Wait weren’t you in Ft Lauderdale 8 hours ago?! 
I’m getting whiplash!!
DS4 realllly wanted to ride a roller coaster!! He was tall enough for 3 of them, but alll were closed for weather. They don’t open until 40 degrees
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Currently packing for the trip…my brain is in Ft Lauderdale- right now… me I am still in Nashville
I haven’t been in a true beach vacation in my life… I grew up on Long Island so there beach was never further than a half hour away…so we went to WDW…
Haven’t seen the ocean since we moved 8 years ago!
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Oooh you got the SHIRT at the Dreamore! Lol!! I thought you were saying that you were at the Dreamore okay I’m all caught up now.
We are on our way home. It was seriously the greatest day. Can’t tell you how much fun we had following our kids’ lead, which gave us the flexibility to say “yes” to all the things!! We had a few battles here and there over wearing gloves, but no major meltdowns and lots of giant, happy, little boy smiles. Our last ride was Rockin’ Roadway, where we got to “drive” the classic cars. The car was propelled automatically, so the tiny ones could get behind the wheel, but the wheel did control steering! And all I had to do was snuggle up to DS2 and sing along to the Christmas music playing.
DS2 was definitely my ride buddy for the day, since DS4 wanted to ride with his daddy.
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Dreamore has implemented a 3 night stay policy …Two nights i didn’t mind and I could justify the cost with the included express passes… drive up in the evening hit the park get a good nights rest drive home - but now it’s at three nights hotel is approximately $1000…so for us now its Club Wyndham Smoky Mountains -
I am so glad you had a good time despite the cold!
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We rode the train on the first departure. We only got in line about 15 minutes before it was set to depart, which was awesome compared to when I went with my friend and it was about a 45 minute wait. We got to go all the way to the back, which was phenomenal. No cinders in my eye, no soot all over our laps. DS4 was having a BLAST (theme for the day, really), and DS2 fell asleep on me. I’m so glad we got it done. The lines were really long the rest of the day.
We left 40 minutes ago and both boys are sleeping.
The baby also made their presence known. Oh my gosh. It felt like I was sitting on their head anytime I sat down. Hey baby! Glad you’re along for the ride!
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We even got to see some Christmas lights
The Christmas decorations were gorgeous and no photos that I took did them justice. This one comes the closest though
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I truly have no theme park plans in 2023, but you are making me think I need to get across the state to Dollywood this fall!
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You should! It’s not a 1:1 replacement, but with the cost and tumult of Disney right now, it is a great alternative until things settle down. The first time I went, we didn’t ride a single ride and had a great time. The second time, I didn’t see a single show and had a great time. And I still haven’t ridden a roller coaster, so lots more to experience! They have a new ride opening next year too- Spring 2023 in theory. Idk how they are with their projected vs actual ride premieres. Looking forward to finding out though!
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They have already announced previews for certain pass holders-
And I happen to think their coasters are great fun and OMG smooth!
@darkmite2 - if you do make plans honestly try to get in during any of the major festivities- spring, fall and Christmas…They really IMO shine at park decorations. Summer is meh for me theme wise.
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If I go, and I really want to, I am looking at the fall festivals! It is a 7+ hour drive, but it’s totally doable if I left early on a Friday and leave early/midday Sunday.
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We are back at Dollywood today. Left SC shortly after 6:30 AM and arrived at Dollywood shortly before 9:30 AM. We got a great parking spot.
They had already let people into the park. We went in to the bakery to get our Tasting Pass for food and flower festival and a free unlimited refill cup that we got with our season pass. Got our kids measured for the rides- they can both ride so much more than they could in December.
Once again, the weather predictor failed us. It was supposed to be overcast all day with sporadic rain showers. Instead it’s sunny with barely a cloud in the sky. That would be great if we didn’t have a ton of rain gear and no sunscreen.
We have our kiddos with us- 5, 3, and 3 mo. We’re here celebrating my birthday. I always have to do math now to figure out how old I am
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Gold season passes get “fast pass” for the first hour of park opening. We used that for one ride, along with rider swap, for my DS5’s first rollercoaster- Dragonflier. With “time saver”/fast pass we pretty much walked on.
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DS5 rode first with my husband. I waited on the loading deck with DS3 and DDbaby. He did not want to ride again. He said it was too fast. So I went on alone. It was super fun for me but I absolutely get how he was so scared! I thought of him the whole time. My baby on this intense roller coaster!
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Following!
Poor baby on the intense coaster!! 
I would be scared with him (although I would do it too)!
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He did so many brave things! After that, he rode the black bear kid ride all by himself (last time he rode with his dad) and then he went on The Mad Mockingbird with his dad, which terrified him, but I’m so proud of him for trying.
Both kids LOVED the acorn ride. The new rollercoaster, Big Bear Mountain, wasn’t accepting time saver in the first hour (or at all, currently. It just opened two days ago) so we’ll save it for another time.
I rode Wild Eagle. It was awesome! 18 minute wait, 30 posted
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Both boys were crying so I asked them if they wanted to go home and they simultaneously, while crying, said “no”
Really, though, we are here for them. So as soon as they don’t wanna be here anymore, we will go.
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Isn’t she precious??!!
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Aaaaand we have sleep and we are all on the train! No one’s looking. It’s fine. Lol. Remarkably, we walked up 20 minutes before train departure and got a perfect seat at the back of the train. Away from the cinder danger zone. The train was way more packed in October and December! Maybe it’s packed at different times… we probably won’t be around to find out. We’ll be having too much fun on other rides
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