Dollywood like a liner?

Oh shoot, did you already go?!

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Just returned from a fabulous week long family vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains, including one full day in Dollywood. Some impressions:

Firstly, we all had a great time. Disney and Universal aside, our family doesn’t get that much of an opportunity to go to amusement parks, so much of that aspect still feels fresh to us. And from our perspective, I would say it mainly felt like a clean, friendly, well-themed and well-done amusement park more than something you could compare to WDW or even UO.

We did pop for the unlimited TimeSaver passes, so not sure how much touring plan advice I have. They worked like a charm. We also got priority parking passes and took SneakyPete’s good advice on entering through the priority parking entrance and then taking a left turn to tour clockwise. One snafu…

To get the TimeSaver passes, and we had prepaid, but to get the pass you wear around your neck and use all day, we needed to go to the TimeSaver booth which is on the other side of the main entrance. So while the priority parking entrance got us right in, we still had to head over to the main entrance. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long, and soon we were on our way back toward the priority pass entrance to tour clockwise.

Although we missed rope drop by maybe 5-10 mins, we still stayed ahead of the crowds all morning. We could see mid-morning, how Thunderhead and Lighting Rod at the front of the park had long wait times while the coasters on the other end of the park did not. Although I don’t think it was an especially crowded day.

Were the TimeSaver passes worth it? For us they were. Kids rode all the roller coasters twice, except Lighting Rod once, which was down for much of the day. We also exceeded our ride amounts, if we had gotten the more limited TimeSaver passes. On some coasters it allowed us to walk right on (Dragonflier), others to skip the line but still wait 10-15 mins. (Wild Eagle).

This was really the first time the kids (12-year old twins) have done a bunch of real roller coasters. They loved them all. Meanwhile, I’m getting too old for these crazy things, but did them all at least once (well except LR).

Bird show was the only show we did. It was so-so. Showed us four birds.

Had lunch at Aunt Granny’s. Which was a solid table service option – family style food more than we could eat.

We blew it on getting cinammon bread, and long lines discouraged us late in the day.

Oh, and Dolly was in the park! She was fliming for her Xmas special. Unfortunately, we did not get a glimpse of her, but we ran into the hubbub of the filming a few times.

All in all, we had a terrific day. Arrived at 10am and left at 6:30pm, which was basically open to close. Not sure we have any plans to go back soon, but really glad we did it. And if nothing else the kids loved the roller coasters, and are now ready to take on roller coasters everywhere. Thanks again for all the advice and thoughts. Hooray for Dollywood!

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We are staying at DreamMore so have access to that entrance. I need to get my kids measured and want to out my name in at Aunt Granny’s - do I have time to for get before hitting a ride - the new Big Bear?

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Loved big bear -

Seriously I think it’s way better than Tron for a “family coaster”

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Big Bear is an amazing coaster, just rode it last month. My first impression was that it was an improved version of Slinky Dog, longer, faster and more fun.

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