A day at Dollywood the Tennessee amusement park that displaced Cedar Point as the country s best according to one survey anyway @Lll - @Yyy HEAD TOPICS

A day at Dollywood the Tennessee amusement park that displaced Cedar Point as the country s best according to one survey anyway

10/21/2022 6:00:00 PM

Dolly Parton' s influence is everywhere but did you know Art Modell owned this park in the 1970s

@Lll @Yyy

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clevelanddotcom

Dollywood is a beautiful park, set in the foothills of the nearby Smoky Mountains, well-themed, with terrific entertainment, good food and a fun line-up of rides. Dolly Parton's influence is everywhere; but did you know Art Modell owned this park in the 1970s? It’s Cedar Point with a Southern accent.Dollywood is a beautiful park, set in the foothills of the nearby Smoky Mountains, well-themed, with terrific entertainment, good food and a fun line-up of rides.Dollywood’s history gets even weirder in 1970 – at least for this Clevelander – when then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell bought the park, renaming it Goldrush Junction and giving it a Western theme. He sold it in 1976 to Jack and Pete Herschend, who owned Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. They renamed it Silver Dollar City Tennessee. Read more:
clevelanddotcom » Dolly Parton Wore a Daring Santa Claus Ensemble & We're Immediately in the Holiday Spirit Four more artisan waffle and ice cream shops planned for Jacksonville, St. Johns County NYC workers must put in over 100 hours a week to afford an apartment: Report GOP leads Dems by double-digits on economic issues as midterms loom: poll

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Read more >> Dolly Parton Wore a Daring Santa Claus Ensemble & We're Immediately in the Holiday Spirit.DollyParton is fabulous in red as she gets in the mood for the holiday spirit. 🎄 Four more artisan waffle and ice cream shops planned for Jacksonville, St. Johns CountyA St. Augustine couple plans to open four Dolly Llama Waffle Master artisan waffle and ice cream shops in the Jacksonville area. Here's what we know. NYC workers must put in over 100 hours a week to afford an apartment: ReportAccording to a new survey, minimum-wage workers would need to spend 111 hours on the job per week just to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the city. GOP leads Dems by double-digits on economic issues as midterms loom: pollRepublicans also trounced Democrats on several key economic questions, according to the CNBC survey. There’s a lot of uninformed mowrons in this country so am not surprised. Never voting blue again, the left has lost it. PIGEON FORGE, Tennessee – This roller coaster ride is set to a country-music soundtrack, with a side of fried green tomatoes for extra flavor.Dolly Parton Wore a Daring Santa Claus Ensemble & We’re Immediately in the Holiday Spirit by.Culver's .a new survey by United Way , minimum-wage workers would need to spend 111 hours on the job per week just to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the city. I made my first visit last month to Dollywood , the eastern Tennessee amusement park that is part owned by country music star Dolly Parton. Her influence is everywhere – from the music along the midway to her favorite foods at the Front Porch Café to a replica of the Tennessee mountain home where she was raised. It’s Cedar Point with a Southern accent. On the menu: Waffles are the star of the show Dolly Llama Waffle Master features two styles of made-to-order waffles — Bubble and Belgian OG Liege. I’d been wanting to visit this park for years, since at least 2019, when Dollywood knocked off Cedar Point as the country’s best amusement park in the annual survey by industry magazine Amusement Today . (This year, Cedar Point fell off the magazine’s list of the world’s top 5 parks for the first time in the award’s history. Dallas comes in as the second least-affordable city in the nation at 120 hours, even though the minimum wage stands at $7-25 an hour. ) Dollywood is a beautiful park, set in the foothills of the nearby Smoky Mountains, well-themed, with terrific entertainment, good food and a fun line-up of rides. The waffles are made with authentic European flavors and techniques. Better than Cedar Point? Not in my book, but then I’m a sucker for those Lake Erie views from 310 feet up, high atop that monster first hill on Millennium Force. The Art Modell connection Dollywood’s history goes back to 1961 – way before Dolly Parton’s involvement in the mid-1980s. The park started as a modest, Civil War-themed attraction called Rebel Railroad, which featured a blacksmith shop, general store, saloon and train ride that let visitors experience “attacks” by Union soldiers, train robbers and Indians.  Among the most popular signature waffle cones is Dolly's Dream, topped with Ultimate Cookie Monster ice cream, fresh strawberries, brownies and Nutella. (How was that acceptable even 60 years ago?) Dollywood’s history gets even weirder in 1970 – at least for this Clevelander – when then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell bought the park, renaming it Goldrush Junction and giving it a Western theme. He sold it in 1976 to Jack and Pete Herschend, who owned Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. They renamed it Silver Dollar City Tennessee. Meet Dolly Llama, the mascot behind the brand Along with its waffles and ice cream, the dessert shop is easily recognizable by its brand mascot and namesake — a llama smiling serenely and wearing sunglasses. In 1986, Dolly Parton, who grew up nearby, partnered with the Herschends, and the park was renamed Dollywood. In the years since she has put her stamp all over the place. Among the park’s attractions: a replica of Parton’s childhood home, with newspaper used as wallpaper in the kitchen and paper dolls and family photos in the bedroom; and her “home on wheels,” a 1994 Prevost tour bus, with queen bed, full kitchen and “lots of mirrors,” because Dolly was claustrophobic, according to a guide. That fun spirit, Baroux and Shomof decided, reflected the quintessence they wanted for their business Dolly "brings all that fun llama spirit into creative concoctions, happy customers and great, fun vibes," according to the website. There’s even a church here, the Robert F. Thomas Chapel, named after the doctor who delivered Parton, with regular services every Sunday. (Note: The park’s Chasing Rainbows Museum, filled with Parton costumes, musical artifacts and other memorabilia, is closed for 2022 while the attraction is “reimagined,” according to the park.) The Robert F. Thomas Chapel at Dollywood, with weekly Sunday services. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com A replica of Dolly Parton's childhood home at Dollywood. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com Visitors to Dollywood can walk through Parton's "Home on Wheels," a 1994 Prevost bus with more than 600,000 miles on it. Susan Glaser, Cleveland. com The park is organized by themed areas, including Craftsman’s Valley, Timber Canyon, Jukebox Junction and Showstreet, with rides, restaurants and entertainment (loosely) following one of 11 themes. The park has expanded dramatically over the years, with more coming in 2023. Under construction at the park now: Big Bear Mountain, Dollywood’s 10th roller coaster, part of a half-billion dollar investment over 10 years that also includes a new 302-room resort, HeartSong Lodge & Resort, located adjacent to the park’s existing resort, the 300-room DreamMore Resort, which opened in 2015. I stayed at DreamMore during my trip to Pigeon Forge. It’s a lovely property with a full-service spa, restaurant and bar, pools and entertainment. Among the perks of staying here: Guests receive complimentary TimeSaver passes to the park, which give riders access to shorter lines to the most popular attractions (retail price is $60). I had one day to experience everything in the park, and didn’t want to spend hours waiting in line. I needn’t have worried. The day of my visit, a Friday in early September, was uncrowded, with few lines more than 15-20 minutes. There wasn’t even a line at the Grist Mill, which sells the park’s signature food item, cinnamon bread by the loaf, and typically draws a crowd as large as some of the park’s top rides. After skipping breakfast, my husband and I made a beeline for the Grist Mill upon entering the park. The bread did not disappoint, fueling us for hours while we toured the park. After a short detour to listen to some bluegrass, we headed for our first ride, Lightning Rod. New in 2016, Lightning Rod was built by Rocky Mountain Construction, the same company that converted Cedar Point’s Mean Streak to Steel Vengeance in 2018. The ride features a quick-start launch, 73 mph top speed and 20 seconds of air time. Originally built as a wooden coaster, the ride had much of its track replaced by steel in 2021 and is now classified as a wood-steel hybrid. It consistently ranks among the best coasters in the world. This coaster is raucous fun – easily the best ride at the park -- though not quite as outrageous as Steel Vengeance. From there, we rode Mystery Mine, an indoor-outdoor coaster with a haunted coal-mine theme; Thunderhead, a traditional wooden coaster added in 2004; and Wild Eagle, a winged coaster where riders hang below and on either side of the steel track (Cedar Point has a nearly identical ride, GateKeeper). I also enjoyed FireChaser Express, a coaster with a firefighting theme and an unexpected mid-ride backward launch; and Blazing Fury, a campy, retro ride, more dark ride than coaster, also with a fire theme. Lightning Rod is a wood-steel hybrid coaster at Dollywood, new in 2016. Photo by Steven Bridges Wild Eagle, a winged coaster at Dollywood. Courtesy of Dollywood Dollywood, of course, is much more than the sum of its rides. The park is also home to nine theaters and performance venues, from inside, large and air-conditioned to outdoors and exposed to the elements. My husband is a big fan of bluegrass, and we enjoyed three separate performances of three different bluegrass bands throughout the day, including Monroeville at the indoor Pines Theater and Wild Roots Band at the outdoor Showstreet Gazebo. There are shows focused on country music, gospel and pop, plus Harmonies of the Heart, featuring some of Parton’s family members singing and telling stories. In addition to music, there’s Wings of America, a popular bird show featuring owls, hawks, falcons and eagles. For some, the entertainment here might be worth the price of admission all on its own. For lunch, we headed back to the front of the park and grabbed a table at the Front Porch Café, a sit-down restaurant that claims to feature some of Dolly’s favorite foods. On the menu here: fried green tomatoes, a pork belly BLT, peach cobbler and more. Other popular places to dine inside the park include Aunt Granny’s Restaurant, which seeks to replicate Sunday supper at grandma’s house (Aunt Granny is what Parton’s nieces and nephews call her); the Spotlight Bakery, serving up 3-pound slices of apple pie and other treats; and the Sweet Shoppe Candy Kitchen, where I tried something called potato candy for the first time (not bad, but next time I’ll stick to chocolate). After refueling, we headed to an area of the park known as the Village, where a group was gathering to board the Dollywood Express, perhaps the park’s most iconic ride, featuring a 110-ton coal-fired steam engine. The 20-minute journey takes riders on a 5-mile loop around the park, with distant mountain views framed by roller coaster track. Before departing, the narrator warned us that we might experience some cinder blowback from the engine, and indeed I was brushing ash off my shirt as I exited. This is the oldest ride in the park, dating back to the old Rebel Railroad days. It’s considered a must-do on any first visit to the park, a nostalgic reminder of the past. On my way out, I rode Lightning Rod one more time, a thrilling reminder of its future. The Grist Mill serves up hot-from-the-oven cinnamon bread daily at Dollywood. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com The Smoky Mountain String Band performs at Dollywood. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com The Dollywood Express, powered by a 110-ton coal-fired steam engine, winds its way through the park. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com If you go: Dollywood What: The amusement park in eastern Tennessee consistently ranks among the nation’s best. In the most recent Golden Ticket awards from Amusement Today, Dollywood earned first-place awards for best guest experience, best kids area and best Christmas event. It earned second-place finishes for best park (behind Germany’s Europa-Park), most beautiful (behind Busch Gardens Williamsburg), and best food (behind Knoebels in eastern Pennsylvania). Where: Dollywood is in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, just southeast of Knoxville, about an eight-hour drive from Cleveland. When: Dollywood is typically open mid-March through early January (closed on select weekdays outside the summer season). Through 2022, the park’s fall-themed Harvest Festival, including Great Pumpkin LumiNights, runs through Oct. 30; Smoky Mountain Christmas runs Nov. 5-Jan. 1. The 2023 season opens March 10. For operating hours: .