Day four we got up early and it was our goal to be at Dollywood's Splash County. We got there about 10:15 and it was already packed. you can tell that it is peak season because everyone was out.
We were smart today and simply brought towels. It is amazing at this place, there are towels on chairs everywhere and no one using either. Our towels and bag were on the chair that we had for almost 5 hours and we never sat there.
We had a great time. We started with the lazy rive and then we went over the "rules" with Grace and so I let her run and bit more freely at the splash pad. I stood by the exit of the splash pad and she just had a great time getting as wet as she possibly could. Don kept Mac, went down the slides with him, showed him how to use the water cannons... everything there was to do they did. At one point Grace got hit in the mouth with the cannon but after a ittle blood and a few tears she was back to playing. From there we went back to the family sled ride from the night before. We did have to wait in line a bit but it was not a horrible line. I think that we only waited 10 minutes. We should have done this ride a few more times but we had heard that there was a new part of the park and so we decided to go find it.
Once we got to "The Cascades" Grace was just in heaven. Here there is a big "wooded" bucket that fills up and about every 2 minutes or so dumps water all over the fortress of walkways, 8 slides, and tons of water cannons. Anything that can dump water on people you will find here. The problem with this splash area is that it is even harder to keep an eye on your child. There is however only one exit. But I couldn't stand there... Don would take Mac to the top of the slides and then I would have to catch him. Grace didn't want to hang around us she wanted to go run, jump, slide and play so I lost her almost immediately. One think that I thought was going to help on this day was that I put her in a different swim suit that was a bit brighter but unfortunately when you are talking at least 200 kids in the same place you just cant keep track.
At one point I remember looking of the sea of children and saying to myself, "what if I can't find her could I just freeze everyone so that I could see her?" With that almost moments later she was right there. I showed her a spot to go to if she was looking for me and couldn't find me. But I tried to get her interested in the slides of this fortress. That is what Don and Mac were doing so I thought if I got her interested she could follow them. So she joined her Dad and Mac a couple times but then I thought what the heck... I hate this stuff but when in Rome. So I did go up the fortress and down the slide with my family.
When we were don there we decided to stand in the line for the Big Bear Mountain Ride. This ride was enclosed so I knew that I would not worry about the ride but going up up up the stairs was making me crazy. Then we were 5 steps from the top and Mac decided he was tired of waiting and he was going to throw a fit... OH JEEZ I was about ready to lose it. I almost felt like I was in those moments of labor when you just say things that you don't mean to say but you are under so much stress that you can't take it. Don is really a trouper because I know that I was crazy. We finally got in the ride and went down... and it was so NOT worth the 45 minutes we were in that line.
With that we decided it was time to go. Don would have stayed all day but the kids were tired and I couldn't take one more moment of stress.
We actually got the kids back to the hotel and they laid down for a nap. Don did the same and I went shopping.
When everyone was awake and ready to go we went and did the touristy things that you do at Pigeon Forge... there are go cart places and children rides all over the park way. So we went and drove the two people go carts. This would have been a blast but there were four guys who did not pay attention to the stop signals and also were just plan rude. I was really trying to stay out of the way so that people could get around and Grace and I could just have a fun race around the track. At one point I got hit so hard I thought we were going to flip over and then at the end of the race they all hit us so hard that one girl couldn't move and get out of her cart. Grace and I were ok but I will never take her on that ride again until she is older. I just couldn't believe how rude people were and didn't even care if they hurt someone.
From there we went to the little kids rides. They were great for Mac bt I tell you what, Don has made Grace such a daredevil that she was so bored with the rides. She did like the children's ferris wheel but other than that she just wanted to put 50 cents in the horse that she named bulls-eye. When they had ridden all the rides we went on to the Old Mill Restaurant.
This was the cutest part of Pigeon Forge. It is an old part of town that they have restored and the restaurant is fabulous. We had to wait a while and so we took a walk. I bought the kids new jibbits for their crocks and I found a pen with Mac's name on it ... so I had to buy it. By then it was almost time to eat so we went back to the mill.
They were playing music in the waiting area and so Mac entertained people by dancing and trying to get Grace to join him.
Once in for dinner the food was fabulous.
As always we then left and everyone was exhausted it was at least 10pm ...
I will write more tomorrow...
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