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Post by dawgggystyle on Sept 19, 2023 8:17:59 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks
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Post by theswan on Sept 19, 2023 8:26:12 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks It's been a really long time since I've been to Dollywood, but I remember having a great time. Last time I stayed in that area was 5 years ago. If you can find a cabin, that would be my suggestion. There is a lot to see and do.
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Post by Geaux Tigers on Sept 19, 2023 9:17:42 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks We went about three years ago. Not sure what I was expecting but Pigeon Forge was not it. The park itself wasn't bad. As you've heard, the traffic was a nightmare. (Im sure depends on the time of year) You must love go cart tracks and arcades. The Mountain Coasters were kinda cool.
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Post by athens on Sept 19, 2023 9:23:16 GMT -5
I think the traffic is always bad. It's in the mountains and there are a lot of 2 lane winding roads.. Beautiful area at the Smoky Mountain National Forest. Never been to Dollywood itself.
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Post by athens on Sept 19, 2023 9:23:43 GMT -5
The Alamo Steakhouse is a pretty good meal
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Post by Geaux Tigers on Sept 19, 2023 9:26:58 GMT -5
Dolly's Pigeon Forge stampede was kinda cool if you have kids. Food was decent as well.
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Post by 75tranzam on Sept 19, 2023 10:27:34 GMT -5
I went 10+ years ago with our young kids and had a good time. As others have said the entertainment and food was good. My daughter lost her new glasses on a water ride that we recovered but they were scratched.
Good memories of the trip and Pidgeon Forge was ok but nothing special, neither was Gatlinburg. Just Myrtle beach in the mountains was my opinion of the 2 towns. Just t-shirt shops and tourist shops, they all had the same tourist crap in them.
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DOLLYWOOD
Sept 19, 2023 10:32:28 GMT -5
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Post by theswan on Sept 19, 2023 10:32:28 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks We went about three years ago. Not sure what I was expecting but Pigeon Forge was not it. The park itself wasn't bad. As you've heard, the traffic was a nightmare. (Im sure depends on the time of year) You must love go cart tracks and arcades. The Mountain Coasters were kinda cool. I can't remember the town our cabin was in, but the traffic wasn't bad there. Pigeon Forge traffic wasn't terrible. We had a pretty nice cabin, so I enjoyed it and the nature. And I'm not a big nature guy. I liked going to the parks and seeing old churches, cemeteries, ect.. But yeah, if you're looking for excitement, you should be into go carts and stuff.
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Post by theswan on Sept 19, 2023 10:33:30 GMT -5
Dolly's Pigeon Forge stampede was kinda cool if you have kids. Food was decent as well. Did that. Wasn't looking forward to it, but I ended up having a good time.
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Post by erock72 on Sept 19, 2023 10:55:09 GMT -5
We went about three years ago. Not sure what I was expecting but Pigeon Forge was not it. The park itself wasn't bad. As you've heard, the traffic was a nightmare. (Im sure depends on the time of year) You must love go cart tracks and arcades. The Mountain Coasters were kinda cool. I can't remember the town our cabin was in, but the traffic wasn't bad there. Pigeon Forge traffic wasn't terrible. We had a pretty nice cabin, so I enjoyed it and the nature. And I'm not a big nature guy. I liked going to the parks and seeing old churches, cemeteries, ect.. But yeah, if you're looking for excitement, you should be into go carts and stuff. Sieverville maybe?
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Post by geauxtigerfan on Sept 19, 2023 11:00:42 GMT -5
I been to that area a couple of times, but it was years ago(about 1975). Before Pigeon Forge was a tourist attraction. We stayed in Gatlinburg both times. I always loved being out in nature instead of amusement parks.
But the Smokey Mountains are beautiful.
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Post by dawgggystyle on Sept 19, 2023 11:58:54 GMT -5
Dolly's Pigeon Forge stampede was kinda cool if you have kids. Food was decent as well. I have no interest in anything in Gatlinburg or in Pigeon Forge. My daughter loves Dolly Parton so we want to take her there. The whole trip will be just about doing Dollywood stuff and coming home.
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Post by geauxtigerfan on Sept 19, 2023 12:14:07 GMT -5
That's what it is all about - enjoy and have a lot of fun. It will probably be some cold weather though.
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DOLLYWOOD
Sept 19, 2023 12:38:52 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by theswan on Sept 19, 2023 12:38:52 GMT -5
I can't remember the town our cabin was in, but the traffic wasn't bad there. Pigeon Forge traffic wasn't terrible. We had a pretty nice cabin, so I enjoyed it and the nature. And I'm not a big nature guy. I liked going to the parks and seeing old churches, cemeteries, ect.. But yeah, if you're looking for excitement, you should be into go carts and stuff. Sieverville maybe? That sounds right. I want to say yes, but not positive.
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Post by dawgggystyle on Sept 19, 2023 12:53:02 GMT -5
That's what it is all about - enjoy and have a lot of fun. It will probably be some cold weather though. looking forward to cold weather, beats walking around Disney in the summer theres a new hotel they are opening nov. 2nd and we would be staying there just a few weeks later. and it is during whatever christmas festival they got going on, trying to figure out the over/under on what ill spend in dolly souvenirs for my daughter
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Post by destinnevadafan on Sept 19, 2023 18:50:20 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks Wife wants go to Dollywood. We've looked renting a cabin (as others have mentioned) and staying in one the resorts. Please update on what you decide to do and how it turns out. TIA
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Smog
Gladiator
Posts: 124
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Post by Smog on Sept 19, 2023 18:58:26 GMT -5
We just stayed there a couple months ago. The park is great, but as I said during our trip Pigeon Forge seems to be where people who have been kicked off Spirit Airlines go for vacation. We had the bonus of it being a light rain the day we went to the park, which made crowds at the park practically non-existent.
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Post by dawgggystyle on Sept 20, 2023 7:34:23 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks Wife wants go to Dollywood. We've looked renting a cabin (as others have mentioned) and staying in one the resorts. Please update on what you decide to do and how it turns out. TIA well, we booked the new hotel at Dollywood last night so thats where we will be staying. probably a little more expensive than staying somewhere close and driving in. but with a free shuttle to the park and 2 adult two day passes with the room we just did it that way. leaving on thanksgiving day to get there, go to the park Fri and Sat and come home sunday, i will definitely let you know the good, bad and the ugly
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Post by dawgggystyle on Nov 27, 2023 9:30:41 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks Wife wants go to Dollywood. We've looked renting a cabin (as others have mentioned) and staying in one the resorts. Please update on what you decide to do and how it turns out. TIA Well, trip is complete. I think a lot of the people at the park must stay in other hotels or rent cabins because the DreamMore and HeartSong resorts are not that big. Now, this is coming from someone who grew up in Florida, had Disney annual passes and stayed at every single hotel in and around Disney. Quick google search and DreamMore has 300 rooms and HeartSong has 302. Apparently the day after Thanksgiving is Dollywoods busiest day of the year or one of them. It was croweded but not Disney crowded if that makes sense. The way i could tell it was crowded was just by the long wait times at every ride and looking down at my watch and its 1pm (park opened at 11am) and going ok, we've only done 2 things. When its crowded there is no way you can do everything in one day. We took the trolley from the hotel to the park both days, it drops you off right at the front so i cannot attest to parking and how much it may or may not suck. I did hear one of the trolley operators say if you ever have to park, try and get in Lot E because it has its own seperate exit, when all the other lots have to go out the same exit and it backs up. I guess if you rented a cabin and drove it and got there early enough parking wouldnt be that bad, but i dont know. If i had to do it again, i would just stay at the resort so i didnt have to deal with any of it, but if you can save a substantial amount of money on renting a cabin or staying at another hotel, i get just dealing with whatever the parking situation throws at you. The food was great, wasnt the cheapest thing, but it wasnt Disney expensive either. If you have anything else you want to know, just ask, perhaps it will job my memory on what we just did
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Post by 75tranzam on Nov 27, 2023 13:56:12 GMT -5
Did you rep UGA while at Dollywood?
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Post by dawgggystyle on Nov 27, 2023 15:23:25 GMT -5
Did you rep UGA while at Dollywood? Absolutely did, all day, every day! I saw a lot of UGA gear and was surprised when people would say Go Dawgs to me while just walking around. I was like really? I mean there are a ton of us here. This again coming from a Disney kid walking around orlando FL with Georgia gear on and maybe seeing like 2 other UGA fans all day. Saw a guy get on the trolley all decked out in Alabama gear late saturday night just gave him a look like.... dodged a bullet today eh and he was just kinda like yeahhhhhhhh. Probably saw more UGA fans than any other team besides Tennessee, tons of them crawling around, but they were all nice. Honestly left dollywood thinking people in Tennessee in general were nice folks.
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Vespula
Senator
"Panzerkönigin"
Posts: 3,819
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Post by Vespula on Nov 28, 2023 9:43:09 GMT -5
Anyone ever been? Thinking about going up there with the family for Thanksgiving. Heard the traffic around pigeon forge is shit, so probably staying at one of the Dollywood hotels for a free shuttle to the park. Anyone have any tips? Thanks I was there with some family members about 15 years ago. The best things about Gatlinburg and the surrounding area are the aquarium, the winery shop, the Air BnB's, and the outstanding breakfasts at the restaurants around there. The worst thing is the Tennessee state troopers. They hate the tourists and deliberately give wrong directions or false information to create trouble for their amusement. It made me despise Tennessee and never want to go back there.
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Post by geauxtigerfan on Nov 28, 2023 13:32:45 GMT -5
I visited Gatlinburg before Dollywood was even there. It was nice back in those days.
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Post by dawgggystyle on Nov 29, 2023 8:53:30 GMT -5
I visited Gatlinburg before Dollywood was even there. It was nice back in those days. go to the Rebel Railroad?
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Post by geauxtigerfan on Nov 29, 2023 11:50:26 GMT -5
I visited Gatlinburg before Dollywood was even there. It was nice back in those days. go to the Rebel Railroad? No. My family was more into hiking around in the Smokey Mountains. We hiked into a lot of off road places. Some of the hikes would be a couple of miles into the forest for waterfalls They also liked to swim and there was a huge rock on a small stream or rive near Gatlinburg that was a swimming hole. The kids would jump off the rock into the river. There was a show in Cherokee - wrestle a bear. Too many people anymore to really enjoy Smokey Mountain Nat Park. The highway between Gatlinburg and Cherokee is lot being on a crowed freeway. That was what it seemed like last year when we were there. Of course we can't hike the trails like we use to years ago.
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Post by dawgggystyle on Nov 29, 2023 15:05:14 GMT -5
go to the Rebel Railroad? No. My family was more into hiking around in the Smokey Mountains. We hiked into a lot of off road places. Some of the hikes would be a couple of miles into the forest for waterfalls They also liked to swim and there was a huge rock on a small stream or rive near Gatlinburg that was a swimming hole. The kids would jump off the rock into the river. There was a show in Cherokee - wrestle a bear. Too many people anymore to really enjoy Smokey Mountain Nat Park. The highway between Gatlinburg and Cherokee is lot being on a crowed freeway. That was what it seemed like last year when we were there. Of course we can't hike the trails like we use to years ago. we drove that way home through Cherokee NC, looked like a cool place
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Post by geauxtigerfan on Nov 30, 2023 13:16:49 GMT -5
Being a flat lander all my life, I love the mountains. Both the east coast mountains and the western mountains. Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway has many beautiful scenes and the color of the leaves during the fall is tremendous. I have driven the southern part of the Parkway from Ashville to Boone N.C. and would like to travel the northern part, but probably will not get to make that trip.
The western mountains are a lot higher, but both ranges of the east and west have many beautiful views.
I would also like to visit Zion National Park. It is one national park that I have not visited.
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