Dollywood's Christmas event

I forgot to post info other night. here is what they sent me regarding temps.

"Wild Eagle closes when the temperature drops to 36 degrees, but will begin operating when the temperature goes back up to 40 degrees."





Oh great...now there are going to be a bunch of enthusiasts carrying thermometers at Dollywood.

Also, this is what it takes to become a Christmas enthusiast:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/to-spread-holiday-cheer-is-innate-for-christmas-lady-223641/

900 year-round Santa figures and counting... 8-)

Dear lord, that's creepy.

What a waste of a Shelby Cobra.

So i am definatly going to dollywood next week, thursday-saturday. Does anyone have any tips for the park (where to eat, what not to miss ect.)as I have never been there and do not know much about the park or the area around it.

Outside of the park is an amazing country restaurant called The Old Mill. I have to eat there when I visit Pigeon Forge. The food is excellent, the atmosphere is unique, and the price is as reasonable as any other popular restaurant. Last time I visited Pigeon Forge, it was for eight days, and we ate there three times. Next time we go, I've been thinking of eating there even more frequently. I will even go as far as saying that it is my favorite restaurant of all time (except for McDonald's, of course. lol)

Also outside the park, I highly recommend eating at The Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers. They serve beer and amazing pizza in an exciting atmosphere.

My favorite place to eat inside the park is Aunt Granny's. It's all you care to eat for one price. The price is pretty reasonable too. If I recall correctly, it was about $14 per person. I also really like the Dog's n' Taters stand in Rivertown Junction. It's rarely very busy, and the corn dogs are awesome!

Really, I have found that you can't go wrong inside the park. You can easily go wrong outside the park. Stay away from either Shoney's, as they are independently operated. (If you ever come across one ran by corporate, eat there, because it is really really good.) There are a lot of really good pancake and waffle houses in the area. I recommend Red Rooster Pancake house. The service is great, and the food is really good and reasonably priced.

As far as attractions in the park go, the swing thing Barnstormer ride is easy to miss, because it is on an out-of-the-way path. Try to spend a few days at the park so you don't have to rush around. Dollywood is a great park.

If you can, try to spend some time outside the park. There are some really fun things to do in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Ripley's Aquarium is cool, but the Ripley's haunt and the motion simulator are a waste of money, in my opinion. If you must to a haunted house, Mysterious Mansion is old, but so much fun. If it is open, do it! If you like Jesus, Christ in the Smokies is a really interesting way to spend an hour or so, and they provide you with parking in Gatlinburg for your entire day's visit.

In Pigeon Forge, if you have never spent time in WonderWorks somewhere else, it is pretty fun. Just stay away from the magic show in the same building. It is terrible. Titanic Museum is pretty interesting, if you enjoy that kind of thing. Do not miss a show at the Comedy Barn. It's one of the best shows you will ever see, and it is completely family oriented. It's very much worth the money.

I just wanted to thank all of you for responding because it convinced me to make the long trek down here and it was well worth it, it has probably been the best trip I have ever had. Without a resource of information like this forum I would probably never take many of the best trips in my life. I love the park and the area around it, all of the coasters here are great and the atmosphere of the park is unmatched with all of the lights. All I know is Thunderhead+night+38 degrees out=the best coaster ride I have ever had.

Hey, Krause! Have you ever eaten at the Cherokee Grill just before you enter the Smoky Mountains? I want to try that sometime as it looks pretty classy for the area.

Loco Burro (in the Gatlinburg strip) has an awesome rooftop deck that is really nice to relax on and the drinks were not too expensive.

Nope. I don't know why, but I never ate in Gatlinburg with exception to the snack area in Ripley's Aquarium. I kind of don't like Gatlinburg very much. There is a lot to do there, but after doing them once, and being underwhelmed at most of them, it's not a place I enjoy. Most of the Ripley's attractions come to mind. With exception to their aquarium and maybe their mirror maze (it is what it is), the rest of their attractions are not worth seeing even of they were free, in my opinion.

If you have seen one Ripley's Museum, you have seen them all. The Ripley's haunt really sucks except for the elevator that takes you up and the elevator that takes you down.

I forgot... I did eat at McDonald's in Gatlinburg once, just because I was in a hurry to get out of there. lol

I thought the mirror maze sucked hardcore. We were in and out in less than five minutes. The aquarium is awesomeness! I like the putt-putt courses and the Old Smoky Distillery which will not be as much of a novelty anymore since I can get the moonshine at our local Walmart. The taffy is still delicious and I hear that the haunted mansion that is sort of out of the way is much better than the Ripley's one.

When not on the strip or at Dollywood, we love to hike up the mountains. Shane went partially up LeConte once and we plan to go all the way. Chimneytops is really awesome if you go all the way to the tippy top. Scared the bejesus out of me coming down though! Ziplining is also fun. We enjoy the touristy trappy things like the Titanic Museum too...

Christmas is the best time to go to Dollywood. The lights are absolutely amazing. The really take a lot of time into installing the lights on the buildings, following the fine details of the architecture. Just about every building there has some kind of lighting on it.

Many Christmas light shows just have cheap looking metal frames shaped like Christmas stuff with lights on them. At Dollywood, there isn't a lot of that. Everything that is lit up is a real structure or a real or aritifical tree and looks so much better. Plus the old time feel of the park really feels Christmas-y.

You get a good 4 hours of darkness to enjoy Dollywood at this event. Even when they are open til 10 in the summer, you only get a couple hours of darkness.

All of the coasters are better in the dark. The train ride is too.

As long as it is warm enough, all of the rides are operational except the water rides. I went on the Nov 30/Dec 1 weekend. On Saturday, the park was so crowded they were parking at Splash Country. But Dollywood brings in such a diverse group of customers (many come for the shows), it was just a 1 train wait for Thunderhead even with the massive crowd.

Go! Dollywood is nothing but high quality fun, and this event is one of the best amusement park experiences i have come across.

I didn't want to start a new topic, because I am requesting for anyone who visits the park to keep an eye out...

I read that Adventure Mountain will not reopen next year because of a new addition in 2014. If this means that it is coming out permanently, I will be very disappointed, because I absolutely love Adventure mountain. I can almost honestly say that it is more exciting than any roller coaster I have ever been on.

I really hope that they are just closing to build around it. Adventure Mountain just opened a few years ago, and it would not make sense to take it out unless it was either unpopular, which it isn't, or it is causing too many injuries, which is possible.

I'm not sure whether it's leaving or just temporarily closing. However, if it is leaving, I wonder if the noise level is part of the reason. When it's full of people running around, (which is all the time) that thing is loud.

My every hope is that it' s only temporarily closed while they build something else. I can't imagine removal, it's a great piece in a great location, and isn't old enough to become outdated, right? I love the fact that's it's not an up charge attraction, too, and it's wildly popular. We were at the park last Thursday, and to my surprise it was open, just one track tho, and busy with climbers.
When I was there in the spring I spoke with an old timer employee (aren't they all?) who said there has been talk for years of altering the train route to include another station for that area of the park, and we should look for it soon. He pointed to the space around/behind Tennessee Tornado as the talked about location.
Screamscape has mentioned a rumor in regard to the top of the mountain, with trees cleared up there. Maybe we'll see a cableway/funicular/incline or something to transport guests that would necesitate closing of Adventure Mountain for its construction.

I love that sound. "CLANK! ROoooLL! CLANK! CLANK! ROoooLL!..."

Adventure Mountain is closing for good to make way for a new attraction in 2014. It was posted on the Dollywood twitter feed, and also confirmed by media/public relations manager Pete Owens on the recent episode of the In The Loop podcast.

Pete said that some of the structure might be re-used for the new attraction, and that it's possible that some of the tracks might be shipped to Stone Mountain in Georgia to expand their course.

Unless they are recreating a play structure like what was where Barnstormer is now, I can't think of another kind of attraction that would use the same kind of structure. It makes me sad. I loved Adventure Mountain!

Well, there goes half the reason I loved Dollywood. That was the most exciting attraction there, in my opinion. I'm glad I got to spend a lot of time on it last spring.

What the heck. It was just installed a few years ago.

So, your saying you love for the park doubled just a couple years ago? What was not to love before?

I had never been there prior to AM being built. When I go, I look forward to AM most of all.