Dollywood has changed a lot since May 1986
Like many businesses around the world, Dollywood’s season was disrupted in March by the COVID-19 pandemic. The park has remained closed all spring but will reopen Monday to pass holders and Wednesday to general admission visitors.
The park is implementing new regulations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Guests will need to make reservations, for instance, and their temperatures will be taken before they’re admitted to the park, and they are required to wear masks.
This is just the latest chapter in 35 seasons of Dollywood history. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest additions to the park since its beginning in May 1986.
SMOKY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS: 1990
The addition of Dollywood’s annual holiday festival, Smoky Mountain Christmas, in 1990 not only changed the park but also the routines of people in Sevier County, according to Pete Owens, Dollywood’s vice president of marketing and public relations.
It expanded Dollywood’s season from May-October to May-December.
“That extended, honestly the season in the market itself. Traditionally, you had business owners that as soon as summer was over or the fall leaf season was over, they closed up shop,” Owens said. “And folks that were here who were working either found a winter job or went on some sort of assistance, unemployment benefits until the beginning of the next season.”
Each year, Smoky Mountain Christmas offers holiday lights, shows, music, characters and the Parade of Many Colors. It remains an important part of Dollywood’s annual schedule, according to Owens.
“I mean, honestly, now with the addition of Great Pumpkin Lumi-Nights for fall, that second half of the year for fall and Christmas probably rivals summer as the most important time of the year for us from a visitation standpoint,” he said.
TENNESSEE TORNADO: 1999
Dollywood’s longtime ride Tennessee Tornado was the first major roller coaster to be designed and built for Dollywood. The $8 million ride features back-to-back 360-degree loops and opened in 1999.
The coaster also has some historical significance. It was the last one to be built by Arrow Dynamics, the manufacturing and engineering company responsible for Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds, before it was sold, according to Owens.
“It’s been an amazing ride for us. It continues to be an amazing ride. It packs a lot of punch in a little ride, and it’s a lot of fun, and it was our first foray into a major coaster,” Owens said.
FESTIVAL OF NATIONS, SPLASH COUNTRY: 2001
2001 had a big impact on the Dollywood we see today. In that year, Dollywood debuted Festival of Nations and opened its water park Splash Country.
Like Smoky Mountain
Christmas, Festival of Nations extended Dollywood’s season and changed its opening date from early May to midMarch. It also allowed Dolly Parton to bring cultures around the world to the Smoky Mountains, according to Owens.
Splash Country provided a new place for guests to visit when it opened in 2001. Its design was integrated into the Smoky Mountain landscape, and it was meant to appeal to families.
“It did a couple of things for us. It added another gate for us. It added more value to families with a multiday, multi-park ticketing option, with a super pass option between the two parks, and it provided something that really was new and fresh for the market itself,” Owens said.
Splash Country will celebrate its 20th anniversary season this year.
THUNDERHEAD, TIMBER CANYON: 2004-08
Wooden coaster Thunderhead added a new thrill ride experience to Dollywood and set up a string of additions that led to the creation of the park’s Timber Canyon area, according to Owens.
“We were looking for something that would really start that area of development in that 10-year plan time period, and Thunderhead really was at the forefront of a movement within the industry in which you saw a resurgence of coasters being built, and Thunderhead really was the apex of the designs that were coming out at that particular time.”
In 2004, Thunderhead opened, and the years that followed brought Timber Tower (2006) and Mystery Mine (2007), which gave more thrill ride experiences to guests and led to Timber Canyon gaining its look and feel.
“We knew that both the iconic look of the coaster itself and the theme of the area being Timber Canyon that that would marry very well,” Owens said. “Logging and the timber industry is a Smoky Mountain story, and it’s one that we wanted to tell and have not told in other areas of the park, so all of those things fit together beautifully.”
WILD EAGLE: 2012
Owens described Dollywood’s $20 million Wild Eagle roller coaster as a game-changer when it opened in 2012.
The Wild Eagle was the first wing coaster built in the United States. It also helped revive interest in Dollywood after the recession.
“So in 2008, 2009 and 2010, the economy contracted, and folks didn’t travel as much as they had been previously as 2007 was a record year for us,” Owens said.
“We saw a little bit of contraction, and leading up into 2012, we needed something that would gain the attention of our traditional guest but also would gain the attention of folks in the regional and broader markets. Wild Eagle certainly did that.”
DOLLYWOOD’S DREAMMORE RESORT: 2015
Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa opened in 2015 and added a new lodging experience in Sevier County with the style of Parton and her Smoky Mountain memories.
The 300-room property features multiple room types, pools, dining options, a spa, children’s activities and shuttles to and from Dollywood and Splash Country.
“DreamMore, I think, has been successful beyond everyone’s expectations,” Owens said. “It really started the evolution of Dollywood from a really, really good regional theme park to a destination resort.”
WILDWOOD GROVE: 2019
One of Dollywood’s most recent additions has been one of its most significant, too.
Wildwood Grove, the park’s largest expansion to date, debuted in 2019. The $37 million, 6-acre area features 11 themed attractions.
Owens said the area has allowed Dollywood to tell more Smoky Mountains stories and increased park attendance.
“It resulted in another record attendance year for us in 2019 and really has helped us continue the momentum that started in 2012 as we enter this new decade,” he said.