We did purchase the photo pass while we were at Dollywood and I’m so glad we did because the roller coaster pics are priceless!

Thunderhead was a giant wooden roller coaster where you went faster from start to finish than I’ve ever gone a coaster. I think it was everyone’s favorite!

The Tennessee Tornado had at least 3 loop de loops! We spent a lot of time upside down!

The Wild Eagle was insane…your feet were dangling and you were hanging off the side of the ride and went upside down 4 times! Yes please!

The other roller coasters were Firechaser Express where you went backwards, Mystery Mine where you literally went straight up on your back and straight down on your stomach, Dragonflier, and Barnstormer which was the biggest swing you’ve ever seen. All so fun!

We did get a few of these photos too…it was my birthday and my crew (mostly) happily obliged!

The one thing that surprised me is that there was very little Dolly in Dollywood! However, they make you exit out of the large emporium and I finally spotted her…

That was a good way to end the best birthday! Day 2 to come next week. Have a great weekend!

On Friday, GJ and the kids and I loaded up the car and made a 5 hour drive to Pigeon Forge, TN that took 6 hours! It was worth it though because we spent two full days riding the most awesome roller coasters in Dollywood!! We twisted and turned and dropped and raced and went upside down and loved every second of it! I loved getting to spend my birthday with my favorite fellow thrill-seekers screaming and laughing! The BEST!

We stayed at the Dollywood Dream More Resort which was great and included trolley rides to and from the park. The room had bunk beds and the whole place was just right for our crew.

We got to go into the park early on Saturday because we were staying at the resort. We went straight to Lightning Rod and…what a start to the day! None of us knew what to expect but it was exhilarating!! Samantha wasn’t quite ready for the big coasters yet and shed a few tears during and after…but, don’t worry, she was ready to get back on as soon as we got off!

We got back in line and…the ride closed. Apparently this ride is known for breaking down all the time. It never opened back up all weekend so we considered ourselves very lucky that we got to ride it at all! No worries though, there were at least 10 other major thrill rides to keep us occupied all weekend! We took off into the park and rode them all again and again!

We had lots of quality time hanging out in lines…

but the lines weren’t that bad for us. The park was the most crowded it had been all summer, but we had Time Saver passes which allowed us to skip the majority of the lines. The only one we really waited for was the new roller coaster, Big Bear Mountain. All of the other ones we never waited more than 30 minutes for and most of the time much less. That’s how I like to do a theme park!

Why yes, the boys and I did go up that high on Dropline and then freefall down! Whoa. Samantha wanted to do it but that was the only one she wasn’t tall enough for.

But she did get to do the Lumberjack drop where Maxwell got to test his arm strength pulling them up!

Of course it was all more fun because we had GJ there with us riding all the coasters too! She’s the best sport!

In between coasters, we did play some games…

and drove some cars…

and got some treats! We all wanted hot chocolate because it was freezing!! Well, it was in the 60s but that sure felt cold all day in the park.

The park was all decorated for fall and Halloween and was really neat.

The guy that took this picture for us was really proud of his angle! ha!

It was a truly fantastic and thrilling first day at Dollywood!! More pics to come!