Photo TR: Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas! 12/8/07

Hello everybody!

So I had thought that the last park for the season for Melissa and I was going to be Kings Dominion back in October for the Haunt, but that wasn't the case. As many of you who regularly visit Screamscape may know, there was a contest that was going on for about 2 months where Lance was giving away pairs of Dollywood tickets and a free Q2Q pass with each pair. Turns out that I was the lucky winner of the final week's drawing, so it was only a matter of finding out when Melissa had a free weekend, and making the reservations.

The first thing I want to say about our weekend trip was that Melissa and I expirienced a lot of surprise throughout the weekend. I personally had expected that Pigeon Forge was going to be a town with one major attraction, a couple hotels and a few resturants. Neither Melissa or I expected to drive into the family friendly version of Las Vegas, with all the lights and such along the road. There were a lot of things that looked like it would have been fun do try out, we just didn't have the time to for this trip. When we arrived to the Holiday Inn right off of the Pigeon Forge Parkway on Firday night, the Front Desk clerk was very friendly. Not that fake friendly like when you go to some fast food resturaunts and everyone has "lines" for when customers come in to seem like they are friendly, but honestly friendly.

Because of a few errands I have to take care of this afternoon, I am going to post our "pre-Dollywood" pictures. When I finish the errands, I will post the Dollywood pictures and give my review of the park as well.

Gary

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:08 am Post subject:

So far so good.

That hotel pool looks so warm and friendly Taiko Tounge

Did you also go the the go-cart area across the street?
Can't wait to see the Dollywood in photos.

--James

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject:

not bad so far, I cant wait for the rest of the TR, i always like looking at TR's of dollywood for some reason.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:32 pm Post subject:

Update part 2:

Now that I have the errands done, it is time for the Dollywood portion of this photo trip report.

Before I give you the pictures, let me just say that the theme of surprise also went along with out day at Dollywood. Now I have to admit that I originally expected to a small extent that this place was going to be one of those places where the key character/person of the park would be plastered all over the place, or in other words, we would see some reference to Dolly everywhere we turned. I also kind of thought of this place as a possible country/bluegrass version of Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. As soon as Melissa and I walked into the gate, all of my initial thoughts disappeared, and did not come back once.

What we found was a beautiful park with a great, authentic feel to it. The buildings in Craftsmen Valley seemed like they were picked up and moved into place. Don't get me wrong, I love the look and theming of Busch Gardens Euroburg, but I would argue that this place is just as nice in looks, and also feels more authentic. For those of you who may have read Guy's Dollywood TR from last month, he is right-on when it comes to the friendliness of the people who work here. I have never seen such a friendly theme park staff.

Another thing that stuck out here were the shows. Melissa and I were able to see Babes in Toyland and Christmas in the Smokies, which were both top notch. Another thing people talk about at Dollywood is the food. Oh man! You can hardly walk 50 yards without the smell of something good passing your nose. Melissa and I had lunch at a place called Apple Jack's near the County Fair area, which provided a fine meal. Melissa had the Chili Bowl and I had an Apple Jack's Favorite Sandwhich.

And now my thoughts on some of the rides. The tempuature was probably around the 50's, so the rides were all open except for the water rides. here are my reviews in the order that we rode them. Rides with a number are coasters, and the number represents where it sits in my count since they are all new to me.

Dizzy Disk - This was the first Disk-o either of us had been on. I must say that we had a blast with this, it was like a funky version of a frisbee, but never the less a lot of fun. I am definatly going to ride more of these in the future.

Blazing Fury (#136) - The animatronics are as cheesey as you can get, but this was a ride that was fun with the drops being with a little more to it than I would have expected. Definatly a fun ride

Tennessee Tornado (#137) - This was the real shocker for Melissa and I. TT turned out to be a great coaster! I was definatly caught by surprise how this thing flew through the whole course even when it was cooler out. We rode 5 times with 3 of them the first time we were here and the other two at night when it was dark out. The back seat is definatly the place to sit for it provides very nice airtime on the first big drop through the tunnel, and the rest of the layout was really cool how it followed the terrain. It is a real shame how arrow went out of business, because if they could have started making their loopers like this one, they would have possibly made some great coasters! By far my favorite Arrow coaster, and possible top 10 worthy on my list.

Thunderhead (#138) - This was the coaster I was looking forward to the most. My first ride on it when it was still light out, I loved it. It doesn't have great ejector air, but it seemed to have some nice floater air here and there, and the layout was a lot of fun for the directional changes. I think I was dissapointed when I took one last ride before we left the park because I wanted to like it more than TT for some reason, but I just didn't. It may have also just been that the first ride was better than the second, but who knows. I definatly liked it a lot, and would have no problem riding many times over.

Timber Tower - I thought that this may be a fun ride, but I got off thinking it was rather pointless. It just kind of leisurly tilts to one side than the other, but never gets to the point where I felt like I was going to fall off. I don't know that I would make a point to ride it with a significant line.

Mystery Mine (#139) - Mystery Mine by far has the best theming of any coaster in the park. I loved this ride for it's theme, and the layout was a lot of fun. The only down side with this one for me was the some of the transitions were a little bit jerky to me. Loved the 90+ degree drops and the final two inversions. Definatly going to ride again on another visit since I only did it once.

VeggieTales Sideshow Spin (#140) - I rode it for the credit. This was one of the dinkiest kiddie coasters I have ever ridden. I felt like i was in a moving-mini penalty box.

Overall, my ride count was like this:
Tennessee Tornado - 5
Thunderhead - 2
Mystery Mine, VeggieTales, Blazing Fury, Dizzy Disk, Timber Tower - 1

In all, Dollywood has eaisily become one of my favorite parks. I felt that this place would be simmilar to Busch Gardens, and I feel that is accurate, but I would say that this place was better. My only complaints about our trip were things that really could not be controled, such as a little rainy weather and a case of laringitis that I had, which restricted my ability to yell on rides. Even still, Melissa and I had a wonderful time.

I would like to give a huge thanks the Lance over at Screamscape, for if it wasn't for his contest, it may have been a while before Melissa and I discovered this fine park. Now for the Dollywood pictures.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject:

Update 3: Dollywood Continued.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 5:49 am Post subject:

Great TR! Thank you! I hope to make it to DollyWood next year!

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:50 am Post subject:

Dollywood has always been a place which I want to visit, you feel like you have been transported back to the old times. Love the lights esp the Big Blue and multi-coloured Trees..

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:30 pm Post subject:

Awesome TR! Im surprised you didnt get more rides on MM with the Q2Q, you must have been busy with other stuff though Taiko No Cool Dude!

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

Sweet TR! You're so lucky to be in the park when it got that dark. When I went, the sun was only setting when the park closed. Oh well, I've got to head back now, Dollywood is one of my favorite parks aside from Hershey, and Mystery Mine is my favorite coaster as of now.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject:

Wonderful photos and trip report, thanks for sharing! Can't wait until I visit Dollywood in a few days.

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