Return to Dollywood: 5/15 - 5/16 (Flower & Food Festival Edition)

Preamble:

My partner and I made our first journey down to Dollywood back in the fall of 2022 and we were blown away by the experience. Having visited mostly Cedar Fair parks up to that point, Dollywood was so refreshing. When my partner and I had a particularly stressful start to our year, we knew we wanted to return to Pigeon Forge. I purchased a Silver Pass, which comes with two Bring-a-Friend tickets, which was cheaper than buying two tickets for two people for two days.

The Park:

Dollywood was as beautiful as ever. Flowers of all colors decorated the various gardens around the park for the festival. While I always take photos of rides and coasters, I couldn't help but to snap a few of the flower and plant sculptures. Dollywood is one of the few parks that I could just sit in for hours without riding coasters. Its buildings and various structures felt of the area instead of a recreation of an area like Frontier Town feels like at Cedar Point. It's this tight theming and attention to detail that makes Dollywood feel authentic. It also does live performances better than any park I've been to. Whether it's on a stage or just a guy out with his banjo, you can walk around and hear music everywhere. I wish Cedar Point would adapt something like this experience for Frontier Trail/Town, but they can't seem to commit to any entertainment these days.

The Food:

My partner and I love food, so we were sure to try a little bit of everything and was overall pretty pleased with our bites. There is a food truck near Tennessee Tornado that sells a soft pretzel with beer cheese for $9.99 and it's probably the best soft pretzel I've had in my life. We also tried out what I believe is a dessert pizza for $12.99 and it was surprisingly great. Not overly sweet, but enough to make it feel like a dessert. Of course, we got the cinnamon bread, apple pie, and a few other pastries. The cinnamon bread and apple pie are exceptional, but the other pastries are about what you'd expect. I'm always surprised that Dollywood keeps their prices more affordable compared to other parks, especially given the quality. Yet another thing to love.

The Staff:

It's always great going to a park where it looks like the staff enjoys their job. While the ops were slow, I didn't mind one bit. First, there weren't a lot of people in the park due to the potential for rain and as a result, most coasters were only running one train. Second, I've stopped expecting Cedar Point-in-the-90s ops at other parks. Dollywood is a chill time and none of the waits were more than 20-30 minutes anyway.

The Rides:

Note: I'm trying to get away from visiting parks just to ride coasters and instead enjoying the park overall. While we could have gotten a lot of spins around each coaster, we really just wanted to take it slow and enjoy the space. Also, I'm combining both days into one.

• Lightning Rod (3x): When I rode Lighting Rod back in 2022, it was the last iteration of the launch and while it was fun, it never felt like anything more than a quick way to get you to the top of the lift. So when they announced the high-speed chain lift, I didn't think it would change much about the rest of the ride seeing as the launch's speed was almost completely diminished by the top of the hill. Well, I was wrong. Lighting Rod is still a phenomenal coaster and if you disregard its past, it's still one of the best RMCs out there. But I have to admit it feels a tad slower than it used to. The train doesn't fire through some of the higher points in the ride, so there is a bit of hang time depending on where you sit. The first big drop, quad-down, and banked turn into the brake run is still the highlight of the ride for me. I still love Lighting Rod, but again, it feels a bit dialed back. But most importantly, it operated the entire time
• Blazing Fury (1X): Trust me when I say I would have done more laps on Blazing Fury, but one ride is enough for my partner. I love this coaster, if you could call it that. The theming is ancient for today's standards, but that gives it an old charm. Still, I felt like the audio was extremely low and maybe some of the rooms weren't as well lit as the first time we'd visited. Given the careful renovation of Fire in the Hole over at Silver Dollar City, maybe Dollywood is preparing for a similar renovation.
• Tennessee Tornado (1X): When we hopped in line for TT, the weather was fine. But as we moved closer to the platform, the sky opened up and a deluge of rain came pouring down. So much so that I thought they'd hold the ride, but no. At the height of the downpour, they actually sent a train on the course and I felt so bad for those riders. At any rate, TT is still an excellent Arrow multi-looper. The drop is solid, the inversions are big, and more than anything, the transitions are smooth. I still dream of what Arrow could have been.
• Wild Eagle (1X): I give Wild Eagle a lot of **** because I'm just not a fan of wing coasters. I often say they lumber through their layout, only sometimes being fun. But Wild Eagle is one of the better ones. The name is fitting because I'm almost certain it's the highest ride in the park. Despite that, the coaster mostly stays on its perch. This makes for a much tighter ride than you'd expect and as a result, you got a much more thrilling ride. It's twists and turns aren't as drawn out as they would be if the ride took full advantage of it's height.
• FireChaser Express (1X): FireChaser always seems like it has the longest line in the park, likely due to it being a family coaster. It was down while we rode Wild Eagle, but I saw it re-open so we ran over. This one is a really fun one. Nothing to write home about, but a great coaster for would-be enthusiasts to level up on. You can't beat a backwards launch.
• Mystery Mine (1X): Another one of my favorites at the park. While the transitions are not as smooth at times, causing some head banging, I love the theming and the layout. Highlights is the second drop into the upward barrel roll. One day I'll ride this one at night.
• Thunderhead (1X): Thunderhead is exactly what I want out of a woodie. It's forceful without feeling uncomfortable. It's chaotic without feeling unsafe. And my god, is it thrilling. I absolutely love how it twists in on itself so many times. The headchopper moments are numerous. I want to say that Thunderhead is my favorite coaster in the park and one of my favorite woodies (though I think top spot goes to Mystic Timbers).
• Dragonflier (1X): Dragonflier was closed during my first visit to Dollywood, so I prioritized riding it this time around (for the credits, of course). Holy cow, this coaster is way better than it should be. It is, by far, the most forceful and thrilling family coaster I've ever been on. Don't get me wrong, it's short, but what it does with its length is remarkable (I realize what I did there, but I'm not changing it). I wanted to ride again, but we needed to move on to...
• Big Bear Mountain (1X): Whereas Dragonflier was short, BBM was far longer than I expected. The launches were so much fun, but never too extreme that a smaller rider wouldn't enjoy it. And I love how far you travel away from the station, only to return and still have the second half of the ride to go. The final launch was the best of them all. Honestly, I'm glad parks are investing in tamer, but thrilling coasters. Not just for kids trying to level up, but even for folks who just aren't into big thrills. You can have a quality coaster that doesn't make you **** your pants. I think they did such a fine job with Big Bear Mountain.

Final Thoughts:

Dollywood is still an incredible park. What I love the most is that they do what they can to give you a reason to visit multiple times a year. There is always a new festival or celebration and I wish my home parks would do the same. Dollywood invests in the experience instead of giving you a coaster and calling it a day. If you've never been before, go. If you've been before, go back.

Nice trip report. My wife and I were just talking about visiting again for a lot of the reasons you just covered.

Awesome trip report, Jephry! My partner and I just visited Dollywood yesterday (05/25). I don’t normally post in the forum but, I may have to cobble together a trip report and post to compare opinions.

I highly, highly suggest returning to Dollywood some year in early November. Their Christmas festival is top notch, over 5 million lights, fantastic holiday shows, a nightly drone show and as long as it’s warm enough full theme park operations (except the water rides.) It’s the time of year when the park is at its best.

Thanks for the recommendation, Touchdown. I told my partner about it and we are both down for going. I'll still have my season pass and we can split the cost of his tickets. I love Christmas lights so damn much.

Has anyone ever gotten the whole apple pie? That is on my bucket list. I don’t know why but that seems like a big achievement.

I did Smoky Mountain Christmas in mid-December one year. Some of the hikes in GSMNP at elevation had a little snow cover, and both the decor and the live entertainment for the festival were stunning. Going earlier in the festival would have been nice to catch some warmer weather, but even so--well worth the trip.

Dollywood is our favorite park outside of Ohio. I completely concur about going early in the Smoky Mountain Christmas season. I can't say it any better than the previous posts.

When we we go we always stay in a cabin nearby the park. On the surface that might sound extra pricey but there are some solid rental companies that have absolutely stunning cabins (if that's your thing) for prices that would beat any hotel chain. We've been doing this since our now 16-year old was 1.

Great trip report. We have not been since the first year that Dragonfly opened but I think we will be headed back next summer. Glad to hear the positivity about Big Bear Mountain!

OhioStater, do you have any recommendations on cabins? We stayed at the same hotel we used the first time we went and it was great. But when we went ziplining, we saw these beautiful cabins on the mountain and the cost was slightly cheaper than the hotel. The reviews...however...were mixed. But my partner and I would totally pay around or a little more than the hotel if we got a nice cabin to ourselves.

If you can go during the week (as I’m sure my amazing rate was due to that fact,) check out the Season Pass rates at the Dollywood resorts, I was able to snag a room at the Dreamore Resort for cheaper then my normal Hampton Inn rate. I’ve only been in the public spaces but they were amazing, and I am very much looking forward to staying there in November.

We've seen that special on the travel channel a few years ago about their Christmas Festival and have wanted to go back there for that at some point. Our one and only visit was in October. A few weeks later and we'd have seen it.

Touchdown will check into the season pass discounts, and would like to stay at the Dreamore Resort. If I can stay there for the Hampton Inn Rate we're there. ;)

For us it usually works better to buy a pass. Usually the discounts alone are worth buying at least one pass like Jephry did. The Bring a friend tickets make it the practical way to admission, and the parks know it entices people back for multiple visits. That's why we got Six Flags passes again. We are finally going to Magic Mountain in September, and I wasn't going to buy a day ticket for there when I can spend $20 more each and have a Diamond Pass.

Sent you a PM with some info, Jephry. If anything it's a good starting point to explore!

It's better to share it with all of the people. 🙂

OK, OK....

But first a fun story. This all started back in 2007. I won a trivia contest on Screamscape (you had to be the first to answer questions correctly via email for historical context), and we won free tickets to Dollywood. Our oldest daughter was an infant, and while I had heard of Dollywood I honestly didn't know much about it. At this point in our lives we had a tradition of getting a cabin every Thanksgiving down in Hocking Hills, Ohio where we got engaged, and it dawned on us that maybe there were cabin rentals close to Dollywood. So we looked. And we were shocked. Not only were there cabin rentals, but the cabins were just as nice or better than the Hocking Hills cabins (which are pretty epic, by the way), but they were so much cheaper.

That was our introduction to both Dolly's world and her epic Christmas-decorated park.

So, here is the rental company we stumbled upon that year and have always used since;

https://colonialproperties.com/

They're a great group, and on the rare occasion we have had an issue they have great customer service.

And here are a couple cabins we have stayed at over the years:

https://colonialproperties....t-hideaway

https://colonialproperties....-bearadise

And upon Jephry asking this question I made a sad discovery. The original cabin we stayed in back in 2007 and then revisited 10 years later just for nostalgia with older kids is no longer listed.

See, that makes me wanna go there. I can't believe how cheap those are.

My only guess is sheer volume (there are a lot of cabin rental companies). The price-points actually gave us some hesitation at first, because almost everything in Hocking Hills worth staying at is at or over $200/night.

I don't know how to beat an entire cabin with a Smoky Mountain view over a hotel.

OhioStater:

I won a trivia contest on Screamscape (you had to be the first to answer questions correctly via email for historical context), and we won free tickets to Dollywood.

I'm surprised Screamscape had enough resources for a ticket giveaway after all of the work he's put into upgrading the site over the years.

We try to vacation during shoulder seasons to avoid the crowds. Lots of things are discounted, but you do run the risk of bad weather. But if it's Dollywood, you can still have a good time.