There will never be another human like Dolly Parton or a theme park like Dollywood

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Set us as preferred When you’re a Hollywood icon, everyone in town has a story about you.But with Dolly Parton, so do visitors of a 160-acre Tennessee theme park.I waited for what felt like my entire life to see Dollywood.

As a theme park journalist, it was the absolute summit of my professional bucket list — always close yet somehow out of reach.Pigeon Forge, Tenn., like many regional gems, thrives from its proximity to nearby towns but is a haul and a half to get to from Los Angeles.

(Consider it no coincidence that Delta Airlines canceled our flight there on two separate occasions.) After a failed attempt in 2025, my crew of friends rallied to at long last make the successful pilgrimage to the country crooner’s compound earlier this spring.Once we checked into our Lincoln Logs rental cabin and reality hit that we’d actually made it — cowboy boots on the ground! — we realized all four of us were unusually clueless about what came next.As Disney obsessives, my friends and I know theme parks, but had no barometer for what to expect from … a celebrity-themed one.

Would it feel worn-down and somewhat sad? Would they smell the coastal elite media bias on us? Was the cinnamon bread actually that good?!Of course, it was all perfect.Gloriously lush, vast and yet somehow deeply quaint, it was jarringly unexpected in the best of ways.

Mornings at Dollywood were spent wandering the now-relocated bald eagle sanctuary and crafting village, afternoons were spent riding black bears, coasters and log flumes.We watched candle-dipping artisans at work with wide eyes, heard the screaming whistle of the authentic steam locomotive train, and perused each room of the Dolly Parton Experience museum with glee.

By the second day, one friend was walking arm-in-arm toward the cinnamon bread grist mill with its cashier.There was a palpable kindness that emanated throughout, as though every employee was working in her ...