How to plan the perfect day at Dollywood? Let’s start with three seemingly contradictory thoughts. First, perfection is our goal. Perfection is not attainable. However, any day at Dollywood is perfect. When we first conceive of a theme park vacation – or a theme park day as part of our vacation – we must first recognize that there will be
Dolly Parton to announce details behind Hidden Hollow Aviation After months of speculation, guessing games, and flat-out rumor mongering, the answers are nigh. On Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. one of the more impressively kept theme park secrets in recent memory will finally be revealed. Not only that, but Dolly Parton is the one who’ll do the revealing. Last
Local looks at Dollywood pricing throughout the years Dollywood is by all accounts a success story of gargantuan proportions. When Dolly Parton partnered with the Herschend Family to put her name on the park formerly known as Silver Dollar City in 1986, little did we know the effect it would have on the theme park industry. It’s approaching 40 years
With Summer Celebration in full swing, it’s a bubble battle royale with kids choosing between the Foam Zone and the Gazillion Bubble Show at Dollywood You know you’ve reached a certain point in life when given the option of joining a summer foam and bubble party and your first thoughts are not of bubble-filled mayhem and a cooling, drenching rinse.
“Something Wild” author sees production of her work at Dollywood’s Imagination Playhouse Sitting in the front row of Dollywood’s newly update Imagination Playhouse – author Molly Ruttan put her hands to her face in what must have been a mixture of joy and wonder and astonishment. She watched as characters that had only lived in her illustrations, passed through the
Inside our exclusive with Dollywood President Eugene Naughton After 13 years as Vice President of In Park Services and Worldwide Strategy for Six Flags, Eugene Naughton joined the Dollywood team in November of 2019 as VP of Dollywood Parks Operations. A year and a month later, he was named President of the Dollywood Company. In that role the affable Naughton
What’s new, what’s different and what’s better on Blazing Fury For most of the country, Independence Day was a chance to light up the nighttime sky with a cascade of colorful fireworks. But at Dollywood – and for the first time in the 2025 season – the ‘fire was in the hole.’ That’s right, Dollywood President Eugene Naughton – joined
Dollywood debuts a documentary 40 years in the making Somehow, it’s a story that has been undersold. In the early 80s, Dolly Parton was certainly a multimedia icon. But she also had a vision on a scale only matched by Walt Disney. She dreamed of building a theme park in the Smokies, near her hometown. A place much, as Disneyland’s
How close did the Southern Appalachian Mountains come to hosting the park that would become Disney World? A couple of years ago, we had a little fun on April Fool’s Day. I wrote a story about Disney buying the former Ghost Town in Maggie Valley with the intent of reopening it. It featured all the defunct rides that “super” fans
These are the things you have to do to make your visit to Dollywood a success In its 40 years of growth, Dollywood has transformed from a kitschy theme park that you could knock out in less than a day – or even an afternoon – to a massive, sprawling park that is bordering on the precipice of becoming a