Dollywood with Dixie Stampede

July 5th, Sunday

Dollywood is the #1 amusement park in the US, and today, I got to go there.

  Because of our late curfew last night and the park's later opening, we got to sleep in a little bit. We got to the park at 10, but we were still one of the first ones in. 

   Me and a few of us, we formed a group that loves rollercoasters, the scarier, the better. The first attraction we went on was the wooden rollercoaster, and I have to say, it's one of the best wooden ones I've ever been on. It was the perfect start for am awesome day.

  We just stayed in one group, and in the matter of 2 hours we went on every rollercoaster. One of my favourites was the Eagle, which went with 61 miles/h, and the first big drop had a 4.5 g force. The first time I went on it, I forgot how to breath.

   Despite being the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend, and having good weather, there weren't too many people at the park. There were no lines, and no crowd. It was pretty neat. After we went on every rollercoaster and ride, we went again on the ones we liked the most. I sat on the front seat of the Eagle the last time, it was extra scary, to watch the drop!

  Another thing I have to say about Dollywood is that it's very nicely decorated. The theme is western countryside, mid 19th century, the time of cowboys and sheriffs. The houses and shops were all built to look like everybody  jumped back into that era. It was very well detailed.

  At 4:30, the buses collected us, but the day was far from over! We went to have dinner at Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede (gosh, that woman's rich!), and I only knew that it was a dinner and a show, but I wasn't expecting anything as great as it was.

  The first half an hour was very boring. They sat everybody in a room, to wait till the previous show ended. Then they let us in.

  When I stepped into the main dining area, the surprise took my breath away. It was a giant imdoor arena, with sand in the middle. on the side instead of just seats, 5 rows of tables and chairs were facing the middle of the room. It fit around a 1000 people!

   We  were seated according to our tickets on the right side, I was sitting next to Saki and Tim, both from my district. There were plates sat in front of us, but no silverware. The first thing our waiter told us, is that we're gonna have to eat with our hands. After everybody sat, the show started. 

  A guy rode his horse in the middle of the arena, and introduced himself as the host of the show. He explained, that the arena was divided into two parts, the North and the South, representing the opposing armies at civil war, and we would have to "fight", by making a lot of noise. So all the exchange students made some noise. We clapped, screamed, hooed, stomped, and pounded on the tables. But so did the rest of the arena. 

  The theme of the whole show was the fight between the North and the South, represented by races. Ten cowboys/cowgirls rode in on their horses, the ones from the North in blue and gold (Rotary colors), the South in red and silver. We hooed for the North, booed for the South. After they did some tricks on their horses (they were very good riders, and the horses were very obedient), a lady came in, standing on two gallopping horses. She was very good! She slalomed between flaming poles, and the  she jumped through a hoop lit with fire, while riding two horses! After she left, there was a presentation of prehuman and native american life in America, with real buffalos and people with glow in the dark costumes dancing.

  Of course every show needs a clown, someone to deliver the comic relief. That person was Skeeter. He was the "maintenance guy" in the back, who wanted to be in the show desperately. He did some magic tricks, and he did a puppet race on ponies, it was pretty funny.

  The food was really good too. It was way too much, so most of us doggy bagged the leftovers. The races were very fun too. They performers were counting points for the two sides. Sometimes, they asked for people in the audience to volunteer and compete, and 4 kids from our group went. That's when we cheered the most! Children and grown up audience members did silly things for their sides to win. For a while, it looked like the South was gonna win, but as we know from history, the North evened out, won. At the end, the conclusion of the show / story was, that it doesn't matter what side we're on, because it's the United States of America, one country together.

  Everybody loved the show. I thought it was very cool, and I had lots of fun. It was a great dining experience, I'm really glad we got to go!

  Back at the hotel, we played volleyball and hung out in the parking lot again. The only problem was, that we were making too much noise, and because of that, Mike had us go to our rooms 10 minites before curfew. Everybody was very tired, we had a busy, fun filled day!