Dollywood has been an incredibly popular attraction in the Smoky Mountains for decades and it’s about to get even bigger! Dolly Parton has announced a $300m expansion that will include a new roller coaster that will open in March, 2014 and a brand new 300 room resort that will open in the summer of 2015! These are the first of many new attractions and resorts planned in an expansion that Dolly hopes to make this the biggest and most popular attraction in the whole country. We’ve got details on each below and will keep this post updated as even more info rolls in. If you love Dollywood, then you’re going to love these new additions!
FireChaser Express Roller Coaster
The new roller coaster will open March 2014 and will be located where Adventure Mountain was once located in the area near the popular Wild Eagle roller coaster. The FireChaser Express, however, will be more of a family roller coaster as the minimum height requirement will be 39 inches. The new coaster will be the nation’s first dual-launch family coaster that launches twice. It will travel forward and then backward on a winding 2,427-foot track. It will launch forward from zero to 16 mph in just 1.1 second and will then launch backward from zero to 20 mph in 2 seconds. The FireChaser Express roller coaster will feature three 14-passenger trains with an hourly capacity of 750 riders. The FireChaser Express will celebrate the volunteer-based fire departments of the 1940s who protected the neighboring Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
More info about the FireChaser Express is available on the Dollywood website at:
https://www.dollywood.com/
DreamMore Resort
The DreamMore Resort is set to open in the summer of 2015 and will feature 300 rooms with a variety of accommodations including a 2,200-square-foot Dolly’s Suite Dreams celebrity suite. There will be an indoor and outdoor pool complex, a spa and a full-service farmhouse-style restaurant that features a wraparound veranda with views of the pool and surrounding mountains. An amphitheater is planned as well as outdoor areas complete with fire pits, swings and hammocks. Dolly Parton has wanted to open a resort since she first opened Dollywood in 1986. While they have had cabin rentals available around 2 miles away from the park, they have wanted to open a resort much closer to the theme park to offer a whole new range of accommodations and package options.
The new resort will be designed especially for families with some rooms accommodating six people. The resort will also feature many “front porch” viewing areas of the Smoky Mountains as well as a fishing pond for children! Their media release states:
“Featuring a variety of accommodations, the resort celebrates the iconic Southern gathering spot, beckoning to a time when families and friends sipped iced tea, enjoyed homemade ice cream and socialized. Centered on the rich traditions of storytelling, family and togetherness, the resort will feature many special touches including family sanctuaries like fire pits, swings and hammocks plus story spots scattered throughout the grounds.”
As guests enter the lobby, they will be greeted with a glass of lemonade in the summer and a cup of hot chocolate during winter months.
The new DreamMore Resort will be located adjacent to Dollywood’s Splash Country. They have 100 acres available to develop on and the new resort is just going to use around 20 acres, which means they have a lot more expansion room to work with in the future. Dolly says it will have “Southern flair” while being “classy”. A resort such as this is something that numerous visitors have asked about for years as they search for vacation packages and lodging near Dollywood.
View from the front of the new DreamMore Resort at Dollywood:
View from the back of the new DreamMore Resort at Dollywood:
Below is the promotional video released by Dollywood for the new DreamMore Resort:
For more info about the DreamMore Resort, visit the official site at:
https://www.dollywood.com/dreammore/
As we get more information, artist renderings, pictures, videos, etc we will keep this post updated. Let us know in the comments area below what you think about having a brand new resort at Dollywood and a new family roller coaster coming soon!
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