• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • TravelingDad

Traveling Mom

Traveling tips, deals, info from moms and families

  • COVID-19
  • Road Trips
    • ROAD TRIPS ACROSS THE USA
    • ROAD TRIP PLANNER
    • ILLINOIS ROAD TRIPS
    • TEXAS ROAD TRIPS
    • GEORGIA ROAD TRIPS
    • CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIPS
    • NORTHEAST ROAD TRIPS
    • MIDWEST ROAD TRIPS
  • Destinations
    • Northeast
    • Southeast
    • East Coast
    • Midwest
    • South
    • Southwest
    • Northwest
    • West
    • US Cities
      • New York City
      • Chicago
      • Los Angeles
      • Orlando
      • San Diego
      • San Francisco
  • Disney
    • Disneyland
    • Walt Disney World
    • Disney Worldwide
    • Disney Cruise
    • Discount Disney World Tickets
  • Outdoors
    • Skiing
    • National Parks
    • RV/Camping
    • Beaches
  • Travel Resources
    • Babies and Toddlers
    • Free Things to Do
    • Packing
    • Discount Attractions Tickets
    • Discount Disney World Ticket
    • Discount Universal Tickets
    • Grandparents
    • Cruising
    • TravelingDad
  • Search
  • COVID-19
  • Road Trips
    • Road Trips Across the USA
    • Road Trip Planner
    • Illinois Road Trips
    • Texas Road Trips
    • Georgia Road Trips
    • California Road Trips
    • Northeast Road Trips
    • Midwest Road Trips
  • US National Parks
  • RV and Camping
  • Beaches
  • Disney
    • Disneyland
    • Walt Disney World
    • Disney Worldwide
    • Disney Cruise
    • Discount Disney World Tickets
  • Cruises
  • Skiing
  • Free Things to Do
  • Traveling with Babies and Toddlers
  • Traveling Grandparents
  • TravelingDad
  • US Destinations
    • Northeast
    • Southeast
    • East Coast
    • Midwest
    • South
    • Southwest
    • Northwest
    • West
  • US Cities
    • NYC
    • Chicago
    • Los Angeles
    • Orlando
    • San Diego
    • San Francisco
  • International
  • Travel Resources
    • Book A Trip
    • Discount Attractions Tickets
    • Discount Disney World Tickets
    • Discount Universal Tickets
    • Packing
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Mobile Menu

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
You are here: Home / Family Vacation Ideas / Family Vacation Ideas in the Southeast USA / Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Opens with Massive Redesign in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Video mapping and LED lights transform Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede performance arena.

Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Opens with Massive Redesign in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

March 2, 2015 //  by Christine Tibbetts//  Leave a Comment

FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn
The Dixie Stampede reopened February, 2015 in Pigeon Forge with stunning new lighting capabilities. Photo courtesy Dixie Stampede
The Dixie Stampede reopened February, 2015 in Pigeon Forge with stunning new lighting capabilities. Photo courtesy Dixie Stampede
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and buy, TravelingMom may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you.

You can’t fool me.

I know I felt a breeze from those Smoky Mountain trees on stage at Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

They were moving. Gradually on one side, breeze building up and more motion stage left. I’m sure.

Wrong. They’re just LED lights rigged by savvy lighting set designers. 12.5 million of them to be precise.

Travel the Southeast Like a Pro!

Get our FREE Southeast Travel Guide!

    We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    Lights create new realities

    Surely looked like sunset and moonrise in action me. This is a $2.5 million new look at the Dixie Stampede; it’s not happening at the Branson, Missouri version, at least not yet.

    This is all about Pigeon Forge audiences and it opened mid February.An astonishing 1,100 people show up daily for dinner, a musical pre-show and the big extravaganza-action show including 32 horses.

    That happens three to five times a day! No wonder presenters clever enough to create the stage lighting and video mapping on the arena floor at Dixie Stampede are equally clever about determining how many folks are showing up per show and adjusting seating arrangements to always feel like a full house. And generally it is.

    Mountains, forests, moonrise appear via 12.5 LED lights. Photo by Christine Tibbetts, Blended Family TravelingMom
    Mountains, forests, moonrise appear via 12.5 LED lights. Photo by Christine Tibbetts, Blended Family TravelingMom

    Family experiences and memories

    Woody Peek, director of marketing, told me this is the 28th season of families returning year after year for what he calls a “family, faith and fun” experience. Food too.

    “The creamy vegetable soup is our marquis food item,” Peek says and chef is happy to share the recipe. Only challenge is adapting his kitchen quantity and  cooking pots to yours.

    The chicken is always roasted and edible with fingers; the apple turnovers are served piping hot, every show, every day. Corn on the cob too, pork loin, biscuit and herbed potato.

    National Park so close

    Since Great Smoky Mountain National Park is only seven miles from Pigeon Forge, it’s believable in this theater that you are looking at real peaks and valleys.

    Seeming quite at home in the midst of new music, new aerial acts and scene-changing video, are the teams of Percheron and the quarter horses.

    Here’s a big fact: The great white horse is the great-great-granddaughter of Silver. Yes that one, “Hi Ho Silver.”

    That’s just more multigenerational family action in Pigeon Forge.

    Another Pigeon Forge icon is The Wheel, views from The Island into the mountains. Photo by Christine Tibbetts, Blended Family TravelingMom
    Another Pigeon Forge icon is The Wheel, providing views from The Island into the mountains. Photo by Christine Tibbetts, Blended Family TravelingMom

    Grandparents returning with 3rd generation

    Generations of people fit a lineage too; Peek says elders who attended when their children were young are now returning yet again with the grandchildren. “Multigeneration dominates our audiences,” he says, “ with families seeing the same show again and together.

    Now with the massive changes, perhaps they’ll be starting all over again.

     

    TravelingMom Tip: Protect yourself while traveling with Medjet. 2020 Medjet Members hospitalized with active COVID-19 infections are now eligible for Air Medical Transport within the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Learn more about how to become a Member here.
    FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn

    Category: Family Vacation Ideas in the Southeast USATag: multi-generation

    You May Also Like

    • The 12 South area's bartaco restaurant is a neighborhood favorite.
      5 Awesome Places to Dine for Foodies in Nashville, Tennessee
    Previous Post: « Romantic Trips With Your Kids in Tow
    Next Post: Royal Caribbean’s Family-Friendly Quantum of the Seas Smart Ship »

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Ask Us!
    • Privacy & Terms
    • Manage Push Notifications
    • Site Admin

    Copyright © 2021 Traveling Mom · All Rights Reserved