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April 4
Dollywood Opening Day - Part 2
After a busy week last week I'm finally able to return to my blog and finish my first Dollywood report of the season.
As I hinted before, the River Battle ride wasn't in perfect working condition when we rode it. The water guns on almost every boat but ours worked great, allowing other riders to pelt our boat with water. This wouldn't have been a problem except the temperature was a moderate 70-something degrees. Oh, well. At least we were able to experience Dollwood's newest attraction - and it was lots of fun. Even if you choose not to ride you can still participate from the walkway around the ride - riders can soak you and you can man a water gun and soak people on the boats. And the best part of this new area is that Timber Canyon (with Mystery Mine, Thunderhead, and Timber Tower), is now linked with Craftsman's Valley creating a continuous loop through Dollywood. I always dreaded making the long walk to either Timber Canyon area or the Blazing Fury since both were so far from the rest of the attractions in the park.
After testing out the new ride, we watched Ireland's River of the Dance show in the Celebrity Theater. The show was incredible (albeit similar to last year's version), but I noticed that several families with young children got up to leave part way through the show. Since there was no story line (just dancing and singing) it appeared that many younger children were not as captivated as the adults. In a few months though Kidsfest will begin with more kid-friendly shows.
Other changes I noticed from last year:
The magician that has been at the exit to the train for the past few decades appears to have retired. I don't know any details but the magician's shop that he ran is no longer there (no sign was up, however, to indicate what might be going in the old magician's shop) and his sign was not up at the little outdoor theater where he has always performed. I'll post more information as I get it.
Food prices appear to have gone up slightly. That's no great surprise since food prices have increased everywhere due to higher gas prices.
The big butterfly in the flower bed at the entrance to the park is gone. I'm not sure why, since lots of people used it as a photo op.
Plenty of new parking has been added to go along with the new single entrance off Volunteer Boulevard. There are enough parking attendant booths that hopefully huge traffic jams entering the parking lot will be avoided. I'll update on that when the season gets a bit busier. There were no traffic problems entering Dollywood when we went in March.
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