Dollywood? Any experts out there with some tips?

[Suger Mag]

Hi DISers, my mom (85) has always loved Dolly Parton ... like REALLY loves Dolly... and she has always wanted to go to Dollywood, so I told her would go with her next Nov around Veterans Day when they have the Christmas lights up. We will be coming from the New England area and hope to fly. Any tips about Dollywood?

 

[Bamaclan4]

Not Dollywood necessarily, but the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area are both generally crowded around Veterans Day holiday.

 

[Farro]

If she loves Dolly then be sure to stay at DreamMore resort. We absolutely loved it!!! Dollywood itself is just a gorgeous park. We spent two days there and easily did everything, but we went first weekend in October.

This is a personal opinion, but we did NOT like Pigeon Forge. At all.

 

[JBeaty0507]

The most important thing.....GET THE CINNAMON BREAD Lol. But for real, we love Dollywood and live about 2 hours away so it’s a frequent getaway for us. It doesn’t take nearly as much planning energy as Disney World. I will say that the Dreammore is wonderful and comes with time savers for everyone staying so it comes in handy. The Christmas lights are beautiful. I wouldn’t hesitate to go during Veteran’s Day as the whole Christmas season stays pretty crowded.

 

[Nhebron]

I have done Dollywood many times as we used to live in the area. I would also recommend Dreammore. It is pricey but worth it in my opinion for the convenience (and Dolly accents). I have always found visiting around Christmas time to be a challenge. It’s chilly and crowded. Maybe early November won’t be so bad though. Staying at dreammore would be quite convenient as you could go at park open for lower crowds and then take a break and come back in the evening for lights.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Sign up on the dollywood website for discounts. Be prepared for ton emails but good discounts. I absolutely love Dreammore resort. I think it easily matches the nicer resorts at WDW for half the price. Having the transportation to parks is great. Love the cinnamon bread and hot coffee out on porch in morning. Free smore kits and bed time stories by the fires at night.

The park itself is quite hilly and spread out.
Staying at hotel you get free Time Savers, which similar to Express lanes at that parks. Nice for the shows. You can put the app on your phone for wait times and show times and map to help you get where need be.

It very easy drive from Knoxville airport to Pigeon Forge and around town. Love the Old Mill in town for good southern meal. Very shareable portions.

 

[goofyernmost]

All the above suggestions are good, but due to her age, I would like to inform you that Dollywood is built on the side of a mountain. If she has any mobility problems negotiating the park can be a challenge. Scooters are available, of course, and I recommend obtaining one. Some of the climbs are very steep. Most of the shows are on the lower level, as I recall, but if staying up with the family is important then please do consider a scooter.

 

[Nhebron]

All the above suggestions are good, but due to her age, I would like to inform you that Dollywood is built on the side of a mountain. If she has any mobility problems negotiating the park can be a challenge. Scooters are available, of course, and I recommend obtaining one. Some of the climbs are very steep. Most of the shows are on the lower level, as I recall, but if staying up with the family is important then please do consider a scooter.

All the above suggestions are good, but due to her age, I would like to inform you that Dollywood is built on the side of a mountain. If she has any mobility problems negotiating the park can be a challenge. Scooters are available, of course, and I recommend obtaining one. Some of the climbs are very steep. Most of the shows are on the lower level, as I recall, but if staying up with the family is important then please do consider a scooter.

This is actually a really important point. Totally agree.

 

[marthachick]

If you are going during what may be a busy/crowded time, I highly recommend that you reserve a scooter online. When we went in the fall they ran out of them and it is very hard with mobility problems. Very, very hilly. Some places are even restricted from scooter use. They have alternate routes though.

 

[shh]

does anyone know if the crowds are bad early/mid dec?

 

[marthachick]

does anyone know if the crowds are bad early/mid dec?

Weekends are busiest. If you can go on a weekday, it is not as crowded. Just check the schedules because they are not open all week. But the earlier in the season, the better.

 

[OneOftheB's]

We had friends learn the hard way that Dollywood is not open every day of the week, so make certain you check your dates! They rented a cabin that came with free tickets, but were unable to use the tickets because DW was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The agent they booked with never mentioned the closed days.

 

[marthachick]

We had friends learn the hard way that Dollywood is not open every day of the week, so make certain you check your dates! They rented a cabin that came with free tickets, but were unable to use the tickets because DW was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The agent they booked with never mentioned the closed days.

We wanted to go on Monday or Tuesday for Christmas but saw that it wasn’t open then so we changed travel dates. Sorry your friends didn’t get to go.

 

[Straitlover]

Weekdays in the holiday season they open at 2, so if you wnat to see all the shows (please do, they are all great!), you will need to go at least 2 days. The Saturday of first weekend in Dec is pretty busy because the Gatlinburg Christmas parade is that Friday night. However the parade is great, so i recommend going that weekend anyway! I also suggest staying at DreamMore; the shuttles run pretty often and drop you off right at the entrance, plus the free TimeSaver allows you to skip the lines for most shows and some rides. The only ride we rode in Dec 2018 was the train; we were too busy w/ the shows. Had hoped to ride one or two others on the Sunday but the cold weather keeping the crowds away causede them to close the park really early (we were told they only had about 500 people in the park the whole day!). Missed the nighttime parade Sat night because of rain making the path too slippery for the performers.

Sign up for emails from DW, and they will send you Holiday specials around late August/early September.