Another Day in Dollywood

 All good things must come to an end, or at least so they say.  I know our season passes won't come to an end until December or so, at least.  So we know we'll be back.  But having a season pass enabled us to sneak into the park one more time, just for a half day or so.  We had a great time!  We said goodbye to our hotel, and then we went to Dollywood by about 10:30 or so, just in time to see the Kingdom Heirs perform some classic gospel songs.  Later on, we saw a performance from "A Brighter Day," part of the Food and Flower Festival concert series.  Speaking of which, we were eating some of our food from our pass today, and enjoying some of that boba tea.  The blueberry boba tea was delicious!

The funny thing about today was that we were going to do a roller coaster, but Maddie told me that she was done with roller coasters for the week, and inside I was kind of glad - I'll be happy to leave the other coasters for our next visit.  So that being said, we went over to the county fair, and we did the bumper cars a lot.  There was a worker there named Gary, and he was so kind that he gave us passes that enabled us to hop right on a ride without waiting in line.  So we used those to get Mom and Maddie aboard the Shooting Star, a small mini-free fall ride that those two always enjoy doing together.  Not me!  The bumper cars were a lot of fun as always, and the three of us even had time to ride the carousel again, and then of course the flying elephants, because that's tradition, right?  

This was a relaxed visit.  No agenda but to wander around, eat food and meet people.  We posed with a fairy character, and spent a long time talking with Jaimie Houser, a lady who was creating another chalk art creation throughout the day.  We'd talked with her earlier in the week, and Maddie was pretty impressed with her work.  We spent some time in the music shop, and then the store over by the train depot, where we got an Christmas ornament to commemorate our vacation.  It was just a really pleasant visit, and of course the final ride is always that tram ride home.  We parked in C today, for Cotton Candy.  We managed to do the whole alphabet this week, with A-B on our first day, then E the next, D the next, and C today.  Anyway, we got to our car, and it was about 2:20 pm.  Time to head home!

Jaimie the chalk artist

Maddie and Mom talking with her for a while about her artwork.

Joey the Porg enjoying a performance...

Maddie meets a fun fairy character in the garden.

Joey the Porg makes a new friend.

Joey the Porg rides a flying elephant.

Getting ready to cruise on the bumper cars.

Someone's about to get run off the road!

Here we go!

Joey the Porg is ready for bumper car madness!

Joey the Porg is ready for Demolition Derby!

One last shot beneath the umbrellas.

Maddie rides a bear!  Mom and I rode a chair.

Joey the Porg watches Maddie and Mom ride the Shooting Star.

Up and down!

Strapped in and ready to go!

Riding the flying elephant!

The tradition of riding a flying elephant continues!

Maddie and Joey the Porg at the Flower and Food Festival, with nachos and boba tea!

Our ride home was pretty easy and quick.  Okay, it was four hours.  But it was uneventful.  We stopped at Newfoundland Gap for a few photos very quick, and that was about it.  It was too late to make any other stops, but that's okay - we had a great time at Dollywood earlier. 

It was a great day - we got home pretty tired.  We unpacked and we sat down for a good bit, and we actually watched a movie tonight - "Stargate."  Just something to watch before bedtime.  Afterwards, we were ready to sleep - we read, we prayed, and we slept pretty well.