Touring Tennessee Day 11: Dollywood!

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We all slept well in our cabin and had our breakfast on the deck - cereal and toast which made a nice change from hotel breakfasts.

Today we were going to Dollywood and Paul was getting into full on grumpy Dad mode, chuntering about theme parks and then about having to pay $12 dollars to park. He barely even cracked a smile at the Dollywood sign with the huge butterflies, while the rest of us got pretty excited. At least we hadn't brought any bags so we didn't have to queue for bag check . . .

Once through the turnstiles, a butterfly flew over and landed on Paul's hand. It sat/stood there for a good while and he was quite charmed.

We suspect it had been sent by Dolly herself, to "turn that frown upside down". And it worked!

As we were there just after opening, the rides were a walk on so we made the most of that. Evan isn't a huge fan of big coasters, so he looked after our stuff while the rest of us went on the Mystery Mine which was quite insane! The rides at Dollywood are similar to Universal - only more intense.

After the Mystery Mine, we could all still walk so we went to the Wild Eagle. This is a wing coaster, where you sit either side of the track rather than on top of it. It was again pretty intense but also very smooth and I enjoyed it.

Not wanting to push my luck, I joined Evan in on the bench while Paul and Hannah did the Tennessee Tornado which was far too many loop the loops for me.

After that, we persuaded Evan to try Blazing Fury which was pretty tame and very silly before we all queued up for the Firechaser Express. This was the first time we had had to queue and we must have waited about 40 minutes. The ride itself was great fun, blasting you both forwards and backwards, and Hannah and I did manage to dab at the photo opportunity. Evan hadn't been keen but did enjoy that one.

After that, we went on Daredevil Falls, which is a log flume, but didn't get too wet, fortunately. By this time, we were getting hungry, so we shared a fried chicken sandwich and fries, before going to watch a show. One of the lovely things about Dollywood is that there are so many other things to do - you could spend all day watching shows and mooching around the shops and exhibitions, and not go on a single coaster.

The Back Porch Theater had a really good group of singers, doing favourite country songs and we really enjoyed it. The singers were great and it was a really good atmosphere.

We were in need of more food, so we got a couple of sandwiches and shared them before heading to another show, the Country Crossroads, which is a history of country music. Before the show, we were entertained by Miss Lilian, the chicken lady, who was delightfully strange and hilarious.

We went to watch a bluegrass band after this and saw a big Amish family group watching as well. We were surprised to see that one of them had a digital camera, as we thought they didn't use such technology, but they were all fascinated by it!

We did miss out on Lightning Rod, which was either not working, or had a huge queue, but there were so many other good rides that it didn't really matter. We went on the rapids, Smokey Mountain River Rampage, and I was the one who got totally drenched. Boy, were those wet shorts fun for the rest of the day!

We thought Dollywood was really good fun and totally charming. The theming is excellent and it's a lovely place to spend time. We did a couple more rides - Thunderhead, which rattled us about, and the Mountain Sidewinder, where you fly down in a rubber boat shaped like a log. That was probably one of our favourites.

There was also a train with a photobombing driver.

My sister had recommended the cinnamon bread, so we picked up a warm loaf, fully intending to eat it back at the cabin. However, we had scoffed the lot before we even got on the bus back to the carpark!

We did call at the gift shop on the way out and I picked up a Dollywood sweatshirt and Hannah got a gorgeous barrel shaped mug. Even Paul, who if you remember didn't really want to go, got himself a Dollywood t-shirt. Guess that Dolly magic really worked on him!

It was a really lovely family fun day and I can thoroughly recommend Dollywood as a theme park, especially as there is so much to do. We didn't get a chance to explore Dolly's tour bus as there was always too much of a queue, but we did see the recreation of the tiny two room shack that she grew up in, with 10 siblings!

On the way back, we called to Food City and picked up some burgers and buns and had a grill on the porch, taking in the wonderful views once again.

And enjoying some nice ale.

Then it was time chill in the hot tub once again before bed.