I was like wtf? Does he like this place or not? Also he said the train ride is "Hands down, the best train ride in any theme park in America that's not named Dollywood..." but he's talking about Dollywood???
@@davidwright8932 )I had the column off and was just reading the closed captioning. I thought maybe the captioning was messed up and he didn't really say that stuff. Since he did, it sounds like this may be AI created content.
Excellent recommendations! I have been a gold passholder for over 10 years now and I live in Pittsburgh! I have about a 9 Hour drive to get to Dollywood, but it is well worth it. I like the different festivals they have throughout the year. It makes it feel like you are going to a whole new park each time. I appreciate their commitment to being a family friendly park. This is apparent when they run such festivals as pumpkin luminights instead of any type of fright fest. Employees go out of their way to be helpful and make you feel welcome. I am a coaster enthusiast , But I feel like I can take just about anyone to Dollywood and show them a good time. Not only are the coasters outstanding, but I love the shows, Food and shopping, especially watching the folks working in craftsman Valley. I have always found that this is a great place to get Christmas gifts that you know will not be duplicated by anyone else! I also have to highly recommend an after dark Christmas season ride on the Dollywood Xpress to really put you in the Christmas spirit!
We followed your plan of attack on a very busy day (Saturday of Columbus Day weekend) and although it was a lot of walking, it saved us a ton of time and was genius! We walked on every single coaster with zero wait. Such a smart strategy. So thankful to have found this video because we would never have been able to accomplish as much as we did without your tips!
Excellent suggestions for sure. Here are a few I'll add. 1) Don't miss the shows. That's true all year long including during the Festival of Nations but especially during the summer for Dreamland Drive-In and the three main shows at Christmas. Speaking of which 2) Don't miss Christmas. No park does Christmas better than Dollywood. 3) Eat at Aunt Granny's but also don't miss Miss Lillian's, especially if she's out visiting guests. 4) Watch the craftsmen 5) You mentioned where to stay and I agree with your suggestions but I'll add another. If you like themed experiences (and you probably do if you are visiting Pigeon Forge) then The Inn at Christmas Place is amazing. You even get concerts from Santa in some nights and they fill up. 6) Lightning Rod front row at night. You won't find many better coaster experiences. Most RMCs are best in the back but I think Lightning Rod is the exception.
Oh so excited for you guys! If you’re trying to do big bear mountain - get there before park opening and head straight to the ride! Like, be in the park 30 Min before it actually opens. The line gets very long in only a matter of minutes.
Great video man! Went for the second year in a row last fall for me and my wife’s honeymoon. Absolutely have fallen in love with this park and these tips are great.
Thanks for all of the Tips. We haven't been in four years. Last times we took our RV. This year the Kids are a lot older and we are just going to get a cabin. The skillets are awesome! Great Review!
Thumbs up for the cinnamon bread. My son and I shared a loaf on every day of our Easter weekend visit last year -- the lines were SO long. I was unaware we could buy the same bread at the Dollywood Spotlight Bakery.
Thanks for the great tips. Will definitely be following as many of them as possible. We're driving down from New England and really looking forward to it, especially Splash Country!
@@TP_Recommendations We're headed down the second half of August. Hopefully weather will be good! Also I think you mentioned Sundays are better for going to Splash as opposed to Saturdays? Sat and Sun are the only days they're open the week we're going.
I went yesterday. Figured random Wednesday in March would be dead and I was 100% correct. Got on everything and the lines were non existent. It's my home park now and it's a big upgrade over the Great Escape
We went with your advise and followed your strategy to ride all the rides we wanted to in one day, many several times. I recommend an unlimited time saver pass, well worth it!
Thanks for the great video. I haven't been in about 20 years, but planning to get season passes for my family for 2023. Very excited about Big Bear Mountain and all of the other great things to do with young kids!
Thank you so much for the video Brandon. I live in Florida and will be staying at Gatlinburg in July for a family trip and hopefully Dollywood. I am Orlando/Disney trained lol so I am up and ready to follow your recommendations. Thank you so much
I completely agree with the best theme park. I’ve been to Disneyland, universal studios, knotts, six flags all with season passes and nothing gets me excited like Dollywood does. Thanks for the tips. I hope I get to run into you this season.
My sis-in-law's family went to Disney twice last year. She said she liked Dollywood so much better. It is less crowded and you don't spend the entire day standing in line for rides.
Great video and awesome plan! Thank you very much. I'm flying to Tampa in May, hitting Busch Gardens then Sea World in Orlando. Renting a car, driving up to Six Flags Over Georgia then going to Dollywood. I'm going to Kentucky Kingdom after that to finish my trip back to Indiana. I can't wait to get some new credits and experience some parks I've never been to before.
I’m also from Indiana!! Been to SF Over Georgia, Kentucky Kingdom, and Dollywood. And I’m going to Busch Gardens Tampa and Universal Studios in April! Great to see a fellow Hoosier enthusiast!
@@suttonthebakervlogs6460 Nice! I've been to Dollywood and Kentucky Kingdom before but not Busch Gardens, Sea World or SF Over Georgia. Have a good time buddy, I'm sure Velocicoaster and Hagrid's will be awesome. I have to get there sometime.
My personal tip: Go on Blazing Fury at night. The wait times are sometimes really short for that ride. I’ve been able to ride that one 3 times in a row before
One of the changes for 2023 is that Silver passholders now have blackout dates that include Christmas plus a few other dates so if you have one Gold holder and the rest Silver (which we did in 2022), that option isn't as viable in 2023 unless the Silver holders don't plan to go during those blackout dates. Check those closely but they basically forced the Silvers to upgrade to Gold for unlimited plus early access.
Dollywood is by far the best park in the country! Sure it’s not the biggest or does it have the most rides but it makes up for this with their service, cleanliness of the park, friendly staff, and food! Also being right in the middle of Pigeon Forge and having Gatlinburg and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park right next door makes it the perfect vacation destination! You could literally spend a month there and still not see everything the area has to offer. There’s a good reason why this park is the highest rated in the country, go there and if you visit you’ll see why.
First off I agree. Dollywood is a amazing park with tons to do. The spotlight bakery is open in the morning before the park opens and does get busy. I agree with LR in the morning. Tennessee tornado can do 2 trains but that’s very rare. Only on very busy days. For food I agree with aunt granny that place is amazing. Reds diner is good as well. Another place that’s good I heard Dogs and taters. For bathroom one u can go and won’t be very busy is right by the entrense to county fair. Behind the catering area. Plus I think it cooled in the summer months. Also charge your phone reds has some phone charging areas. Also by the extension to reds outdoor seating there’s 2 coke lokkkg bottles that has plugs in them. Also a drink idea is to buy the suvenere cup as u will get free to 99 cent refills. Also one of the best times to go is Christmas as the park has 5-6 million lights.
We are taking Our family of 11 to Dollywood for the first time December 26th through the 31st period thank you for these wonderful tips and if you have any additional ones concerning that Christmas week please let me know
I'm going to dollywood for the first time soon!! About 2 weeks from now to be specific; thanks especially for the restaurant rec!! Its not often I see mac and cheese at a theme park so that's my food situation solved XD
Great overview of the park and great tips. I, like you, have been coming to Dollywood for a long time and usually visit 1-3 times per year. I also have a 3 year old so I really appreciate your input on that aspect. We are planning on coming again in June this year. We plan on going to Splash Country this time (Somehow I have never gotten around to visiting it so I'm pretty excited and so is my 3 year old!). I like your short inclusion of the mountain coaster. Thought: Maybe do a video comparing the different mountain coasters? I have never seen this done and there are quite a few now. I've ridden most of them but haven't made it over to either Rowdy Bear yet. Great job as always. One of my favorite channels for sure!
Go for it first thing, it's not reliable AT ALL I only got one ride on it and that was it. It has a single rider line make sure to use it even if you are in a group. You won't ride together but it shortens the wait time dramatically
Wow. Wow wow that's awesome just got done seeing a video wow that's like you're in fantasy Island it's a big place a lot of rides a lot of things to do yeah I love the place gorgeous place beautiful place too Thank. You. God. God bless you 🙏🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🥰🤠🎸🎤🎵🎼🎶🎢📚🌏
This is so helpful. I've been dreaming about going here for years and I'm finally going next month. Now that Big Bear is open, is it best to ride it first or still do Lightning Rod first?
Hmm... that is tough... At least with Big Bear you know it will be open and run at least 2 trains... I would head to LR first. - and then do Big Bear later in the day closer to park close... If it was me :)
I engraved tag plates for a new Dollwood ride train last week at work. I had never even heard of this park before, as Dollywood is never advertised in the Netherlands.
Also, my daughter is currently at 94 coasters. Is it worth the risk to ride 5 others first and then hit up Lightning Rod to be #100? The alternate plan would be to ride Lightning Rod immediately and leave the park with #99 and make her #100 be the next day at Kings Island.
@@TP_Recommendations she wants a big name/top tier coaster to celebrate the milestone. Your video alluded to LR being down quite often so I was worried that if we waited to force LR as #100 after riding 5 other Dollywood coasters then we risk it being down and not getting to ride it at all... So we just fixed the problem this weekend. We went to Orlando this weekend and went on a couple side quests to the Fun Spots. Now she sits at 99 with either ArieForce One (if it's completed by June, which I'm doubting) or Lightning Rod waiting to be 100
I’m currently in Tennessee I won a giant panda from the arcade after hurting my back and neck on the thunderhead and other wood coasters sadly I am leaving tomorrow at 10am but I went on some other coasters like mystery mine fire chaser express etc that we’re 35 mph max instead of 65 like thunderhead
Great Video! This year will be my first visit to Dollywood (I'm not sure why because I've been to Pigeon Forge several times lol)! As much as I would like to try the Cinnamon Bread....I don't think I can get myself to wait in line over an hour. Maybe if my sister takes my daughter and niece to see a show I just might suck it up and wait but my patience would definitely be tested lol. Of all things to do, my #1 is to ride Mystery Mine!
What is the likelihood of the coasters being opened during the week of Thanksgiving? And how busy is Dollywood during this time? Any tips would be appreciated as we are planning to visit Dollywood on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, 2022. Enjoyed this video!
Hey Sherry, all coasters should be open. (except their new for 2023 coaster Obv). they can operate until it gets under 40 degrees usually. As for crowds, it will be busy. But a lot of people are there for the shows, so the ride lines aren't as bad. But you should look into the idea of potentially having to purchase the Time Saver Pass. Enjoy the park, it's wonderful!
Yeah both Dollywood and Cedar Point are the top parks I have to visit for my first time one of these days! When my boss said we are moving the business from SoCal to another state, I tried real hard for Tennessee! Haha We landed in Texas instead.
I have a question about Coasters is I’ve heard somedays grouper are not accommodating to row request and some are,or just depends, and Following Coasters with a Front Row Queue if you get me right: Lightning Rod Wild Eagle Tennessee Tornado Fire Chaser Express 4/9 coasters
I went to Dollywood when I was around 9 years old and back then I had no interest in coasters, I was terrified to go on any of the awesome coasters and to this day I highly regret not going on any of the coasters.
Hello from Gatlinburg Tennessee Great Smoky mountains national park... Great job! I'm on RU-vid The Gatlinburg Hussey if you'd like to check it out..I make daily Vlogs of Gatlinburg Tennessee...Have fun everyone
Can you please do one from either bush gardens tampa or universal islands of adventure? In may me and my dad wil visit them all the way from the netherlands
Great video. We're making our first ever visit Memorial Day weekend. We will buy the Time Saver Unlimited since it will probably be very crowded. Knowing that, is there any reason for a plan of attack or just go with the flow? Also, do the Time Saver passes sell out in advance? We're going to pick our Dollywood day based on the weather and hoping to avoid being locked in to a certain day too far ahead of time.
Dude. Fun fact. I went with my fam and gf last memorial day 2021, and we bought the limited time saver. For some reason, the park was dead. Like no need whatsoever for our time saver that we had bought prior to going. The longest wait was lightning rod for 40 min. It makes no sense to me either, but just a heads up. We did go exactly on memorial day, however, so ppl were probably busy with the typical memorial day activities
I will say ride the train during the day and in the back half of the train. I rode it at night during their Christmas and expected to see some lights but it was pitch black. I also rode in the second car from the front and sat on the outside and was covered in soot as well as getting my eyes filled with junk.
I am in a wheelchair and will not be riding any rides. Is there any kind of a discount to enter Dollywood just to eat lunch/dinner and look around or do I still pay the outragious price?
Nope since Dollywood offers so many shows and entertainment. Plus other thing other than rides. You can still ride rides. Just get the disability pass.
Hello on my hubbys account- anyone know what their doing for the Santa experience this year? I’ve seen the videos from after Covid where they had a cute viewing room set up - were trying to plan a secret Santa trip for our youngest this year - (before cmas) most of our trips have been after cmas because it’s usually an anniversary trip aside from. This past august we did our first summer trip as part of our vacation- we love Dollywood - we are taking our oldest this December (her first time going) can’t wait to see her face. Any info would be great on the Christmas. Stuff - sorry about my typing I suffer from chronic pain hard to type thank you Ps -- so no one thinks we exclude our oldest child, she’s 27 and our other daughter is 8 - so sometimes our oldest can’t always come due to her work and other commitments lol.
Good video. We will have the opportunity to visit in May on a Monday but won't arrive until noon. So u think we will still have time to do a lot at the park? We are not massively into all the coasters
I'm afraid I can't share your enthusiasm for this park. I stayed at DreamMore, which I might go as far as to say that it might have been worth it, with the inclusion of the Time Savers and the complimentary trolley ride to a sperate resort guest entrance (i.e. no parking fee/headaches). That's pretty much where the positivity ends for me though. I may be salty because my one and only visit was in mid August 2018. It's pretty well documented that Lightning Rod was down from about mid July to sometime in October that year. What isn't widely known is that the reason for the downtime. To my knowledge the park has never released a reason for the closure, only to state that it had nothing to do with the launch system. I caught wind of the extended downtime sometime in early August and began monitoring LR's status on the park's web page. They listed it as: "down for the day" for the whole time leading up to my visit. Well hey, that's tough luck, huh? The reservations were made and it was designed as part 1 of a two park week long family get away, we'll make do and I even had a glimmer of hope that LR would open since the park wasn't notifying of any extended shut down. No such luck, in fact Mystery Mine joined Lightning ride in the "down for the day" club. There was actually one point in one of the days when we visited as we looped around Tennessee Tornado was close so we continued on to Wild Eagle -closed, continued on to the back stretch where of coarse MM was closed as well as Drop Line. We kind of wore out Fire Chaser Express and Thunderhead and because it was August and lighter crowds we didn't use up any of our Time Saver so I kind of feel like I didn't get the value from it. Cinnamon Bread is the most over rated amusement park food item of all time. It reminded me of monkey bread, (which is like a bunch of mini donut hole sized cinnamon bread pieces baked in a bunt pan then pick off with your fingers, like a monkey would) only the inside just tasted like extremely hot under baked bread dough. I was looking forward to a giant pizza someone told me about only to find that item was discontinued, so we had a couple slices of good pizza, but it lacked the novelty of the giant slices. The train ride is a bit over hyped as well, especially considering that during my visit Wildwood Grove was under construction so the interior scenery was pretty much bulldozers pushing dirt around a giant treeless area. I found it humorous that the narrator bragged about the ash that you may feel is part of the authentic experience of a steam locomotive. Contrasted with the story Dick Kinzel (former CEO of Cedar Fair) shared in his book about how early in his career at Cedar Point he thought he was going to save Cedar Point tons of money on coal for the train only to find out there are grades of coal and the cheap stuff rains ash. Anyway, all this being said, I do want to get back there to give it another go. I can't decide if I'll be going in with higher or lower expectations, all I know is I now have 3 credits to get there and I'll be even more disappointed if I walk away without them.
