Rounding out the park's award-winning Smoky Mountain Christmas event is a fantastic, family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration, complete with Fireworks. Dollywood is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on December 31, with Fireworks starting at 8:30 p.m.
Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas presented by Humana is the only winner of Amusement Today’s Best Christmas Event award. Ask a season passholder why they return year after year, and words like tradition, magic and memories are a common refrain.
Regardless of the number of visits, a trip to Dollywood to experience its four million Christmas lights, spectacular holiday entertainment and delicious treats and goodies warms every soul with the spirit of the Season. Even Scrooge himself visits the park every day during the festival—thanks to his leading role in Dollywood’s A Christmas Carol, which celebrates its final year in 2015. This ground-breaking production features Dolly Parton as a hologram of the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Discover more about season passes, annual festivals and more Dollywood fun.
Dixie Stampede and The Dollywood Company each donated $250,000 toward the project during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility on Thursday afternoon.
The Boys & Girls Club of the Smoky Mountains has received an outpouring of support from the local community, but the donations from Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and The Dollywood Company helped push the Club beyond its goal of raising $2 million for the new facility.
Jim Rule, Dixie Stampede President, and Jamie Parish, Dixie Stampede General Manager, joined Craig Ross, The Dollywood Company President, and Gene Scherrer, Dollywood General Manager, in making the donation during the ceremony.
Rule said,
“The Boys & Girls Club is an amazing example of an organization which makes a profound impact on the community it serves. This donation is to benefit an organization that provides wonderful services to our hosts’ families and is integral to the quality of life here in Pigeon Forge.”
Read the full press release at DixieStampede.com.
The popular travel review site TripAdvisor recently named Dollywood one of the best theme parks in the world, continuing the Pigeon Forge park’s string of impressive accolades and awards.
Based on reviews and ratings for all theme parks worldwide, TripAdvisor compiled the list of the Top 25 theme parks around the globe. Dollywood placed 19th on the list, which included parks like Universal’s Islands of Adventure (#1), Magic Kingdom (#3), Universal Studios Florida (#6), Germany’s Europa-Park (#7), Disneyland (#8), Denmark’s Tivoli Gardens (#12), Epcot (#16), Six Flags Magic Mountain (#22), Silver Dollar City (#24) and Walt Disney Studios Park in France (#25).
One recent review on TripAdvisor, titled "One of the Best in the World," noted,
"This world-class attraction gets better every year…Great rides including seven roller coasters and some of the best shows and food in any park in the world can be found among the arsenal of activities."
The award-winning park certainly has endeared itself to its many guests, having recently been named #3 Best Theme Park in the country and #6 Best Musical Attraction by USA Today’s 10Best. In 2015, the park also earned Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards for Best Christmas Event, Best Shows and Friendliest Park. Dollywood earned the 2010 Applause Award, the theme park industry’s highest honor.
Dollywood is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. This year also marked the grand opening of Dollywood's DreamMore Resort. The park's newest attraction, Lightning Rod - the world’s fastest wood coaster, is set to open in March 2016.
Dollywood is giving coaster fans a chance to jump aboard Lightning Rod, its newest record-breaking offering, before the final pieces of track are even in place! Thanks to Los Angeles-based 3D Live, anyone with a smartphone can stream via YouTube 360 optimized, point-of-view footage of Dollywood’s Lightning Rod and take a virtual ride on the world’s fastest wooden coaster.
The pioneering 3D technology is new to the amusement park industry, and something 3D Live CEO Nathan Huber says will revolutionize the way guests visit a theme park. Huber said,
“This year has been crazy for us. We’re doing a bunch of great new stuff, and we said ‘let’s jump into this world (theme parks).’ This is something fun and we see a huge future of bringing people virtually to theme parks."
Huber went on to say,
“Imagine hospital patients that may never be able to go to a theme park. Now, this is at least the first step in bringing that experience to them. There is something about creating these immersive experiences; you can take something that would be difficult for them to experience and make it accessible. Now they can sit in their living room, put on a VR headset and be inside the park for a minute.”
The opportunity to work with Dollywood and its innovative new coaster was something Huber said was the perfect fit for his company’s groundbreaking technology. Huber said.
“We love the opportunity to be able to explore and find ways to deliver information to people. We’re excited to continue pushing boundaries.”
Due to working on the footage for Dollywood, Huber already has been able to make several circuits of Lightning Rod—albeit virtually. When asked about his thoughts on the thrilling new ride, Huber was quick to respond saying,
“It is scary. I like scary rides. It looks like it is going to be a ride to freak me out when I get a chance to come to Tennessee to ride it, which is going to be as soon as possible. Watching this ride, I’m just like, ‘wow!’”
Dolly is helping bring out the Christmas spirit in kids of all ages again this year at her Smoky Mountain theme park, Dollywood. Once again, Visitors will be able to meet the beloved characters of the classic television special, "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph and his friends Clarice, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster and Yukon Cornelius will greet guests in Rudolph's Holly Jolly Junction. While there, families can also decorate custom Christmas cookies at Clarice's kitchen.
This year marks the final season of Dollywood’s A Christmas Carol, a unique adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. This show uses holographic technology to bring Dolly Parton to the stage as the Ghost of Christmas past. In addition to her starring role, Dolly wrote seven new songs specifically for this musical.Dolly said,
“I’m so proud of the work everyone puts in to making Christmas such a special time for families at my Dollywood. They start putting up Christmas lights in July! It’s so beautiful and truly is the most special time of year to visit. Our entertainment team does an amazing job with all of the great shows they perform at Christmas. Why I hear they’re even going to bring back the hologram version of me one more time so you can see ‘the other Dolly’ remind ol’ Scrooge what Christmas is all about!”
During the Christmas season, guests can also enjoy several fan favorites including Christmas in the Smokies, An Appalachian Christmas, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, O’ Holy Night and Christmas with The Kingdom Heirs. Each night the Parade of Lights with larger-than-life toys and characters winds its way through the park. At Santa's Workshop, children can see Kris Kringle and share their wish list.
The park will also be filled with the heart-warming flavors of the holidays including pumpkin pies, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin spice funnel cakes and a make-your-own s’mores pit. They can also enjoy a traditional Christmas meal as several menus include holiday-themed items such as turkey and dressing, hot flavored drinks like hot chocolate and wassail are sure to keep them warm and in the Christmas spirit.
Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas begins Nov. 7, and runs through Jan. 3. Visit Dollywood online to check park hours and show times.
