This past weekend, Olivia and I had the pleasure of visiting one of the most authentic theme parks I have ever seen: Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We had an absolute blast at the park’s signature Christmas event, Smoky Mountain Christmas, and we can’t wait to return in the future. Take a look below at the video to see our two day’s adventure at Dollywood:
As I mentioned, we were absolutely blown away by Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas. The park claimed to have over five million lights installed, and I would certainly not argue that number. Everywhere you looked there was some sort of beautiful decoration or another lighting display. Every rooftop in the park was lined with lights, and they even had certain areas throughout the park that were “themed” lighting areas.
Glacier Ridge was a great example of this, in addition to the absolutely stunning Northern Lights walkthrough area. This location featured beautiful string lights that hung down from the gigantic overhead trees. It created an absolutely amazing 3D effect, and when synced with the ambient Christmas music playing in the area, the whole section came to life.
Another obvious highlight of this beautiful regional park is their fantastic selection of dining options, both quick service and sit-down style. Olivia and I did our best to avoid eating everything in sight, but we did indulge in some killer food items throughout the park. The food truck area was particularly our favorite, possibly because of their nice variety of options and relatively low wait times. We also had one of the best soft pretzels we have ever encountered (sorry Auntie Anne’s).
We barely even scratched the surface when it came to dining, however. We did unfortunately miss out on the famous cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill, but we were ok with this decision as we had recently experienced this delectable treat at Dollywood’s sister park, Silver Dollar City in Branson MO.
There were so many similarities between this park and SDC in Branson, which makes sense as they originally both started out under the same name (SDC) and are still managed by the same parent company to this day. The beauty of these two parks is in the authentic and downright one of a kind experiences that you can witness in the way of the outstanding craftsmen, artisans, artists, musicians, and everything in between. The Craftsmen’s Valley area in particular is such a great section of the park; Olivia and I could’ve spent the entire day there just browsing the different shops and watching all the amazing demo’s provided by some of the kindest park employees you will ever interact with. This truly sets this park (and SDC) apart from the monotony of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair’s out there.
Not to mention, the setting of the park in general is absolutely serene. It is not the biggest park, and besides from the new kids area of Wildwood Grove, it really is just one big circle. Super easy to navigate—minus the enormous mountain that divides the park in two. This mountain (in addition to the surrounding hills and ridges) makes the settings for some of their star coasters absolutely one of a kind.
The design of most of their attractions use the terrain brilliantly, and each one of them was more unique and enjoyable than the last. With that, let’s get into the real reason we came to Dollywood: the coasters, ranked from least to most favorite.
Firechaser Express (x2): This coaster is not bad by any means. In fact, Firechaser is probably one of the most enjoyable and well-themed family coaster I have ever ridden. The ride is nice and long, features two different launches, a nice backwards section, and a really cool show scene with pyro. It is a brilliantly executed attraction that provides an experience that everyone can enjoy. If I was a kid (and I still am in many respects), you wouldn’t be able to get me off of this thing.
Mystery Mine (x2): This has been a bucket list coaster for me for awhile now, as I am huge on theming and this ride has it in spades. The facade of the attraction is enormously daunting, and provides a very easy to follow storyline that only develops as you delve further into the queue line and are loaded into the small Eurofighter trains. The theming of this coaster certainly did not dissapoint, and it has a super unique layout that is incorporated into the structure perfectly. Unfortunately, the ride experience didn’t hold up to the overall look of the attraction. You can definitely tell it’s an older coaster, as it provides a good bit of headbanging with the OTS restraints and very sharp transitions. Some new trains with a lap bar would absolutely do wonders for this ride, but I know that is a costly investment. They did alter the course of the coaster in the outdoor section recently, but I think this made a very minimal difference. Still glad to have experienced this crazy looking roller coaster.
Wild Eagle (x2): Wild Eagle was the third of the four Bolliger and Mabillard wingriders in the United States that I have ridden, and although the setting was absolutely incredible, I think it was my least favorite of that bunch. The straight drop was a nice change and had some decent pull in the back seat, but the rest of it was very graceful and floaty–which was nice–but didn’t offer much in the way of forces. The vest restraints are also not ideal, but I can overlook those most of the time as long as I don’t get stapled. Fortunately this one has a relatively high capacity and never had much of a wait during our visit. Definitely worth a ride at least once, if not for the stellar views.
Dragonflier (x2): Other than my number two on this list, this coaster was the biggest surprise of our visit. We loved this little thing. We rode once in the front and once in the back, and honestly I wish we could’ve gotten on a third and fourth time. The ride is whippy and forceful for a family style attraction. It has some great theming interactions and near misses with terrain. Best of all, the seats and restrains are uber-comfortable and it makes Dragonflier and absolute joy to ride. Highly recommend you do not skip out on this one.
Tennessee Tornado (x1): I am a diehard Arrow Dynamics fan boy, so of course I was stoked to ride what I had heard was their best work of all. I can’t decide if it was truly number 1 for me as Arrow designed so many iconic and nostalgic coasters over the years, but it certainly was the most comfortable and smoothest the company ever created. It’s pretty sad that this was their last creation, and Arrow’s older coasters seem to be going by the wayside in most other parks. But it’s great to see this one running strong–hopefully for a long time to come.
Thunderhead (x3): This coaster was the biggest surprise on this trip, even after my brother had alerted me to it’s awesomeness (shoutout to Rhett for the spot-on analysis). It was absolutely relentless yet offered a very smooth ride. One that was filled with airtime and best enjoyed in the front row. The way the coaster was built into the terrain is downright incredible, and this ride has all the great elements of a classic GCI. Thunderhead was fantastic and it for sure shot up my rankings.
Lightning Rod (x4): What else is there to say about this coaster, it is simply a masterpiece. It seems to be much more reliable since the re-tracking to (mostly) all I-box track, and it was running great for us on our visit. We rode in the middle, back, and front rows. The front was by far the best experience but the back was crazy intense. I would highly recommend riding this coaster at night, especially during the holiday event. The view of the Christmas lights coming over the ridge of the quad down was breathtaking–not to mention the speed of the launch felt like we were blasting into space. An all-around incredible coaster. Being super nitpicky, it could be a little bit longer. But what it does manage to pack into its shorter track length is downright insane. This one has top 10 potential.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for checking out my recap on the park. We had an amazing time at Dollywood and cannot wait to return. Thankfully, it is not super far for us and we will definitely be back at some point in the near future. We would highly recommend coming to this park, as even non-coaster fans will find something to love. The artisans and craftsmen they have is enough to entertain most, but their world-class performers, attractions, and cuisine definitely keep people coming back. Until next time, Dollywood!
– Walker
Texas-Ranger Travels 