Dolly Parton Announces $10 Million Addition to Dollywood

Pigeon Forge, TN -- Adventures and imagination are two of the words that Dolly Parton most often uses to describe her life growing up in the hills of East Tennessee. With twelve brothers and sisters, adventures through the mountains surrounding their home were a daily occurrence, and they were only limited by the imaginations of those who dared to dream up the next exciting journey.

To share the results of her decades of dreaming, and to inspire others to follow their own dreams, Dolly unveiled plans today for a $10 million addition to her Dollywood theme park located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Adventures in Imagination will debut with the park's 2002 operating season.

The Adventures in Imagination expansion is one of The Dollywood Company's most significant to date and includes a newly constructed state-of-the-art museum called Chasing Rainbows, featuring interactive and "behind the scenes" collections, stories, and memorabilia from Dolly's life and career.

Other elements in the Adventures in Imagination area include a new 4-D action simulator ride, Smoky Mountain Wilderness Tours, which takes adventurers on a thrill-filled journey through the Smoky Mountains with Dolly as their guide; a hands-on interactive toy store that will also serve as the theme park headquarters for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program; and a new food location.

Adventures in Imagination will debut with the opening of Dollywood's seventeenth operating season, which officially begins April 6, 2002. The $10 million investment in the new area by the Dollywood Company brings the total of capital improvements at the park to over $100 million.