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Dollywood Discussion Thread

P. 796 - Ride closing 10/30 to remove launch and install chain lift!

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8 hours ago, TEDodd said:

I almost didn't renew last year. When they refunded my unused 2021 passes I went ahead.

 

Now 2022 looks to be my last. We've only made it once this year (one trip, several days). Hoping for a Nov/Dec trip.

Can't see 3 gold pass just so we have the option to go Thanksgiving-New Years'. 

That's one of the most likely times for us to go.

And they know that. They are really screwing people over with this. The “new” Hershend isn’t really impressing me, but Dolly is rolling it in, so I’m sure she is thrilled. 

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Yeah. She obtained all of her wealth through Dollywood, and nothing else.

It's no surprise parks are offering less services at increased costs. Go out to eat recently? You get less food, or less quality, with an increased price. Check your stocks or 401k. Your grocery bill. Your utilities, which directly impact the park. Airline costs are up 42% from last year, not to mention rental cars from pre-pandemic prices. Yet, there's an expectation that parks are still going to charge less than $100.00 for park passes, with the same quality services.

I can speak of this personally. We can't take the type of vacations we used to, without growing our savings, especially since the money we have has been devalued by 10% due to inflation. The years of 6-7 trips for us are over, if we want to continue to financially better ourselves.

Our $2,000/week condo in Pensacola is now $3,000. Gas prices are higher to get there. Even a modest trip to Vegas was $4,000 for us, two years ago. A priced out trip to Orlando for four days, with the parks and activities we wanted to do, with our hotels for free, was at least $4,000.

To top that off, imagine people who are leaving more stressful jobs for less pay. It's been a trend since COVID. I did. We're visiting parks less. Imagine starting a family during all of this?

All of us have to be smarter with our money, including corporations. Unfortunately, survival means passing some of these costs on the consumer to pay for debt from attractions we demand.

Maybe part of the gripe is that theme parks are somewhat of an escape from reality. Well, you can't completely escape it, so live with it.

Take whatever political stance you want to form your opinions about the reasons behind this, but this is reality. Although I suspect people who haven't made efforts to do so aren't paying attention. Watching mind melting TikTok is more fun than paying attention to national and global events. (Still searching for an independent source...)

Many people are watching their credit debt from vanity expenses (more than it ever has historically), and hoping for the best. It's coming to a head. Good luck.

Again, these aren't political opinions. I kept that out of this. These are observations.

Start f***ing paying attention and you won't be shocked when there are less scare actors and you're paying more at the gates.

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3 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Yeah. She obtained all of her wealth through Dollywood, and nothing else.

Was there supposed to be an emoji there? (eye roll? sarcasm tag?)
 

3 hours ago, prozach626 said:

It's no surprise parks are offering less services at increased costs.
...
Yet, there's an expectation that parks are still going to charge less than $100.00 for park passes, with the same quality services.

I wasn't complaining about the price of the individual pass, just the loss of benefit from the passes, especially the silver pass. I'd expect reasonable increases at all 3 price points due to inflation, and bigger than in previous years with the current high inflation.

1 gold and multiple regular/silver has been the deal for families for a long time. Cutting a common time for them to visit (school breaks) from the lower pass is a big hit.

I don't think it'll work in their favor. It won't push many to buy more gold passes and will deter a lot from buying passes at all.



 

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Amazingly, the large amount of complaints worked (at least for people aged 4-9). Personally, I thought it was a smart move to blackout some passholders for the latter part of the Christmas season since it gets really really busy. 

image.thumb.png.3f33f9e56483bc1d4e646dd1b35a0993.png

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  • 1 month later...

had a really great time at Dollywood (2 days in the park - tho one we cut short due to how cold it was).  

amazing rental cabin with a view of the park (!). . we watched the fireworks from the balconies on Friday night, since our first day was Sat.

We ate dinner at the Island - MargaritaVille one night), and tho didn't do much in Pigeon Forge proper (just a mountain coaster and the Brazillian Steakhouse). . I somehow STILL managed to take over 500 pictures.

 

sheesh.

 

so yeah. . my trip report will take me a bit to get up.    Luckily, JimmyBo's is so damn good to enjoy in the meantime!

and he got great pics outside the park that I didn't get. . tho we did go visit DreamMore on the 1st day (thankful to my friends who indulged me when I said I really needed to see the property . . . as that's where Nick and I had booked to stay before we had to cancel the trip due to his health issues)


but I will say, I controlled myself PRETTY well. .  got all the coasters at least once, the train - which ABSOLUTELY was worth the 45 minute wait to line up before our train ride even came back.  SO worth it. . wait in that line, but also wait and ride at night - and every "big" ride on my wish list.     Also got to see the 50 minute "broadway" type show.     Only had one Cinnamon Bread, but sampled lots of other food around the park.   

and only bought three shirts (and 8 magnets). .but hey, only 3 shirts.    not even the super tacky velvet sleeved one that I REALLY wanted but just seemed too small (and it was dryclean only). .tho I did get a pic of it!

LOL. . I'm glad I got distracted and we never went back to this shop. . otherwise I would have bought it!

IMG_6253.thumb.JPG.8af5656e4f27f59396765c155fe1b0e4.JPG

 

hopefully will have a report up in the next week or so (or at least start one), and will link here.

it was my first time visiting, and I have thoughts. . . all of them good tho.

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Dollywood looks to be our 2023 kid vacation. Although, I'm a little apprehensive. Fire Chaser and Dragon Flier have 39 inch height requirements. She just crested 36", out of nowhere. (like legitimately grew an inch in a month)

With shoes, she's probably about 37 inches. I just don't know if we should hold off a year where we're well within the height range, or cross our fingers we'll gain about 2 inches in the next 7-8 months.

She's always within the 80-90 percentile in height, so I hope we keep that up. The 36" barrier opens a lot of doors, as it is. We'll for sure take the three hour drive to Holiday World in the Spring and make Howler her first coaster.

Is Dollywood pretty good about height requirements? Or, is this going to be one of those stories where we measure 39.5" at home, only to be denied the 39" range? Or, we get a wrist band up front, get height checked at the rides, and denied there?

These are stories I've heard about some parks over the years. If I remember correctly, I think the Alvey's ran into this once?

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17 minutes ago, prozach626 said:

Or, we get a wrist band up front, get height checked at the rides, and denied there?

If you have a band they won't check again unless it blatantly obvious the band is wrong. I don't recall ever seeing someone with a band rechecked at a ride, but if it was blatant (like several inches off) I think they would.

 

Growth is hard to predict but I think 3-4 inches in 7-8 months is likely since you just saw an inch in a month.

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1 hour ago, prozach626 said:

Dollywood looks to be our 2023 kid vacation. Although, I'm a little apprehensive. Fire Chaser and Dragon Flier have 39 inch height requirements. She just crested 36", out of nowhere. (like legitimately grew an inch in a month)

With shoes, she's probably about 37 inches. I just don't know if we should hold off a year where we're well within the height range, or cross our fingers we'll gain about 2 inches in the next 7-8 months.

She's always within the 80-90 percentile in height, so I hope we keep that up. The 36" barrier opens a lot of doors, as it is. We'll for sure take the three hour drive to Holiday World in the Spring and make Howler her first coaster.

Is Dollywood pretty good about height requirements? Or, is this going to be one of those stories where we measure 39.5" at home, only to be denied the 39" range? Or, we get a wrist band up front, get height checked at the rides, and denied there?

These are stories I've heard about some parks over the years. If I remember correctly, I think the Alvey's ran into this once?

get checked at the station up front.

(it's a really nice set up and there were quite a number of people using it).     Even with fairly light crowds (the longest wait on anything was Firechaser, which at it's peak posted 30 minute wait) - we saw several times, younger kids without the bands, get pulled from the trains for measuring.   Tho most times, they met the requirement and were let back into the trains (probably why they didn't bother with the bands, since they were tall enough).      I did also notice several coasters have "Parent Swap" options. . so y'all can do that too, if she's too short for something y'all really want to ride.   
but there are several areas with lots of "family" rides, so I'm sure she'll have a ball regardless.

Lightning Rod was down for large portions of both days. . . but did manage to get total 3 rides on it.   I'd say keep an eye on it, and if you see it testing?  head over that way and hover around the entrance.   They get it up, it runs for a little bit, then goes down for an extended time.   at least it did when we were there. . but still managed rides on it.


also. . . 100% pay for Preferred Parking!!!!   (it's only ~$20 more than standard parking) - you get a separate lot, that's WAY up at the front of the park (directly in front of Thunderhead and the new coaster construction) - yes. . even further up than the Handicapped lot!    You also get your own "preferred parking" entrance/exit to the park!    you come in from the side (near the height check station), rather than thru the main gate with all the people.    *and* most important?   the Preferred lot has a dedicated Exit (!). . . yup, at end of day, you wont' get stuck in that long line trying to get out of all the lots with the trams. . . it's a straight shot into the queue of cars at the stoplight, bypassing most of the congestion in the Dollywood lots.

 

worth every penny.

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Agreed with the preferred parking. Dollywood's parking lot design practically makes it a necessity, especially with small children in tow. In a pinch, the tram system will work, but save yourself the hassle. (Side note, can totally relate on the child height front. Our daughter is about to be 13 months old, but she's in the 95% percentile for height and is already needing to wear mostly 18mo clothing as a result.)

Hope you have fun! Also am looking forward to your trip report, Bert. Wife and I haven't been since 2016 and know a lot has changed since then, but we had a blast when we went.

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I would put in a plug for staying at the DreamMore Resort when you go.  Yes, it's pricey, but you get the Timesaver Fastpass everyday of your visit and you can't beat the convenience.  We stayed there for 5 days on our last DW visit and I won't stay anywhere else now.  

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2 hours ago, VegasBaby said:

 We stayed there for 5 days on our last DW visit and I won't stay anywhere else now.  

I prefer cabins where you can enjoy the mountains instead of another hotel.
Grass and trees, wildlife (rarely a bear), all good stuff for kids (young and not so young).
 

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20 minutes ago, TEDodd said:

I prefer cabins where you can enjoy the mountains instead of another hotel.
Grass and trees, wildlife (rarely a bear), all good stuff for kids (young and not so young).
 

I'll have this in my TR when I get to it.

but the view from the Decks in our Air BnB cabin we rented

(daytime)

IMG_6088.thumb.JPG.ca3f66410dd5c90f23a1ba8d917a8790.JPG

and Friday Evening.

IMG_6126.thumb.JPG.dc3dd0143fac84107200fe1cf38c2867.JPG

 

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and we got SOOOO lucky to catch that. . they were cancelled on Saturday.

 

and the park just posted this update:

image.thumb.png.3548d50059f24f9d81aa1a8b4a3eb054.png

 

 

perhaps unrelated. . but after the Friday fireworks?  there were a LOT of sirens heard for a while after.   
I'm wondering if perhaps something caught on fire and that's why they've cancelled for the rest of the season?

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That preferred parking advice is on-point. Thanks. No idea why I didn't think about that, especially since we'll still have to leave mid-day for a nap.

The resort is out, because we'll need our own room/living area, unless we plan on going to bed at 8:30 every night. 

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1 hour ago, bert425 said:

but the view from the Decks in our Air BnB cabin we rented

Nice. I've never stayed in the cabins up there.

Plenty of others from north of Sevierville to just down the hill from Ober Gatlinburg to Townsend.
Even down McCarter Hollow past the DW entrance.

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1 hour ago, bert425 said:


I'm wondering if perhaps something caught on fire and that's why they've cancelled for the rest of the season?

Maybe, but they've been cancelling a lot the last couple of weeks (per Twitter/Instagram posts).

I fully expected they'd just cancel for the rest of the year.

Of course I won't be there until New Years.

 

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1 hour ago, prozach626 said:

The resort is out, because we'll need our own room/living area, unless we plan on going to bed at 8:30 every night. 

Some of the "rooms" are suites with separate bedrooms. 

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  • 2 months later...
16 hours ago, megan said:

Wonder how much longer for BlazingFury with SDC retiring FITH next year. Can’t be long for the world if the “original “ is about to meet its demise. 

FITH still has the water features. FITH is also several years older.

DW removed the water years ago. That means the ride has not deteriorated at much/fast as FITH. I think it has many years left.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone have experience with the Econo Lodge Pigeon Forge Riverside? I heard some decent things on Twitter and it has great rates for when I'm going.

I'm traveling solo and pretty tolerant with hotels as long as it's not a total crap hole, but just wondering if anyone has opinions (or other recommendations) for affordable accommodations in the area. I'll be there in late April. I'll also have my own car and willing to stay within a reasonable distance of the park if anyone else has suggestions! Thanks in advance.

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On 2/27/2023 at 8:19 PM, thrillseeker4552 said:

Anyone have experience with the Econo Lodge Pigeon Forge Riverside? I heard some decent things on Twitter and it has great rates for when I'm going.

I'm traveling solo and pretty tolerant with hotels as long as it's not a total crap hole, but just wondering if anyone has opinions (or other recommendations) for affordable accommodations in the area. I'll be there in late April. I'll also have my own car and willing to stay within a reasonable distance of the park if anyone else has suggestions! Thanks in advance.

Stayed there about four or five years ago pre-pandemic, thought it was leaps and bounds better than your average Econo Lodge at the time. Some of the rooms have outdoor entry and others are indoor; we got an outdoor one and it was absolutely fine. The rooms were nice and clean. Complimentary breakfast buffet had a lot of food and it filled up fairly quickly in the morning. Good central location. Can't complain. If the rates are reasonable then yeah, snap it up.

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