When we were planning our trip, I didn't realize that Dollywood was so close to Gatlinburg, but once I made that geographic connection, I knew we had a day at Dollywood in our future! And that day was Wednesday, June 5, 2024!
Dollywood opens at 10 AM, so we left from our mountain condo in time to arrive at the parking lot just at 10:00. We parked and were on the tram within five minutes. It's been a minute since we've been to a theme park other than Walt Disney World, so I was curious about how the logistics would work, and once again, it was a day I had done no planning for. The only thing I knew we had to do was get some Cinnamon Bread because everyone we had talked to about going to Dollywood had said we had to get the Cinnamon Bread.
Our condo uses Xplorie to allow guests to get some free tickets to local attractions, so one of our tickets was for Dollywood. We had also bought the other ticket before going, so we didn't have to go through the ticket line, just go right to the turnstiles to have our QR codes scanned for entry. We picked up a couple of maps and headed in.
The annual Flower and Food Festival was in its final days, so I was happy to be there while it was still going on. My favorite festival at Epcot is the Flower and Garden Festival which I haven't been to in a few years, so I was excited to see the special exhibits and displays at Dollywood. I was not disappointed!
Here are some of the pictures from the Flower and Food Festival.
Dollywood had just opened the new Dolly Parton Experience section the week before which required guests to have a timed entrance to the area, but by the time we went, that wasn't in effect. The Dolly Parton Experience was just to the right after we entered the main entrance, so we went to check it out.
This experience has several attractions. The first one we did was the Songteller. This is a museum-like experience with artifacts and exhibits documenting Dolly's career from a young child through today. It reminded me of how the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum was in Owensboro. The attraction is at your own pace, so while we didn't hurry through, we'd been to enough museums on our trip to know we could snap pictures and look at them in more detail on the computer. One of my favorite things was seeing pictures with the people she has collaborated with over the years.
Another attraction is Behind the Seams which is dedicated to Dolly's signature look and its evolution over the years. This was DH's favorite thing we saw at Dollywood. There is a book about this that we had recently checked out from the local library.
There is a train that only runs a few times a day, so we headed towards the part of the park where it boards. There was about 30 minutes before boarding would begin, so we went into the Imagination Playhouse where a performance of The Little Engine that Could was about to start. (It was also air conditioned!) This was one of our boys' favorite books as children, and DH's brother had given a copy of it to our older son when he was a wee boy. Here are some pictures of the walk around this part of the park as well as the Imagination Playhouse.
The train is a coal-fired engine with several passenger cars that makes a five-mile loop around the park. it's a good way to see what's where, especially when you haven't studied ahead!

We had lunch at Miss Lillian's Mill House where we both got the pulled pork loaded spud. Then after lunch we went to the Grist Mill to get the famous Cinnamon Bread. And let me tell you - as someone who has celiac disease, this was not a pleasant task - it smelled so mouthwateringly delicious, it was torturous to have to carry it around! But DH and the sibling-in-laws were very happy I made the sacrifice!
Here are a few other pictures from around Dollywood.
The last attraction we did was the only music show we watched - Heidi Parton's Kin and Friends. Heidi is Dolly's niece, so we wanted to see her show. It was a nice way to end our day at Dollywood.
We had a good time at Dollywood and I would go back another time - but not in June when it's so hot and humid! And I would do some pre-planning to see what other shows and rides I might want to do. DH is over roller-coasters ever since he and our younger son rode all the roller-coasters at Hershey Park. Well, DH didn't make #10 because when he got off #9, well, let's just say I've never seen anyone that shade of green before!
Have you been to Dollywood? Did you get the Cinnamon Bread?
~ Cindy D.
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