PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (WGHP) — Dollywood is now open for its 40th season and fans of all ages are pouring in, including FOX8’s Chad Tucker and his family.
Chad attended the weekend kick-off with his wife and three children who met Dolly Parton while she was visiting their hotel Friday.
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Dolly Parton (center) meets Chad Tucker’s daughters Carson Parry (left) and Pearl Monroe (righ). (Chad Tucker/WGHP) -
Dolly Parton (center left) meets Chad Tucker’s children Carson Parry (far left), Pearl Monroe (center right) and Franklin Reeves (far right). (Chad Tucker/WGHP) -
Chad Tucker (left) and his wife Meredith (right) meet Dolly Parton (center). (Chad Tucker/WGHP) -
Chad Tucker (back left), his wife Meredith (back right) and their children Carson Parry (front left), Pearl Monroe (front center) and Franklin Reeves (front right) meet Dolly Parton (back center). (Chad Tucker/WGHP)
Last year, during opening weekend, Chad was able to share with Parton how her music helped his youngest daughter, Pearl Monroe Tucker, affectionately called Roe Roe, find healing during her 858-day battle with leukemia. In a now-viral video, the Queen of Country Music shared how happy she was for Roe Roe when she stopped to greet her and Chad’s oldest daughter outside their hotel.
Chad shared with Parton how all his children admire “The Book Lady,” a name garnered from the singer’s founding of The Imagination Library. Inspired by Dolly’s Imagination Library, the Tucker family started “The Hero Library” through Roe Roe’s Heroes Childhood Cancer Foundation. The local program gives away comfort children’s books to kids fighting cancer, books that help them understand living with cancer, side effects, impacts on parents and siblings and loss. Chad and the foundation were recently nominated for an Emmy for a PSA on childhood cancer awareness.
With record-breaking attendance each year, Parton’s popular theme park Dollywood is expected to break records during its 40th season. It’s been named the best theme park by numerous publications even beating out Disney last year as the No. 1 theme park in the U.S. by both the National Amusement Park Historical Association and Travelers’ 2024 Choice Best of the Best Awards by TripAdvisor.
With the 40th season now underway parkgoers will notice new additions this year, including the newly remodeled Country Fair and Splash Pad, Celebrity Theater, Imagination Playhouse — highlighting books from Dolly’s Imagination Library and the new Wilderness Pass Restaurant. They are also adding 750 additional parking spaces, a Dollywood sign like the famous Hollywood, California sign and several new shows.
The park officially opened on May 3, 1986, when Parton became part-owner of Herschend Enterprises’ Silver Dollar City theme park and changed the name to Dollywood. The park first opened with a railroad theme in June of 1961 by Grover and Harry Robbins, who had also started Tweetsie Railroad just four years earlier in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel