While many vacation destinations scale down during cold weather, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee celebrates winter by revving up with new shows, special attractions and millions of holiday lights.
The town's annual Winterfest celebration runs through February. And during the holidays, travelers to this Smoky Mountain town can find a variety of special offerings: visitors will be able to witness a miracle, participate in a vaudeville show, journey through Toyland and more. Here are the highlights:
At Dollywood, the new "Babes in Toyland" production, running through Dec. 30, is a splashy spectacle — the most elaborate stage show in the park's 21-year history. The show features a complete troupe of 21 soldiers, including 16 fully animated soldier puppets that were specially designed and constructed and are led through their march by the towering, 14-foot-tall "General."
"We wanted to make something memorable," said executive producer Paul Couch of the family classic. "The puppets are fully animated characters, in different sizes and on a very grand scale. When they all come into play, it's a showstopper."
Couch, Dollywood's director of entertainment, wanted the production to be larger-than-life, but even more so, he wanted to tell a story that would engage the audience emotionally.
"If you took away all the spectacular tricks on stage, this is still a good story with good music," he said.
The show, with a fully orchestrated musical score, unfolds in a small East Tennessee village on Christmas Eve and follows "Alan" and "Jane" on their journey through Toyland. Along the way, they meet Simple Simon, Contrary Mary and Miss Muffett as well as the dastardly Mr. Barnaby and his scheming henchmen, Roderigo and Gonzorgo, who are determined to keep the children from discovering Toyland's mysteries.
The never-before-seen adaptation is part of Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas festival, a gala that glitters with 3 million lights and a half-dozen seasonal shows: "Christmas in the Smokies," " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas," "O' Holy Night," "An Appalachian Christmas," "Carol of the Trees" and "Christmas with the Kingdom Heirs."
For the festival, Thunderhead roller coaster, Tennessee Tornado and the Dollywood Express will be up and running, as will Santa's Workshop, an activity-filled funhouse complete with Tinker the Talking Christmas Tree. Scrooge will "Bah Humbug!" about and Victorian carolers will stroll and serenade. Restaurants will dish up holiday fare, including new menu items like prosciutto pork loin, rosemary pork prime rib and cranberry maple baked chicken, along with peppermint ice cream and Tennessee mud pie.
WonderWorks, the trademark upside-down house with zany, interactive exhibits and high-energy attractions, recently crash-landed on the Parkway, right next door to the elaborately costumed and performed Black Bear Jamboree Dinner Show. With WonderWorks' 70-foot façade and massive marble structure, this 55,000-square-foot, family-friendly science museum is a delightfully disorienting diversion for an afternoon or evening outing.
WonderWorks adds its own dinner show to the lineup of dinner-with-entertainment productions in Pigeon Forge. With a dash of audience participation, a heaping helping of showmanship and lots of breadsticks, WonderWorks' resident song-and-dance company presents "Hoot n' Holler." The two-hour musical variety show a la vaudeville features a troupe of four traveling entertainers in search of fame and fortune. They are accompanied by their cook, the show-stealing Scraps, who also has his eye on the limelight and his tongue firmly in cheek.
The show combines singing, juggling, comedy, music, magic and all variety of shenanigans — and, of course, food. The servers join in on the fun, stepping lively as they deliver a veritable Italian feast: salad, an Italian Trio entrée, bread served with homemade cream cheese and cinnamon butter, and strawberry shortcake.
The show runs daily throughout the year in the facility's 300-seat theater. For the holidays, Christmas music will be piped out by WonderWork's piano player, adding even more zip to the show.
Before settling in for song, dance and dinner, take time to visit WonderWorks' Disaster Zone and shake with a 5.3-magnitude earthquake and wobble in 65-mph hurricane winds. You can also land the Discovery space shuttle in the Space Zone. Test out a bed of nails, scale a rock climbing wall or take a spin on a bicycle that circles in 360-degree loops through the air.
Other zones: Sound & Light Zone, the Wonder Zone, the Wonder Dome and a Bubble Lab, among others, plus optical illusions and mirror delusions, a tunnel inversion and excursions to sculpture and shadow walls. WonderWorks has more than 150 activities throughout its two levels, plus state-of-the-art game room and Laser Tag.
New at The Miracle Theater this year is the Broadway-style "The Miracle," an original, multi-million dollar musical based on the life and miracles of Jesus Christ. The largest-scale production staged in the Smoky Mountains, "The Miracle" is replete with state-of-the-art surround sound, 3-D video projection, soaring musical score, authentic costumes, dynamic set designs and breathtaking choreography.
"It's the perfect show to include in your holiday plans," said Kathy Turner of Fee/ Hedrick Family Entertainment Group, which produces "The Miracle." "The Nativity segment of the show is presented with all the majesty befitting the arrival of a king. Flying angels proclaim the birth of Jesus. Exotic animals carry the Magi."
The scope of this production is remarkable from the moment the curtains rise on the dawning of creation. It takes the combined creative talents of some 150 people, including 49 singers, dancers, actors, stunt professionals and support staff, as well as live animals and a crew of technicians and specialists to make "The Miracle" happen.
Other Pigeon Forge productions that make great holiday stops: The Triumphant Quarter, also at the Miracle Theatre, presents Southern Gospel music in pitch-perfect four-part-male harmony and toe-tapping rhythm; celebrating tradition is Dixie Stampede's Christmas at Dixie dinner show with its lavish holiday showplace trimmed in lights and replete with mischievous elves, wreath-tossing and 32 horses and 30 riders decked out in old-fashioned holiday attire; and the award-winning musical smorgasbord, Country Tonite, with a beautiful "three-hanky" patriotic tribute.
Information courtesy of the Tennessean.com