logo
Dollywood is 40 years old, and Dolly Parton says it's time to visit

Dollywood is 40 years old, and Dolly Parton says it's time to visit

USA Today18-07-2025
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Nine-to-five would probably be a vacation for Dolly Parton.
The living legend is always juggling multiple projects.
'And why not?' Parton told USA TODAY. 'I've lived this life, and I'm going to keep living it as long as I can, and I'm going to make hay while the sun shines.'
Her new musical 'Dolly: A True Original Musical' debuts in Nashville on Friday. That's also where she's featured in a special Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit through September. This winter, she'll return to Las Vegas for her first run of shows there in more than 30 years. And all year long, her namesake theme park, which she co-owns with Herschend, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Parton spoke to USA TODAY about Dollywood and other matters close to her heart earlier this park season. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
QUESTION: You dreamed of opening a theme park. What was your vision?
Dolly Parton: When I first started getting successful, I used to think if I ever made it as big as I hoped to, then I (would) want to have my own theme park.
I was just dreaming of having a wonderful place for people to come, have a good time, having all kinds of things to enjoy and providing jobs for my family and the kin folks around here and the good neighbors. And sure enough, we've got all that now.
Of course we opened 40 years ago. It took a little while to get it all in the works, but it's more than I even imagined that it could be.
When you have a dream, you gotta dream big, so I'm always dreaming big, but sometimes your dreams really take on a life of their own, and that's the way that it is with Dollywood.
This is a wonderful part of the country to be in. We get a lot of tourists. I can't take credit for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They were drawing people for many years before we came – another reason that I knew this would be a good place to have a business like Dollywood.
A lot of great people have worked really hard to make it what it is. And here we are 40 years later and it's just bigger and better every year.
Dollywood's original dream team: They came for the summer and stayed 40 years
What would you want folks around the country to know about Dollywood?
DP: I want them to know they should get here and do whatever you gotta do to get here cause once you've been here, you're going to love it. Almost everybody that's been here, they always come back.
Our slogan is (creating) memories worth repeating and love every moment. And we've had different slogans through the years like that, but I really think people just make beautiful memories here because there's something for every age group in the family.
Even the teenagers can get their jollies, as they say, on the roller coasters and a lot of the things we have. Grandparents can love all the shopping, all the arts and crafts and the old mill and the glass blowing and so many wonderful things that couples can enjoy and the kids can enjoy, so they can meet up at one point or another during the day. You can bring the whole family and there's something for everybody to enjoy without being in each other's face all day.
You've also got Splash Country and these world-class resorts and your dinner theater opportunities. You could have a whole week's vacation.
DP: I am very proud of the businesses that we have over on the parkway. We have the Pirates Voyage. We have the Stampede and we have the Comedy Barn. We have so many things, like the Hatfields and McCoys and all the fun things (outside) the park.
But here in the (resort) we have, as you mentioned, Splash Country; people love that. We open early in May, and we go through until September when the weather starts to cool off.
We just have something for everybody in this whole area. Plus, not to be selfish with just my own, but there's so many great businesses around here, so many great things for people to see.
This, to me, is sincerely one of the greatest places that anyone could visit. This part of the country, right here in Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg, and in this general area, there's just so much.
You're the Dreamer in Chief here. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
DP: Well, we all get together and we kind of brainstorm, thinking about how well we've done with certain things and how much better this did than that and what we don't need to do again. And then we think, 'Oh, we need to really expand on this idea.' And so out of the great people that have great minds, we come up with great things.
Sometimes I'll come up with an idea and it's not always great, but they'll take that and we can incorporate that into something else in the park.
For instance, the restaurants, we even theme a lot of our meals based on things that I've talked about, about my own childhood, like stone soup ... My mom used to make that. We all felt special because we thought that stone made it twice as good as what it was, only because of Mama's stories and she was a good cook.
But we try to have little things that really connect people to me as much as we possibly can, stories that I've told, songs that I've written, memories that I've had, talking about the people in the community. We try to have little links to kind of connect that chain that goes all the way through any and all the businesses that we have.
Over the past 40 years, you've done so much through the park. What are you most proud of?
DP: Well, I'm proud of all of it. I'm proud of the whole idea that it was a big dream and it came true. That's a lot to be proud of. I'm proud of all the things we have, but I'm extremely proud of the Imagination Library, which is our Dollywood Foundation, and we do a lot of giving. We do a lot of things through that, and the Imagination Library is one of the things I'm proudest of anything I've done, even outside the park, just my whole career in general.
That's a very warm, loving, emotional thing for me to think that I'm the book lady and that I've done something for the little kids, because being from a big family, I have a special love for children. There are eight kids younger than me in my family. I have a sister and two older brothers, but there's just something about young kids.
They're the future. They're the ones that's going to be going on after us, and so I think if you can give them a head start, a little chance of any kind in their early years and their most impressionable years, that's a good thing.
A lot of theme parks try to make you feel like you're in one place or another, but Dollywood really showcases the Smokies. What was the intention behind that?
DP: Well, we wanted to try to keep as much of the Smoky Mountains and all the nature that we can. It always breaks your heart when you're going to have to build something. You have to cut down a tree or bushes or uproot this or that. But we've tried very hard to work around as much nature as we can rather than just mowing it down and just scooting it off a mountain somewhere or off a bank. We try to work around nature, and we try to keep as much as we can.
We have all the beautiful flowers all over the park. I think it's one of the prettiest parks ever. You'd have to agree, right? I mean, when you walk around, there's trees and bushes and flowers everywhere, and we love that. So, we want to keep as much of the Smokies and that attitude and that feeling, because I'm a mountain girl and I think people know all that and they would expect that of me as well.
Mountain people are also very important to you. For those who haven't been here, how would you describe the warmth and hospitality of the people?
DP: There's just something about Southern people in general – they call that the Southern hospitality – but there's something even more than that about mountain people, people that are in the hills 'cause most of them grew up hard, so they have an appreciation and understanding of all people.
There's just a warmth and a depth and a knowing in mountain people, I think. And they welcome you because most of them are from big families. Most of them take their own kinfolk in like that, so it's just almost like everybody's a friend, everybody's a family member.
I know myself, when I do shows, I look out at my audience. I can see somebody I know in every person out there. Somebody reminds me of Uncle So-and-so. That looks just like my sister Stella. Oh, that person looks like Uncle Fred, so I kind of feel that warmth and I play to those people, so I'm always home wherever I'm at.
And I think people go away from here, when they've been here, they think, 'Wow, that's just like we're having to leave some kin folks that we really like. Can't wait to go back next summer and spend our summer vacation out on the farm with the Partons and the Owenses.'
So many people want to connect with you, and they have some other ways to do so around the country coming up
DP: Come and be part of it and enjoy it. I'm very proud of my life story as a musical. We're going to open that in Nashville. We're actually doing previews in July and August. Then we go to New York, and we'll be opening on Broadway sometime next year, along with the (Nashville) hotel. I'm very excited about that and my museum (exhibit).
And I have a new book coming out called 'Star of the Show.' It's about my life on stage and on the road, and so there's this whole lot of stuff going on.
As much as I can do while I'm living, I'm going to try to get it done.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

This isn't the first time Trump's been parodied on 'South Park'
This isn't the first time Trump's been parodied on 'South Park'

Indianapolis Star

timean hour ago

  • Indianapolis Star

This isn't the first time Trump's been parodied on 'South Park'

Whether you're a long-time "South Park" fan or just have heard of the show in passing, you've probably heard about that episode by now. The Season 27 premiere of "South Park" started off with a fiery take on President Donald Trump's widespread attacks on media. The episode, which aired on Wednesday, July 23, shows a character with Trump's face on a cartoon body crawling into bed, naked, with Satan. The episode referenced Paramount's $16 million settlement with the president, Trump's claims that he'll receive $20 million worth of ads on the network and the cancellation of CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." In response to the episode, the White House told USA TODAY on Thursday, July 24, that the scene was a "desperate attempt for attention," calling the series a "fourth-rate" show. During a panel about the show at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday evening, July 24, "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone sarcastically said they were "terribly sorry" for the episode. Though Trump himself is not often depicted directly in the series, like the recent episode, Parker and Stone have used the popular character Mr. Garrison to represent the president through several seasons. In the series' 20th season, Mr. Garrison, who previously was an elementary school teacher, wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election against Hillary Clinton. Becoming President Garrison, the character continues to serve as a parody for Trump until 2020. President Garrison takes on Trump's swooped, blonde hair, sends out fiery social media posts and is obsessed with hosting Make America Great Again rallies. Here's a look at some of the key moments the president has been featured, or parodied, in "South Park." White House, 'South Park' trade barbs: What to know about the feud "Where My Country Gone" highlights the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump wished to build long before he took office in 2017. The episode aired in September 2015, ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In the episode, Mr. Garrison (not yet President Garrison) begins to promote the idea of building a wall along the U.S.-Canada border to eliminate the number of illegal Canadian immigrants entering the country. Can 'South Park' take on Trump 2.0? They're walking a tightrope In "Oh, Jeez," Mr. Garrison is elected as president in the 2016 election. The character, renamed to President Garrison, continues to serve as a parody of Trump in the series until Season 24, when Trump lost the 2020 election. The episode aired on Nov. 9, 2016, the day after the election. In the next episode, "Members Only," President Garrison begins his duties. He gets a Trump-style toupee, tours the Pentagon, is given a book of "military secrets" and gets in a heated phone call with Boris Johnson, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom. "Put It Down" highlights the United States' relationship with North Korea and references Trump's presence on social media. In the episode, which aired in September 2017, President Garrison posts aggressive tweets about North Korea, specifically about a nuclear missile fired by the country, which causes car accidents by drivers who are distracted by the posts. "Doubling Down," references the decreasing popularity of Trump during his first presidential administration. The episode aired in November 2017. During the episode, President Garrison insults a world leader on the telephone in the White House while his advisers discuss low approval ratings. "Splatty Tomato," again, parodies Trump's approval ratings following the 2016 election. The episode aired in December 2017. Throughout the episode, President Garrison pops up, scaring characters and asking them about his approval ratings. The characters compare Garrison sneak attacks to characters in "Stranger Things" and "IT." At one point, the character Tweek is riding his bicycle around town when he sees a collection of balloons that read, "Make America Great Again." The balloons then pop, revealing President Garrison, who asks Tweek about his ratings. "The Pandemic Special" was the premiere of Season 24. Airing in September 2020, the episodes satirize the United States' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest amid the Black Lives Matter movement. President Garrison makes minor appearances in the episodes, notably using a flamethrower to encourage citizens to vote in the 2020 presidential election. "Spring Break" parodies the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. In the episode, Mr. Garrison, who freshly lost the 2020 presidential election, goes on a trip with his boyfriend to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The episode aired in March 2023. During the trip, Mr. Garrison starts to slink away to Make America Great Again rallies, despite his boyfriend's pleas not to. The episode ends with Mr. Garrison leading a chant that results in his supporters rushing the U.S. Capitol. Old and new episodes of "South Park" are now available for streaming on Paramount+ with a paid subscription. A Paramount+ Essential subscription is $7.99 a month with ads, and a Paramount+ Premium subscription is $12.99 a month without ads. Contributing: Brian Truitt and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

Greta Lee rides a lightcycle in new 'Tron: Ares' footage at Comic-Con
Greta Lee rides a lightcycle in new 'Tron: Ares' footage at Comic-Con

USA Today

time3 hours ago

  • USA Today

Greta Lee rides a lightcycle in new 'Tron: Ares' footage at Comic-Con

SAN DIEGO – No one's giddier than Greta Lee about being in a 'Tron' movie. Directed by Joachim Rønning, 'Tron: Ares' (in theaters Oct. 10) brings the computer programs from the digital Grid into the real world for the first time, all set to a cool Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. A Comic-Con panel for the sci-fi action film on Friday, July 25, debuted new footage, including a moment where digital warriors Ares (Jared Leto) and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) are sent to reality to take an important piece of code from programmer Eve Kim (Lee). A high-speed chase ensues, and Eve winds up stealing one of her pursuers' lightcycles. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox And it kind of made her life. 'I told my agents to find me something where I can ride a lightcycle. I actually got to ride one. It was insane,' said Lee ('Past Lives'). 'I never could have imagined it could be that fun.' Her character is also seen in the Grid riding a nifty speeder vehicle alongside Ares, with Athena's drones in hot pursuit. (She makes a deal with Ares that he'll return her to the real world in exchange for the code he needs.) One person almost as excited as Lee is the OG 'Tron' star himself, Jeff Bridges. 'It's so cool, man!' said the actor, who reprises his role as Kevin Flynn from the 1982 first film and 2010's 'Tron: Legacy.' 'Artificial intelligence, that's on everybody's hearts and minds these days, and I'm glad to be part of this story.' Bridges was joined on the panel by original 'Tron' writer/director Steven Lisberger, who said Bridges has 'been a gift to 'Tron' since day one' and over the years has seen 'Tron' become real life. 'That's more far out than 'Tron,' ' he said. 'We kind of created our own genre with virtual adventure and it's not going away,' the filmmaker added. 'It's not that Tron was ahead of its time. It's that everyone else was late.' Leto admitted that he's an 'official 'Tron' superfan,' and the actor spearheaded the making of the third movie. Back in 1982, 'video games were exploding, and films were a huge part of my life. ('Tron') just grabbed a hold of me. It took me to a place I'd never been before and rattled my imagination.' During his first day on the set, Bridges heard that Leto only wanted to be called by his character name, Ares. 'I could understand that,' Bridges said. 'It's a tough part, man, to play a program. I figured I'm playing Flynn, I'm the guy who created this thing, but I didn't wanted to offend him as a thespo. I said, 'Can I call you Air?' He said, 'You can call me whatever you want.' ' Leto got such a kick out of being around Bridges that he actually yelled 'cut' early during one take: 'I couldn't stop smiling because I was working with this guy.' There is connective tissue between 'Ares' and the original 'Tron,' from props to characters: For example, Evan Peters plays Julian Dillinger, a descendant of 'Tron' baddie Edward Dillinger (David Warner). Lee said 'Ares' is 'absolutely for superfans and die-hards, but we have this exciting opportunity to usher in a whole new audience for 'Tron.' I think we'll be able to connect a lot of different people with this movie.' Leto also shouted out 'Tron' music over the years. He called the Daft Punk soundtrack 'incredible' and was downright giddy himself about Nine Inch Nails' contributions to 'Ares.' A new music video for the single 'As Alive As You Need Me to Be' premiered at Comic-Con. 'Very few people could fill those shoes,' said Leto, and Nine Inch Nails "made music that will last a lifetime.'

'Predator' director talks 'Badlands,' hints at Schwarzenegger's return
'Predator' director talks 'Badlands,' hints at Schwarzenegger's return

USA Today

time5 hours ago

  • USA Today

'Predator' director talks 'Badlands,' hints at Schwarzenegger's return

SAN DIEGO – Dan Trachtenberg's first 'Predator' movie experience was sitting in the back of a car in the 1980s, heading to a karate tournament and listening intently as other kids ran down the plot of that cool new Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action movie. 'I grew up loving the idea of seeing an R-rated movie for the first time and 'Predator' was that,' the director said at a Comic-Con panel on Friday, July 25, for latest franchise effort 'Predator: Badlands' (in theaters Nov. 7). 'Badlands' marks the first time in the long-running series that a Predator is the actual protagonist rather than the villain – in this case, a young alien hunter named Dek (played by New Zealand actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). And it's the latest movie where Trachtenberg, who also directed 'Prey' and the animated 'Killer of Killers,' is taking 'Predator' to new places. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox That said, Trachtenberg revealed at the panel he recently had breakfast with Schwarzenegger and is looking to 'cook up stuff for that guy.' The first bit: His character Dutch in the original 1987 film has now been added to a key post-credits scene in 'Killer of Killers' (streaming on Hulu) that hints to where things could go in the future. 'Badlands' was inspired by Trachtenberg realizing that, in these movies, 'the Predator never wins. They're supposed to be the greatest hunters in the galaxy.' The director showed off the first 15 minutes of the movie, which introduces Dek as the runt of his clan and why he needs to travel to a 'death planet' called Genna to track down an 'unkillable' foe and prove himself. 'We really have never in movies seen the Predator hunting on a planet where everything, from grass to creatures, could kill you. He's essentially the Dutch of this movie,' Trachtenberg said. 'It was a really fun experiment, the whole process of bringing Dek to life,' Schuster-Koloamatang said. 'The suit is a little taxing. But it's really rewarding feeling when you get to hang up your boots – or your Yautja feet.' Dek gets help from Thia (Elle Fanning), an android with half a body that goes on the quest with him. Trachtenberg liked the concept of Thia 'being strapped to that guy for the gauntlet that he has to go through' a la Chewbacca carrying C-3PO parts in 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.' Also noteworthy: Thia is a Weylandi-Yutani android, meaning that "Badlands" takes place in the same universe as the 'Alien' movies. Does the 'Predator' guy want to be the 'Alien vs. Predator' guy? 'Wouldn't that be cool,' Trachtenberg said. One big change in 'Badlands' is in actually filming the Predator. Before, actors would in be suits and the actor would wear a giant mask so the Predator's mandibles and jaws were controlled by filmmakers. This time, Schuster-Koloamatangi wore the armor but the face was open so the Predator's facial expressions would match the actor's via motion-capture performance. 'We really wanted to make sure we could go to emotional places that have never happened in previous films,' Trachtenberg said. He described it as 'this beautiful moment' of old school meeting digital, 'all bring driven by Dimitrius' performance.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store