Dollywood reviews and complaints 9
View all 142 complaintsDollywood - Waiting in line for one hour and the ride is shut down.
My husband and I brought our son and two grandsons, ages 5 & 9 to Dollywood on Wednesday, August 16. We waited in line for an hour to ride the Dragon Fly.
When we were almost to the front the ride is shut down for maintenance. Standing in line for that long and disappointing children is a real issue. With the cost of the entrance, food and games, I think Dollywood should come up with some sort of compensation for the people in line who have wasted an hour of their "park time".
Desired outcome: I would like 5 jump the line passes for next year.
Dollywood - Employees are rude
I was trying to ride the ride Thunderhead, with my little brother who is 49 inches tall. He rode the ride twice before this time because there was no line so we could basically walk right on the ride. Since you have to be 48 inches tall they check his height since he is so close to the border line of not being able to ride. The worker standing infront of the line checking heights let me and my little brother go on the ride. We sat in our seats and another lady working at the ride came and said, “Check his height again, I don’t think he is tall enough.” So we had to get up out of our seats and go to a different person to check my little brothers height. The woman worker started to be rude and have an attitude with me. I was calmly explaining, “ He just got off the ride he is tall enough for this ride.” She then accused my brother he was standing on his tippy toes, which he wasn’t, and started being rude about it. She wasn’t going to let us ride the ride until the other worker said he is fine to ride the ride. My other two sisters were waiting in their seats and they asked me what had happened so I turned around to tell them that they weren’t going to let my brother on and the worker who was being rude, her name is Ally, yelled at me and said “Can you not?” Mind you I was being calm this whole time and she was being rude. So then the ride started going and when the ride was pulling back into the loading station, before the ride even stopped Ally said, “ You are banned from this ride tonight, don’t come back or I will call security.” Mind you I am a teenager, I wasn’t being rude so I got my parents and they went to ask what the problem was and SHE MADE UP A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY! She said she wasn’t going to tolerate rude customers when I was not being rude. She rolled her eyes at me when I said, “that’s not what happened.” We are season pass holders since we live in the area, definitely not worth it to be treated rudely… My brother is 6 and he didn’t understand why she was being so rude to us and he almost started crying.
Desired outcome: I believe that Dollywood should not higher rude employees to work at a family park. I hope Ally gets fired because she was so rude.
Dollywood - Dollywood allows men in women's restroom against tn law
WARNING: Dollywood fired a security guard July 2023 for simply questioning his management what could be done to get a bearded man out of a women's bathroom where his family was.
HR Kristina Fox told him that if someone "identifies as a cat, [employees] are to treat them as cats." She stated anyone of any self-identification can go into any bathroom in the park without interference from employees. She told him his [conservative] beliefs "conflict with Dollywood values" and that he must resign. When he refused, she fired the active Alabama law enforcement officer and decorated military veteran.
Parents, grandparents, schools, and churches need to know this is Dollywood's dangerous policy before paying money to send children there!
As of July 1, 2023, businesses must clearly post signs outside any bathroom where both sexes are allowed. This policy is nowhere to be found on the Park, on Herschend Family Entertainment websites, or in employee handbooks.
Desired outcome: Public awareness
while what you post is true there is a few details missing.
did you check around the bathroom for signage? near me they are at the entrance to the split hallway and not on the door themselves.
you say he was in the restroom with his family? could he have been in a family restroom or unisex and you did not notice the sign?
also it mentions in what you posted under public restrooms' "b. excludes unisex, single occupant, or family restrooms'."
The visitor bathrooms are only labeled Men or Women or Family. The unisex bathrooms are on a service road that only employees can access.
He was assigned to the employee entrance at the time of the incident, which is why his wife had to text him and he had to text his management. Simply bringing his concern to their attention got him fired.
I am local and know that Park intimately. There are no signs indicating anyone "identifying" as something other than they are can wander into the men's or women's bathrooms.
so based off this she saw someone who looked like a man in the woman's restroom and assumed they were a male? could it have been a female who didn't shave for a unknown reason, had a deep voice, and for unknown reasons did not have indicators of a woman that are visible?
i'm just trying to get the facts since my answer to the details originally posted seem to be off a bit.
The issue is a security guard quietly alerted his superiors that a man had been seen in a women's bathroom. No one responded; no one investigated. All Dollywood did was fired the Alabama law enforcement officer who worked there part-time.
Dollywood - Employee of the park STOLE my phone.
I left my phone in the bathroom, I returned immediately to retrieve my phone. The mens room attendant told me that the attendant for the womens room found the phone and gave it to him. He then told me he personally gave the phone to another park employee to bring to the lost and found. Upon leaving the park I stopped at lost and found to retrieve my phone and was told it had not made it there yet. I went back to the Dollywood resort and had my daughter check to see if she could find my phone on 360. We did and took screen shots. The phone is now an hour away in Morristown TN. The employee never took my phone to lost and found. I am unable as of this morning to reach anyone.
Desired outcome: I want my phone or compensation for the phone being in the parks hands and stolen by an employee.
Dollywood - Time Saver Passes
We visited Dollywood on May 27, 2023. We were very excited to ride our favorite rides, we are diamond season pass holders, so we were very excited about Big Bear Mountain. We decided to purchase Time saver passes. When retrieving our time savers, we found out the coaster wasn’t eligible, we waited in line for over an hour, noticed that they were running the cars empty. I looked at my app, and noticed the ride had been shut down. Of course I want the ride to be safe, I am not upset that it wasn’t working, but I was upset that my time and money were not valued, and no employees communicated this to any of the riders.
We moved on, are time savers saved us no time, we waited in long lines, they might have shaved 10 minutes off our wait time. We purchased time saver the las Time we came to the park, and we ran into the same problem. Definitely not worth the money.
Desired outcome: Go back to the drawing board with the time saver passes. What good is it paying the extra money for a pass if it is not actually saving you any time
Dollywood - Management
I am a gold member for 4 years now and I have to say that your front management team ( Jackie and Ally names from their name tags ) are very rude to their employees on many occasions I have seen that they ignore their employees or give smart*** comments to them or rude facial expressions. I don't know if you are aware of this so I wanted to say that those two are very unprofessional, Dollywood needs to do better cause you guys have a great place but management needs work. Breaks my heart to see employees who are trying to work and be kind to guests get treated unfairly. I personally never had a problem with the employees but I have seen and even tried to say hi to the two I mentioned above and got snubbed plain rude
Desired outcome: Like to see those two investigated preferably without their knowledge so you can see first hand
Ally is most definitely rude! All of Dollywood management is the pits except for Landscaping.
Dollywood - Miss lillian's bbq corner / gristmill cinnamon bread / general attitude
I realize I am only one person, and this may not matter to you, but it does to me. I was at the Miss Lillian's BBQ corner and ordered a three little pig sandwich. There was one woman in front of me getting her food. The young man serving up the food said it would be just a minute and disappeared. Meanwhile two other families came up and ordered food. I know most would exaggerate but I am not, it was ten minutes before the young man reappeared and said sorry, he was waiting on buns. He left again another ten minutes went by and another employee came buy and filled a plate with food, I am assuming for his break. Others came and went, after 20 minutes I asked for a refund, to which the young woman said she would have to find someone to do that. Another ten minutes before someone showed up to get my refund. Meanwhile the other two families also asked for a refund. I am not sure your new college staff are being trained, how do you not ask for buns before you run out. Also, I am sure you are seeing a big decline in the sale of your famous cinnamon bread as it is not good anymore and seems to be being made in advance and stored and then warmed up. Not good at all anymore. We went to get a hot dog instead at Dogs and taters and the young woman had an attitude like she was put out that she had to be there. Also, the Front Porch Cafe' used to be a great place to sit down and get some good food, but you have changed that to family style. Will not be eating there now. Me and my wife have been season pass holders for 7 years and loved the fact of how nice everyone in the park is and the good food. but this year you have changed everything that made your park great to visit and enjoy and you have moved to a park where you just don't care anymore, and it is about how cheap you can make things and use as few employees as possible. We are now thinking we might not renew and from all the other complaints I am seeing there are more than a few who are feeling the same way. Very sorry to see this in your park
Desired outcome: Would like to get food options back to where they were, and the young staff be trained properly and be friendly
Dollywood - Parking
I do believe this is your first year of trying out this new parking I’ve been going to the park for about the last six or seven years. Security does move a lot better,getting into the park seems easier. But and there’s always a but, The parking situation is atrocious,. Your handicap parking is way too close to each car as we were going and finding a space, already a wreck of a truck smashing into the front of another car the guy was still standing out there. You have people just sardined and packed into an area which has to answer into a tram which fills up in seconds. To many people underneath that awning to enter a tram very very uncomfortable. The parking lot is not even marked you go into sections ,in there must be 20 rows of cars 30 car in section C not even marked. I know the parking is an ongoing situation and problem. But whoever designed this first layout needs to go and reassess and re-think what is the thousands of people leaving and going at the same time. Thank you Mark Gensel .
Desired outcome: A lot better parking situation!
Yes and now handicapped parking is terrible. We went at Christmas time. And parked in the new handicap parking, front was full. Now the big Tram station took up a lot of the parking. If you start at the tram station it is a very long ways to the front gate! We are old and our legs and back hurts walking that far. Why doesn’t the tram drop people off at the front gate? We pay enough for tickets and parking. The distance now just cuts down on the times we will come to the park. We know what you will say. We have preferred parking! But it cost more money and has to be reserved! Fix the drop off point. Please.
Today was the first time we have been to Dollywood this year. We have had season passes for over 20 years. We parked in A/B right at the tram stop. After the tram let us off we had to walk a 1/2 mile to get to security then another 1/4,of a mile to the gate.
My husband and myself both have bad legs and feet. It is ridiculous!
Can something not be done about this? As much money that we spend on seasons passes and buying food the parking situation is ridiculous!
Wanda Day
Dollywood - Season pass extension 2020
Dollywood Guest Services,
I placed a call to 1-800-Dollywood at 9:44am CST on Thursday December 8, 2021 and left my cell number (xxx-xxx-xxxx), as instructed by the recorded phone menu instructions. I received a return call at 11:00am CST from a Dollywood Customer Representative, (did not catch her name) to discuss "options available" as presented in your email below. I told the representative that we do not feel comfortable being in a large crowd with the ongoing COVID pandemic. I know Dollywood is taking the recommended CDC guidelines to open the park, but senior citizens should not be exposed to the crowds experienced at Dollywood. I explained that our season passes were extended from 2020 to accommodate the 2021 season. We still have COVID infection activity in the USA and around the world. I was put on hold for a couple of minutes and the Customer Service Representative stated that our Dollywood passes would not be valid past the season ending December2021. Really disappointed that no other options were discussed as stated in the email below. No mention of a refund to accommodate past Dollywood fans and patrons. This is a low point response to seniors working through the current economy decline not to mention the loss to the local Pigeon Forge economy from supporting tourist restaurants and hotels, I don't think Dolly would have declined our request as I'm sure there are other seniors facing the same obstacles. If a refund or an extension of the season tickets to the 2022 season is not going to be offered, please provide your 501C-3 paperwork so I can can at least claim a tax deduction for a donation to a charitable organization Dolly supports
Very Unhappy Season Pass Holders,
GregM
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Desired outcome: Full refund, extension, or 501C-3 Charitable Donation form.
Latest Dollywood Reviews
Waiting in line for one hour and the ride is shut down. HR failing to protect minors from sexual harassment by adults Employees are rude Dollywood allows men in women's restroom against tn law Employee of the park STOLE my phone.Giving a Voice to Consumers
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