Wrapped in more than three million holiday lights, Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas festival opens Nov. 4, headlined by the park’s new holiday show "Dollywood’s Babes in Toyland." Dolly said,
"Our new 'Dollywood's Babes in Toyland' show will fill every member of the family with wide-eyed wonder. Believe me, Santa and I both have a few surprises up our sleeves this Christmas!"
A never-before-seen adaptation of the family classic, "Dollywood's Babes in Toyland" became the most elaborate stage show in the park’s history. The show unfolds in a small East Tennessee village on Christmas Eve and features a fully-orchestrated score highlighted by lush musical arrangements and heartwarming lyrics.
Dollywood enjoyed a bountiful harvest during the theme park’s 2006 National Southern Gospel & Harvest Celebration. The park welcomed a host of Southern gospel legends along with 49 visiting crafters. Dollywood’s Southern gospel roots run deep, as does the talented roster for this year’s festival. Award-winning artists Dottie Rambo, the McKameys, the Crabb Family, the Isaacs, the Florida Boys, Karen Peck & New River, the Kingdom Heirs and many more graced the stage. And don’t forget the food! The Apple Market offered a variety of Southern heirloom apples, apple fritters and fresh-baked biscuits.
At the Appalachian Cooking Booth, guests enjoyed Southern cuisine at its finest with Smoky Mountain Spoon Bread and Granny Ogle’s Specialty Cornbread, both served with fried okra and skillet-fried corn, while The Grill offered chicken and steak kabobs. Finally, Dollywood’s National Southern Gospel & Harvest Celebration offered guests one of the country’s most prestigious gatherings of artisans.
Guests felt the thunder and they like it! For the second year in a row, Dollywood’s Thunderhead roller coaster was named the number one wooden coaster in the world by the voters of the 2006 Golden Tickets Awards. It edged out The Voyage at Holiday World, Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce, and Hades at Mount Olympus Theme Park for the prize.
Voters described the smooth ride, unpredictability and re-rideability of the coaster, as reasons for its success. In 2004, Thunderhead was the highest debuting wooden coaster in the history of the awards. While Thunderhead received rave reviews, that’s not the only thing people are talking about at Dollywood. The theme park placed in six additional categories at the Golden Tickets Awards.
In 1986, Dolly met with Fred Hardwick to discuss the concept of a dinner attraction that would become the Dixie Stampede. Twenty years later, this popular and unique theatre had expanded to three locations and reached another major milestone— 20 million visitors.
Two years after the initial meeting, Dolly and her team of developers opened the first Dixie Stampede Pigeon Forge, Tenn. That was 1988. Four years later, in 1992, Dolly’s plans for growth began to take off with the opening of a Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Three years later, in 1995, Dolly opened her third Dixie Stampede location in Branson, Mo.
Dolly's Dixie Stampede is a unique experience. It begins with an open air Horse Walk, where guests can learn more about the stars of the show—32 magnificent horses. Visitors are then ushered into a saloon, where they enjoy specialty drinks and snacks, as well as, some entertainment to prepare them for the main show. In a 35,000 square foot arena, guests are treated to a four-course meal, as they are thrilled by top-notch trick riding, singing, dancing and comedy.
Marking the largest capital investment in the company’s history, Dollywood’s new ride for the 2007 season is the $17.5 million Mystery Mine steel roller coaster. Mystery Mine brings a one-acre expansion of Dollywood’s Timber Canyon area, also home to Thunderhead™, the world’s number one wooden coaster.
In a continuation of the area’s lumber camp theme, the Mystery Mine ride is set in an abandoned coal mine where eight-passenger mine carts immediately plunge riders into darkness before continuing along a 1,811-foot track through the ruins of an early 1900’s mine. Dolly said,
“I’ve had to keep my big mouth shut about the Mystery Mine, but I can tell you now, it’s the most exciting thing to come out of these hills in a long, long time. And I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve that I’m still not telling you about until it opens at Dollywood next year, but I can guarantee you it’s well worth the wait!”
During the ride, passengers encounter several high-speed twists as the mine cars maneuver their way through a series of uncertain encounters including a fall from a collapsed trestle and a plunge into an abandoned tunnel. Mystery Mine, the first ride of its kind in the U.S., also incorporates state-of-the-art special effects.
