Why Chicagoans are flocking to music icon’s Dollywood theme park – Chicago Tribune

Growing up in DeKalb, Josie Shattuck was surrounded by the unending flatlands of corn country. The medium-sized city sat as an island amid a sea of stalks that changed from green to gold as the familiar frost began to set in.

When Grandma Nadine returned from her senior group trips with handfuls of exotic brochures, Shattuck only needed to read a trifold pamphlet to transport around the world. When she saw one for Dollywood — an entire world dedicated to the glamorous country singer whose records her mother devotedly played at home — the destination became one of her most coveted travel dreams.

“They wouldn’t really bring back paid souvenirs; I think this was just their way of sharing the experience,” said Shattuck, now a McHenry County resident. “I remember learning about Dollywood pretty early on. I had no personal experience with resort theme park areas like this — it just kind of seemed like this cloud-in-the-sky, magical place.”

Now 33, Shattuck is headed to Dollywood for the first time in July with her wife and their daughter — her ticket was a Christmas gift that ties into a family reunion.

“I just want to experience it, and take it in, and go with an open mind,” she said.

Shattuck is far from the only northern Illinoisan with plans to visit the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, park. When it’s time to take a break from working 9 to 5, thousands of Chicagoland residents are packing up and heading south to Dollywood.

Approximately 33,600 people across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana visited the park last year — over four times the Chicagoland visitors from just three years prior. And it’s not just Chicago; according to park data, total visits have grown 76% in the past five years. The 165-acre theme park was voted the No. 1 theme park in the country and eighth-best in the world in 2022 by TripAdvisor.

The park also takes into consideration the number of visitors to the Smoky Mountain region, which saw an estimated 700,000 tourists from the Chicago region in 2022, according to park data. For 2021, the National Park Service reported the Great Smoky Mountains National Park had over 14.1 million visitors, making it the most-visited national park in the country.

[ Great Smoky solitude: How to escape the crowd at the most-visited national park in Townsend ]

So, what is so magical about Dollywood? I ordered some rhinestone fringe jeans, took a trip to speak with Ms. Parton herself and experienced the area through a Midwestern lens.

Getting to Dollywood and the greater Smoky Mountain region requires a bit of a concerted effort. Making no stops, it’s about a nine-hour drive from Chicago to Pigeon Forge. A nonstop flight from O’Hare to Tyson McGhee Airport near Knoxville clocks in under two hours, plus an additional hour of driving time.

Colin Taylor, 41, a grant writer from Oak Park, and his wife and two sons, then ages 6 and 9, drove to the Smoky Mountains and Dollywood for spring break last year.

“There’s not a lot of national park sites in our area; that’s probably the most drivable one from the Chicago area. I think that was a big piece for us,” Taylor said. “Being able to do a one-day driving trip to get there, and then having the national park there and a really nice theme park so close together … that was the big factor.”

Shattuck and her wife and daughter, 7, will also be driving. Her extended family rented a 16-person Airbnb property in Pigeon Forge for the reunion.

Gliding along the highway under a sweater-weather gray sky in a rental car after my flight, there was virtually no traffic, and drivers were slow (by Chicago standards). Just beyond the churches, homes and farms that speckled the route was the sight of the Smoky Mountains, beckoning my arrival in the distance.

The last town you pass through before making it to Pigeon Forge is Sevierville, Parton’s hometown. Born in 1946, Parton grew up there in a two-room log cabin with her parents and 11 siblings — a re-creation of which was built by her brother and decorated by her mother as an attraction at her theme park. The small town is flanked by murals paying homage to the famous singer, as well as a statue of her at the county courthouse.

If Sevierville represents Parton’s roots, then it only takes a 15-minute drive to see her blooming garden. The DreamMore Resort & Spa, a six-story, 300-room hotel that opened in 2015, could not physically be more different from her humble homestead, but it certainly embodies Parton today.

The stately resort is surrounded by trees and slowly reveals itself as you sail up the long driveway. It demonstrates the country estate aesthetic with its black-gabled roof and long communal porch balconies. As with most things Dolly, the building is adorned with sweeping golden butterflies to add a little extra zhuzh.

Entering the lobby feels like walking into a house. There are living room spaces on each side of a double staircase and a balcony that faces a two-story wall of windows that look out to the pool and mountains.

Oversized booths and couches await in communal spaces outfitted with warm fireplaces and Cracker Barrel-style cloth checkerboards. At the bottom of the stairs, reading nooks are built into the walls, and I was delighted to see more than one vacationing kid posted up with a good read. The landing is also the location of Parton’s “Dream Box” — a glass-encased wooden box containing a never-released song she wrote in 2015 called “My Place in History,” to be released in 2046 on her 100th birthday.

To the left is the Song & Hearth restaurant and lounge, which offers a breakfast and dinner buffet of Southern favorites and house specialties, as well as a bar.

One pro tip for morning diners: Add a mini portion of Dollywood’s (rightfully) famous Grist Mill cinnamon bread for $4.95. You can get a larger size for a higher price at the park, but you’ll almost certainly have to wait in a substantial line.

The dinner options vary throughout the week, with a classic Southern buffet featuring ham, barbecue or blackened pork loin at the carving table, and sides like fried green tomatoes and corn nuggets. Fridays and Saturdays feature the Prime Time buffet menu, which offers a smorgasbord of prime rib, a pulled pork slider station, fried chicken, hush puppies, a build-your-own-grits station, and a doughnut wall.

My recommendation any night is the Stone Soup, a belly-warming ham hock and vegetable soup. The recipe is named after a tradition started by Parton’s mother, which involved sending her children out to pick the very best rock to assist with soup that day.

According to Parton, the brood would collect and wash their selections, then her mother would figure out which child needed some extra love or attention and choose their stone to season the pot.

From afternoon to night, the lobby features different performers, such as a bejeweled violinist, guitar-singing duos and acoustic solos. In the evening, the atmosphere is almost like a DIY show or house party, but with country music in a mansion, and everyone brought their kids.

Upstairs, the resort’s standard rooms are pretty straightforward, providing the typical amenities you’d expect in a modern hotel, plus a few Dolly-centric postcards. What can distinguish an OK room from a better one is the view, which can be of the parking lot or the slope of a lush mountain. My room gave me a pretty lovely landscape of a green rolling hill covered in trees like a thick moss, conjuring a misty fog each morning.

A major perk of the DreamMore Resort is that it offers pickup and drop-off shuttles into the amusement park, which I would highly suggest, because parking gets very full very fast. On the park’s opening day this year, zealous visitors were lined up and waiting before the gates were unlocked.

You enter at Showstreet, one of 11 park areas whose names pay homage to the traditions of the Smoky Mountain area and Parton’s family. The area is Parton’s idea of a perfect street, with shopping, entertainment venues, gardens and aromatic food.

Colorful building facades and a wide promenade guide you along the South’s version of old Hollywood. This is where you’ll find amenities like stroller and wheelchair rentals, ride measurements (get measured to obtain a wristband showing which rides you qualify for), lost and found, and Timesaver passes.

Theaters like Dolly Parton’s Celebrity Theater offer live entertainment, or you can snag the famously massive 25-pound apple pie for about $230 (or a slice for $20).

The nearby Jukebox Junction is a jump back into Parton’s upbringing in the 1950s, featuring attractions named after real places such as the Pines Theater, where she first performed for a paying audience, and Red’s Drive-In, a nod to the Sevierville-based Red’s Cafe. The Lightening Rod wooden roller coaster, popular with coaster enthusiasts, runs along a steel track and launches riders from 0 to 45 miles per hour in just 20 seconds as it ascends 20 stories before facing a 165-foot drop at a maximum speed of 73 mph.

Coaster junkies will also want to check out the FireChaser Express and Wild Eagle in the Wilderness Pass area, as well as the Mystery Mine and Thunderhead in Timber Canyon.

Rivertown Junction is where you’ll find the My Tennessee Mountain Home re-creation, which offers a glimpse of the star’s early life through plexiglass windows. The detailed decor is full of Easter eggs, like the wall calendar with the singer’s birthday circled. Perhaps not the usual theme park attraction, it’s certainly one with more heart and character than any other I’ve experienced.

You’ll find more history in The Village area, where the Dollywood Express train carries thousands of passengers each day through a 20-minute scenic tour of the park, including a view of the Smokies.

The authentic coal-fired steam train is Dollywood’s oldest attraction, dating back to 1961 when the park first opened as Rebel Railroad, and rightfully remains one of the most popular Dollywood stops to this day.

Craftsman’s Valley holds another classic attraction, the Blazing Fury dark ride-indoor roller coaster combo that first ran in 1978 when the park was operating as Silver Dollar City. This area is also where you can ride the (too-thrilling-for-me) Tennessee Tornado, as well as visit the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary and Robert F. Thomas Chapel — two unique departures from the typical theme park experience.

Dollywood and the American Eagle Foundation have partnered together since 1991 to provide a sanctuary for eagles that are not able to live in the wild. Here, they have access to a 1.5 million-cubic-foot outdoor aviary that mimics their natural environment, while giving spectators an opportunity to view the elusive bird up close.

Just steps away is the Robert F. Thomas church, which has roots dating back to 1973. It was later dedicated to the minister-doctor who delivered Parton and her siblings. Like most other things here, it’s saturated in local history.

The newest area of the park is Wildwood Grove, a kids-oriented, family-friendly land themed with storybook fantasies that intertwine magical trees, dragonflies, birds and bears.

There, I took a spin on the surprisingly wild Mad Mockingbird, which sees two-person blue bird carts rise and fall as they spin around a spoke. It’s similar to Disney’s flying Dumbo ride — except you control the movement of your car by using a wing as a sail, causing you to twist and turn side to side, which is certainly where the “mad” part of the ride comes in.

When I asked what her favorite part of the park is, Parton said she’s “partial to the family show,” but added, “there’s nothing about this park that I don’t love.”

Parton said she loves seeing families flow through all summer, followed by an influx of couples in the fall who come for the romantic late-season festivals. Add in hearty meals, live glassblowing, and enough singing and dancing to fill your cup, and “there’s really something for everyone,” she said.

“That’s one of the things I love about it, and I think that’s one of the things that makes it so popular,” she mused. “There’s so much to do and so many things that appeal to so many people.”

Whether you come hungry or work up an appetite, the food options are plentiful. Aaron Banks, director of culinary services, walks an average of 7 to 12 miles a day overseeing the park’s slate of full- and quick-service restaurants and snack shacks — about 30 total.

In a season, Dollywood can run through over 380,000 pounds of French fries, about a quarter-million slices of bacon, nearly 400,000 biscuits and more than 95,000 corn dogs, according to the park.

“Dollywood’s food is very unique,” Banks said from a sunlit table at the Front Porch Cafe. “We can do a lot of different things. If you go to some of your theme parks today, it is really chicken tenders, pizza, burgers. We have that, but every restaurant doesn’t have that.”

Food is served family-style at Aunt Granny’s Restaurant, a sit-down diner named after Parton’s nieces’ and nephews’ nickname for her. Servers of all ages are dressed in the style of an old-school country grandma, complete with a floral-patterned bonnet. Guests choose two or three meats and four sides for the table, and each person gets a drink and a dessert.

I went with the pot roast, a fan favorite, and agree with those who love it. Tender and full of flavor, it was one of my favorite dishes during the trip. The fried chicken was also top-notch, with its uber-crunchy clusters keeping the inside perfectly juicy.

Reservations for Aunt Granny’s fill up rather quickly, so I suggest putting your name in as one of your first actions at the park.

Chris Seabrook, one of two Dollywood executive chefs, was brought on in 2021 after a veteran career working as a corporate chef.

“They allowed me a lot of freedom here to be creative with actually taking the park to a whole other level,” Seabrook said. “What I’ve learned is Tennessee is a whole different South. I lived in Georgia for a good five years. And the cuisine between Georgia and this part of Tennessee is very different.”

As he seeks to elevate the theme park food, adding vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, he also looks for ways to update traditional favorites.

“We have a slew of people that come and travel in here from all different states that have different tastes,” he said. “So in my mind, I’m thinking, ‘How can I round it out to actually make sure that the palate is pleased by everybody?’ Because there is something for everybody here.”

Creations with his stamp are found all over Front Porch Cafe, like the fried chicken sandwich added in 2022 that has become a bestseller. The cafe goes through about 300-375 per day, with the bacon-onion jam burger close behind.

His vision is to fully integrate Front Porch into a true farm-to-table restaurant, as well as continue introducing new foods, “but it’s a work in progress trying to change the palates of people,” said the native New Yorker.

Other new items from Seabrook this year include three varieties of loaded baked potatoes, ribs and fried chicken — all found at Miss Lillian’s BBQ Corner in Craftsman’s Valley.

Whatever you do, I urge you to try the Grist Mill cinnamon bread. Made inside Dollywood’s working 1982 grist mill, the first to be built in Tennessee in over 100 years, this should be high on your must-do list, as the line quickly creeps out the door. As you get closer to the counter, you see bakers preparing the dough with sweeping brushes of butter and dunelike mounds of cinnamon and sugar.

The elements congeal into a warm, gooey, succulent bread with a sweet, crunchy crust and a sticky cinnamon syrup that develops at the bottom, perfect for dipping. Like a loaf-pan-shaped monkey bread, the treat easily pulls apart for sharing — which will admittedly be difficult. You can add white icing or apple butter, but I felt the surprisingly non-sweet icing actually hampered the incredible taste of the candied bread.

Currently underway until June 11 is the annual Food & Flower Festival, a springtime experience marked by sculptures rendered from hundreds of thousands of flowers and plants, as well as creative food items. This year’s menu includes grilled shrimp mac and cheese, a pretzel crab melt, berry and honey funnel cakes, beef bulgogi nachos, and a Cuban sandwich with mojo sauce.

A new addition to the park for 2023 is Big Bear Mountain, Dollywood’s longest coaster, clocking in at 3,990 feet. Part of Wildwood Grove, the roller coaster will take riders on a journey that includes three launches, a pass through a tunnel and a waterfall, bunny hops, and high-speed turns that top out at 48 mph during the nearly two-minute excursion. Perfect for coaster enthusiasts as well as those who prefer tamer experiences, the bright-orange Big Bear Mountain is designed to give passengers excellent views of the park, sans the heart-stopping loops.

This fall, Parton will also open a new property adjacent to the DreamMore called the HeartSong Lodge & Resort — a cabin-themed hotel with 302 rooms, each with a mural depicting a magical wilderness scene and many with private balconies.

The resort will feature an outdoor pool with a walk-up bar, an acoustic music room, a 195-seat restaurant and lounge, and 26,000 square feet of space for private events. The main decorative feature is the four-story, 4,000-square-foot atrium lobby, containing an equally tall stone-and-brick fireplace.

Next year, visitors will get to step inside The Dolly Parton Experience, an interactive museum meant to take parkgoers through the star’s life, career and imagination. The permanent exhibit will replace the former Chasing Rainbows Museum and include family mementos and keepsakes from Parton’s career, and narration from Parton.

Workers who have been at the park for 30 years are recognized with large posters throughout the grounds, illustrated coyly to blend in with the rest of the old-timey decor. Each sign mentions the person’s name, the year they began working there, and a reference to a job they held.

All park employees, from seasonal to full time, are also eligible for free or partially funded tuition at 30 universities. As of fall, about 75 employees were taking classes, with the number growing steadily since the program began in 2022, according to the park.

“We’ve had wonderful people all through the years, but I think it has to do with how you treat people,” Parton told me. “I think it instills a great deal of pride in the people that work here that we care enough about them to want them to do good.”

The care for employees translates into a pleasant experience for parkgoers, especially those who hail from the city where labor rights were born.

“The staff were incredibly courteous, incredibly, like more-than-you-would-think noticeably courteous,” Taylor recalled. “Usually you notice someone that’s rude, but we noticed that people were just really polite, really efficient, really great.”

Outside the resort, Pigeon Forge is like the Dells of the Smokies. Commercially, it checks all the same boxes: strips of discount souvenir shops, carnival rides, bizarre attractions, and excursions. Instead of taking one of the Dell’s famous Duck Tours through a lake, you could take a Parton-affiliated Pink Adventure Tour through the national park.

While there are other celebrities in town — Paula Deen, Guy Fieri and Jimmy Buffett all have attractions here — it’s Parton who dominates. In addition to Dollywood, Dollywood’s Splash Country, the adventure tours and the DreamMore resort, Parton has teamed up with Herschend Family Entertainment on dinner show experiences such as the longtime Dolly Parton’s Stampede, Hatfield & McCoy, and Pirates Voyage, plus The Comedy Barn and Frizzle Chicken Farmhouse Café.

I spent several childhood vacations making the three-hour drive to the Wisconsin Dells, staying at a themed hotel and getting caramel-covered apples and old-timey photos taken. In this way, the commercial aspect of Pigeon Forge felt familiar. Neon-colored buildings, eccentric billboards and windows filled with sun-bleached T-shirts stand out in the foreground of rolling, vibrant greenery and miles of nature and untouched land.

The tourist economy is an essential life force for the region. While some businesses are kitschy, they also provide jobs for many locals, something Parton has been adamant about supporting throughout her career.

I had the pleasure of meeting some of these fine folks when I attended one of two nightly performances at Pirate’s Voyage, akin to a pirate-themed Medieval Times. The show consists of a “blue versus red” concept in which each side of the room roots for a specific pirate and their crew.

The menu, for alcoholic drinks anyway, didn’t offer prices, but I went with a mysterious blue drink I saw bobbing about the room. The Blue Mermaid was $15 and came with a skull-shaped plastic souvenir glass. Considering a can of beer at Wrigley Field isn’t much cheaper, I swallowed the price and sipped on it the entire show.

The servers wear smiles the entire time as they dole out “babys” and “honeys” as rapidly as they delivered our meals, all while working in full costume, hauling trays of food and pitcher-fulls up and down the arena-like seating. Their relentless work ethic is well worth good tipping — I recommend bringing cash.

Equally impressive were the performers themselves, many of whom came to town from other prestigious venues when their old shows were shut down during and after the pandemic. They plunged into the pool waters below with the grace and confidence of a swan, matching in elegance and superior in personality. The acting from all parties was big and exciting, with singing, fire, rope climbing, sword fighting and acrobatics at every turn.

Dinner consisted of a creamy (emphasis on the cream) vegetable soup, and a plate with a large fried chicken breast, a small slice of ham, a baked potato wedge, a half-ear of corn and a biscuit. A warm towelette is distributed before moving on to the peach turnover dessert. It’s more than enough to eat, but it’s not really about the food, anyway — the main course is the show.

I was curious to know how Shattuck and Taylor, both self-described liberals, felt heading into Tennessee to spend tourist dollars during a time when the state was receiving publicity for the passage of recent anti-LGBTQ laws.

The political environment was a put-off, Shattuck said, and something she and her wife always weigh when considering a vacation.

“When Rachel and I travel, we always factor in, No. 1, our safety traveling somewhere,” Shattuck said. “Sometimes I say that to people and they’re like, ‘What do you mean? It’s 2023, it doesn’t matter.’ And that is simply wrong, because we are not safe everywhere.”

But navigating the line between red and blue is something Shattuck is used to facing head-on in “a very conservative, notoriously red” McHenry County, she said.

Taylor said that while some parts of the general area sported confrontational messages, Parton’s theme park was notably friendly.

“When we were in the Pigeon Forge area, down by the main strip there, there is an overwhelming amount of Confederate-friendly signage, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ signs on loud trucks, a lot of Trump paraphernalia,” Taylor recalled. “But when you’re in Dollywood itself, it’s a very LGBTQ-friendly environment. It’s a much different vibe once you’re in Dollywood.”

Tennessee and its people are nuanced. Often portrayed as devoutly backwoods, Parton said her home state is full of shiny gems — you just have to be willing to unearth them.

“A lot of people that are from the bigger cities, you know, they saw the movie ‘Deliverence,’ they think, ‘I have to squeal like a pig to come here,’” Parton joked with me during an interview. “Well, we’re not that. We have these wonderful resorts, we have the wonderful safe places to stay … there’s wonderful things to see in this whole area.”

Parton said she takes pride in making everyone who comes through the gates feel welcome and at ease.

“I just feel like the park is blessed,” she added. “I’m just so proud that we’re able to have a great place where people can come feel safe and feel good to where they can bring their families and have a place where they feel like they’re at home.”

I was tasked with seeing if Dollywood is still relevant today and happily discovered that it is, perhaps more than ever. It’s a shrine to some of the very things Tennessee legislators have been wagging their fingers at lately: fabulous dresses, wigs, and passionate musical performances.

“When I heard ‘Dollywood,’ I was like, OK, maybe it’s just kind of like a little kitschy place that’s dedicated to this country singer — but it really is more like a really, really nice, clean, theme park,” Taylor said. “It’s a pretty impressive operation. Honestly, I was kind of blown away.”

It’s fun, varied and immersive. It’s a smaller and more manageable Disney World enveloped in the enchanting scenery of the Smokies, honoring Dolly’s roots, traditions, and all the people who have made herself and the park what it is today.

It’s Parton who gave Shattuck, a shy kid from the Midwest, the confidence to go to her high school Halloween dance dressed as the star. She also recently unwrapped an old Dollywood souvenir her other grandma, Leona, purchased when visiting the park many years ago. It was a “Best of Dolly Parton” record, bought for $2.75.

“In a way it sort of feels like a connection to these two grandmothers of mine,” she shared. “I get to go as an adult and think of them and wonder about the joy that they experienced there. But the other thing, too, is I think places like this really put people in the moment. You know, when you’re in theme parks like this, it’s very easy to forget about all the other stressors in the world, and in your life.”

The Southern icon said she loves the Midwest, too, but “one of my favorite times ever spent was in Chicago” during the three-month filming of her 1992 movie, “Straight Talk.” Between shoots, Parton said she would spend time exploring Chicago’s parks, dining out and generally enjoying the city.

“It was one of the most beautiful times I’ve ever had,” she recalled. “It was the summer, it was like really good weather. It snowed the day after we wrapped and everybody says, ‘Oh you don’t want to be here in the winter.’ But I had the most beautiful time; stayed in the greatest little hotel. We just had the best time in Chicago. The people were great.”

I grew up in DeKalb County, in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village of Kingston. I can remember the fantastical daydreaming born from the isolation of rural living. In my childhood bedroom, I read “Coat of Many Colors” over and over and dared to dream of something bigger. At Dollywood, I took the opportunity to reflect on my own Southern roots, which stem from the coal-mining communities of Kentucky.

I understand now the magic of Dollywood is the magic of Parton, herself — brassy, fun and wholesome. Equal parts down home and old Hollywood Boulevard.

What could the future hold for Dollywood in Parton’s wildest fantasy? You never know, she said. Maybe an aquarium, or a year-round water park, or Dollywoods across the globe, she mused. With creative minds and imaginative people, the possibilities are limitless.

Though Dollywood may be in the holler, it’s not hollow. It’s not a soulless ride factory like Six Flags. The park is a compelling page-turner of her life’s story, and as always, she encourages you to read.

Dollywood: One-day tickets for adults start at $89, up to three-day tickets for $119, which can be used across a five-day period. Tickets for children (ages 4-9) and seniors are $79 for one day, or $109 for three days. Season tickets, group passes, and add-ons are also available. The park’s 2023 season continues through Jan. 6, 2024. 2700 Dollywood Parks Blvd., Pigeon Forge; 800-DOLLYWOOD; dollywood.com

Pirate’s Voyage: Tickets, which include dinner, start at $70 for adults and $35 for children 3-9 years old, but premium seats closer to the action can reach $100 and $65, respectively. Shows typically available at 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. 2713 Parkway, Pigeon Forge; 865-505-2469; piratesvoyage.com

DreamMore Resort & Spa: Standard rooms from $149 per night, plus tax. For a family of four between Memorial Day and Labor Day, rates start at $379 per night. Park admission packages for Dollywood and Splash Country available. 2525 DreamMore Way, Pigeon Forge; 800-365-5996; dollywood.com/resort

Linze Rice is a freelance writer.