I get a few giggles, snickers and funny looks when I tell people we spent our vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and went to Dollywood five times in two weeks. 🙂 YES, I am a Dollywood fan. And YES, it’s named after that famous Dolly, you know… the one and only Dolly Parton. This year Dollywood celebrates its 25th year.

My kids had a choice between two weeks on a beach like we did last year or two weeks in Pigeon Forge going to Dollywood, they picked Dollywood again. We were just there in 2008 and in 2007.

They have rides for all ages. My oldest three are now all tall enough to go on the big rides and Jake, our youngest, was tall enough to go on the intermediate rides, he can’t wait until he can ride with the rest of us! The older kid’s favourite ride and mine too, was the “Mystery Mine” – with a 95 degree, 85 foot vertical drop – it’s extremely thrilling!!

It’s only a 12 hour drive from our home in Ontario, Canada and to us… it’s well worth it! We pick the last two weeks in August because it’s back-to-school time for their kids and the parks are not busy at all. We didn’t have any long waits and large crowds to make our way through. I’m not a fan of crowds…

I haven’t even begun to tell you about Dollywood’s Splash Country Water Park across the street from the amusement / entertainment park!!

We’d do Dollywood again in a heart beat, but maybe not next year… touring around over 20 people is hard work!! 🙂 Next year, I think we’ll rent a beach house to ourselves and we spend two weeks doing absolutely nothing but soaking up the sun and watching the kids make sandcastles on the beach.