A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most out of your next trip to Ober Gatlinburg I had given up on Ober Gatlinburg in the autumn a couple of years ago. In the days after Halloween, the park hadn’t transitioned from fall to winter. It was understaffed and underfunded. Then Joe Baker and his partners stepped
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to Anakeesta It arrived one day without much fanfare, just seemingly appearing on top of the mountain. Self-billed as Gatlinburg’s “theme park”, there wasn’t a lot to do at Anakeesta that first season. However, a program of steady improvements has seen expansion nearly every
A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to the SkyBridge With Anakeesta drawing traffic across the valley and Ober Mountain under new ownership, the competition for your “SkyDollars” has never been higher. But the eldest of the major mountaintop attractions isn’t ready to wave a white flag of surrender. The park’s
A Smoky Mountain resident talks about experiences he wouldn’t try twice at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge While I can’t lay claim to being the world’s biggest Dollywood fan, I’ve been visiting since the first year it transitioned over from Silver Dollar City. I’ve watched in awe and appreciation as it has grown through careful planning and execution from a kitschy
A local reflects on his least favorite winter-related experiences in the Pigeon Forge area Winter in the Smoky Mountains is split – as it is in the rest of the world, I suppose – into two segments: Pre-holidays and post-holidays. To the naked eye, there might not be much difference as the festive holiday lights stay up throughout the season,
Dollywood is a hot spot for celebrity sightings – here’s a roundup of some of the biggest stars known to frequent the park The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the surrounding area are among the most visited tourist destinations in the world. In the mountains, there are surely few places that are more popular than Dollywood. I’ve watched over
A Buc-ee’s fanatic imagines what it would be like if Buc-ee’s built a theme park Now that the Smokies AA baseball team has officially absconded from Kodak to return to Knoxville, the Sevier County entranceway at Exit 407 has a problem. Namely, there’s a gigantic parking lot and a good-sized baseball stadium going to waste. Considering the possibilities, I jokingly
Local lists the best movies filmed in and around Dolly Parton’s theme park As one of the premier destinations in the Smoky Mountains, it’s no surprise that the Dollywood theme park has a cultural footprint that extends into pop culture. Personally, I’ve been running around Dollywood since the year it opened. I am never surprised to see professional cameras around
Tips on avoiding the crowds and skipping the long lines at the Dollywood theme park As someone who has been to their fair share of theme parks like Walt Disney World and Dollywood, I know they all have one thing in common – they’re crowded. At times I am begging to find a park veteran who can give me their
Poll shows that Smoky Mountain fans desire an expansion of Dollywood the most In the Smoky Mountains, enough is never enough. To keep the tourists coming and the money flowing, we need bigger and better and more. To that end, there are always ideas on the horizon. Wishes, dreams, thoughts of what could be or might be. So, staff at