No trip to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge would be complete without doing at least one activity that involves Dolly Parton. You can either go to Dollywood (which we were surprised to find closed on December 30 and 31) or go to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. We chose the latter.
I actually don’t want to give too much away. This is something you need to experience for yourself. If you like horses, country music, and an all-around good time — Go!
The opening musical act is terrific. Don’t miss it!
When you buy your tickets, you have to choose whether you want to sit with the North or the South. We proudly chose the North, but found ourselves in the minority as Northerners. During the warm up show in the saloon, the bluegrass trio asked what states everyone was from, and Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia made up most of the hootin’ and hollerin’.
But it doesn’t really matter which side you sit on. All seats offer a fantastic view of the horse-riding, lumberjack, and musical numbers they do down in the arena.
Make sure to go hungry. Dinner is a whole rotisserie chicken, barbeque pork loin, corn on the cob, creamy vegetable soup, a homemade biscuit, potato wedge, and flaky apple pastry. It’s a lot of food to eat, and you have to eat it with your hands. No utensils here, folks! And since it’s hard to eat and clap at the same time, patrons just stomp their feet to make some noise. It gets pretty thunderous in there. Luckily, the horses don’t seem to mind. They know how to have a good time, too.
I’m not going to say any more about the Dixie Stampede. You just need to experience it for yourself.
Have you gone? Or do you know of other shows like it?
Browsing The Atlas 
That’s a lot of food! Sounds like a fun time and maybe you can try Dollywood another time; I’m sure it would be a hoot!
It was too much food. As a matter of course, they come around with doggie bags afterward. We took most of our chicken home and made soup.
Sounds great fun. We’ve had nothing like it here in Europe since Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came by around 1900 🙂
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came through CIncinnati a few times, too. What fun that must have been!
Sounds like a blast! And the food!!
Definitely a good time. This is a “must-see” in Pigeon Forge. And even if you’ve been once, the seond time around is just as good.
Looks like a whole other world there but a really fun one! And getting to eat a lot while you watch? That sounds like pure awesome to me. 🙂
It is fun. You really can’t underestimate how much live animals can entertain you. We saw the Christmas show and there were camels, sheep, donkeys, etc. for the Nativity scene. It was really fantastic.
Wow! This sounds fantastic – the entertainment and the food. You find the coolest places, Juliann. 🙂 What a fun evening.
I suppose Dolly Parton should really get the credit. 😉 This was our second time there and was just as much fun as the first time. My kids loved it, too.
Horses, country music and barbecued chicken! What can beat that? 😀