Amusement ParkRanker

20Rank

Dollywood

Score7.6

01 / 20

🇺🇸United StatesTheme parkNorth America (USA)

Pigeon Forge, United States

A Tennessee park in the Smoky Mountains, with live music, crafts and great coasters.

Overall score

Weighted index · out of 10

7.6

Thrill		8.5
Family		8.6
Value		4.5

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About rank badges

Opened

1986

Size

160 acres (65 ha)

Rides

50 attractions

Avg. visit

8 hours

Ticket range

$95–$100 USD

Dollywood overview

Dollywood at a glance

A Tennessee park in the Smoky Mountains, with live music, crafts and great coasters.

Dolly Parton's Pigeon Forge park pairs Appalachian craft demonstrations, live bluegrass and Southern cooking with a genuinely elite coaster line-up including Lightning Rod, Thunderhead and Big Bear Mountain. It is Tennessee's biggest ticketed attraction and the anchor of a resort that now includes two on-site hotels and a water park.

BEST TIME TO VISIT · Autumn

Our editor's recommendation

Yes, if you already have a reason to be in the region. It ranks #20 of the 50 parks we score, at 7.6/10 with 50 rides and attractions and a typical visit of about 8 hours. Tickets run $95–$100 a day. The strongest reasons to go are its big-ticket thrill rides and family-friendly range. The honest catch: tickets are expensive for what you get. Best time to visit: Autumn.

Dollywood highlights

Giant Eagle Sculpture at Dollywood

Riders Soaring on Dragonflier in Wildwood Grove

Rides & attractions at Dollywood

These are the top attractions at Dollywood — 15 rides and experiences hand-picked and verified by our editorial team, including 9 signature rides you shouldn't miss. Use the filter bar below to narrow the line-up by rider height, zone, category or thrill level.

RIDER HEIGHTCM

SORT

SHOWING 15 OF 15 ATTRACTIONS · 9 SIGNATURE

SIGNATURE
Big Bear Mountain
MODERATE
ROLLER COASTER
99 cm min
TOP SPEED
77.2 km/h
HEIGHT
20.1 m
TRACK
1216 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
2023
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Blazing Fury
MODERATE
ROLLER COASTER
107 cm min
TOP SPEED
35.4 km/h
HEIGHT
6.7 m
TRACK
463 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
1978
IndoorSkip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Dollywood Express
MILD
TRANSPORT
No height requirement
SIGNATURE
FireChaser Express
MODERATE
ROLLER COASTER
99 cm min
TOP SPEED
55.5 km/h
HEIGHT
23.8 m
TRACK
740 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
2014
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Lightning Rod
EXTREME
ROLLER COASTER
122 cm min
TOP SPEED
117 km/h
HEIGHT
50 m
TRACK
1158 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
2016
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Mystery Mine
HIGH
ROLLER COASTER
122 cm min
TOP SPEED
70 km/h
HEIGHT
26 m
TRACK
551 m
INVERSIONS
2
OPENED
2007
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Tennessee Tornado
HIGH
ROLLER COASTER
122 cm min
TOP SPEED
101.4 km/h
HEIGHT
49.7 m
TRACK
787 m
INVERSIONS
3
OPENED
1999
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Thunderhead
HIGH
ROLLER COASTER
117 cm min
TOP SPEED
86.4 km/h
HEIGHT
30.6 m
TRACK
995 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
2004
Skip-the-line eligible
SIGNATURE
Wild Eagle
EXTREME
ROLLER COASTER
107 cm min
TOP SPEED
98.1 km/h
HEIGHT
64 m
TRACK
953 m
INVERSIONS
4
OPENED
2012
Skip-the-line eligible
Barnstormer
HIGH
THRILL RIDE
122 cm min
Skip-the-line eligible
Seasonal
Daredevil Falls
HIGH
WATER RIDE
122 cm min
Skip-the-line eligible
Dragonflier
MODERATE
ROLLER COASTER
99 cm min
TOP SPEED
75 km/h
HEIGHT
19.3 m
TRACK
453 m
INVERSIONS
0
OPENED
2019
Skip-the-line eligible
Drop Line
EXTREME
DROP TOWER
122 cm min
TOP SPEED
72 km/h
HEIGHT
60 m
OPENED
2017
Skip-the-line eligible
Seasonal
Smoky Mountain River Rampage
MODERATE
WATER RIDE
107 cm min
Skip-the-line eligible
The Waltzing Swinger
MILD
FAMILY RIDE
122 cm min
Skip-the-line eligible

Plan your visit to Dollywood

Operating hours: Typically 10am-6pm in spring and autumn, extended to 9pm or later in summer and during Smoky Mountain Christmas
Operating calendar: Seasonal daily hours published on the official Dollywood calendar.
Seasonal closures: Seasonal park: closed most of January to mid-March, plus scattered weekdays in spring and autumn
Queue-skip pass: TimeSaver Pass: five expedited entries plus priority show seating, $60-$100 per person by date. Not valid on Lightning Rod, Big Bear Mountain, Mystery Mine, Dragonflier or FireChaser Express. From about $80 USD.
How long to stay: Full day, two during a festival
Multi-day tickets: 2-day and 3-day tickets, and combination tickets with Dollywood's Splash Country water park, are sold at a discount to two single days.
Season pass: Annual or season pass from about $149 USD.

Dollywood map

Plan your visit

Click the map to view it full size.

Dollywood events & shows

SEASONAL FESTIVALMay
Barbeque & Bluegrass
Pitmasters and bluegrass bands take over the park for a weeks-long food and music festival.
SEASONAL FESTIVALApril - June
Flower & Food Festival
Springtime festival with giant living flower sculptures, seasonal Southern menus and live music.
SEASONAL FESTIVALSeptember - October
Harvest Festival with Great Pumpkin LumiNights
Autumn festival with thousands of illuminated pumpkin sculptures after dark, craftsmen and Southern gospel.
HOLIDAYNovember - January
Smoky Mountain Christmas
Award-winning Christmas event with around five million lights, the Parade of Many Colors and holiday stage shows.

Event dates shift each year — confirm on the park's official site before booking.

Dollywood reviews & ratings

Amusement Park Ranker overall score

7.6/10

An aggregate of 3 public review platforms, each normalized to a 0–10 scale and weighted by review volume.

Scores aggregated from public review platforms, not independently verified by Amusement Park Ranker.

Dollywood wait times

Typical day
14MIN
All-park average: 20 min
−5 min vs average
Crowd & wait score
6.6/10
All-park average: 5.5/10
+1.1 vs average

Averages compare Dollywood with all 50 ranked parks. Source: Queue-Times.com 2025 all-ride annual mean (park 55), first-season attractions excluded. Average posted queue times, indicative only.

Dollywood records & achievements

Golden Ticket Award for Best Christmas Event
2024
Smoky Mountain Christmas has repeatedly won Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Award for the best Christmas event at any theme park.
Applause Award for the world's best theme park
2010
Dollywood received the industry's Applause Award in 2010, the biennial honour given to the park judged best in the world by an international panel.
World's first launched wooden roller coaster
2016
Lightning Rod opened in 2016 as the first wooden coaster to use a launch system rather than a lift hill. The launch was replaced with a traditional chain lift in 2024, ending the record.

Attractions near Dollywood

Titanic Museum Attraction, a museum near the park

4 KM

Museum

Titanic Museum Attraction

Half-scale Titanic replica on the Parkway with 400 artefacts from the ship.

The Island in Pigeon Forge, a entertainment near the park

6 KM

Entertainment

The Island in Pigeon Forge

Riverfront entertainment district with a 61-metre observation wheel and fountain show.

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, a aquarium near the park

11 KM

Aquarium

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

Gatlinburg aquarium with a 104-metre shark tunnel and penguin habitat.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a nature near the park

12 KM

Nature

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

America's most visited national park: Newfound Gap, waterfalls and elk meadows.

Things to do near Dollywood

Dollywood is part of our index of theme parks ranked worldwide. Planning a shorter shortlist? The top 20 amusement parks in the world narrows the field to the essential stops.