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MOONSHINERS DEBUT AT DOLLYWOOD.


Byline: Scott McCaffrey Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Dolly Parton par·ton  
n.
Any of the point particles believed to be a constituent of hadrons, now known as quarks. No longer in technical use.



[part(icle) + -on1.]
 vividly remembers the first movie she ever saw.

Because of his personal interest in the subject, Parton's father broke his long-standing rule against his children going to the movies.

Her dad loaded the growing family up and headed off to the local Sevierville, Tenn., drive-in. The Parton brood brood
n.
See litter.



brood

offspring or pertaining to offspring.


brood mare
a mare dedicated to the production of foals.
 sprawled on the ground to watch Robert Mitchum Noun 1. Robert Mitchum - United States film actor (1917-1997)
Mitchum
 in ``Thunder Road,'' the 1957 action adventure about moonshiners in the hills of the Smoky Mountains Smoky Mountains: see Great Smoky Mountains. .

``It was based on a true story, and Daddy knew all those people,'' Parton said recently at the annual opening of her theme park.

Young Dolly was hooked, and almost four decades later has brought ``Thunder Road'' back to the Smokies with a multimillion-dollar motion simulator A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that encapsulates riders and creates the effect/feelings of being in a moving object. One example would be a theme park ride which simulates flying by using a projection screen in front of the seats you ride in.  that highlights the 11th season of the Dollywood theme park.

With nearly 2 million visitors last year, the park continues to expand. Along with the natural attractions of the Smokies, it's the reason this corner of Tennessee, about 35 miles from Knoxville, has become one of the growing tourist destinations A tourist destination is a city, town or other area the economy of which is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism.

It may contain one or more tourist attractions or visitor attractions and possibly some "tourist traps".
 in the Southeast.

Dollywood's theme for 1996 is its co-owner's lifelong interest in Hollywood. That fascination added up to an $8 million expansion of the park and a seven-acre region called Dollywood Boulevard.

Billed as the ``world's largest turbo-ride action theater,'' Thunder Road straps visitors in and takes them on a chase through the Tennessee back country via movie bucket seats and a specially constructed movie screen that stands five stories high and seven stories wide. Bumps bumps

a term used to describe a variety of papulonodular dermatoses in horses, including 'heat bumps', 'feed bumps', 'protein bumps', 'wheat bumps' and others. No specific disease or etiology has been assigned to the term and veterinary dermatologists wish it would disappear from use.
, jolts and crashes are all part of the adventure.

Dolly herself didn't climb aboard the new ride at a recent preview, explaining that she's not much of a get-bounced-around-ride type of person. ``It scared me to death, and I was just standing in the hall, watching,'' she told the local Mountain Press newspaper. ``I have a feeling if I rode it, I'd have a heart attack.''

What is now Dollywood actually opened in 1961 as the Rebel Railroad railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. . It was a pretty simple operation, with a saloon, steam train, blacksmith and general store.

A decade later, the founding Robbins brothers sold out to the Cleveland Browns
    “Browns” redirects here. For other uses, see Browns (disambiguation).

The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio.
 football team, which renamed it Goldrush Junction and made improvements.

Part of the expansion was the Robert F. Thomas Church Thomas Church can refer to:
  • Thomas Dolliver Church, the American landscape architect.
  • Thomas Haden Church, the American actor.
, which opened on the site in 1973 and is still used for twice-on-Sunday services to which Dollywood visitors are welcomed for worship.

The park was purchased again, and in 1977 was renamed Silver Dollar City. The focus remained on mountain crafts until 1980, when theme rides began to be added. Among them:

Parton became a part-owner and lent her name to the property in 1986. Since then, it has doubled in size to more than 100 acres, and currently is one of the top 25 theme parks in attendance across the country, the top 50 worldwide.

Dolly's image is everywhere - on T-shirts at dozens of shops, in her ``Rags to Riches'' family museum on the grounds, at the re-creation of the home in which the 11 Parton children (Dolly is No. 4) grew up and in the music that coos quietly from speakers around the park.

Since the transformation, new park attractions have been added on a year-by-year basis. A children's area arrived in 1987, the Dollywood Celebrity Theatre a year later. Last year, a $6 million expansion with a '50s theme called ``Jukebox A storage device for multiple sets of CD-ROMs, DVDs, tape cartridges or disk modules. Using carousels, robot arms and other methods, a jukebox physically moves the storage medium from its assigned location to an optical or magnetic station for reading and writing.  Junction'' was unveiled.

For those seeking entertainment, you're likely to find Dolly's kin and childhood friends working on stages like Dolly's Mountain Music in the park. Combined, more than 40 performances take place at the park each day.

On Location

Dollywood is in Pigeon pigeon, common name for members of the large family Columbidae, land birds, cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical regions, characterized by stout bodies, short necks, small heads, and thick, heavy plumage.  Forge, Tenn., about 35 miles southeast of Knoxville. Operating hours vary depending on the season. Ticket prices are $25.99 for adults, $17.99 for children ages 4-11, plus tax. Children ages 3 and under are admitted free. Parking is $3 per vehicle.

Information: Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism, (423) 453-8574; Dollywood information, (423) 428-9488

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: Dollywood visitors cool off on a water ride atthe Tennessee theme park.

Scott McCaffrey/Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service

Box: On Location (See Text)
COPYRIGHT 1996 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1996, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:TRAVEL
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:May 12, 1996
Words:691
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