For nearly four decades, Dollywood has been inseparable from Dolly Parton. The Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, theme park is not simply a destination that happens to carry the name of a famous entertainer. Parton helped shape what Dollywood became, turning pieces of her childhood, music, family, Appalachian upbringing, and personal values into experiences that millions of guests have encountered over the ...

OFFICIAL UPDATE AS OF 1:58 P.M. EST Singer-songwriter-actress Dolly Parton, whose glittering country music stardom was matched by her pop fame and popular parallel careers in film and TV, died on Aug. 25. She was 80 years old. Click here for the official breaking news and learn more about this heartbreaking and tragic update.   Dollywood has confirmed a closure that will ...

For generations of visitors, Dollywood has been more than another theme park in the Smoky Mountains. It has been one of the clearest physical expressions of Dolly Parton’s life, music, childhood, and connection to East Tennessee. Her name is on the entrance, her music fills the park, attractions tell pieces of her story, and entire areas are devoted to the ...

Most of what makes a Walt Disney World vacation work happens somewhere guests never see. Nobody thinks about where the monorails sleep. Nobody wonders where the parade floats go when the parade ends, or where the buses get serviced, or where the fireworks shells are stored between shows. The resort runs on an enormous backstage operation that exists purely so ...

Dolly Parton is still working — but her schedule looks very different from what it once did. The country music legend has scaled back several public appearances over the past year, including events connected to Dollywood, awards ceremonies, and a planned Las Vegas residency. Parton has not disappeared from public life entirely. She appeared at Dollywood in March and attended ...

Cast members carry more than most guests realize, and the past few weeks have made that unusually visible. The situation involving a Disneyland Peter Pan performer brought to light a conversation that people in theme park entertainment have been having quietly for years. Character performers work in costume and in character, often without the ability to break the illusion when ...

The D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is finally here, and if you have been in the Disney fan community for any length of time, you know what that means. This is the weekend everything drops. Months of speculation, rumor threads, permit watching, and prediction posts all get resolved in the span of about seventy-two hours. Fans build entire wish ...

Crowds are the number one thing guests worry about before a Walt Disney World trip, and that worry has gotten worse. There used to be a reliable slow season. Late January. Early September. The stretch after Labor Day when the parks felt like they belonged to locals again. Those windows still exist, but they are thinner and less predictable than ...

For most of its history, Magic Kingdom did not serve alcohol at all. That was intentional, and it was Walt’s position. The park opened in 1971 as a place where the rules were different from the rest of the world, and no alcohol was part of that identity. For decades, if you wanted a drink at Walt Disney World, you ...

The day is finally here! Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party opens tonight at Magic Kingdom, which means Halloween season at Walt Disney World is officially underway. After months of showtime announcements, character lineups, and ticket dates quietly selling out, the first party night is finally here. And if you have spent any time in these parks recently, you know the party ...