Just returned from a trip to TN and....

[WV_Jayola]

Wow... Remember all those threads about the Hong Kong knock-off park of Disney World? Well, we have the beginnings of one right here in our own country. It's called...

Dollywood.

First of all, let me say that I live about two and a half hours from the park, so I've grown up going there quite often (even back when it was still called Silver Dollar City). I've seen just about everything they had to offer for years.... That is until this trip.

Things that Dollywood now has available for their guests :

* Dollywood themed pin trading with Lanyards.
* Character meals with Strawberry Shortcake and others.
* "QtoQ" or their pay-to-use-it version of Fastpass
* and a new ride that is the Haunted Mansion plus a roller coaster. It's called Mystery Mine, and it is even complete with it's own theme song which is a very Grim Grinning Ghosts sounding knock-off.
* Character meet and greets with the Veggie Tales.

The whole thing actually blew my mind. That coupled with THE rudest theme park crowd I've EVER been around, and I was just wishing I was standing on Main Street U.S.A.

thoughts?

jeff.

 

[k.hunter30]

A character meal with Strawberry Shortcake? Meeting the Veggie Tale characters?! I'm on my way! :sohappy:
:lookaroun




Good ole' Rocky Top!

 

[redfarmer06]

Even though nothing beats Disney, my family and I do really enjoy Dollywood.

Concerning the meet-and-greets, fastpass system, and character meals, I think that a theme park should be able to do whatever it needs to do to attract guests. This fastpass thing isn't new, nor is it secluded to Dollywood and Disney. In fact, Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH has had a system similar to fastpass for quite a few years now...

 

[DisneyGigi]

Our family also likes Dollywood and we also live close enough to zip down there often. It is growing like crazy! I can only spend a day or so there though and it gets old... and I am thinking **Where is the Magic????**:ROFLOL:

 

[disneytopdog]

Six Flags is the same way. For years there local advertisments took shots at Disney. Now they copy Disney every chance they can...They have "FLASHPASS", Character lunch with "Buggs Bunny and friends"...This year they added a Circque Show and tout that it is included in your ticket price. Not extra like at "Some other park"

There Slogan should be "Six Flags not quite Disney but better than the State Fair without the urine smell"

 

[WDWFigment]

There Slogan should be "Six Flags not quite Disney but better than the State Fair without the urine smell"

Without? Which Six Flags are you visiting? :lookaroun

 

[raven]

Even though nothing beats Disney, my family and I do really enjoy Dollywood.

Concerning the meet-and-greets, fastpass system, and character meals, I think that a theme park should be able to do whatever it needs to do to attract guests. This fastpass thing isn't new, nor is it secluded to Dollywood and Disney. In fact, Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH has had a system similar to fastpass for quite a few years now...

Cedar Point has done away with the idea of the fast pass...it never worked. While Disney has guests use their park ticket to get a fast pass, Cedar Point simply passed them out. Since there was no way of knowing who already had a ticket, the first hundred people in the park would get a fast pass then get back in line to get another one, and another one, and another one, etc. After about 1/2 hour all of the fast passes were given out for the day. Those first guests went on the rides about 10 times!

Because of this. when Top Thrill Dragster openned it had a 4-hour wait even though the ride is only 17-seconds long! Needless to say, no one wanted to stand in the heat that long. This is the reason why they dropped the idea all together.

 

[WV_Jayola]

Our family also likes Dollywood and we also live close enough to zip down there often. It is growing like crazy! I can only spend a day or so there though and it gets old... and I am thinking **Where is the Magic????**:ROFLOL:

I think that last part of your statement is my biggest problem with it. The "magic" was nowhere to be found. The employees seemed largely clueless, NO ONE looked like they were having fun, and the general sense of fun and joy that one finds at Disney World was simply no where to be found.

And don't get me started on how horribly the park is laid out. Imagine everything that is good and efficient about the MK's "hub system" and then think of the EXACT OPPOSITE. And there you have Dollywood's general layout. It's almost all on hill's that you have to trek up and down, and spread out about as far as it possibly could be.

I will say this...the Mystery Mine was awesome as a ride. State of the art. But it DID feel a bit, as i said earlier, like a Haunted Mansion rip off at times to me.

oh well....

jeff.

 

[disneytopdog]

Without? Which Six Flags are you visiting? :lookaroun

Arlington, TX

 

[imagineerfan]

Wow... Remember all those threads about the Hong Kong knock-off park of Disney World? Well, we have the beginnings of one right here in our own country. It's called...

Dollywood.

First of all, let me say that I live about two and a half hours from the park, so I've grown up going there quite often (even back when it was still called Silver Dollar City). I've seen just about everything they had to offer for years.... That is until this trip.

Things that Dollywood now has available for their guests :

* Dollywood themed pin trading with Lanyards.
* Character meals with Strawberry Shortcake and others.
* "QtoQ" or their pay-to-use-it version of Fastpass
* and a new ride that is the Haunted Mansion plus a roller coaster. It's called Mystery Mine, and it is even complete with it's own theme song which is a very Grim Grinning Ghosts sounding knock-off.
* Character meet and greets with the Veggie Tales.

The whole thing actually blew my mind. That coupled with THE rudest theme park crowd I've EVER been around, and I was just wishing I was standing on Main Street U.S.A.

thoughts?

jeff.

Living in Lancaster, PA, I've grown up visiting Hersheypark every summer. Ever since I can remember, Hershey has had meet-n-greats with its product characters, e.g. Hershey Bar, Hershey Kiss, Twizzlers etc. They even restaurants where you can have dinner with these characters. Also, at Choloate World you can ride the "Tour Ride" and go to the "Really Big 3-D show" that both tell about the history of chocolate and how it's made. I guess you can look at it as a "knock off of Disney" but I see it as a completely unique experience only offered in Hershey.

And BTW Hersheypark opened 48 years before Disneyland...

 

[k.hunter30]

And don't get me started on how horribly the park is laid out. Imagine everything that is good and efficient about the MK's "hub system" and then think of the EXACT OPPOSITE. And there you have Dollywood's general layout. It's almost all on hill's that you have to trek up and down, and spread out about as far as it possibly could be.

You DO realize you're comparing the topography of TENNESSEE to the flat marshes of Florida, right?:lol:

 

[Jesùs_Carioca]

Good ole' Rocky Top!

"Woooo! Rockytop Tennesseeeeee."


Now, taking into account that I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, you gotta commend me for knowing that.


*sigh*, who am i kidding...I'm as culturally anglo saxon as you can get.


It all sounded kiiindof "reasonable," excepct for the pin trading. How many pins does Dollywood offer again?

 

[Larry Mondello]

The whole thing actually blew my mind. That coupled with THE rudest theme park crowd I've EVER been around, and I was just wishing I was standing on Main Street U.S.A.

thoughts?

jeff.

If I were you, I wouldn't go there any more.

 

[3fordisney]

We went to Dollywood for the first time last November and found it to be nice. It was at the start of their Christmas Season. We didn't do the shows, but the rides were good. The layout is bad. The uphill walking will get you. We found the workers to be very nice. Most of them were older and very helpful. It may be different in the summer. We were there a few weeks ago and decided not to go to Dollywood since we were just there in November. I do believe that WDW has its own "Magic" that you can't find anywhere else.

We are wanting to go to Cedar Point and Holiday World, but will wait til our son is older. The drive for us would be same as the drive to WDW. We find ourselves comparing every place we go to WDW. We haven't found it yet!

We went to a character meal at Stone Mountain in Ga that had Diego, Dora and the Veggie Tales. It didn't compare to a WDW one. It cost more and the time spent with the characters was short. We were very disappointed. Others may try, but Disney has got it right.

 

[sbkline]

Okay, so maybe they are imitating Disney a little. So what? :shrug: Is there something wrong with a company noticing the success of another company and taking note of some of the things that make that company so successful and deciding that maybe this is a good way to go to bring in the profits? Companies do it all the time. It's good business practice. A company isn't going to watch another company go down the tubes and then decide it should imitate some of that company's practices. Naturally, they are going to try follow the example of the successful businesses in hopes that their methods will work for them as well.

 

[Lauriebar]

We are wanting to go to Cedar Point and Holiday World, but will wait til our son is older. The drive for us would be same as the drive to WDW. We find ourselves comparing every place we go to WDW. We haven't found it yet!

quote]


Yay Holiday World! We drive up every summer(about 3 hours from Nashville) and are never disappointed. While this is a small park with some fair like rides-it is such a pleasure to visit. What they lack in size and amount of flashy attractions they more than make up for in service and attitude.

 

[Sleepy01]

You can't go to any other theme park and expect it to compare to Disney. I am including Universal in that. If there was something comparable out there we wouldn't spend thousands and thousands of dollars to go there or hours and hours planning our next trip even if it's not for 2 years. Comparing any U.S. theme park to Disney is like comparing apples to banana sandwiches.

Of course other parks are going to take elements of Disney and make them part of their parks. It's the same in any business. As soon as McDonalds comes out with a fruit salad - Wendy's isn't far behind. Again odds are they won't implement them as successfully as Disney does.

It's like going to a minor league baseball game and trying to compare it to a major league ballpark. The minor league game is cheaper and closer to home. Both places have food, between inning entertainment souvenirs & a game going on. The major league game is more expensive but the stadium, the food, the entertainment & the quality of play are going to be better. No matter how you feel about major league baseball it's not a fair comparison.

 

[drdoom1001]

Cedar Point has done away with the idea of the fast pass...it never worked. While Disney has guests use their park ticket to get a fast pass, Cedar Point simply passed them out. Since there was no way of knowing who already had a ticket, the first hundred people in the park would get a fast pass then get back in line to get another one, and another one, and another one, etc. After about 1/2 hour all of the fast passes were given out for the day. Those first guests went on the rides about 10 times!

Because of this. when Top Thrill Dragster openned it had a 4-hour wait even though the ride is only 17-seconds long! Needless to say, no one wanted to stand in the heat that long. This is the reason why they dropped the idea all together.

Are you sure they passed out tickets? I was there Dragster's first 2 years and I remember their FP system was called Freeway and you could get 2 a day,they basically stamped your hand with a ride name and a return time.I thought it worked pretty well except that you had to be at the line to get your hand stamped like within 25 minutes from when it opened or it could close for the day.I think Dragster's 3rd year they took out the system.

As far as Dollywood imitating Disney,great that's a park that 8-10 years ago I had no interest in visiting,but with all their growth and new rides,I can't wait to go!!No place is Disney,or could ever come close to Disney but the more variety of parks for the public to enjoy the better!

 

[AEfx]

I've always wanted to go here, and on my next drive down I'm going to stop by. I'm very excited to check it out, as well as Mystery Mine. I also wanted to stop by Graceland, but I had no idea how big TN was and that they are about as far from each other as it gets. Dollywood only puts me a couple hours off my regular path, while Memphis would take me an extra half day to get to.

AEfx

 

[raven]

Are you sure they passed out tickets? I was there Dragster's first 2 years and I remember their FP system was called Freeway and you could get 2 a day,they basically stamped your hand with a ride name and a return time.I thought it worked pretty well except that you had to be at the line to get your hand stamped like within 25 minutes from when it opened or it could close for the day.I think Dragster's 3rd year they took out the system.

Yep they were slips of paper with a time printed on them. It was a very cheap way of doing it but then it was their first attempt at it. But it's not like Dragster ever worked that summer or anything, lol. It was down for weeks at a time. The reliability of Dragster is still very iffy a few years later.