Dollywood and Splash Country

Dollywood and Splash Country are located side by side in the beautiful Tennessee mountains. Though the parks are clean and well maintained, they are both small and somewhat disappointing. Dollywood Theme Park is like a large fair with shops and carnival games but only has a handful of thrill rides. My teenage nieces, who have been to Cedar Point and are season pass holders to Busch Gardens, actually described it as kind of boring with not enough roller coasters. Similarly, Splash Country is the smallest water park we have ever been to with only a few big rides.

(For a detailed review of Dollywood’s Dream More Resort, click here.)

LOCATION

Dollywood Theme Park
2700 Dollywood Parks Blvd.
Pigeon Forge, TN 37863

TICKET PRICES

Dollywood One Day Ticket – Adult $65, Child $52

Splash Country One Day Ticket – Adult $48, Child $43

When we went, there was a special for 3 Days, 2 Parks – Adult $99, Child $82. We could visit the parks as often as we wanted in those 3 days.

PARKING

If you aren’t staying at the Dream More Resort, parking at Dollywood and Splash Country is $12 for general parking and $18 for RV’s.

If you are staying at Dollywood’s Dream More Resort, it is very easy to get to the parks by simply riding the free trolleys that arrive every 15 minute at the front entrance of the resort. To board the trolley you need to prove you are a hotel guest by showing the bus driver your room key or fast pass. The trolley will first stop at Splash Country and then Dollywood and you also use this to get back to the resort when you are ready.

SPLASH COUNTRY

Park hours are 10am-7pm and the last trolley to the Dream More Resort is at 7:30pm. Outside food and drinks are not allowed. Staying at the Dream More Resort does not provide you with fast passes to the water park, only the theme park. Splash Country time savers are $20 for a fast pass or $30 for the premium fast pass which gets you on the rides even faster. You can purchase them either at the fast pass location at the resort or at the water park.

Lockers are located in several spots across the park. At $14, they are almost three times the price of the lockers at the Dollywood theme park which is ridiculous.

The ground was very hot and walking with bare feet was uncomfortable. In fact, for the next two days, the bottom of my feet were tender from mild burning due to the hot concrete. I wish I had worn water shoes.

This is the entrance to the lazy river. On a few occasions, there were so many people in the river that traffic jams happened which caused everyone to stop moving in the water.

Mountain Scream and SwiftWater Run.

Slick Rock Racer.

River Rush.

Fire Tower Falls. There was never a wait for this ride since most people were too scared to try it!

Kids area – Bear Mountain Fire Tower.

The wave pool was fun because the waves continued for much longer than at other waterparks.

DOLLYWOOD THEME PARK

Park hours are 10am-10pm and the last trolley to the Dream More Resort is at 10:30pm. If you are staying at the resort, the trolley will drop you off at your own private entrance which is pictured below. This spot also happens to be the best place to view the fireworks show at 9:30pm every night. Outside food and drinks are allowed.

If you are staying at the Dream More Resort, you get fast passes to Dollywood for free. If you are not staying at Dream More Resort, fast passes can be purchased at the park for $30 per person. Using the up and down arrows, you find the name of the ride you like and then press the red dot. This will reserve your place in line and show a time that you should come back for your ride. When that time arrives, the fast pass will buzz to let you know to get in the fast pass line. Most often, the wait was only 5 minutes, but one ride was actually 17 minutes and another ride said it was not taking reservations. Still, it was better than having to wait in the long lines.

Lockers are located in several spots across the park and they are designed so that you pay once but can move your belongings in and out of the different locker locations. These floating lockers are $6.

The park is full of cute shops where you can buy food, gifts, and trinkets, but there are only a few thrill rides.

The wonderful cinnamon scent drew us into Grist Mill which, like many of the other stores at the park, sold bakery items and jams.

The Ice Cream shop was expensive and had employees who didn’t know what they were doing. We ordered brownie sundaes and they made 2 of our 3 sundaes incorrectly.

There are a few of these fast food type places in the park.

This bird exhibit was adjacent to a large screened off mountain side that was home to several bald eagles.

There were a lot of these arcade and carnival type games in the back of the park, none of which were free.

Below is Barnstormer which is a huge swing that goes high in the air.

My nieces described Blazing Fury as a haunted house that you ride through where you see a house on fire and spooky looking people running from the house. They liked it and said anyone could ride it because there are no big drops like on a roller coaster.