Fun-Lover's Guide Blog

Well, we just got our next issue off to the printer, and we expect it to hit the streets in about two weeks. Just in time too, because our summer issue flew out of the racks so fast, we were just about to run out! Look for brand-new information about everything going on at Dollywood during its annual Harvest Celebration and Smoky Mountain Christmas festivals as well as user-friendly information and tips about all of Dollywood’s regular rides, shows and attractions.

And don’t forget that this guide will also be full of money-saving coupons on all your other Dollywood vacation activities, like Smoky Mountain attractions, music theaters, fun outdoor activities, restaurants, shopping and more.

Once the new issue comes out, it will be available for download here at the Web site, or you can request that we send you a copy by mail. Once you’re in the area, look for the guide at any of our 200-plus rack and brochure locations, including all the Tennessee state welcome centers.

If you’re planning a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains this fall, be sure to make Dollywood a part of your plans. And then be sure to download or pick up your free copy of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood. That will give you the 4-1-1 on everything that’s going on at Dolly Parton’s Pigeon Forge theme park, not just this fall but this winter too.

Two of Dollywood’s biggest seasonal festivals are right around the corner: The National Southern Gospel & Harvest Celebration (9/29 — 10/30) and Smoky Mountain Christmas (11/6 —1/1/11). Harvest Celebration features lots of Southern Gospel music, visiting craftsmen and autumn decorations. It’s all set against the backdrop of the changing fall foliage in the Smokies, when the greens of summer transform into spectacular yellows, oranges and reds. Then Smoky Mountain Christmas shines brightly with millions of twinkling lights, special holiday shows and Christmas-themed attractions.

So if a Dollywood vacation is part of your fall or winter plans, be sure to let The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood be part of those plans. And don’t forget that the guide has dozens of moneysaving coupons on other area attractions, music theaters, restaurants and shops!

You may have noticed on our Facebook page and on the Bonus Dollywood Info of this Web site, that Dollywood just announced a new ride attraction for 2011. The Barnstormer is a family thrill ride that sends passengers as high as 81 feet in the air in a pendulum arc. The ride takes up to 32 riders at a time on increasingly higher swings, with peaks of up to 45 miles per hour!

This is the latest example of how Dollywood has managed to stay competitive in the theme park industry for a quarter-century now. Theme park visitors want great new rides, and while Dollywood’s core product of mountain music in a Smoky Mountain setting will always be at the heart of the park, the fact that it regularly introduces new thrill rides for the whole family is what has helped keep millions of guests coming back year after year.

Here’s looking forward to the Barnstormer next season!

Sure, The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood is a useful resource for anyone planning to visit the theme park or Dollywood’s Splash Country as part of their Dollywood or Smoky Mountains vacation. But there are other benefits of well, namely in the form of money-saving coupons for attractions, music theaters, restaurants and shops all over the area. Look for discounts on Dollywood food and game vendors as well as admission breaks for popular attractions like WonderWorks and Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. You can also get 10 percent off merchandise at the new Titanic museum attraction.

There are several ways to get the coupons. First, you’ll find dozens of clippable coupons in every issue of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood, or you can find them here at our Web site, www.funloversguide.com. Just click on the Coupons tab and you’ll see all our coupons laid out on one page. Just click the one you want and print it out! You can also download the entire guide in PDF format from the Web site, go to any of the coupon pages and print it out. Whichever way you choose, it all adds up to big savings when visiting Dollywood and the Great Smoky Mountains.

It seems that this is one of the hottest summer on record, but that’s no reason to have second thoughts about taking a Dollywood vacation. There are lots of ways to stay cool at the park this summer. One of the most obvious things you could do is visit Dollywood’s Splash Country, the world-class water park that’s next door to the original theme park. But even if you plan to stick with Dollywood, you won’t necessarily be beat by the heat.

For one thing, Dollywood is well landscaped, with lots of shady areas for staying out of the sun. Some of the less shaded areas of the park also have large fans that spray fine mists of water to help guests cool off. You can also stay cool with a cold drink or frozen dessert treat. If you’re on a budget, you can get free cups of ice water from most Dollywood food vendors.

Then, of course, there are the wet rides, like Smoky Mountain River Rampage, Daredevil Falls, the Smoky Mountain Slidewinder and River Battle—Pigeon Forge attractions that are guaranteed to give you a good dousing at one point or another! Finally, don’t forget about Dollywood’s many indoor shops, theaters and attractions, including DP’s Celebrity Theatre, the Adventures in Imagination motion-ride theater and the Chasing Rainbows museum.

And thanks again for making The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood your source for practical, usable Dollywood information!

Those spending their summer vacations at Dollywood and in the Great Smoky Mountains now have more chances than ever to locate the print version of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood. We’ve recently expanded our distribution network, bringing the total number of rack locations to nearly 250 spots. They’re located between Exit 407 on Interstate 40 and the Gatlinburg entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of them are standalone Fun-Lover’s Guide racks, but about a third of them are in popular brochure rack locations throughout the region. All our Smoky Mountains-area distribution points are in high-traffic areas like attractions, supermarkets, convenience stores and area lodgings.

In addition, The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood is also being sent out to all 14 welcome center locations in the state of Tennessee, which means that visitors converging on East Tennessee are able to get a head start on taking advantage of our guide’s useful Dollywood tour information and discount coupons for attractions, music theaters, shops and restaurants throughout the Smokies!

Summer’s getting into full swing over at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. KidsFest runs through August 1, offering kids of all ages (and their parents) a wide variety of entertaining live acts—everything from jugglers to ventriloquists to unique paper artists. All your favorite Dollywood rides, shows, attractions and eateries will be available throughout the summer too, including plenty of rides like Smoky Mountain River Rampage, The Slidewinder and River Battle, all of which are designed to help you beat the summer heat. Meanwhile, Dollywood’s Splash Country is helping Smoky Mountain visitors keep cool this summer with the region’s number-one selection of water slides and water-themed attractions.

If you’re planning a Smoky Mountain or Dollywood vacation in the next few weeks, be sure to pick up a copy of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood. Inside you’ll find dozens of tips, suggestions, recommendations and strategies, all designed to help you pick out your favorite Dollywood activities and enjoy them within the span of your visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. Here’s one Tour Tip that will help you stay cool and save money this summer: Did you know that you can get a free cup of ice water at any Dollywood food vendor absolutely free? All you have to do is ask!

It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been focused so much on the printing and distribution of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood that I really haven’t had a chance to visit the park! I was there for Media Day back when the season opened, but I haven’t had a chance to just go and play like everyone else. I’m going to remedy that tomorrow with a visit on what will hopefully be a relatively rain-free day in the Great Smoky Mountains. More than anything, I want to try out Adventure Mountain for myself and be able to pass along my report about it, both here on the blog and on our Facebook fan page.

Speaking of Facebook, if you’re not already a fan of The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood page, please go on Facebook and do so. We post weekly Tour Tips and Fun-Facts straight from the guide and also give you up-to-date Dollywood information or any news pertaining to Dollywood and Dollywood’s Splash Country. It’s sometimes a quick and easy way of getting information that will help you plan your Dollywood vacation.

In the meantime, remember that you can get The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood three different ways. You can pick it up at any of our 200 area brochure and rack locations, you can download the PDF version from this Web site, or you can request a hard copy be sent to you by mail. Generally, you should receive it in just a few days.

I’ll be back on soon to give you my full report from Dollywood!

This has been a busy time of year at The Fun-Lover’s Guide to Dollywood. Our first edition was delivered just a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve spent the past several weeks making sure that this vacation guide to Dollywood and the Great Smoky Mountains can easily be found throughout Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg. Right now, we’re in nearly 100 high-profile brochure slots throughout the area as well as in nearly 100 of our own rack and drop locations. So whether it’s at a hotel, overnight rental office, convenience store, supermarket, music theater, attraction, outlet mall or restaurant, your chances of finding the print version of our vacation-planning guide are getting better all the time. After all, we’ve got 250,000 copies to get into the hands of excited Dollywood vacationers this year!

Meanwhile, we’re also working on our advertising sales effort, which gives you, the Smoky Mountain visitor, even more vacation-planning options, both in the printed guide and at our Web site. And of course, we’re working on marketing ourselves as a publication. You can even help us in that effort. If you plan to visit this Web site again this year, please bookmark it. That will make it easier for more Dollywood visitors searching for vacation information online to find our site in a Google search. And you can also become a fan of our publication on Facebook, which means you’ll get several posts a week featuring Tour Tips and Fun-Facts from this year’s guide as well as up-to-date information about new events and activities going on at Dollywood. And if you do become a fan on Facebook, be sure to share that page with all your friends, especially the ones you know are headed to East Tennessee this year for some Smoky Mountains travel.

Finally, I’d like to thank several people who were very supportive in helping me get this guide off the ground. First, my wife deserves endless thanks for her patience during the ups and downs of launching this publication. She was a great encourager when things looked tough and a great sounding board for a bunch of ideas, both good and bad. Thanks also go to Tim Berry and Pete Owens in the Dollywood marketing department for their cooperation and access to what’s going on at the parks. Also thanks to some colleagues in the publishing business—Mike Smith of Touring Publications and Tom Irmen of Everything Knoxville Magazine—for their suggestions and experienced wisdom that helped me over more than one hump along this bumpy road that runs through the publishing world.