances where alcohol has declined guest experience, including the time where I had a 300 lb. intoxicated man-child fell on top of me on Fury of the Nile when I was ten years old. And I'm not including the numerous times where I've been punched in the face, stomach, arm, etc. while working around drunk people at a park. I've even heard cases of sexual assault and rape at parks because someone had a little bit too much to drink that day. Let's not pretend like alcohol has nothing but positive effects on Theme Parks.

[anonymouscactus]

What would it benefit them to start selling alcohol? It would just create more work for them and like others have said, people aren't going to go to a park for alcohol.

 

I'm trying to find a way to answer this without sounding like a dick. Luckily someone else had my back that was less snarky.

Edited February 4, 2017 by anonymouscactus

[coasterbill]

^^Like I said, there are isolated incidents, but if you visit a park where the bartenders had any common sense at all they wouldn't have served those people anyway. If you've worked at a park you've probably seen a little bit of everything, but to 99.9% of park guests this is never an issue. The pros outweigh the the cons, which is why virtually every other corporate park in America aside from Dollywood and SDC serve alcohol.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

I can think of tons of instances where alcohol has declined guest experience, including the time where I had a 300 lb. intoxicated man-child fell on top of me on Fury of the Nile when I was ten years old. And I'm not including the numerous times where I've been punched in the face, stomach, arm, etc. while working around drunk people at a park. I've even heard cases of sexual assault and rape at parks because someone had a little bit too much to drink that day. Let's not pretend like alcohol has nothing but positive effects on Theme Parks.

 

I can think of a ton of instances where an amusement park ride has resulted in the death of a visitor. And I'm not including the numerous times where I've been injured to some degree on a ride. I've even heard cases of asthma attacks and people throwing up at rides because someone had a traumatizing experience. Let's not pretend like amusement park rides have nothing but positive effects on theme parks.

Edited February 4, 2017 by ImNotOneOfYou

[anonymouscactus]

I think that once holiday world opens the St Patrick's day section with free unlimited beer is where the line gets drawn and it might become a problem but until then, even DISNEY sells alcohol at all of its parks in Orlando (not sure about California). There has to be a reason for it... wait for it... wait for it... waaaiiitttt for it....

 

"Millennials are demanding craft beer everywhere they go," and alcohol offers a high margin of profit, Speigel said. It's estimated that adding alcohol can have a 3-4 percent boost to food sales at a theme park so with 20 million Disney visitors a year, the revenue potential is substantial.

 

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/travel/florida/once-alcohol-free-disneys-magic-kingdom-to-expand-beer-wine-sales/2306594

 

There, now it's not opinion anymore since I quoted an article

[larrygator]

Dollywood would make a killing if they brought in some local distilleries and sold some drinks made with local Moonshine / Whiskey/ Craft Beer (sort of like Trail Tavern at Cedar Point). Like most parks, they could have a one drink per person policy and cut people off if it was ever an issue. People would bitch, but they'd get over it and the vibe of the park wouldn't change a bit. I can't think of a single example of a park that's "vibe" was ruined because they started selling alcohol. I'm really sick of this argument because I can't think of a single example of this ever happening.

 

They might make some incremental money but I don't think it would be a killing. But who knows, no one wold know unless it happens.

 

I don't know if there are financial implications to add a liquor license to business the size of Dollywood, but I don't think Herschend would want to deal with the hassle, stray from their core values or worry about a possible public outcry from their core constituency. The park is not struggling for new revenue streams especially after just opening Dreammore.

[Nrthwnd]

I totally understand, that if some parks and theme resorts don't want alcohol be a part of their main parks, that's fine by me.

I have experienced that in other parks around the world, and it's just something you have to deal with. And if the park

is doing just fine without the addition of alcohol, or even beer, no big deal. Offer new attractions for the costs of

"alcohol-ing" your parks up. Fine by me.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Nrthwnd

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^^^ Alcohol is sold in California at Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney.

 

And the fact that the lack of alcohol sales is one of the only legitimate complaints that could possibly be made about Dollywood just reinforces how awesome it truly is.

[DoinItForTheFame]

The past 5 pages of this thread with all the alcohol talk got me like:

 

 

coasterbill, care to join me?