Episode 6: The Transformation of Dollywood - From Rebel Railroad to Smoky Mountain Theme Park

welcome to hollers and Hills the podcast that takes you deep into the heart of East Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains the tourism Hub welcomes millions of visitors a year but it's also home to Generations rooted and as hollers and Hills join us as we uncover centuries old rural communities share Rich history and explore landmarks and attractions old and new meet the passionate Craftsmen entrepreneurs and Community leaders dedicated to preserving this beautiful region for future Generations get ready to pack your bags and create your own Mountain Memories hollers and Hills is sponsored by Compass Ventures a leading developer in sever County helping to navigate your next trip to the Smokies Dollywood is the largest attraction in severe County and like its namesake an international hit every year Millions travel from around the globe to visit dol's theme park a 100 65 acre playground in the Great Smoky Mountains recently Trip Adviser named Dollywood the number one theme park in the US and top 10 in the world in this episode we look at the success stored past and future of severe County's largest employer and Dolly's niece even gives us a behind the-scenes tour of the new Dolly part experience hello and welcome to hollers and Hills I'm your host Beth Haynes alongside Austin Williams and we are thrilled to welcome Pete Owen who is vice president of marketing at Dollywood how are you I'm good good to see you guys today it has been another great year at Dollywood congratulations on 2024 I mean each year you outdo the year before well I mean from a product standpoint great year we did the dolly paron experience um tremendous product uh it was an opportunity for us to really kind of evolve what's been a part of Dollywood for its entire 39 years which uh has been some kind of museum for Dolly I want to talk more about um current attractions in a moment but we got to talk about the history of Dollywood uh it is a Powerhouse theme park today but it wasn't always and dates about 60 years I know Austin I'm older than you I remember coming to Silver Dollar City as a kid um and the train uh but it dates back even before then there's been something on that property since the mid1 1950s so the Robins Brothers that built Tweety railroad um purchased the property went in they laid the um the rails for the train experience uh and they opened Rebel Railroad in 1960 and it was really a traditional kind of Southern experience and um it was a train um is same exact train layout we haven't changed anything in however many years that is um but the experience on the train has changed and actually the train cars have changed but the engines really haven't they had a single engine it's a Narrow Gauge um they're Baldwin steam locomotives and uh took you up the hill there was a little bit of a Civil War battle in the rebel Railroad experience and then where the depot is still was a Depot then and there was some experience in that area but not a whole lot and then Art Modell bought the property from the Robins Brothers you might know Art Modell is the owner of the Cleveland Browns and then the Baltimore Ravens um he wanted a train and so he bought himself a railroad and um converted Rebel railroad Into Gold Rush Junction and he took advantage of all of the uh westerns that were on TV at the time in the in the mid1 1960s and early 1970s so it was really a western themed area he started a develop what is the Village area of the park now started uh the area put in the log flume that was there originally some other um Carnival flat rides and um moved what is is the Robert F Thomas Chapel into that area uh in the valley and started develop the valley and operated that Park Until 1975 and in 1975 Jack and Pete hend who founded silver do City with their mother in 1960 um decided they wanted to expand their business they were already in the water park building business and they wanted to build another theme park and so they located this area thought it was very similar to the Ozarks and uh like the people like the property like the opportunity and so they bought the property operated it for one year as gold rush and then opened a Silver Dollar City Tennessee in 1976 I mean they were doing 600,000 people a year uh in basically a summer and fall season um but there's this lady named Ally Parton that told Barbara Walters in 19 about 1982 that she was interested in building a theme park in her home area even named it well she did she said she wanted to call it Dollywood uh she was inspired by the sign in Los Angeles that uh she replaced the the H with a D in her mind and decided that that would be what it is she described it as a Smoky Mountain Fairyland like Disneyland and she was pretty well down the road with that idea there were some investors that were going to build it they actually had located a piece of property that is off 321 in Gatlinburg um and then Ted Miller who was the general manager of uh of sella City Tennessee uh and is now dol's representative for us and has been for nearly 40 years um caught wind div it decided that probably this Market at at that time was not capable of supporting two theme parks and thought it might be a good idea if maybe the hersin Met Dolly and there was some sort of conversation which is exactly what happened she was on tour with Kenny Rogers they went to Denver to meet her had uh a conversation and and basically said you know this town ain't big enough for the both of us so why don't we uh you know so why don't we combine uh the effort and so she invested in the in in the business um and Dollywood a Tennessee joint venture was created open May 3rd 1986 and we doubled attendance from the last year of Silver Dollar City to the first year of Dollywood in the first year and they remain Partners correct yeah the same family and ding part same partnership agreement exists still a Tennessee joint venture um um and uh where dolly is the marketing and creative partner and the hersin are the operating partner um so the way I'd like to describe it to people that are really unfamiliar with it is the hersin do all of the stuff that's related to business keep the Hot Stuff hot the cold stuff cold everybody paid uh works on you know the theme park stuff the develop the ride stuff all of that stuff but when it comes to the creative of what are we going to do uh what's the story behind it how does all of that work uh or what's the aesthetic or what's the history of it or how can we tie this in she's involved in all of those conversations and uh it's been a very successful partnership so from a very localized Park in 1986 to where we are now so imagine say 1.1 A5 million guests in 1986 to uh almost 3 and2 million guests at the Dollywood park and so over 4 million guests total within our Park complex now the number one trip advisor Park uh in the US um and uh you know lots and lots and lots of of accolades golden that we won the golden ticket last year's best park of the world best entertainment Park all of those things I've got the whole list here National Geographic forbs um Southern Living absolutely every award out there basically we beat out Disney World oh well I mean our experiences are much different Disney is to Magic the Dollywood is to love and so what we try to do I mean we say Dollywood love every moment and we mean it it's the opportunity that we want our guests to come no matter where they're coming from or what their you know what their life is like feel welcome in a non-judgmental loving atmosphere that shows true southern hospitality and they we want an authentic experience so one of the other big differences between us and Universal and Disney is it's not made up here the experience is authentic you walk the valley I mean you're in the smoke the foothills of the Smoky Mountain The Artisans we have are making things that have been made here um you know we don't have madeup characters the stories we tell are Smoky Mountain stories and Dolly paron stories and Dolly stories are Smoky stories it's our variety of attractions our ride attractions are incredibly varied compared to a lot of other Parks uh our show product is incredible based on other parks in the US we do more performances a day than any other themed Park in the United States um the you know the music you hear is much of it from the mountains blueg grass country um oldtime rock and roll and then when we built our Resorts the idea was how do we make that experience that we've created at Dollywood be a 24hour 7day a week experience and we've been trying to pick our spots to be able to do that and so it's much more planful than it ever has been how much is still undeveloped um we have hundreds of Acres so for I don't know 20 years of Park operation the park was uh up and back right so it was kind of a inverted te and we started in 2004 to develop to tie that Loop together so that there would be a loop in the park so there would be a little better flow so put in Thunderhead originally put in Timber Tower and then mystery mine and then we rep since replaced Timber Tower uh put in River Battle the year that we connected the valleys and then we added while Wildwood Grove in 2019 I mean we basically are developing another Park along long Wildwood Grove and you know it's uh um Big Bear Mountain was Wildwood Grove Phase 2 the 2026 project we have is Wildwood grow phase three there's a phase four parcel there uh across the road and uh I mean the goal is that um you know we become the preferred family destination in the United States I don't know if the purpose or the mission is still creating memories repeating it is that's still the mission of the company and I mean it's just so clear in this the things that you're telling us here today that like that shines through and what your focus is on and talk a little bit about that and how that just that flows throughout the company uh we kind of really spelled it out as that probably about 15 years ago but the creating memories worth repeating has been the mission of Dollywood and um and really most of the hersan properties since um the mid 80s so uh Ken Bell who was the uh original Park president uh was with some other folks within the so Dollar City company at the time but Ken was really the driving force behind memories worth repeating he's the one that kind of coined that and the fact that that's really what we're in business for but one of my favorite stories is there's a there's a young lady um named Mary and uh she's an intellectually disabled person that was nonverbal and her parents but she loved music okay U but was totally non-verbal and so they had taken her a lot of different places to a vacation and to try to pour into her um so that she would have a quality life and they came to Dollywood and they rented a cabin and you could see almost immediately from what they say that she was different when she came to the park and um by the time that um their visit ended she was um kind of a different person so they decided to move wow to severable to be close to Dollywood so they could come and um they're regulars at the park and Mary's no longer nonverbal wow and she interacts with our she interacts with our hosts at the at the front gate and and knows everybody how can you not be inspired right 100% you know how can you not be inspired to go to work be excited about what you're doing we really have worked to try to to take care of our host because I mean they really are I mean they're Are Special Sauce they are the ones that get it done every day they're the ones that are forging those one-on-one relationships with our guests I mean we have 40 almost 4200 employees now and we have dorms and uh and a lot of international folks but imagine those folks that are from here the Sal of the Earth the folks that really understand it working shoulder toosh shoulder from with somebody from Taiwan or Jamaica or the Dominican Republic and how that all comes together and how they they're not only touching the lives of our guests they're touching the lives of other you talk about non-judgment loving everyone living her faith each and every day that's Dolly and I cover the part two decades we were together quite a bit she's present I don't remember cu the last fight years you're guaranteed to have multiple visits of Dolly at the park um and it feels like that's more frequent than it was 10 years ago 15 years ago you know it's interesting too because she well she's always here at opening I mean and she has always she's always been here at opening but it really depends on what she's doing what you know what her what's going on with other parts of her of her work but the busier she's become the more important it's been for her to come back to the park and seems to be priority for her it's and it it has really um become that way there are folks that are coming from all over the country and they're coming and they're staying with us or staying in the hotels locally if if they're not staying with us they're going to other attractions they're eating in the market so you know the fact that we've been able to grow our business I think is also benefited the community a great deal which goes back to what her original Mission was of even wanting to do it she wanted to create jobs in the area she wanted to to grow the area in which she grew up um and uh we have been blessed that we've been able to fulfill that part of her dream speaking of the Dolly Parton experience the new attraction for Dollywood in 20124 I've visited it's behind the scenes exhibit with Steve Summers whose creative director for Dolly Parton Enterprises he's basically Dolly's right hand we had a museum here for many many years called Chasing Rainbows that that I worked on and uh you know museums go in a cycle of about 5 to 10 years and before they revamp it and that one went for 22 years a long run it was a little bit long and so when they when they decided to revamp it you know they said well let's go for it let's really do something big and uh so they took one Museum and turned it into three three different exhibits now so it is vast you know there's there's a whole experience section there's a clothing section and then there's an uh uh a family- based section and each one of them is is amazing and you know watching Dolly watch them and squeal and you know again pieces of her life that she's watching it's just emotional I think the the the guests here at Dollywood are going to love it you talk about that emotional connection you can't help but feel yeah like dolly is in this room yeah yeah beautifully done too uh the the whole team here at Dollywood Sydney McCormick Amy owb who put all this together it it's really overwhelming people look through all these displays and they think about the different projects that went through it but to me this has just been my life you know I've spent my almost my entire adult life with Dolly I started working for her companies when I was 26 years old and uh so it's it's been quite a journey for me and and I see bits and pieces in in in everything so it's it's fascinating is there a dress a fabric a shoe a wig that is your favorite no there's not because I'm always thinking about the one that I'm doing next okay if you turn out 300 outfits a year you're talking about there's one in production every day every day so that's a lot of of thinking and so I don't I I'm not one of those people who looks back I don't look I don't have time to look back I'm trying to get us where we're going next I don't think you sleep yeah well no I'm a pretty good sleeper but uh you you can't look back you have to keep going forward and figure out where because Dolly's driving this train and we're just shoveling cold as fast as we can go to keep the engine running so we can get where she wants to go was there one thing that you said that we have to include this in the dolly part experience um no okay no because every outfit is just as important you know if I look at things and I go this is the most important thing we're going to do this year then that means 299 of them aren't right and I don't look at like that I really look at it like everything we do is the most important outfit for the day which is also how Dolly sees her fans you know whoever she's talking to is the most important person in that world at that moment and I look at this the same way yeah you guys are a great Duo how long have you all work together we well I started working for her in on May 6th of 1991 is when I started working here uhhuh and uh and been with her ever since you were a performer I was a singer dancer here for for 10 years and then I was the entertainment manager for 5 years and then I left and went to Nashville and worked just with her anything branding with Dolly any big project you are a part of every single thing she does right anything that has to do with The Branding uh of anything so I don't design all the clothes I mean sometimes I hire other designers to do things it depends on what we're up to um I do design a lot of them about 300 a year outfits so it is a lot of clothes that we produce but there are other people that we use and still use all the time that are fantastic designers you do a lot of her shopping right she's she's very petite I've read that you buy children's clothes often all the time you know one of my grandkids is is about the same size is Dolly now okay and so yeah and I take her pants sometimes I go give me those pants and I'm going to give those to Dolly so yeah do it all the time yeah okay so this is open you've got the the big project in Nashville let's talk about some some things there I know you can't give all the details but let's talk about some of those projects we've got the hotel in the works a new Museum in the works uh Broadway in the works yeah she's going to be shopping the show she has a new perfume that launches uh in August and then another one that launches in December makeup line starts in August we have this whole perfume campaign and we have a cosmetic campaign that's coming out we have uh pots and pans and Duncan hindes and you know there's lots and lots of different things that we go and I and I work with all of those different teams to make sure that um they're getting the the dolly part that the consumer is looking for at that particular moment um but there there's a Common Thread that goes with all Dolly Parton and products of any kind and that's the emotional thread everybody feels an emotional connection to Dolly Parton and then my job is is to make sure that our partners understand that and get us there Dolly's niece Rebecca sers also helped curate the Dolly Parton experience she is director of archives and Museum services for Dolly Parton Enterprises and walking through this attraction is truly like walking down memory lane for her as well it's finished I know it's kind of emotional for you it is it is definitely talk about why uh cuz Dolly means so much to me if I talk about it too much I will get emotional but she's she means so much to everybody you know she really she's my aunt but she's the world's aunt Dolly and so carrying her story to the people is such a sacred sacred thing and I love it I'm so happy that I get to do this what the world was it like growing up as Dolly's niece it was sparkly and exciting and kind of everything you could imagine it to be she was very um childlike and she still is you know she's just one of the kids she wants to play she has a golf cart at her farm so we would always you know ride go golf carts at her house and play dress up in her clothes and she's still like that even with the archives she still brings her little great nieces and nephews to play dress up in her closet so you have a very close relationship with her people know how special the aunt niece relationship is especially when you have a lot of family and for me she's like a second mom her and my aunt Rachel are like second moms and they I say that not that my mom ever needed help but I was a handful so she probably appreciated the help but uh Dolly's my godmother and she and I have always had a very close Bond and it's very um sacred to me because it's different from the Dolly Parton that everybody knows in the public it's my aunt granny and like she's not different but it's different for you know the the communication that we have and just so how much she knows me before I even know myself you know it's one of those kind of motherdaughter relationships almost you know whether you go to her for professional or personal advice she gets it and you got to be careful though cuz she will write a song about it what are your favorite memories that Dolly I know she's talked about over the years making Christmas cookies and oh Cookie night is always some of my best and favorite memories but I love uh H being on the bus with her we used to go on road trips or I used to go on tour with her in the summer if I was out of school and so just being on the tour bus with her and playing in the bunk beds and we used to have tea parties with her backup singers and so like those kinds of things were fun and now that tour bus is on park at Dollywood and I walk in there and it's just like all these childhood memories flood back and it's just surreal in the weirdest kind of way I can't imagine all the the time the effort the artifacts that have gone into the design how did this all begin it was um years ago before the pandemic we wanted to do an an update at chasing rainbows and when we got in in there and started kind of updating some of the graphics I realized that it didn't need a makeover it needed a complete overhaul and you know I think her creative director Steve Summers he saw that as well and so we kind of put a plan together and conceptualized a lot of what is here now and brought it to Dollywood and said like here's our wish list this is what we really want this is what we think Dolly needs and you know they did it they understood and you know the CEO we he just he gets it he understands Dolly and the need for her presence on Park and how much people adore her and want to see her and having her Museum here is like having her here almost how did you choose what goes on exhibit and what doesn't that's the hardest part it's like Dolly says like her songs are her children and they're all her favorites like her clothes are like my kids and they're all my favorite you know like it's very hard to choose but um we we wanted to Showcase things from all the different eras of Dolly and so we also wanted to Showcase different designers that she's had and make sure that people get their flowers that deserve them like the bell bottoms you know the Lucy suits and so making sure that you know her life is represented in the clothes and the guitars and just everything you were saying wigs were important to Doling um but these are replicas yes the wigs are replicas Dolly said if we were going to have wigs on display they better be perfect and I said okay and the girl that we had do the wigs for the book sarinia she came into Dollywood and put these wigs on display herself and they are absolutely incredible they span all the different Decades of Dolly have Porter wig and then the best little Chicken Ranch in Texas wig and so they're you know they're another piece of that little dolly puzzle and I'm glad that it came together my head's on a swivel there's so much to see in this room show me your favorites and and tell me a little bit about this part of the exhibit oh I mean I'm so glad that people get to see like a glimpse of what her costume shop looks like because the making of Dolly is so intricate I mean it's like a science it's physics to get those clothes to fit and do what they're supposed to do so it's fun I'm glad that a lot of her makers are getting their glory and being able to have some of that but my favorite thing is to see things I've worked on I rhinestone that dress over there on the right so it's exciting to you know see things that I sweated and cried over and you know it's just exciting to see things that we kind of threw out as an idea the paper dolls and have it come to life I'm so proud of it I'm so happy that it shows her life her family her clothing and just the different facets of her career I'm so proud of her and I'm so proud to do this work and I hope that people know that it's not just a oneandone experience that we're going to change these clothes out and the different artifacts seasonally so if they come back at Christmas they can see some of her Christmas clothes and then next year we're going to have a whole different scene of things out for them to see so it's just it's going to be kind of a a growing thing so I hope people come back again and again and that they love it every time each year you announce a new attraction a new investment they mentioned a new restaurant for next year what though can you tell us about 2025 as far as development well we'll be using 2025 as a year to celebrate the 40th anniversary season of Dollywood so you'll see us start talking about it this winter about uh what's happening next year with the 40th anniversary um we have uh We've expanded parking for next year some of this is not real sexy but we've expanded parking for next year uh we're adding a a new destination restaurant in the top of the valley so it'll be in in the wilderness Plaza area uh of the park um and uh there'll be a lot of software programming there'll be a 40th anniversary show that we're doing we're doing um there'll be a lot of touch points about the about the legacy of the park to this point and then looking forward to what we have in 2026 we have a major attraction in 2026 uh I mean nearly $50 million attraction Pride um it's a it's it's it's hard I will tell you and you'll understand that it is uh it's something that no one has ever done before in this particular way um and we're and then we're also refurbishing a legacy attraction that uh we'll be able to celebrate in 2026 so as we continue to grow I mean as I said we have multiple resorts still on the grid for us to that we're looking to find the right time to be able to to build those out uh We've looked at a campground as an opportunity and and Eugene and I have both talked about that is uh over the last couple of years we'll have to see when that slates in the right way and a lot of different things have to align as Austin can tell you depending upon what's going on in the economy and everything else but our goal first and foremost is to take care of the guest make sure the experience that we have for the guest um with whatever it is we're doing is as good as it possibly can be I don't want to leave without talking about Harvest Festival and also what you have planned for Christmas smoking Mountain Christmas is always a big driver Harvest uh Great Pumpkin luminites and harvest uh open this year earlier than ever before they open on September the 6th so it opens right after Labor Day um earliest we've ever opened that particular festival and it'll run through the end of October super popular especially great pumpkin luminites that was a huge addition for us um and uh you know excited about it we've added actually 16 operating days from the time that we opened um for the festival in the end of the year uh and we were adding six additional Festival days either in fall or Christmas so more opportunity for folks to be able to experience Festival product for Christmas we're bringing back Mary and brigh the fireworks show that we've done historically we'll be doing it uh on weekends uh and then the full weekend after Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year's um we're adding a new um area up in Wildwood Grove that we call snow in the Grove that will it'll snow through that area uh and uh we'll be taking advantage of the Wildwood tree and we'll leverage it and the and the snow and the fireworks in that area as a new opportunity in that in that area that we haven't done for Christmas before but uh really super excited about it I mean there are two most popular festivals of the year a busy year ahead lots to look forward to and pretty much darante some visits from Dolly herself being the 40th but thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us and share the story past and uh what's ahead definely a favorite stop in and Pigeon Forge thank you guys this episode was shot and edited by link Hudson hollers and Hills is recorded at the pines and downtown severville we have more stories and videos on our hollers and Hills website share your Smoky Mountain memory when you log on and don't forget to like And subscribe wherever you get your podcast ask Apple Spotify and YouTube [Music]