re: How is Dollywood?

Wife and I took the kids in mid-October (we were there when Tennessee beat Bama) and we'll probably go back next year. Weather was pristine and it was about as pleasant as a theme park trip with 3 kids could be. Ages - 8 months, 4 years, 7 years.

We stayed at the park resort and it was okay, but depending on how many people you take with you, you might find the room small. We had a king bed and bunk beds for the two older kids. They gave us a pack and play for the baby, but once we got that set up and opened suitcases, it felt like we couldn't move.

Things I learned:
1. At some point, you will hear someone tell you about cinnamon bread. It's pretty freaking good.
2. The tasting pass seemed like a good idea, but I'm not convinced it was worth it. Also worth noting, the website suggests you have to use the entire pass on a specific day, but they don't track it that closely. We used ours over the course of the whole weekend.
3. If you stay at the resort, you get to "fastpass" 8 rides a day for free. Don't stockpile them. It will take effort to use all of them.
4. The Stampede thing is not part of the park, but it was pretty neat. My kids got picked out to go do the chicken race and they loved it.
5. We were there Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and then we came home on Tuesday. We didn't get to do everything in the park, but we got to most of it.

ETA: I find it insufferable when people try and min-max their vacations, so I placed an embargo on all the try-hard, show up when the gates open and sprint to the most popular rides nonsense. We woke up when we woke up and we just walked around and rode whatever the kids got excited about as we came across them. It was super leisurely.