We were fortunate that our traveling friends, Janice and Leon, wanted to get season passes for Dollywood so that we could visit the theme park in a more leisurely fashion and not try to cram everything in one day. Since we were mainly interested in going to the shows, there is no way we could have seen them all in one day. We were there when the park reopened for Christmas at Dollywood (Nov 4 - Jan 7) and also for their reduced hours...Sat & Sun - 11 am to 9 pm, closed on Mon, and then Tues - Fri - 2 pm to 9 pm. The park will close the first of Jan and then reopen in Mar (I think they said). With the park not opening until 2 o'clock, that meant we could do/go somewhere else in the morning. (FYI, the season pass was available for half price of a day price ticket when you bought a day pass and was good for the whole next year. Janice also received four free day passes for the spring and four free day passes for the fall. Very good deal.)
In this first post on Dollywood, I thought I would share daytime pictures. It is so beautiful at night with all the lights and I have lots of pictures of them, but you need to see what the park "looks" like during the day.
I almost forgot to pass on a tip if you plan to go to the park and would rather not pay for the parking at the park. We drove to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge and for 50 cents each rode the trolley to the park. We had to wait at the most about 15 minutes for the trolley and saved quite a bit for parking.
At the Showstreet Palace Theater we saw the show It's a Wonderful Life...(a very good condensed 65-minute version of the movie)
We ate a late mid-afternoon lunch at Aunt Granny's All You Can Eat Holiday Buffet...
A fantastic 20 minute show, Appalachian Christmas, at the Back Porch Theater...
In the Dreamsong Theater we saw Dolly Parton's (55-min show) My People. Dolly's brother and his daughter, first cousin and her husband, and another niece were performers. Dolly was there interacting with the program by means of film. Very talented family...
Dolly's niece...
Dolly's cousin with one of the other singers...
Dolly's tour bus from 1984 - 2007...
Front Porch Cafe where we ate dinner one night...
Replica of Dolly's childhood home...
We counted 10 bald eagles in the exhibit. If you look hard, you can see some of them in the picture...
I told him he didn't look like my granddaddy who was the village blacksmith in my hometown, but I wanted to take a picture of him. Too bad I couldn't share the smell of the blacksmith shop with you...
Some of the fall colors still visible behind the track for the Dollywood Express Train...
One of the days we were there was on Sunday. We attended a worship service at the Robert F. Thomas Chapel Sunday evening. Dr. Thomas carried the good news of medicine and the Gospel to the folks in East Tennessee. He also was the country doctor who delivered Dolly. Dollywood and Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO are the only two theme parks that have a worship service. (We did not learn of the tragedy at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX until after we got back to the resort that evening.)
Another day we rode the Dollywood Express Train...Here is the engine with pictures I took along the ride...
This can only be seen when on the train...
Looks like the park is going to be expanded....
After we got off the train...
The Kingdom Heirs: The Heart of Christmas show (40 min). Janice and Leon had attended their show 30 years ago when they visited the park and were anxious to see them again...
Another show we enjoyed, Christmas in the Smokies, at the Celebrity Theater...a truly delightful show...
Another really enjoyable show we saw was 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (45 min) at the Pines Theater. (Didn't get a picture.) The only show we didn't see was O'Holy Night which was a 20-min show at the Valley Theater, an outdoor theater. By the end of our week, it had turned colder and we didn't want to stay outside that long since we had not brought very warm clothes with us.
Tomorrow I will share Dollywood at night. You don't want to miss it.
You can catch the pictures of the fall colors we saw in our trek across the mountains to Cherokee, NC here.
If you missed seeing Christmas at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC, you have to check it out here.
In this first post on Dollywood, I thought I would share daytime pictures. It is so beautiful at night with all the lights and I have lots of pictures of them, but you need to see what the park "looks" like during the day.
I almost forgot to pass on a tip if you plan to go to the park and would rather not pay for the parking at the park. We drove to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge and for 50 cents each rode the trolley to the park. We had to wait at the most about 15 minutes for the trolley and saved quite a bit for parking.
At the Showstreet Palace Theater we saw the show It's a Wonderful Life...(a very good condensed 65-minute version of the movie)
We ate a late mid-afternoon lunch at Aunt Granny's All You Can Eat Holiday Buffet...
A fantastic 20 minute show, Appalachian Christmas, at the Back Porch Theater...
In the Dreamsong Theater we saw Dolly Parton's (55-min show) My People. Dolly's brother and his daughter, first cousin and her husband, and another niece were performers. Dolly was there interacting with the program by means of film. Very talented family...
Dolly's niece...
Dolly's cousin with one of the other singers...
Dolly's tour bus from 1984 - 2007...
Front Porch Cafe where we ate dinner one night...
Replica of Dolly's childhood home...
We counted 10 bald eagles in the exhibit. If you look hard, you can see some of them in the picture...
I told him he didn't look like my granddaddy who was the village blacksmith in my hometown, but I wanted to take a picture of him. Too bad I couldn't share the smell of the blacksmith shop with you...
Some of the fall colors still visible behind the track for the Dollywood Express Train...
One of the days we were there was on Sunday. We attended a worship service at the Robert F. Thomas Chapel Sunday evening. Dr. Thomas carried the good news of medicine and the Gospel to the folks in East Tennessee. He also was the country doctor who delivered Dolly. Dollywood and Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO are the only two theme parks that have a worship service. (We did not learn of the tragedy at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX until after we got back to the resort that evening.)
Another day we rode the Dollywood Express Train...Here is the engine with pictures I took along the ride...
This can only be seen when on the train...
Looks like the park is going to be expanded....
After we got off the train...
The Kingdom Heirs: The Heart of Christmas show (40 min). Janice and Leon had attended their show 30 years ago when they visited the park and were anxious to see them again...
Another show we enjoyed, Christmas in the Smokies, at the Celebrity Theater...a truly delightful show...
Tomorrow I will share Dollywood at night. You don't want to miss it.
You can catch the pictures of the fall colors we saw in our trek across the mountains to Cherokee, NC here.
If you missed seeing Christmas at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC, you have to check it out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment