What This Story Is About
The park’s president, Eugene Naughton, announced plans about how Dolly’s remarkable legacy will be honored at her world-renowned parks and resorts properties in an address on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
Her death prompted an outpour of support across East Tennessee, as well as questions on what’s next for the future of the country star and philanthropic icon’s park, Dollywood.
What Happens Next
Plans for chapel restoration, a guitar statue in the Dollywood fountain and other major resort renovations are underway, including plans Dolly made until 2036, prior to her passing.
PIEGON FORGE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Following the death of country music and philanthropic icon Dolly Parton, Dollywood President Eugene Naughton announced what’s next for the park, its upcoming renovations and current plans on how they will continue to honor the legacy of Dolly Parton.
“She knew what she wanted Dollywood to be… She taught us how to dream big,” Naughton said.
In his address to the public, Naughton noted several plans coming to the park, including the construction of five new resorts, a new guitar sculpture set to be placed in the Dollywood fountain, and a special reflection area open to the public to digitally share words on how Dolly impacted them. Words shared by the public in the reflection area will be kept private upon request.
Additionally, he noted that before her death, Dolly had already planned well into the future of the park and how it can serve the community.
“She gave us the gift of time to prepare for what was going to eventually happen here. We have plans until 2036 that she laid emphasis on us as a leadership team that I am confident in,” Naughton said.
The half-a-billion dollar investment strategy underway for Dollywood will focus on the renovation of existing resorts for resorts three, four, five and six — all approved prior to Dolly’s passing.
When will the public see the projects in action?
Naughton said that all of the remaining upcoming work on Dollywood is ‘planned and underway,’ with many of them to be ready in March of 2027.
“The city of Sevierville will start installing in a couple of days,” he said.
What are the plans to continue remembering Dolly at Dollywood?
When asked about how long will the memorial walls will lay out front of Dollywood for the public’s viewing, Naughton said that answer hasn’t been reached yet.
“I don’t know how long it will last. I think we’ll know when to close the memorial walls, but we want to give people plenty of time to do so in a special way,” he said.
Additionally, he referred back to the tribute kiosk that will be open for the public’s use to honor, share and highlight Dolly’s impact she had on so many lives.
“This gives everyone in Wildwood Grove the chance to digitally document what they want to share about their Dolly stories. Members can make their impact public or private to their discretion,” he said.
For more information on upcoming plans for Dollywood and updates to park hours, click here.
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