March 04, 2022
In 2022, you'll be getting into Dollywood more quickly and more efficiently than ever before. After working for months with traffic engineers on a plan to expedite guests moving through our parking lot and to our front gate, we're anxious to watch your arrival unfold this season. This video gives you a quick overview of what's new and why. Then, continue reading below for more details!
As a guest, don't worry about the changes! There will be lots of signage and lots of friendly hosts helping you through the parking lot. Even so, it's worthwhile to share some notes before you arrive. I'll use this schematic to help you envision how this will work. 
By moving the toll booths back, we've created more space for vehicles to pull off the public road. Going from 10 to 14 lanes should help tremendously! We'll be parking about 1,680 cars an hour. If you're going to Dollywood, you'll bear to the left (look for the blue lanes). If you're going to Dollywood's Splash Country, you'll bear to the right (look for the red lanes). 
If you're going to the water park, you're going to want to use the right three toll booths. There's room after you go through the tolls to determine which route you need to take to get in the correct lanes. On the map above, look for the area marked in red. Dollywood's Splash Country has its own exit when you're leaving for the day. That will not change. There is a tram stop for Dollywood in the parking lot near Splash Country. (Remember, you don't need a tram to get to the entrance of the water park.) With the new parking arrangement, this tram stop service should be much more efficient. 
Pulling back out to look at the big picture, let me help you get oriented. The blue that becomes orange that becomes red indicates entering traffic. It changes color as it goes from four lanes to three lanes to two lanes. The purplish-bluish lanes indicate traffic exiting the park.
As you go, be sure to look for the parking lot ambassadors. They will be parking multiple lots at the same time. (In other words, we may not fill one lot before moving to the next.) These hosts will be able to direct you to the best available spots. In this new system, if you want to drive further to see if you can get a closer spot, but you don't find the white whale, you'll have to loop back around to Lot D to try again!
The lime green indicates where the trams will be. You will be driving on the other side of the parking lot. Yes, this is flipped from how the parking lot functioned before-and I think you're going to love it. 
In this image, we did not include Preferred Parking or the lot near Splash Country. But you can see stop A/B (Apple Butter), stop C (Cotton Candy) and stop D (Dolly). Look for the green shelters! This is a good time to mention that this is the first phase of our parking redesign. We will add more parking lots in the future!
Starting this season, there will be a centralized transit hub. The green lines represent the tram traffic that will be coming and going. The red line indicates vehicles that will be dropping guests off at Dollywood's gate. If you go beyond Lots A/B, then you have the option to pull into temporary spots as you drop someone off. Notice where the red line bumps out. That's where you can pull in, your passenger(s) exit, and then you pull through and fall back into the red route.
If you're going to the Preferred Parking Lot, you'll follow the red line that will take you up the hill. If you are exiting the park, or are looping back to find a parking spot, then you will pick up the purplish route. One more note about the transit hub, this is also the new drop-off and pick-up location for Dollywood's resort trolleys. Because they will now utilize tram road, trolley drivers will cut five minutes off the round trip to and from Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa! (Yes, we've clocked it.) And, with our new advanced security screening system at bag check, getting through the gate will be an even quicker process than in the past, too! We're ready to get you in to start your Dollywood day! Hopefully, our video and graphics help assure you our new parking plan is going to improve your park experience. We've been counting down the days to get you back to Dollywood. We believe this is going to be the best season yet!
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