By India McCarty
Dollywood over Disney? This new survey says the Tennessee theme park is No. 1 in America.
“The Travelers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best title celebrates the highest level of excellence in travel,” TripAdvisor’s website reads. “It’s awarded to those who receive a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period. Out of our 8 million listings, fewer than 1% achieve this milestone.”
Dollywood, the amusement park created by country superstar Dolly Parton, took the top spot, with people praising its rides, staff and special features, such as country singalongs and a museum dedicated to Parton’s life and career.
“This award is humbling,” Dollywood’s president, Eugene Naughton, said in a statement to Knox News. “Because it is derived from real reviews left by our actual guests describing their time here at our parks and resorts.”
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Naughton added, “We don’t provide the best guest experience in the country to try to win these awards. We do it because it is the right thing to do. This award from TripAdvisor is humbling though, because it is derived from reviews left by our actual guests describing their time here at our parks and resorts.”
Related: Dolly Parton Says Dollywood Inspired by ‘The Most Perfect Place’ God Created
This is the third time Dollywood has earned TripAdvisor’s top spot. It was also named one of the Top 25 amusement parks in the world by the site, ranking eleventh on the list.
This year, Disney’s Magic Kingdom took second place on the Travelers’ Choice Awards, while the family-owned Knoebels Amusement Park came third. Number four was Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with Universal Islands of Adventure rounding out the top 5.
Dollywood is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and Parton recently spoke about the park’s legacy.
“When I first started getting successful, I used to think if I ever made it as big as I hoped to, then I [would] want to have my own theme park,” she told USA Today. “I was just dreaming of having a wonderful place for people to come, have a good time, having all kinds of things to enjoy and providing jobs for my family and the kin folks around here and the good neighbors. And sure enough, we’ve got all that now.”
Parton continued, “Of course, we opened 40 years ago. It took a little while to get it all in the works, but it’s more than I even imagined that it could be. When you have a dream, you gotta dream big, so I’m always dreaming big, but sometimes your dreams really take on a life of their own, and that’s the way that it is with Dollywood.”
With this recent award, it’s clear Parton and the rest of the Dollywood team’s hard work has paid off!
Read Next: How Dolly Parton’s Legacy Continues to Improve the Community
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