Both Dan and I had never been there but have heard positive reviews. Here's my review, for what it's worth.
First of all, in all the literature that I read, it says that your own food and drinks are not allowed in the park; however, we saw tons of people who brought their own stuff in and nobody cared. We should have done this too because this is where they get you.
The price of admission is relatively in-expensive, at $52/Adult plus Tax (TN state tax is crazy high btw). Kids 3 & under are FREE!!! Happy day! Parking is $8, but if you ride your bike it's free. Note, we DID see a guy riding his bike into the park. I think he's an employee though. Smart guy!
The food is where they get you! They charge $8.99 for a hot dog w/fries, $9.99 for a hamburger w/fries, $6.99 for a kids meal which is either a PB&J or a hamburger meal. Drinks are a whole separate item, as it's $13.99 for a souvenir cup that will get you unlimited refills at .99 cents plus tax per refill. It's $2.00 plus tax for small Bug Juice (fruit punch in a small water bottle with kid-friendly spout) like-drinks for the kids.
Make sure you keep your family hydrated bc it's quite humid. They do have nice fan-water spritzer sprayers throughout the park, which is soothing! They also have a few water rides to cool off on, but we didn't go on them because we didn't want to get wet or rent a locker to put our stuff in. They have family dryer rooms though, which is neat because your family can literally stand in them and dry off (like a huge shower-like stall). Bizarre!
We mainly hung out in the kiddie land area due to our party. After talking with a random local, I learned to take my kids to get measured at a station and they'd get a colored bracelet that tells us which rides that they are tall enough to ride. Sweet! This was very helpful! Olivia got a purple bracelet and Gabe a white with smiley faces on it (I think this is the very basic one ;) he didn't want his on, which didn't really matter, but Olivia liked hers and it helped us and the ride attendants.
We started out by riding the Ferris Wheel, which was really neat to look out over the park. Gabe rode with me and he was a little squirmy. Then we took the kids to ride the Bees, Ducks and Piggie rides. They had fun, but the Piggie ride is a little scary, as the lady sings this weird song about piggies. Gabe thought it was creepy anyway.
Then Olivia wanted to try the kiddie roller coaster, which we weren't sure how she'd do...she LOVED it and ended up riding it 3 times! That girl amazes me with her bravery! She also went in the ride that shouts you up and down in the air and ride that 3 times as well, joyfully laughing the whole time!
We enjoyed part of a show from some rocking chairs by the mill. Word of advice: check out the mill shop because you can buy fresh homemade cinnamon bread! Mmm! It is by far the best food-related thing at Dollywood ever! $5.99/loaf is quite a deal if you ask me.
They have a real locomotive that takes you on a 5-mile jog through the Foothills of the Smokey Mountains. Just be careful because cinder can easily get in your eyes. It's nothing that doesn't go away in a matter of a few minutes though.
We stayed until they closed at 7:00pm and then walked all the way to our car, which was a dumb idea considering that we were in D, and all we had to do was wait for the shuttle. Oh well, we needed the exercise! Plus, it wore Olivia out, as she fell asleep at dinner.
We went to Bennets BBQ in downtown Gatlinburg on our way home. This place is delicious, clean and has great service! It's also cheaper than our McDonalds-type lunch at Dollywood. ~$30 for our families' dinner and it has free parking. Also, note that if you get any of the local coupon books, there's a 10% off dinner coupon for Bennets in it. Cha Ching, there's some of your tax off ;)
Well speaking of tired, it's starting to hit me all of a sudden. Long review made short, Dollywood is a must-see. All employees go over the top to make you feel truly appreciated! From 0-99, years old, Dolly does a phenomenal job at capturing all audiences! Check it out! Now, I'm out! Goodnight y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment