Pigeon Forge Activities: Mountain Coasters, Dollywood & Dolly Parton's Stampede

Planning a family trip to Pigeon Forge? We covered mountain coasters, Dollywood, and Dolly Parton's Stampede with kids of all ages — here's what's worth your time

BEYOND

7/1/20267 min read

We recently took a family vacation to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area during the third week of June. Traveling as a party of seven — me and my husband, our three kids, and grandparents along for the fun — these are the attractions we tackled in the Pigeon Forge area during our week there. Since we stayed in the Gatlinburg area, about 15 minutes from Pigeon Forge, and only had 4 days to tackle Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the Smokys, we had to be mindful of what we chose, since there is so much to see and do!

Hi! 👋 I’m a mom of three kids (ages 4–11) based in Bucks County, PA, and our family is always on the lookout for trips that are actually doable — on a real budget, around a real school schedule, and with kids in tow. Think short getaways, summer vacations, and reviews from a family of five that plans carefully but still likes to have a good time. Read on to see the attractions we did in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Mountain Coasters: One Coming In, One Going Out

Mountain coasters are perfect "in-between" attractions, they don't eat up a whole day, so we used them as bookends for our trip. We rode one on the drive into town and the second on our way out.

Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster (Wears Valley Road)

This was our first stop, right as we rolled into vacation mode. A few notes before you go:

Tickets: We scored a discount through Groupon, which made the start of the trip feel like a win before we'd even unpacked.
Height rules: You need to be 56" to ride solo, or 38" to ride as a passenger with someone 56"+ and at least 16 driving. My two oldest just cleared 56", but since it was their first mountain coaster, they opted to ride as passengers instead of going solo.

Here's how it works: you sit two-to-a-cart with a seatbelt, the cable pulls you to the top of the mountain, and once you're up there, you push the handlebars forward and gravity does the rest. This one winds through the mountain with lots of twists and turns through the trees.

The speed of the coaster tops out around 30 mph, but don't let that number fool you — every one of us tapped the brakes at some point. It's not about pure speed, it's about the turns sneaking up on you. The full ride, including the climb up, took about 7 minutes. If you can tear your eyes away from the handlebars and the track in front of you, the views going down are genuinely beautiful.

Verdict: Kids and adults loved it equally. Easy win.

Goats on the Roof (Wears Valley Road)

Coaster number two happened on the way out of town, at Goats on the Roof. It's a quaint little stop, and the coaster is just the start; there's more going on here.

This time, my older two rode the coaster solo and loved it! Similar to the other coaster, this one is in the mountains and has pictures of goats all the way down. Cute. After two coasters under their belt, they ranked them about the same — both fun, both worth doing.

After the ride, we headed over to feed the goats. Yes, there really are goats on the roof, and the kids got a kick out of watching them up there. You can buy food to feed the ones in the fenced-in area below too. There's also a fun gift shop with souvenir prices a bit cheaper than some of the other stops. something I wish I'd known before we'd already bought souvenirs elsewhere.

They've also added a dinosaur-themed mini golf course (Jurassic Tymes) — 36 holes with animatronic dinosaurs scattered throughout. We skipped playing a round, but our resident dinosaur lover was thrilled just walking past the larger-than-life statues. That alone was enough to make her day.

All in all, mountain coasters are a must-do if you're headed to the Pigeon Forge area. It's a unique experience you can't really get at home, and it gives you the thrill of an amusement park roller coaster with the bonus of winding through real mountain scenery.

Dollywood

We dedicated our first full day of vacation to Dollywood. Since we were waiting out the weather forecast, we didn't buy tickets until the day before, which meant the TimeSaver (skip-the-line) passes were already sold out, because the park caps how many they sell. There are several tiers of TimeSaver passes, but bumping up to the next tier was outside our budget. So we settled for old-fashioned waiting in line.

Getting there and getting in

We arrived around 10 a.m. — right along with everyone else. In hindsight, arriving a little after opening might actually beat showing up at the same time as the opening rush. That said, all parking lanes were open and we were parked within 10 minutes of pulling in. From the lot, a tram runs continuously straight to the entrance, so that part was painless.

The Rides

Once inside (after a bathroom stop), we headed to the Ride Measuring Center, where the kids got measured for a color-coded wristband. Each kid also gets a card listing exactly which rides they're tall enough for and where to find them. This isn't required to ride anything, but it made planning our day so much easier — we could skip entire sections of the park that didn't have much for my 4-year-old.

We spent a good chunk of time in the Wildwood Grove section because it's packed with cute preschool-age rides and water features for little ones to play in, plus Big Bear Mountain for my oldest. With three kids spanning very different heights, ages, and interests, we did decide to split up after this area. My older two went off to hit more of the coasters, while I took our youngest through some smaller, gentler rides.

From there I tried to make our way to Country Fair (more small rides), but got pulled into a live country show along the way. We grabbed seats, listened to the band run through cover songs, and ate hot dogs and fries while we watched.

My older two headed off to Wilderness Pass and Craftsman’s Valley to ride some other coasters. Their favorites were Tennessee Tornado, which was their first-ever upside-down coaster, and Wild Eagle. They also rode Blazing Fury, Dollywood's original coaster, mostly because the line was short. Honestly? Disappointing. Not worth the wait, even a short one, in our opinion.

We wrapped up rides with a few trips down Daredevil Falls and got completely soaked on Smoky Mountain River Rampage. One thing we noticed: wait times in the afternoon were noticeably shorter than first thing in the morning.

Food

We bought a souvenir cup with unlimited refills and shared it across the whole family, plus I carried my own reusable water bottle that I refilled at the drink stations scattered around the park. Over the day we ate popcorn, hot dogs, fries, a pork sandwich, and chicken tenders — standard amusement park fare, but with more variety than we expected. The trade-off is always line length versus food choice, and apparently we don't love waiting in lines, so we ate the basics.

Shows

We caught Pirondi's Stunt Dog Experience, and it was a hit across the board — about 45 minutes of dogs catching frisbees and running through tricks. Hard not to love that. We also saw the Bubble Show, which was a favorite for my 4-year-old — they work in a bit of science while creating bubbles of every size imaginable.

A few tips:

Get there early to make the most of your day, but consider arriving slightly after opening to dodge the initial crowd surge (or way before since the lot opens before the park)
Bring a reusable water bottle, or buy the souvenir cup for refills.
Have a plan — and if it fits your budget, look into a TimeSaver pass. Pick a few must-do rides and make sure you actually get to them.
Don't skip the shows.
Bring a change of clothes or a towel if you're doing Smoky Mountain River Rampage. You will get wet.

Overall, this was a great experience for every age in our family, and we were surprised by how much we managed to see in one day. We didn't do it all — and that's fine. Just gives us a reason to go back.

Dolly Parton's Stampede

On our last night of vacation, we headed to Dolly Parton's Stampede. One tip up front: buy these tickets a couple of days in advance, because they do sell out.

Show times and arrival

There are three show times to choose from each day, and we went with the 6 p.m. show. You can arrive up to an hour before showtime for pre-show entertainment and to grab snacks and drinks. We got there about 30 minutes early and caught a couple performing cover songs on stage, one of them playing cello. We didn't buy anything ourselves, but they had popcorn and other snacks for sale, plus both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks — slushies, mixed drinks, and beer.

Getting seated

When showtime arrived, everyone was moved upstairs into the main arena. Your ticket assigns you a section, but not an individual seat number, so make sure your whole group walks in together so you end up seated next to each other.

Walking into the arena, you'll notice it smells a bit like a barn — not surprising, since the show features horses and other animals. It's noticeable, but not overwhelming. Seating is at long tables that fit around 16 people, all facing the center stage. Once you're seated, servers come around to take drink orders, and then the show kicks off.

The show

The competition is between two teams, North and South, going head-to-head in different events throughout the night. You'll watch horses race, a few surprise animals make appearances, and riders perform stunts. It's genuinely entertaining, and it held all three of my kids' attention the entire time. Their favorite part was the host and his sidekick — the kid-level jokes landed perfectly with our crew.

The food

There's no kids' menu — everyone gets the same meal. Dinner starts with creamy vegetable soup, followed by a full petite roasted chicken, shredded BBQ pork, mashed potatoes, and half an ear of corn. My husband and I both enjoyed it, and ketchup packets were available, which helped coax the kids into at least picking at the chicken. They did okay, but knowing they might not eat much, we'd already fed them before leaving the house — just in case.

Dessert comes down to two choices: apple turnover or coconut chocolate cake. Both were great — I ordered the kids the apply turnover and myself the chocolate cake, and we ended up switching after tasting both of them.

Our take

This was a fantastic experience and something we'd never done before. If you're heading to the Pigeon Forge area, I'd recommend it without hesitation.

Four attractions - two coasters, one theme park day, and a horse show with dinner — that was our Pigeon Forge lineup, and every bit of it earned its spot on the itinerary.