Christmas at Dollywood

Dolly Parton is one of America's greatest success stories. Growing up in a two room log cabin in the East Tennessee mountains, she went from poverty to owning her own million dollar company and brand. Not only does she own a theme park named after her, Dollywood, but she also has opened the Dream More Resort in Pigeon Forge and is building a second hotel. I recently headed to the Smokies to stay at Dolly's resort and visit Dollywood to enjoy it's Christmas time magic. 

If you head to East Tennessee and its' towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville for a Christmas visit, you will find things to do for all ages. Besides Dollywood, there are Christmas shows, shopping at Outlet Malls, restaurants to enjoy and views to take in. Here is a list of a few things to do in the Smokies:

Christmas Lights at the Island
The Island is an entertainment complex that includes the Great Smokey Mountain wheel, Margaritaville Hotel, Dick's Last Resort, Ole Smokey Moonshine, souvenir shops, the Island Ropes Course, a Build a Bear Workshop and Paula Deen's Family Restaurant. The Island Show Fountain performs to light and music with more than 89 nozzles to 14 songs. At Christmas, it's a dazzling display of Christmas colors and lights. The show is free and there are Adirondack chairs to sit in while you enjoy it.

Skybridge Gatlinburg
If you've ever been to Gatlinburg you know that there are several ways to get to a mountain view. There's at least two ski lifts and one gondola (Ober Gatlinburg) that one can ride to scenic views along with other things to do - ice skating, snack bars, souvenir shops or even skiing. The SkyLift had been around for years - I'm talking the 1960's at least - and was a popular attraction to get to those scenic views. When tragedy struck in 2016 in the way of a massive fire, lives - and homes - were lost. So out of that tragedy the owners of SkyLift decided to rebuild bigger and better. Hence, the birth of Skybridge Gatlinburg. Located at the top of SkyLift, the bridge is the longest pedestrian bridge in North America. It stretches 680 feet across a valley with a 140 foot height at it's middle. With glass at it's middle. That's right, glass. That you walk over! 

If you've been around here for very long, you'll know that I'm not a big fan of things that are high up in the sky. Otherwise, known as a fear of heights. But for some weird reason, this bridge didn't bother me. I'm not sure if it's the way you access the bridge - you start from a deck with rocking chairs - or just because I could look out at the views instead of down but I found the whole thing to be quite the fun experience. The bridge does bounce quite a bit - which, once again, weirdly didn't bother me. (My sister, however, wasn't having it. Not her favorite experience)

If you'd like to walk across the Skybridge, you purchase your tickets right on the main street of Gatlinburg at the Skypark office. Then you ride the SkyLift up to the top - don't worry, there are employees to help you on and off the lift - where you can visit the snack bar, Skybar, walk the bridge and sit and rock for a spell with awesome views of the Smokies. (For those with accessability issues, you must walk up a set or two of stairs to access the bridge and that's after you ride the Skylift up. It's definitely not for everyone)

Dollywood
Dollywood does Christmas up big. The day we went the park was open from 2 until 9 with the Christmas parade occurring at 8:15pm. There are shows - all Christmas themed, of course - typical homemade Dollywood food (Dollywood is known for having some of the best theme park food around) and the rides are open. In fact, if you love rides and don't mind riding them when the weather is cold, this would be the perfect time to go to Dollywood. We went on a weekday and there were no lines or wait at all. People were just cruising up and getting on a ride. 

Things to do at Dollywood at Christmas:
Shows -
It's a Wonderful Life
Christmas in the Smokies
Appalachian Christmas with Bluegrass Music
Kingdom Heirs Gospel Quartet
Songbook: Dolly's niece & her music partner
O Holy Night
Twas the Night Before Christmas

Parade of Many Colors nightly

Christmas Treats including the world famous Cinnamon Bread and Hot Chocolate

Rides
Christmas Lights at Wildwood Grove (there are over 5 million lights in Dollywood )
Visit with Santa
Visit with Rudolph and friends


 

Where we stayed
I found a fantastic rate on Travelzoo (are you receiving Travelzoo's deals? If you're not, you should sign up here) to stay at Dolly's DreamMore Resort. Located adjacent to Dollywood, it houses regular rooms and family rooms with bunk beds for the kids. There is a restaurant, coffee shop/snack bar, store, concierge, kids club, outdoor pool, hot tub, and indoor pool on site.Since our stay was over the holidays, the kids club had Christmas crafts to make - there is an extra cost for this - a holiday light show hourly and s'mores by the fire nightly. You will receive special privileges as a guest of the resort - there is door-to-door trolley service from the resort to the theme park, packages purchased at Dollywood are sent directly to your room and you can purchase all tickets at the concierge, including show reservations. I'll have more on my stay here in the future so watch out for that. But suffice it to say, that I loved Dolly's resort - she really has a knack for doing things up right.

Here's a short video of the nightly light show:

How about you? Have you stayed at DreamMore Resort? Or visited Dollywood?

Linking up with: My Corner of the World at Photographing New Zealand!