First, let me admit that I am a wuss when it comes to roller coasters. That wasn’t always the case; when I was young I loved them. Not that I had many opportunities to ride, as Wisconsin is not exactly Roller Coaster Heaven. But I fondly recall some trips in which a roller coaster remains as a vivid memory. And I rode the wooden roller coaster (top speed: 35 mph) at Canobie Lake whenever I could.
But I didn’t ride any of the 5 roller coasters offered at Dollywood. I almost went on the Mystery Mine coaster – until a helpful patron told me that the ride begins with an 80-foot vertical climb in the dark. I wasn’t sure I could do that without some fresh Depends on hand, so I moved on. The wooden roller coaster was the finest I have ever seen and I think I could have managed that, but I saw that first when I was still window-shopping. The new Wild Eagle ride – a coaster in which you ride on the wings, dangling over space – looked to be pretty gentle in terms of G’s, but the 6 loops scared me off. The fourth one was another that started in the dark, so I passed. The fifth one was entirely in the dark. That one intrigued me as I suspect it would have been like Space Mountain at Disneyworld, which I enjoyed, but it was getting late by that time so I passed on that one, too.
The Wild Eagle coaster
The Mystery Mine tower and Wild Eagle loop
The wooden coaster
I sure that I will regret not having gone on any of them – and I could have done ALL of them as there were no lines anywhere all day – but I am pretty sure that we will return as we really enjoyed the park. The most daring thing I did was Adventure Mountain which is basically a ropes walk/climb. It was more challenging than I expected – especially the section where I had to balance on a 6-inch beam and hug a rock wall – but was a lot of fun. I just had to ignore the 10-year-olds who went three times faster than me. The downside of being there on a cold day – besides shivering on the train ride up into the forest – was that a number of attractions were closed. Adventure Mountain is actually 3 ropes courses but only one was open.
Navigating Adventure Mountain
The rock wall and balance beam
I mentioned the train. I was impressed. This is no little miniature; this is the real deal – a 2-8-2 steam locomotive that originally worked on the Alaska Railway. It billowed smoke (and covered us with minute specks of coal cinder) and belched prodigious amounts of steam, but gave me a real sense of what travel in the era of steam locomotives would have been like.
The belching locomotive
We dined at Miss Lillian’s Chicken House, an all-you-can-eat buffet of fried chicken an chicken-fried steak. Jett and I agreed that it was the best fried chicken dinner we have ever had. Crispy skin, juicy meat, tasty sides. I went back for seconds.
We also saw Dolly’s bus. It was nice, but old (built in 1996) with NO SLIDES. Simply barbaric. But we got to see where she slept while on the road and her dressing table with one of her wigs.
Dolly’s bedroom
Dolly’s bus
Dolly’s wig
While we were enjoying Dollywood, the dogs were enjoying(?) Doggywood, Dollywood’s kennel. They kept both of our mutts in a nice clean cage all day for $25. Very reasonable. We stopped by after lunch to take them for a walk, then returned to the park. We appreciated how thoughtful Dollywood was in providing that facility for dog lovers.
Incarcerated
In general, we felt that Dollywood was exceptionally clean, friendly and very thoughtfully laid out. Adjacent to most of the major rides was a kiddie park, for the enjoyment of those too small for the big rides. A family with children in a range of ages could let the teenagers ride the coaster while mom or dad hung out in the kiddie area. And very nice kiddie areas, too.
Dollywood wasn’t cheap – the senior all-day pass was $51. But a full day at Canobie Lake is $30 and you get a lot more at Dollywood. We thought it was worth the price. It would have definitely been worth the price if I hadn’t been a wuss and had experienced those superb coasters.
Our campsite for the Pigeon Forge hop was the Creekside RV Park. It was not our favorite place. We were lucky enough to get a pull-through site, but it was barely large enough for the rig. In general the sites were small. It was also very soggy due to the four days of rain that preceded our arrival – not the park’s fault, but it didn’t help improve our impression.
Today we move on to Nashville.