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DOLLYWOOD & Splash Country
Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Herschend Family Entertainment
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(11/11/21) Another Look At That 2023 Coaster Project (MORE...)
(11/7/21) Dollywood 2023 Coaster Site Plans Leaked (MORE...)
(9/21/21) Dollywood To Kick Off Harvest Festival and Great Pumpkin LumiNights This Friday (MORE...)
(9/11/21) Dollywood Takes Home Four Golden Ticket Awards (MORE...)
(8/31/21) Dollywood Already Hard At Work On Smoky Mountain Christmas Decor
Dixie Stampede (2016) Review
FireChaser Express - Grand Opening & Review
Dolly’s Splash Country Waterpark - Official Screamscape Review
Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort - Official Screamscape Review
 General Park News - (9/21/21) Dollywood will kick off this year’s Harvest Festival event this Friday, with the event taking place from Sept. 24 through Oct. 30, 2021. After dark the fun expands to include the return of Great Pumpkin LumiNights as well.
“Great Pumpkin LumiNights, one of the nation’s premier family-friendly harvesttime events, provides bushels of memories for guests, thanks to thousands of glowing and carved pumpkins throughout Dollywood. For those with small children—or anyone looking for a fun, not scary experience—this event is certainly the cream of the crop. Families can bask in the glow as they wander through displays in Dollywood’s Timber Canyon, Wilderness Pass and upper Craftsman’s Valley areas. Beyond the impressive displays, guests can find a number of exciting activities to create thrilling memories together.”
“Fall is a special time of year in the Smoky Mountains, because God’s handiwork is on full display for everyone to enjoy when they come to visit,” Dolly Parton, Dollywood’s Dreamer-in-Chief said. “It’s also the time when the heat of the summer fades and the crisp, cool evenings make it just right to enjoy the fresh mountain air. Some of my most treasured family memories took place during the fall, and I want our guests to make their own wonderful memories while they are here.
“No festival at Dollywood is complete without award-winning entertainment, and the Harvest Festival certainly delivers. With artists representing genres from Southern gospel and bluegrass to classic country and Americana, there is something to satisfy every musical taste. Performances take place on indoor and outdoor stages throughout the park, allowing the engaging sounds to echo through the surrounding hillsides and create a highly-engaging entertainment offering. Even more artists can be found roaming the park, literally taking the music to the streets!
Among the festival headliners are CeCe Winans (Oct. 9), Pam Tillis (Sept. 29), Jimmy Fortune (Oct. 2), Shenandoah (Oct. 20-21), Karen Peck and New River (Oct. 3), Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (Oct. 4), Taylor Red (Sept. 24), Rhonda Vincent and the Rage (Oct. 14-15), Janelle Arthur (Sept. 26) and the Lee University Singers (Oct. 17). A complete schedule can be found on Dollywood.com. Additionally, the new Night Time at the Back Porch offers some of the best up-and-coming performers from the Southeast an opportunity to share their talents during the park’s evening hours.”
(9/11/21) Congratulations to Dollywood for taking home four of Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards. Dollywood won awards for Best Kids’ Area, Best Guest Experience, Most Beautiful Park and Best Christmas Event of 2020.
 (8/31/21) It may be the end of August, but Dollywood’s team members have been hard at work since July installing all the various Christmas lights and decor for the upcoming holiday season. Look for Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas presented by Humana to take place from Nov. 6, 2021 through Jan. 2, 2022.
“It has earned one of the industry’s highest awards—the Golden Ticket—for twelve years, and once guests enter the gates, they understand why Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas presented by Humana is the perfect place to get in the Christmas spirit. Wander through the park’s more than five million holiday lights, enjoy the festive holiday performances and warm Christmas atmosphere or taste the holiday-themed food, and it is easy to see why it has become a family tradition for so many. From the cheer and joy of traditional holiday shows like Christmas in the Smokies to the excitement of watching Santa at work, Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas helps families create memories to share for a lifetime. Guests also can enjoy Dollywood’s signature rides and attractions that operate in this merry environment. From the award-winning shows and elaborate holiday decorations to the twinkling lights and Christmas-themed menus, Dollywood captures the essence of Christmas.”
(8/13/21) Dollywood officials today announced a partnership with Wisconsin-based Holtz Builders, Inc., to develop an approximately $20 million residence hall-style building on-site at the Pigeon Forge park that will accommodate more than 750 employees. Holtz also will operate the facility as one of its accommodation locations, under the company’s International Residence Hall brand. The four-story, 136,000 sq. ft. building is scheduled for completion in May 2022 and offers a vital benefit to many seeking employment in Sevier County.
Residents would include temporary seasonal hosts who are employed at Dollywood through a variety of hiring programs. Those eligible for housing in the new complex include students taking part in the U.S. Summer Work Travel program; students taking part in U.S. college campus organizations like Campus Outreach, Navigators and Young Life; Dollywood college interns who are working on specific assignments that provide educational credits; and employees of other area businesses in similar programs through organizations like Sevier County’s Southern Hospitality Internship Program.
We partnered with Holtz Builders, because they have proven successful at helping similar destinations create housing options to support the needs of their growing communities,” said Tim Berry, Dollywood Vice President of Human Resources. “The Smoky Mountains region has proven to be one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country, and with the growth of businesses and attractions in the area, we need more employees ready to support all of those jobs. Employee housing is a crucial piece of the employment equation in this area, and we are glad to partner with Holtz to create this new opportunity here at Dollywood.”
Holtz Builders has earned a stellar reputation for creating partnerships in resort communities to create safe, efficient and affordable housing for seasonal workers. The group has developed housing complexes in other tourist destinations in Wisconsin and Tennessee, as well as facilities that will soon be underway in Maryland. Dollywood provided the tract of land to Holtz for the project. Holtz will construct, maintain and manage the new property, offering an affordable housing alternative for eligible hosts.
“We strive to provide safe and affordable housing for seasonal guests that come from around the world and from the U.S.,” said Dan Bullock, President of the Holtz Companies. “We hope we can have a positive impact on the overall experience they have here in this beautiful community in the Smoky Mountains.”
Standard rooms accommodate four residents with four beds, individual lockers, a private bathroom, a large refrigerator, study desk, and a self-contained heating and air unit. ADA accessible rooms have space for two individuals and contain the same amenities as the standard rooms. Additionally, a common kitchen, gathering space and laundry facilities are included. Wifi is included and available throughout the building.
The ground floor of the U-shaped building will be unfinished when residents move in next year, but will be completed soon after to provide additional office space and other facilities designed to support Dollywood Hosts.
(8/10/21) A reader tells us that Lightning Rod at Dollywood seems to be acting up once again. According to the report the coaster has been closed for at least the past week so far, with no indication of when it might reopen.
In other news, Dollywood will also break ground on a new housing project for their seasonal workers later this week. With on site housing as an option, the park is hoping to attraction more labor to stay in the area. While I don’t know exactly WHERE this housing will be, I do have to wonder if this news is connected to our story from last week about the new land clearing along Dollywood Lane.
(8/2/21) While we don’t know what is going on, a reader reported that the there is a good bit of land clearing along Dollywood Lane where the park’s original entrance used to be, but the road is now used just for employees now to get to their parking lot. Our source says that Dollywood owns the land here, so one wild thought is that this could possibly be used for new park office space. Another thought… this could possibly be part of the park’s long term plan to address parking issues. Part of this could be to build a new parking lot or structure for employees out there, and then find a way to convert the existing employee lot into possible use for guests.
Either way, the park confirmed that by their projections, by 2027 the current parking lot would no longer be sufficient for Dollywood’s needs. Anyone who has visited Dollywood would confirm that the park’s parking lot is rather odd and in an area that there are going to be very few “easy” solutions to solving this problem, so I’d expect this to be a long-term project that they are going to have to start sooner than later in order to get it all sorted out before they simply run out of space.
(7/25/21) Dollywood’s prime summer season will soon be coming to an end and while the summer fun will continue throughout August, the park’s operational schedule will be changing a little. While this may be initially taken as a cut in hours, as we’ve seen at other parks elsewhere in the nation, this odd-looking shift in operations at Dollywood in August is actually normal and was taking place long before the pandemic arrived.
For those wanting to visit Dollywood’s Splash Country, know that the waterpark’s last day of the season is Labor Day, Sept. 6th, 2021. However, starting on August 9, 2021, Splash Country will be closed for Monday, Wednesday and Friday for two weeks and then move to weekend only operations for the next two weeks before the final extended Labor Day weekend brings the season to a close.
Dollywood itself takes an opposite schedule starting August 9th that will see Dollywood closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of August and September, with the exception of Thursday, Sept. 30th as the park ramps back up with almost daily operations through to Halloween for the Harvest Festival and Great Pumpkin LumiNights.
2022 - Dining Enhancements - (6/20/21) For the 2022 season Dollywood seems focused on upgrading some of the park’s Restaurant offerings. Park president Eugene Naughton confirmed that the park would spend $15 million on upgrades to park restaurants. This will include the closing of the Hickory House in August to begin some extensive renovations, along with two other unnamed restaurants that will be upgraded over the off-season. This plan will continue into the 2023 season with the addition of a brand new restaurant somewhere in the park.
2023 - New Roller Coaster - (11/11/21) ParkFans has done some work, and came up with some better resolution images of the coaster layout that correct some mistakes I had in mine that were difficult to interpret. The thought is that this is a multi-launch coaster, possibly with three launches… the two obvious straight tracks in the middle of the layout and possible a small launch out of the station into a turn before hitting the second and much larger launch track.
You can follow the link above to read their full report, but you’ll need to sign up there to see the images. Fortunately, they were kind enough to share their images with me to post on Screamscape as well. They’ve also come up with an early animated rendering on NoLimits of how the layout may go, though I don’t think it takes into account the hilly terrain during the first half of the ride just yet, but it does have all the right twists and turns.
Lots of contenders out there for a good multi-launch coaster experience, as they could easily buy something from Gerstlauer again, or maybe look into options from Intamin or Mack Rides as well. If this is something from Mack, I’m actually hoping that perhaps this could be one of their new spinning coaster, as Dollywood’s sister park, Silver Dollar City, used to create Time Traveler. Unlike Time Traveler however, the goal here appears to still make this a family ride experience, so no inversions or vertical dives.
(11/7/21) Plans for what Dollywood has in store for the 2023 season have leaked, which looks like the addition of a large new coaster to the backside of Wildwood Grove. According to the site plan posted on social media, the expansion will take up about half of the unused site originally cleared out for Wildwood Grove, as well as see the coaster climb the hillside that overlooks the land just below the train tracks and return back down over the first half of the ride. The second half will be a twisted layout all around the station and queue that either appears to have an inversion, or possibly a non-inverted loop element. The later of which would actually fit right in with the previous statement that this would be a large coaster for the whole family.
I’ve overlaid the layout over an aerial photo of Dollywood taken before Wildwood Grove was added, but marked off where it looks like the track will go, where the queue is (green), and then the unused portion of land still left over for future expansion of Wildwood Grove for the long rumored dark ride. It’s not a perfect overlay, but close enough to give you a general idea of the intent.
(6/20/21) According to comments from Dollywood’s new preside, Eugene Naughton, the park is working on a “multigenerational rollercoaster” project for the 2023 season along with a brand new restaurant. If you are curious about just what this means… you are not alone. In many ways, this sounds like it could be a more disguised way of saying that they are planning on adding a new ‘family coaster’, in terms that the coaster should provide just enough thrills for everyone to enjoy, without being too crazy or over the top that the older parents or the very young might be too intimidated to ride.
In my experience, perhaps the best example of just such a ride that is popular with every member of the family would be something akin to Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain. Dollywood has been without a ‘mine train’ style roller coaster experience ever since the park removed the short lived Thunder Express coaster (1989 - 1998), which was replaced by the Tennessee Tornado (which reused the former’s station building).
Dollywood has a good space for this new project already in place i believe, as it could fit right into the backside of the Wildwood Grove land which was already designed for the family dynamic and has an assortment of themed attractions. Adding a highly themed mine train to run off into the woods from here could be a great addition, but lets hope they plus this experience with some modern tricks and unexpected additions, such as a trip into a dark cave where perhaps a surprise drop-track could be waiting in wait.
So what else could it be? I’ve got a few other ideas that might fit the bill. A Mack Inverted Powered Coaster would also fit the bill. Much like the Arthur coaster at Europa Park that was the prototype for the concept, the powered inverted coaster is really more of a dark ride system that can move slowly and even rotate the seats as riders move through themed scenes, and then kick into a high speed more thrilling coaster ride experience as needed, moving both through indoor and outdoor areas. Thus far Mack has installed three of these unique rides, with Dragon Gliders (themed to Dreamworks How To Train Your Dragon) added to Motiongate Dubai in 2017 and the third one will open in the coming weeks as the Jurassic Flyers as part of the Jurassic World land at the new Universal Studios Beijing. In each case, these are highly themed ride experiences good for the entire family, and once again, it would fit well into the cute animal theming of Wildwood Grove.
Of course, I’d love to see Dollywood add a Hyper/Mega coaster to the park as well in the future, this could also possibly something that could fit the bill here if they opted for a Junior Hypercoaster style experience that really just focused on fun airtime hills rather than record breaking thrills. Of course they could also opt for something similar in nature to Disney’s Slinky Dog Dash coaster that combines launches with low to the ground airtime hills and fun turns through a themed landscape. Instead of Toys, they could theme a ride like this to go with a country mine-train concept. Another wild idea may be to add a themed bobsled train coaster from Mack, that could ride up and down the hillside as a replacement for the removed Slidewinders attraction, which would add a much needed new thrill ride to the other side of the park. Either way, I’m just spitballing random ideas, though I did mention quite a few Mack ride concepts here as previous rumors from 2020 seems to indicate that Dollywood’s next planned coaster would be from Mack. Those rumors however also indicated a more Hyper style coaster experience, so perhaps this is for a different project.
The “multigenerational” comment is just the latest hint about their 2023 plans, as earlier this month they also mentioned that their 2023 project would be a “record breaking” new attraction in some fashion. Beyond that the rest of the presentation was focused on the park’s future resort expansion plans, and confirmation that Dollywood was looking into ways to improve how guests are transported between the park and parking lot.
Naughton also mentioned an interesting comment, that if the park hits the growth numbers they are projecting, Dollywood’s parking lot will not be big enough for the park’s needs by 2027, so they will need to find a way to add more parking spacing. If you’ve visited Dollywood, you’ll know right away what he is talking about, as Dollywood has perhaps one of the most ‘unique’ parking lots I’ve ever seen at a major theme park that results with most guests parked quite a good distance from the park entrance, requiring the use of an army of parking lot tram units. No timeline was given for the parking lot improvements, but I’m guessing they may get some of them under way in time for the opening of this 2023 coaster project.
(2/29/20) Time to look into the Magic 8 ball regarding the future of Dollywood. While I reported the rumor about a dark ride in the works for the park, I can’t ignore all you roller coaster loving people out there, and neither will Dollywood. If the rumors are true, Dollywood is working on plans for their next big coaster, and from the sound of things it will be a crowd pleaser. This is something that many have been dreaming about for some time now, and it looks like Dollywood is looking into adding a Hypercoaster style coaster to the park, their way… which can only mean they’ll go the extra mile like they did with Lightning Rod and Wild Eagle, and make this sucker fly through the hills and trees, leaving as much of the natural smoky mountain landscape as possible intact.
While everyone will assume they would go to B&M for this, there is the issue that Dollywood sits within the area exclusive range of Carowinds and Six Flags over Georgia, and neither Intimidator or Goliath are 20 years old yet. Of course I’d love to see something unique, like the first Hyper-Inverted, or perhaps they could work a loop-hole and make it a floorless coaster with a Hyper style layout, and maybe add an inversion or two. The other rumor, once we’ve actually heard whispers start mentioning, is that Herschend could tap Mack Rides once again after opening Time Machine at Silver Dollar City, but ask them to create something more like DC Rivals.
Again… just rumors about possible developments at this point, but I wouldn’t expect to see anything until 2022 or 2023 at this point, so stay tuned!
(Feb 2019) An early rumor claims that Dollywood may be looking to build their next major coaster as a Phase 2 expansion to the 2019 project. Manufacturers are being looked at, but rumor has it they may be leaning towards B&M simply for a reliability standpoint. What kind of coaster may be up in the air as well, though after just opening Fire Chaser Express and Lightning Rod, they definitely are not looking to have another launched coaster at this point. While a B&M Hyper may be considered a likely choice, I believe Dollywood is too close to Carowinds and Six Flags over Georgia for that to happen with the typical B&M contracts that prevent similar coasters from being built too close together too soon. A B&M Inverted may be a possibly however, even though Carowinds has one as well, simply because Afterburn was built in 1999, and by 2020 enough time should have passed to allow for it. Plus I think it would be kind of cute to open the rumored family inverted coaster in 2019… and then follow it up with a monster sized version that could run wild through the mountainside and trees, much like Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
That’s just a dream on my part however, Dollywood could very well opt to go with an entirely different manufacturer to get a Hyper or anything else they want. Stay tuned while we listed for more rumors on the wind.
Future Developments - New Attractions Survey and Rumored Dark Ride - (2/28/20) We’ve been sent a couple of interesting tidbits that seem to point towards a possible new dark ride coming to Wildwood Grove in 2021 or 2022. First of all some new whispers on the Screamscape Spy Network report that the park may have been in talks with Sally Corp to bring this new dark ride project to life, though this doesn’t mean Sally is the only one involved. For example a team of companies, including Sally, all worked together to bring the Justice League dark ride to life for Six Flags, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this project also a mix of sorts.
Also tied into this rumor is a new guest survey Dollywood is sending out, asking guests about a new family ride experience in development where 6-riders would compete against each other to collect ‘items’ during the ride. I think they may be pitching a few different name variants on this one, but so far I’ve heard “Undergrove Quest” and “Cryrstal Cavern”.
The plot is you are enlisted to help a “rock-hound” character in search of the long-lost “Hidden Crystal Cavern” that is full of rare gems. Guests will use an on-board device to collect these gems and see who can get the most by the end, but beware… you never know what hidden dangers you might encounter along the way!
Quite a few other dark ride concepts were pitched in the various new attraction surveys we posted about below, but this one seems to be a mix of some of the various elements of those rides, but given it’s own unique story instead.
(4/10/19) Screamscape sources tell us that Dollywood is looking into more than just ideas for a new coaster… the park is also conducting guest surveys asking about a variety of dark ride themes and concepts (see images) they are considering for the park, as well as a Flying Theater attraction and even a “interactive walk-through immersive experience”... for the later one they show images from Universal’s Poseidon’s Fury.
(4/6/19) Screamscape sources tell us Dollywood was sending out guest surveys again this week to get reactions to a variety of new attraction concepts. One of the most exciting to all your thrill ride nuts out there may be for a new “Indoor Coaster” experience, one that would offer a “2 - 4 minute thrill experience” along with a high level of themeing that would mix slower scenes with animatronics, lighting effects and projection mapping with the high-speed thrill sections in order to tell a story.
They also ask about other new coaster concept as well however, including an out & back traditional Hypercoaster (over 200ft tall, 60mph, full of air-time hills) with an on-board soundtrack, as well as a Spinning Coaster experience, in which the intent is to make something similar to Time Traveler from Silver Dollar City, which came from Mack Rides.
The other concepts are more entertainment related, including a possible Summer Daytime parade concept that would include Macy’s style balloon floats as well as a Christmas Candlelight Nativity show experience.
2023 - Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort - (6/3/21) Dollywood made a huge announcement earlier today, confirming their plans to add a second major hotel near the DreamMore Resort to be called Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort. And yes... this is the big announcement that the park was trying to maker in March 2020 before they canceled the announcement on Season Passholder Day due to the arrival of COVID-19.
Tucked away in a mountain cove not far from the DreamMore, a new and “reimagined’ lodge experience. The five story resort will offer 302 new rooms, with themed suites and loft-style rooms and 26,000 sqft of indoor and outdoor meeting space. HeartSong Lodge & Resort offers guests a one-of-a-kind getaway with themed suites, epic indoor and outdoor pools, an outdoor cove with family gathering spaces and more. According to the press release, the goal is to open the new resort in early 2023.
In other news, Dollywood also announced the intention to spend over $500 million on new investments for the property over the next ten years, starting with the HeartSong Lodge & Resort. They also dropped a few hints about future projects, such as a “record breaking” new attraction on the way for 2023. They also confirmed that master planning is also under way for a 3rd, 4th and 5th Resort as well as a new campground resort. (We hear some rumors about this campground resort just a couple of weeks ago, so check it out below).
(11/27/19) Screamscape first reported that Dollywood was preparing plans to add a second resort hotel a little over a year ago (see below) and now we finally have an update on the project. According to the local news the theme park submitted a preliminary site plan to Pigeon Forge showing a 310-room hotel project with a 325-seat restaurant as well as conference space that would be located somewhere between the current DreamMore Resort and Dollywood’s Splash Country waterpark.
When approaching the current DreamMore Resort, as you reach the top of the first drive-way segment, you have to make a left turn to get into the DreamMore parking lot, but you may have noticed that the drive-way road continues on straight for another 10-15 feet before ending in the brush. That road will be extended to lead up to a round-about that will split traffic between the meeting space and guest room ends of the new resort property.
(11/12/18) During an interview with the local news Dolly Parton where they discuss a new Netflix series she is working on as well as the new Glacier Ridge addition to Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas, Dolly let another interesting detail slip out. While discussing meetings they have each season to go over what guests like, don’t like, and what people would really like to have added to Dollywood, they decided that they need to build another hotel. According to Dolly, "…just like we’re going to build a new resort because our resort stays busy all the time!”
If you haven’t seen it yet, Screamscape has stayed at and reviewed Dollywood’s Dreammore Resort and we loved it! You can see our official review and photos here.
???? - Dollywood Future Resorts Plan - In Development - (6/19/21) Last week we mentioned that Dollywood briefly mentioned they had plans for several more resorts down the line, and today we’ve learned a bit more. Prior to the announcement a Screamscape source reported in that they had seen a graphic map showing off a future resort plan that would include camping and possible RV park opportunities, but the announcement of Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge was for a more traditional style resort.
Jump ahead to this week and a picture was sent my way of a new Master Plan resort layout for Dollywood that will feature five planned resorts and an area marked as “Outdoor Resort” which I’m assuming may be for RVs. I took a part of the masterplan drawing and overlaid it on top of a Google Map aerial image of the area, with Dollywood’s Splash Country in the lower left and the existing DreamMore resort just above it, half blocked from view behind a gentleman’s arm.
There are a number of interesting items we can make out from the rest of the map, including the location of the announced HeartSong Lodge labeled as “Resort 2”. The gentleman’s finger is pointing at an unknown Resort 3 concept that appears to include a horse-shoe shaped resort building. Resort 4 however is very different and shows a main building surrounded by numerous large buildings placed along a winding circular road. Before you suggest those could be cabins, I’d say no as there are already two other new roads listed on the map labeled as “Cabins” and those buildings are much smaller. With that in mind, the larger structures scattered around Resort 4 may be more the size of Houses or perhaps some kind of luxury style home resorts. Along the right side of the image is REsort 5, which once again looks like a more typical resort building, but a little smaller than the building drawn up for the HeartSong Lodge. Along the top edge of their property is a purple area outlined and simply labeled as Outdoor Resort, which could be for a possible RV or camping park. Speaking of camping however, not far from one of the groups of new Cabins is another street marked off for “Glamping”, with a cluster of about 22-24 of the luxury-oridentel camping structures. A second similar sized Glamping area can also be see between Resort 4 & 5.
Between Resort 4 and 5 is an interesting green space with a yellow star labeled as “ICON HUB EAST”. I’m not quite sure what is intended to go here, but it is worth noting that two pathways depart from here, one represented by a series of yellow dots listed as a Vehicular Tour Trail that runs around the southern side of the resort property, and a similar trail marked by green dots that mostly runs around the northern side of the resort property. I can only assume these will be used as off-road pathways for the local Pink Jeep Tours attraction.
It’s also fun to note that just south of Resort 2 (HeartSong) they also show plans to build a road labeled as “Park Connection” that will run back the Resort 2 parking lot and down the hill and into the Dollywood’s Splash Country parking lot. This is important as currently the DreamMore runs shuttle busses of guests from the hotel to the theme park and back, but has to travel on public roads to do so. Providing this new private access road will allow these same resort trams to travel directly from the resorts into the Splash Country parking lot, which is then connected by an underpass to the main Dollywood parking lot, moving all internal resort traffic off public roads entirely.
(5/16/21) According to a Screamscape source, Dollywood may be working on new plans for their next resort. From the sound of things, this is not the anticipated big-hotel sequel to the popular DreamMore Resort we were expecting them to announce in March 2020 before the pandemic shut down most of the world for a time. Instead our source tells us that the park may be planning a different kind of resort expansion first that will come in the form of an official Dollywood RV Resort. From what I’m told they may be taking some inspiration from Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort campground at Walt Disney World for this one, so expect it to feature some themed smoky mountain themed amenities.
I am curious about the location of this, if it comes to pass, and if Dollywood is building this from scratch or if there was an opportunity to purchase an existing campground nearby and upgrade it with new theming and amenities.
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