Christmas In The Smokies, Dollywood, Pigeon Forge

We had a whirlwind of a weekend trip to kick off my week of Christmas vacation. We left Friday night, but not until an emergency room visit. We literally had our bags packed when my oldest son accidentally cut himself and needed stitches. This pushed us back roughly 2.5 hours from our initial departure time. Luckily after we left the house, traffic was much better than expected and we made great time down. We were not able to stop at the Richmond Buccee’s for dinner though as planned but instead swung into a Wendy’s as everyone was hungry. I’ll add that I forgot my winter jacket and we needed to stop into Lexington so I could buy something warm, so I had a part to play in this also. After gassing up we were able to make it to our first hotel stop off of route 60 (left at the GSMNP exit instead of right). We chose this as our first stop so we could get through town early Saturday morning to our hotel at Dollywood. Initially I didn’t want to fight traffic on a Friday night (I did not realize we’d leave so late and that would be a non-issue) and I wanted to save some money anyway (we saved $150). This worked out well for us in the end and I’d do it this way in the future.

For breakfast we opted out of eating at Flapjacks and had breakfast at the hotel instead. I am always impressed with Hampton Inn breakfasts. They are usually pretty good and the eating area is clean. We then grabbed a tank of gas and went to the Heartsong resort. We were excited to see the new hotel as we’ve only been to Dreammore in the past. The resort did not have our room ready (check in was at 4:00), but we did get our tickets and Time Saver passes. From there we suited up (it was unseasonably cold there) and hopped on the trolley to the park. This is probably the biggest deal of staying at a Dollywood resort hotel – the trolley. Yes, the Time Savers are nice. You can reserve a seat the three most popular shows and get five ride selections. However, the trolley saves so much time parking and dealing with traffic that it is a must when going there. I will add here that we were very impressed with the resort. Clean and well appointed.

Our plan for day one (Saturday) was to see the shows and then do the rides on day two. We ended up seeing the first two shows but then opted to reschedule the third for the next day and spend the evening wondering around. I felt like we needed a break from the scheduling. The boys ate lunch at a hot dog stand (corn dogs are their favorite) and they woofed their food down. We then ate an early dinner at Grandma Ogle’s while the boys had a desert. The food was amazing, I ordered the sampler and would recommend that to anyone. I will say this about Dollywood, the food is spectacular everywhere you go. We then walked around the park admiring the lights and made our way up the mountain or the new expansion there called . The boys rode most of the rides there. I will add that many of the coasters were closed because of the weather (they close around freezing) but given that the height requirements excluded one son and the other son is still apprehensive around them we did not suffer from it. That evening we went back to the hotel and ate a late dinner at their restaurant Ember and Elm, which was pretty good.

The next day (Sunday) we woke up and ate breakfast again at Ember and Elm after we learned they had a breakfast buffet. Again, the food was delicious. We then went back to the room, geared up, and went to the park via the trolley. It was a crisp yet beautiful, sunny day. Our first stop was to get me a new ball cap, then the train, then down to the children’s area so the boys could ride. They had a blast and rode everything there. We then just walked around the park, eating foods and shopping. We saw our final show and then walked the entire park again in the opposite direction. We capped the night off by purchasing a few gifts for each other and bought two loaves of cinnamon bread.

Back at the resort we ordered a pizza and ate our cinnamon bread. They were fantastic. I’ve been on a sugar fast the last month so the cinnamon bread had my head swirling but it was so good! We all then went back to bed and I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow. The next morning (Monday) we woke up and gave the boys some sleep in time. We were all pretty tired. Our initial plan was to eat breakfast in Pigeon Forge but opted to eat donuts at Krispy Kreme instead. The donut shop in Dollywood went down and Ben loves donuts so we wanted to make up for it. We then drove up through the park but they closed the overlook at 441 because of the snow. I did not see the point of that honestly but I don’t make those decisions. We instead drove around a bit during our scheduled time up through Wears Valley and then went to lunch at Flavortown off Teasters Road. We played a few games here and ate some really good food for lunch. I would definitely go there again. Then we drove up to the outlet malls in Sevieville. Here we dropped off my wife and me and the boys went to mini-golf back at Pigeon Forge. We chose the newest mini-golf course in Pigeon Forge and played all 36 holes. This was the Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay. It was fun. Then we picked up my wife from shopping and went to Smokey Mountain Knife Works and shopped. This is Ted’s favorite shop. He bought a butterfly knife so he could practice tricks with it. I bought a new Leatherman multi-tool. Ben got a blowgun. Leslie bought the nativity scene she was looking for (this place has everything). We closed that place down.

Finally we made it to Buccee’s in Sevierville. I finally got my Texas burrito and a large coffee. Everyone liked their food. Then pedal to the medal on the way home. It was a whirlwind of a weekend but everything worked out in the end. I am thankful to put this one deep into the memory banks and give my sons some great memories also.