Our Trip to Dollywood, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, & King’s Island

Back at the beginning of 2020 (what seems like an eternity ago), Derrick & I made plans for several “roller coaster” trips. We planned one in February, one at the end of April/beginning of May, and one in June. The February trip happened as planned (that’s when we went to Nickelodeon Universe at the American Dream Mall) and then March arrived. You can probably fill in the blanks that our next two trips were scrapped as things were still locked down pretty tight thru April, May, and June.

By the end of June though, amusement parks began announcing opening dates & being the crazy people we are, we said: “Let’s go.”

Derrick took off work the week after the 4th of July & off we went – adventuring. We had a plan in place – but then we changed every single aspect of that plan about 36 hours before we left (talk about flying by the seat of our pants). But, in the end, it all worked out perfectly and we had the very best time.

Disclaimer: Just in case you can’t tell, about half of the images in this post were taken on my iPhone and the other half were taken with my DSLR. Sometimes, the best camera is the one you have easiest access to! I’m not crazy enough to have my DSLR in my hands at an amusement park all the time – especially with two little ones – that’s just not happening.

Our trip got kicked off by Derrick & I attending the Media Event at Hershey Park for the opening of Candymonium. We drove out & back to Hershey in one day. The next day, we left our house & drove down to the Lake House to be there until Saturday afternoon – when we would hit the road for Dollywood.

We hadn’t originally planned to go to Dollywood, but as our plans changed, the doors opened for us to go & so we went! We decided to stay on-property at the Dream More Resort & WOW. It was incredible! It might have been a little more money than we were planning to spend, but the perks we got were top-notch and the resort was amazing – we are SO glad that we stayed there!

The last time we were at Dollywood was 4 years ago & we were there with my whole family. It was delightful to go back – this time during their flower & food festival. Dollywood is a gorgeous park as it is – but being there for the festival took things over-the-top. Everywhere you looked were these gorgeous flower displays – it was simply stunning.

Our original plan was to spend 3 days in Tennessee. Upon arrival on Sunday, we would head straight to Dollywood & spend the afternoon at the park. Monday, we planned to split our time between Dollywood’s waterpark & Dollywood, and then Tuesday – the day we were to check out of the resort, we would head back to Dollywood for another half-day of fun before hopping in the car & driving to our next destination.

There was just one problem: by the end of our first day, we were having too much fun. Derrick & I put the kids to bed & looked at one another & said, “What do you think about staying here one more night?”
And so, we did! We ended up staying at Dollywood through Wednesday & it was perfect. It gave us the time to really relax & enjoy our time in the waterpark, at the resort, and at Dollywood. And we thoroughly enjoyed every single moment.
(Even when it rained on our first day at Dollywood & everything was shut down for about 2 hours – hence the puddle-jumping photos.)

Braelynn was tall enough to ride 3 roller coasters at Dollywood – the kiddie coaster, the family inverted coaster (which is new since the last time we were there), and Firechaser Express. Thankfully, the park wasn’t super busy while we were there & she was able to ride all 3 coasters multiple times (with BOTH Derrick & I). The first photo is her very first ride – and the next is several rides in – can you see the difference?

When we were at Dollywood in 2016, Braelynn was almost the same age that Leander is now. I remember waiting in line forever to ride these cars with her! Not so this time around though – except for the last day we were there – there was hardly ever a line, so we marathoned these cars like it was our job! Both Braelynn & Leander both loved them!

Dollywood is just an incredible place – it’s beautiful, has something for everyone to ride & enjoy, and the food is amazing!

Since we extended our trip out a day – we were able to spend an entire day at Dollywood’s Splash Country Waterpark! I lost my flip flops while we were there, but otherwise, we had a fabulous time!

The pool & splash-pad area at the Dream More Resort was incredible too! Normally, after a long hot day in a theme park, we’d just want to come back to the hotel, get cleaned up, and go to bed – but we couldn’t pass up spending a little time every evening down at the pool!

AND – being a resort – they had activities going on every evening! I’m sure if we were there in more “normal” times, there would have been more – but we were thrilled to take part in some of the activities – like s’mores right outside of the pool area!

Dollywood might have been the most last-minute trip we’ve ever taken, but I’m SO glad we did. We had the most wonderful time & it kicked off our week-long trip perfectly.

From Tennessee, we headed to Indiana & spent a day at Holiday World (a park Derrick has been telling me about for years – so it was super exciting to finally go there!)

Our day in Indiana was a bit crazy – the temperature peaked at around 91º and the “real feel” was 101º. Yes, it felt every bit that hot. Within minutes, literally the time it took to walk from our car to the front gate, we were all dripping with sweat – it was gross. Thankfully, Holiday World has a gigantic waterpark within their park, so after riding a few roller coasters – that’s where we headed.

Unfortunately, with that crazy heat came a thunderstorm. Not long after we were able to cool off in the water, we were all told to “get out” as there was lightning in the vicinity. It was about 2 hours before things re-opened & by then, it felt like we were in a race to get everything we wanted to do in! Our day felt a bit neutered, but we still had a fun time.

On Friday, we went to Kentucky Kingdom in Kentucky. Derrick had been to this park before, but it had been something like – 20 years. It was another super hot day – but thankfully – Kentucky Kingdom also has a waterpark within itself! And since there were no storms rolling thru, we were able to enjoy the park much more fully!

After taking the kids photos on the little throne (above), I asked Braelynn if she would take Derrick & I’s photo on the big throne. These photos are crooked, they are at a not-so-great angle, but I absolutely LOVE them. BECAUSE – Braelynn put us through these poses! She told me to sit on Derrick’s lap – then she told us to look at each other. She commanded us to kiss each other – and then she told us to snuggle. We couldn’t stop laughing at our little photographer!

Saturday brought our last day & our drive up to Ohio & King’s Island. The last time we were at King’s Island was almost exactly (just 3 days off) 3 years ago. The last time we were there, Mystic Timbers was the new roller coaster – and this year, they debuted Orion (it’s like the big brother to Candymonium – same manufacturer & type of coaster, just way bigger & faster). We were pretty excited to ride the brand new ride that everyone’s been talking about!

Of course, it was another super hot day – and King’s Island does not have a waterpark (boo). We stayed in the shade as much as we could & drank gallons and gallons of liquids. Being a Saturday (and the first day that the park was open to the general public), the park was pretty busy. We didn’t get to ride as many rides as we were hoping (which has Derrick itching to go back – we are season pass-holders for Cedar Fair, so we could do it! We’ll see!) but we were able to each get 2 rides on Orion – which was obviously the main focus of the day. It’s an amazing ride (but spoiler alert, I think I like Candymonium better).

Since our entire trip was kind of planned “on the go” & by the seat of our pants, we weren’t sure what we would do Saturday night. King’s Island is about 4 1/2 hours from home, so we decided that we would play it by ear. At one point in the afternoon, we decided: let’s book a hotel & stay until the park closes at 7pm.
But as we got closer to that time, we realized – home really isn’t that far away. Around 6:30pm a storm was rolling in & we decided to head out – leaving us with the decision of either getting a hotel or driving & us arriving home around 11pm. We decided to drive and it honestly wasn’t too bad. It had been a long day, but it was delightful to finally be home, to sleep in our own beds, and to have the entire following day to recuperate (meaning: do laundry) and relax.

I plan to write a whole separate post (because this one is already way too long) about our experiences across multiple amusement parks, across multiple states, and how they were all going about combatting the COVID-19 virus & the precautions they were taking to keep their guests healthy. Each park was slightly different, but as a whole – we felt super safe the entire time we were away. Every park did health scans & temperature checks before allowing anyone to enter their gates. Most of the parks required masks and all of the parks were super methodical about hand sanitizing before & after riding the rides. After every so many cycles, rides were wiped down & disinfected, and at every park, we saw people constantly wiping down high-traffic areas & high-touch places. We felt extremely safe the entire time we were away.

And, since it’s been over 2 weeks since we got back – we can officially say that we stayed healthy the entire time too! We took our own precautions (we take vitamins every day, we were really careful about what we touched, and we washed our hands constantly) – but as a whole, we felt like the parks were really doing the very best they could to keep their guests healthy.

We had the most wonderful time away & I’m already ready to go away again.