Loop 030 printable

Volume 2, No. 8. April 26, 2002

New Arrivals

It’s a themed area!
Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, announces the arrival of Adventures in Imagination, April 6, 2002. Measurements: Seven acres, a motion theater with 4-minute ride, an 11,000-square-foot (3,333-square-meter) exhibition hall, one store and one donut shop. Motion theater delivered by JHP Productions, MY Design and IWERKS, exhibition delivered by Bruce Robinson, Sandlot Pictures, UV/FX, Bandit Lites and Maltbie.

Dolly Parton was in Pigeon Forge on September 11, 2001, filming scenes for Smoky Mountain Wilderness Adventure, the Iwerks film replacing Thunder Road at her park’s motion theaters, when the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., brought her world to a stop.

Almost seven months later, she was back at the park to unveil the film about her and whacky inventor Clovis riding through the Smokys in an all-terrain vehicle that floats, flies and sometimes runs. She called the moment bittersweet, recalling that during the filming nobody was even sure if they would be celebrating an opening day. Now, while she’ll always remember the circumstances of the filming, she felt proud to be able to open the park’s 17th season on schedule.

That’s a large part of what the new $10 million Adventures in Imagination area is all about: Dolly and her life of successes. The centerpiece attraction is Chasing Rainbows, a two-story exhibit dedicated to Parton’s upbringing in the mountains and subsequent music and film career. Many of the displays feature her own keepsakes, from an old sauna to a piece of butterfly carpet she once had in her house. On the Friday before the public opening, she led a press contingent of nearly 200 reporters and photographers through the museum and the rest of the themed area, then treated the media to a 40-minute private concert with her new band, the Blueniques, a warm-up gig for her upcoming world tour.

More such warm-up concerts came as a surprise to Opening Day guests. Every vehicle entering the park received a scratch-off game card with prizes ranging from free popcorn or Coca Cola to free admissions or upgrades. Grand prizes were four tickets to one of Parton’s three concerts that day, which had not been announced in advance. Everybody entering the park was a winner—some beyond their Imaginations.