Country music legend Dolly Parton has committed to investing $300 million in her Dollywood properties over the next 10 years.
The plans include a 300-room resort on 100 acres adjacent to the park and a dual-launch roller coaster that is already under construction.
Parton entered the hotel business three years ago with Dollywood Cabins, two miles from the parks, but the DreamMore Resort will take that to a new level.
It will have a variety of room choices, including a 2,200-square-foot Dolly’s Suite Dreams celebrity suite, as well as an indoor and outdoor pool complex, a spa, an amphiteater and a full-service restaurant with a wrap-around veranda overlooking the mountains.
It is scheduled to open in the summer of 2015, creating 2,500 jobs and generating $150 million a year for the local economy.
"This is where I nurtured my heart’s dreams, and I want to share more of them," she said in a news release.
"My plans for the next 10 years are to expand my Dollywood properties to offer families more opportunities to play together and grow closer while they make their best memories. It’s truly the culmination of this country girl’s wildest dreams!"
Following the opening of the Wild Eagle steel wing coaster in 2012 and Splash Country’s water The park itself also will get a new attraction, the FireChaser Express, in the spring.
It will be the nation’s first dual-launch family coaster, launching twice so it travels forward and backward on 2,427-foot track. It will go from zero to 16 mph in 1.1 seconds going forward and then from zero to 20 mph in 2 seconds going backwards.
The coaster’s 39-inch minimum height requirement will allow many four-year-olds to ride.
"FireChaser Express is truly special to me because families can ride this coaster together," Parton said in the news release.
By Jessica Kao
