When the biggest news to hit bgw in years broke I was unfortunately following up on my own adventure else were. I was actually spending time in the great smoky mountains of Tennessee spending three days of which at Dollywood. Being an avid fan of bgw for years now, me and my wife set out to visit another park giving me an amazing opportunity to view my home park from a different light. I know I view the park under microscope far to often, I see all these flaws but is the park falling apart as much as I feel or is finding it’s way the same as all others parks. This leads me to my point how does bgw stack up against Dollywood for the 2023 season. Let me start with my disclaimers this is my opinion and my opinion only, I will not make it bgw for Christmas town, but i also did not make it to Dollywood Harvest festival, so my opinion is slightly skewed so I’m not comparing the two seasonal events against each other so much as how well the parks handle seasonal events so this isn’t going to be apples to apples in that aspect more of a tangelos to tangerines if you will. And to address the biggest elephant In the room lighting rod is down I did not get to experience it so that is a major lose for Dollywood. I’m going to break my comparisons in to four parts the park, the rides, the entertainment, and the seasonal event.
State of the park
Stepping on to the tram at Dollywood wearing my lochness monster hoodie I felt excitement for the day, I was greeted to the park by tram operators that were fun and excited with the typical park rules and information speech I set off in to the park, ticket sales was another amazing event where they only offer two kiosks the rest were man’d ticket booths with almost all guests opting to just go and deal with real person then a computer screen. Once inside I found the theming to be amazing each section of the park does everything in its power to make you feel like you are where you are meant to be, on a 1950s Main Street, in the hills of Tennessee logging town, in an immersed child’s enchanted forest. This park doesn’t fault in the theming category. Even the food selections prefectly match up. Not to mention the fact the park has actual sit down restaurants with waiters and waitresses. This is something I never even thought was in the realm of possibilities. Having never stepped foot in a theme park not names kings dominion or Busch gardens. Where does Dollywood fault in the park its self just like any park things age and with out knowing everything I can about Dollywood I can pretty much tell you the oldest sections of the park based of the conditions of the facilities. Many of the bathrooms need refurbishment, most things are due a fresh coat of paint, and it seems like the sections of the park with the least traffic receive the least amount of love. When I compare all of that to bgw I can’t help but feel that bgw just falls short in most of this, between the trams not being operational consistently, the theming being lacking in most anything new to the park or in need of a facelift in the areas of old bgw just seems to just miss the mark. Bgw is not terrible but anyone who visits both will feel that theming is just not near the priority that it is at Dollywood. As far as the bathrooms are concerned I have to say it’s comparable if anything with the number of planned renovations I think bgw is actually going to come out better in that aspect.
The rides
On this cool winter morning the rope drops and we are off I have studied the map I know where I’m going, straight to the back of the park I have date with a rust covered coaster the last of her kind in the United States the Tennessee tornado, a coaster I have been told is buttery smooth compared to our beloved Lochness monster “it’s so much newer so much more tech was used” on the way up the lift hill I can’t help but smile listening to that amazing arrow noisy anti roll back system. Three loops later I’m getting off with a smile on my face and a sore neck. This is still very much an arrow coaster. But she isn’t beautiful and no where near as iconic as nessy this coaster is shoved in a corner hidden away no bright yellow interlocking loops displayed in all her glory for the park to see. And that begins to set the tone for my day. As we do with every ride me and my wife step off and we compare notes the conversation is repeated over and over again. Wow wild eagle is so good, but I like griffin more, wow firechaser is so good but it doesn’t have the excitement verbolten holds, thunderhead and invader are rough ass wooden coasters alright, big bear is sooo amazing but pantheon is a far superior launch coaster, tempesto and mine mystery would be way more enjoyable if they were scrape metal. I know these are not great comparisons but that’s the thing Dollywood misses this mark by a mile. Don’t get me wrong there isn’t a bad coaster in this park, there just isn’t currently any great ones. My entire trip I spent missing the coaster collection of my home park. I wanted bigger I wanted more exciting I wanted more. And dollywood just can’t deliver.
The entertainment
I want to start with i am not a shows person but I make a point to hit the highlights especially after a meal before I spend any time on the coasters. I have to give this one with no surprise to Dollywood, this park his a musical element to it that is unfair, music and entertainment just come natural here every show I attend was great. But I couldn’t help but notice something I have ever noticed before about bgw here. Every thing I have seen at bgw almost seems forced, like everything has a slight underlining grasping at straws feel if you will. That is something I haven’t noticed and honestly I don’t know how the park can address it but I can feel that bgw is far behind in this aspect.
The seasonal events
Dollywood at Christmas is something I can’t recommend enough, they manage to incorporate the look of Christmas in to every inch of the park, if you can hang a Christmas light on it they hung a Christmas light on it. They have a drone show that is so good that if the world ran out of fireworks tomorrow I’d be just fine. But that’s it there, that’s where the buck stops there no cast members to bring that Christmas feel. There is nothing to bring in any immersion. The only kids Christmas event is a paid add on event that I didn’t add on. Mean while just weeks before I found myself in Williamsburg smiling as I saw a scare actor break character to high fine a small child and with in a moment fire up a chainsaw and chase a group of teenagers. I know that the theming at bgw has been better in years past but I can’t help but feel like the experience is very much still there, much of that I have to attribute to the scare actors who take on the roll more then Seas does.
If you’re still reading by this point I thank you for even putting up with my criticism. But my take away from this experience is this, bgw is still very much a phenomenal park. But has its strengths and it has its weaknesses. I’m still happy to call it my home park, but at the same time I still maintain my criticism, it needs work it needs attention. My only hope is someone at seas is monitoring the page and hears us, I understand budgets are at thing and they can only do what they can do but I hope they fight to do all they can, to keep this place as good as it is.
State of the park
Stepping on to the tram at Dollywood wearing my lochness monster hoodie I felt excitement for the day, I was greeted to the park by tram operators that were fun and excited with the typical park rules and information speech I set off in to the park, ticket sales was another amazing event where they only offer two kiosks the rest were man’d ticket booths with almost all guests opting to just go and deal with real person then a computer screen. Once inside I found the theming to be amazing each section of the park does everything in its power to make you feel like you are where you are meant to be, on a 1950s Main Street, in the hills of Tennessee logging town, in an immersed child’s enchanted forest. This park doesn’t fault in the theming category. Even the food selections prefectly match up. Not to mention the fact the park has actual sit down restaurants with waiters and waitresses. This is something I never even thought was in the realm of possibilities. Having never stepped foot in a theme park not names kings dominion or Busch gardens. Where does Dollywood fault in the park its self just like any park things age and with out knowing everything I can about Dollywood I can pretty much tell you the oldest sections of the park based of the conditions of the facilities. Many of the bathrooms need refurbishment, most things are due a fresh coat of paint, and it seems like the sections of the park with the least traffic receive the least amount of love. When I compare all of that to bgw I can’t help but feel that bgw just falls short in most of this, between the trams not being operational consistently, the theming being lacking in most anything new to the park or in need of a facelift in the areas of old bgw just seems to just miss the mark. Bgw is not terrible but anyone who visits both will feel that theming is just not near the priority that it is at Dollywood. As far as the bathrooms are concerned I have to say it’s comparable if anything with the number of planned renovations I think bgw is actually going to come out better in that aspect.
The rides
On this cool winter morning the rope drops and we are off I have studied the map I know where I’m going, straight to the back of the park I have date with a rust covered coaster the last of her kind in the United States the Tennessee tornado, a coaster I have been told is buttery smooth compared to our beloved Lochness monster “it’s so much newer so much more tech was used” on the way up the lift hill I can’t help but smile listening to that amazing arrow noisy anti roll back system. Three loops later I’m getting off with a smile on my face and a sore neck. This is still very much an arrow coaster. But she isn’t beautiful and no where near as iconic as nessy this coaster is shoved in a corner hidden away no bright yellow interlocking loops displayed in all her glory for the park to see. And that begins to set the tone for my day. As we do with every ride me and my wife step off and we compare notes the conversation is repeated over and over again. Wow wild eagle is so good, but I like griffin more, wow firechaser is so good but it doesn’t have the excitement verbolten holds, thunderhead and invader are rough ass wooden coasters alright, big bear is sooo amazing but pantheon is a far superior launch coaster, tempesto and mine mystery would be way more enjoyable if they were scrape metal. I know these are not great comparisons but that’s the thing Dollywood misses this mark by a mile. Don’t get me wrong there isn’t a bad coaster in this park, there just isn’t currently any great ones. My entire trip I spent missing the coaster collection of my home park. I wanted bigger I wanted more exciting I wanted more. And dollywood just can’t deliver.
The entertainment
I want to start with i am not a shows person but I make a point to hit the highlights especially after a meal before I spend any time on the coasters. I have to give this one with no surprise to Dollywood, this park his a musical element to it that is unfair, music and entertainment just come natural here every show I attend was great. But I couldn’t help but notice something I have ever noticed before about bgw here. Every thing I have seen at bgw almost seems forced, like everything has a slight underlining grasping at straws feel if you will. That is something I haven’t noticed and honestly I don’t know how the park can address it but I can feel that bgw is far behind in this aspect.
The seasonal events
Dollywood at Christmas is something I can’t recommend enough, they manage to incorporate the look of Christmas in to every inch of the park, if you can hang a Christmas light on it they hung a Christmas light on it. They have a drone show that is so good that if the world ran out of fireworks tomorrow I’d be just fine. But that’s it there, that’s where the buck stops there no cast members to bring that Christmas feel. There is nothing to bring in any immersion. The only kids Christmas event is a paid add on event that I didn’t add on. Mean while just weeks before I found myself in Williamsburg smiling as I saw a scare actor break character to high fine a small child and with in a moment fire up a chainsaw and chase a group of teenagers. I know that the theming at bgw has been better in years past but I can’t help but feel like the experience is very much still there, much of that I have to attribute to the scare actors who take on the roll more then Seas does.
If you’re still reading by this point I thank you for even putting up with my criticism. But my take away from this experience is this, bgw is still very much a phenomenal park. But has its strengths and it has its weaknesses. I’m still happy to call it my home park, but at the same time I still maintain my criticism, it needs work it needs attention. My only hope is someone at seas is monitoring the page and hears us, I understand budgets are at thing and they can only do what they can do but I hope they fight to do all they can, to keep this place as good as it is.
