| Pigeon
Forge, TN – January 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / Baseballs, a violin
and a speeding roller coaster top the list of what’s new in Pigeon
Forge for 2016. The little city with only 6,000 residents is ready
to show some Great Smoky Mountain hospitality to millions of guests.
Ripken Experience Pigeon
Forge – Listen for the crack of the bat and the snap of horsehide hitting
leather when the $22.5 million Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge opens on
March 9.
This six-stadium youth baseball
complex will be a tournament destination for elite teams nine months of
the year. Each field borrows its design from well-known professional ballparks,
including Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Former Major League Baseball
players Cal Ripken Jr. and Bill Ripken are behind the company that will
draw thousands of young players to a site that offers spectacular views
of the Great Smoky Mountains.
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Lightning Rod at Dollywood
– The Dollywood theme park will add another superlative attraction
this spring. It’s Lighting Rod, the world’s fastest wooden roller coaster
and the world’s first launching wooden roller coaster. The thrilling $22
million ride is the largest attraction investment in the park’s history.
Themed after a tricked out
1950s-era hot rod, Lightning Rod launches riders from zero to 45 mph to
a point 20 stories high. Lightning Rod races down a 165-foot drop and propels
guests along its 3,800-foot-long track to a top speed of 73 mph, the fastest
speed for a wooden coaster in the world.
Lighting Rod joins other
Dollywood thrill rides such as Wild Eagle, the country’s first wing coaster;
FireChaser Express, the nation’s first dual-launch family coaster; and
Thunderhead, a wooden coaster consistently ranked one of the world’s top
five wooden coasters. At the adjacent Dollywood’s Splash Country water
park, RiverRush stands as Tennessee’s first and only water coaster.
Wallace Hartley Violin
– When the RMS Titanic sank into the frigid North Atlantic, a legend
was born about the ship’s bandleader, Wallace Hartley. His cherished violin
was found strapped to his body after the sinking and was returned to his
fiancée, only to be lost to the world for almost a century. It sold
at auction in 2013 for $1.7 million.
Pigeon Forge visitors can
see the Hartley violin in a special exhibition at the Titanic Museum Attraction
from June 5-Aug. 14. Every day, there will be special early-morning admission
for a limited number of Titanic enthusiasts to view the violin and shoot
heirloom photos.
RetroRunning All Around
Town – There’s a special running event April 29-31 exclusively for
people age 40 and older. The LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge will host RetroRunning,
a one-of-a-kind race because it’s the odd length of 5 miles, 916 yards.
As race organizers note, everyone who runs will set a personal best for
that distance.
The weekend will include
programs from Jeff Galloway, the nation’s leading running coach and columnist
for Runner’s World, and Rudy Maxa, travel journalist and the voice of National
Geographic Traveler’s “Walks of a Lifetime” podcast.
New Hotels – Pigeon
Forge’s amazing inventory of more than 14,000 lodging units will grow in
2016 with the opening of a 137-room Courtyard by Marriott property, a 112-room
Hilton Garden Inn and the 178-room Black Fox Lodge.
Information about all aspects
of visiting Pigeon Forge is available online at MyPigeonForge.com
or by calling 800-251-9100.
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Contact:
Tom
Adkinson, APR
for Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism
615-341-8796 |
