The Ultimate Guide to Dollywood

over the last five years i've made more than 20 trips to dollywood i've seen and learned a lot and today i'm going to share it all but not just from my point of view i also reached out to my followers to learn their best secrets whether you're planning your first trip or you visit multiple times a year my goal is to make your trip the best it can be i'll cover the very best tips and tricks my formula for getting all the coaster credits the top places to eat and so much more i've even placed hidden secrets all throughout this video so when you hear this sound you're getting a great tip it's time to own dollywood [Music] before we get into the good stuff let's get all the boring details out the way first while they may sound simple these first few tips are the blueprint for winning at dollywood and should not be overlooked before arriving at the park download the dollywood app on your phone i'll explain the real importance of this step in a second now unless you'd rather start your day off waiting in a long line here purchase your ticket before you visit and check to make sure you have a reservation if it's needed and don't forget dollywood offers a great military discount now it's not necessary to print your ticket they'll email it to you and it makes getting into the park a breeze try to arrive at dollywood an hour before it opens this will really give you a good head start you can choose general parking or pay a little extra for preferred either is fine but let's just say for the sake of this video you get the general parking after parking you'll have to go through a quick temperature check and answer a few questions dollywood has a very efficient tram service that'll take you to the front of the park i've never had to wait more than a few minutes regardless of the time of day now that you're on the tram go ahead and pull up that dollywood app we talked about earlier because once you're in the parking lot it's going to display key information about wait times and rod closures if you're here for the coasters i recommend checking them all and get a plan together but lightning rod should be your main focus if it doesn't say temporarily closed then that's where you should head first if you got to the park early getting through security and getting your ticket scanned will be a quick process and you'll be one of the first guests in the park you have two choices after getting into the park right or left to the right is lightning rod to the left is all the other coasters now there's benefits to going either direction first if lightning rod runs all day then going left to be your best option and some of those rides can get really long lines throughout the day and lightning rod many times will calm down later in the evenings but you have no way of knowing if it'll run all day so it's as simple as this if you just can't chance missing lightning rod go right and trust me as long as attendance is average and nothing unexpected happens i've put together a master plan for getting all the credits in record time keep in mind though if the park's slammed and you can live with the chance of lightning rod going down you're probably better off skipping step one and immediately going left the key to this entire plan is getting to the park early like we discussed if you did this you can start making your way to lightning rod before everyone it's only a three minute walk get that ride right away and head back the way you came if all goes well you've only wasted 10 to 15 minutes and you're still way ahead of the crowds thunderhead will be the first coaster you pass but i recommend to continue past and keep heading up towards mystery mod if it's running grab the credit and then continue to make your way up to firechaser express this is a very popular family coaster and it can get some really long lines some people even say to get fire chaser before mystery mine but in my experience the backtracking will cost you much more time in the long run after getting fire chaser express trust me and keep walking past wild eagle you're going to want to stop and get the credit but tennessee tornado should be next on your list wild eagle does get a longer line but it's very efficient and they can really move people quickly don't want to wait in long lines purchase a regular time saver pass it comes with a skip the line on eight attractions as of 2021 there are no restrictions on how you use them use all 8 on lightning rod or split them up it's your decision you're the boss tennessee tornado on the other hand tends to only run one train quite often and that can result in some pretty long wait times after getting the tornado credit you'll be right beside blaze and fury do not go for this credit yet for three reasons it's very reliable typically doesn't get a very long line and most of the queue is indoors trust me if you visit on a warm day it can be really nice to be indoors cooling off even if it waits a little bit longer make your way back to wild eagle and if it's a 0 to 10 minute wait go ahead and grab that credit any longer than that and i'd make my way to the new for 2019 dragonfly suspended coaster this is another coaster that can get some really long wait times due to its popularity low height requirement and the design only allowing for single train operations however from my experience many times you can beat the crowds to this even following the path i laid out if the park's been open for more than an hour this ride's really going to start forming some long lines finally make your way to thunderhead and ride that as much as you can it's an incredible coaster and at this point everything else has a pretty decent line and you can typically marathon thunderhead without much of a line if any at all as long as the park's not too crowded if you're really into getting coaster credits go ahead and grab a ride on the whistle puck chaser nail grab the blaze and fury credit at any point of the day especially if you're ready to get out of the heat are you a season pass holder if so don't forget to check the schedule to see which rides you can get to an hour before the park officially opens at this point hopefully you've gotten all your coaster credits and it's probably a pretty good time to grab something to eat now that the park's gotten busier and most people were in line for their first coaster of the day if you wait much longer these food lines can get pretty long dollywood's packed with great places to eat i have my favorites but this is one i really wanted to get input from more people than just myself everyone likes different foods and honestly i haven't ate everywhere the park has to offer the response was huge i took all the votes and i ranked them to the three most popular coming in third place was red's drive-in lots of people that said this was their favorite place to eat stated that the burgers and signature milkshakes here were amazing but the music and having the option to set outside and hear lightning rod roaring through its layout added to the total experience making it their favorite place in the park the second most popular option was market square lots of answers here on good food but what i was told most was that you have to try the giant skillets in the number one spot aunt granny's buffet it was a total landslide win fried chicken fish mashed potatoes green bean and biscuits are just the start of this buffet everyone seemed to love this place and if that's not enough to convince you usa today named it as one of the top 10 theme park restaurants in the world and to think i've walked past it nearly every single visit on my way to the grist mill without ever even knowing it was there but we'll get into the grist mill in a bit the train ride is 20 minutes get there just as it departs and you'll invest an hour and waiting loading and riding cut that time in half by checking the app before you head that direction to know what time it'll be departing you know outside of this amazing lineup of roller coasters and great places to eat i really wanted to know what other attractions people love doing the most when they visit dollywood and how it compared to my favorite things here were the results number five was daredevil falls where you'll experience a fun ride and a 60-foot drop at speeds of 50 miles an hour number four was the smoky mountain river rampage it's a white water wrapped in adventure with all kinds of fun moments but be warned you're probably going to get a bit wet on this one number three was dropline if you want to experience a feeling of free falling from over 20 stories this is your ride not to mention it rotates on your journey up giving you some incredible views of the park number two was barnstorming an sns screaming swing that opened in 2011. these give great moments of air time and it's my personal favorite attraction outside of the coasters and coming in at number one with yet another landslide win [Music] no doubt a fan favorite who wouldn't want to take a 20-minute five-mile journey through dollywood and the smoky mountains so many great views and whether you're riding or just walking through the park there's just something special about the sound of that train [Music] [Applause] line's too long for the gristmill walk around to the back next to barnstorm there's an upper level that many times will have a line that's just one third of the size dollywood works in four special events throughout the year in the spring you can experience the flower and food festival garden fresh foods and one-of-a-kind plant sculptures that take months to grow but the real winner here is that walk under the umbrella sky anytime you can soften the sun without clouds crushing the color it's going to be a great opportunity for pitchers after you're done taking those pictures you'll find me over on the world's fastest wooden coaster wait never mind speaking of lightning rod how about extra hours and more night rides during the summer celebration and for the first time ever in 2021 dollywood will display an all-new aerial show from hundreds of drones in the sky during the fall you can experience the harvest festival there is no question this is one of the most beautiful parks in the world especially when the leaves start to change colors dollywood knows this instead of trying to make the park spooky they put a big focus on adding to the environment with thousands of pumpkins that are going to light up when the sun goes down and best of all a smoky mountain christmas over 5 million lights and it's been voted the best christmas event for years a lot of parks do this but few do it as well as dollywood best of all if the weather's right the coasters run outside of all the wonderful views great food and incredible rides there's one thing that seems to be at the top of everyone's list when they visit dollywood [Applause] a trip to the grist meal for the world famous cinnamon bread [Music] it comes with icing but also recommend trying it with apple butter wait until later in the evening to grab your cinnamon bread and that's exactly what you're going to be doing for a long time waiting the lines are all you need to see to know how good this stuff is now don't go anywhere just yet i still have a few more things i want to share with you while this ultimate guide is coming to an end i'll be putting these out for all my favorite parks and what if i told you i had not one but four more videos on dollywood in the works the next one drops later this week but i can't give out any spoilers so make sure to hit that subscribe button and click that notification bell so you don't miss out on any of my future uploads and if you enjoyed this video i hope you'll consider giving it a thumbs up as it really helps out the channel thanks so much for watching and see you next week [Applause] you

Channel: okaycoasters

Views: 22,501

Rating: 4.9686275 out of 5

Keywords: Dollywood, pigeon forge, tennessee, tips and tricks, ultimate guide, dollywood roller coasters, dollywood best rides, dollywood cinnamon bread, dollywood best roller coasters, top food, dollywood best food, best places to eat at dollywood, visit to dollywood, dollywood top 10, dollywood all coasters ranked, pov, off ride, flower and food festival, summer celebration, harvest festival, smokey mountain christmas, smokey mountain, lightning rod steel track, Dollywood guide, policy

Id: NJ4Qzq6pUVI

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021