Today we all slept in a bit. I woke up and the kids were playing nicely in their cots with their stuffed animals and listening to a tonie. I didn’t rush but we took out time to slowly wake up. We ate cereal (the kids down by the river) and got dressed in our shirts I made for them. We decided it was a beautiful weather day and to do Dollywood. We got a much later start than I would have liked. We didn’t get there till after 12 and had to park at the water park. We took the tram over to the park and got started. The kids handled the lines pretty well. Owen got a bit upset because he couldn’t rid some rides he wanted to and some because Ellie wasn’t big enough. We did a few rides which really got him smiling and then we had lunch. He ordered Mac and cheese with chocolate milk and they were out of both. So they gave him a cheeseburger instead. He loved it thankfully and ate the whole thing. Ellie and I shared a chicken tender meal and Leiland had a cheeseburger too. WE took the extra fries with us in an empty cup and the meal really helped moods lift. We decided to try out the new coaster at the park called big bear mountain. Everyone was tall enough and it was a really fun looking ride. The line showed about a 45 min wait but thankfully they had a lot of shaded spots and fans cranked and really working well. While waiting something happened and they announced it was delayed. We were thankful to be under the shaded area and so we all just sat down together. It wasn’t too long and it was moving again. We got on the ride and off we went. Ellie squeeze my hand the entire time and screamed. She did not love it. I think it was bigger than she expected. It really was an intense coaster for her. When we got off the boys were both a little shook from it as well. Oops. Who knew? So we did a bathroom break and another ride that was a bird swing sort of thing. You could steer the bird while it spun.
I decided we needed to walk and see more of the park. We had barely seen much at all. We stopped in some of the gift shops and Owen and Ellie wanted to spend their money on light up noisy swords. Owen cracked his pretty quick from putting it in his shirt. Ellie’s stopped lighting up the middle. We enjoyed all the flowers and decorations, and we found the church. The kids all loved seeing the eagles and then we headed for a train ride. We arrived just in time to catch a ride before they closed the gates. The kids were not impressed. Leiland complained it was boring and Ellie kept saying it needed to go faster. It was nice to sit and rest for a few minutes. At the end of the train ride we saw a swing ride with almost no riders so he headed that way. First we did a ride that goes up and drops down. Not at cool as the one he wanted but they all rode together and loved it. Then we made way to the swings. I finally got to go one this ride I’ve wanted to try for many years. We rode twice.
We then went to walk through the main part of the park at the start. We missed this when we arrived. Kids were wanting ice cream so we stopped and got a thing crust pizza and pretzel sticks for dinner to share. We explored the main entrance stuff then headed back to do more coasters. We rode the first coaster once more. Then we headed for one we wanted to try but had missed. We got dippin dots on the way and they ate it in line. We enjoyed the dance party music while waiting in line and unfortunately we missed the fireworks and drone light show. We caught just a few glimpses of it peeking through the ceiling and gates but that was it. Then it was our turn to ride. This one was so much better than I expected. It even went upside down and Ellie loved every minute of it. We got to ride during the dark, while fireworks went off, and loved every minute of it. On the exit path we stopped to watch the rest of the firework show.
Then it was time to head to the exit. I held Owen and Ellie’s hands and Leiland held my backpack strap. I don’t like the chaos when I’m alone with the kids in the dark but this worked really well to get us all to the exit together. We got up their bathroom one last time before the long drive. We went to the tram and because of the bathroom break we didn’t have to wait long at all for the tram ride. We got to the truck and everyone was still all smiles raving about the day. We put on some music but it took the kids till almost 1120 to stop chatting and wind down to fall asleep.
I drove the winding dark roads through the park to get back to the campground and we got to the tent right at 12:34am. Kids got ready and back to bed so quickly. I’m glad they had such a fun day and behaved so well. Overall it was another great day for the books. I know tomorrow they will be exhausted and much more irritable and touchy. It that’s ok.
One thing that shocked me was how sore my legs were walking all day because of the horse trail ride we did yesterday. So sore.
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