Smoky Mountain Christmas at Dollywood is something I look forward to every year! Let’s be honest, Christmas in general is something I look forward to every year! I love the lights and the music, the hot chocolate, Rudolph, fun entertainment and I even like the cold (but only for Christmas)!  All of those things happen during Smoky Mountain Christmas in the very best and well done way!!

I’m going to tell you a secret……I would have a tree up year round if my husband would let me.  No time is too early with me when it comes to decorating for Christmas!  I had the opportunity to stop by Dollywood today and learned that it’s never really too early to start decorating for Christmas there either!

Smoky Mountain Christmas is a festival that is held each year at Dollywood and it usually starts around the second week of November.  As soon as the Harvest Festival and Great Pumpkin Luminights ends the park closes for a week.  This is crunch week where hundreds of people work to switch out from the fall festivals to Smoky Mountain Christmas.  However, the Christmas lights have been going up since May or June!

I’m going to be honest with you…I am not the Christmas light hanger-uper in our family, but I know it looks hard and my husband doesn’t love doing it.  I also know that most people who buy artificial Christmas trees spend the extra money for them to be pre-lit.  At Dollywood there is a team of 15-20 people on the Special Events team that spend all of their time from May-November, putting up the lights. That is because there are 4 million lights to hang! If you are visiting during this time you won’t see it happen.  It’s kind of like magic!  Actually, it really happens on days the parks are closed, in the evenings and even overnight.  Then after the park closes for the winter (usually the first few days of January), this same team spends almost 3 months taking the lights down.  Can you imagine??  This team is also super particular about how they hand the lights!  Make sure to look closely at the lights next time you are at Dolly for Smoky Mountain Christmas!  It’s an amazing work of art!

We got a few hints about some things to come for Smoky Mountain Christmas in 2020!  River Town and Craftman’s Valley are going to have some new lights and theming!  I love that area of the park and I’m sure it will be beautiful! Smoky Mountain Christmas is going to have everything we know and love about the Festival this year, but a little more spread out.  Things may be in different places than usual so crowds can enjoy the festivities of the season and still safely enjoy the park!

I hope you have the chance to visit Dollywood during Smoky Mountain Christmas!  You will want to make it a tradition for your family for years to come! When you visit, remember the work that goes in to making it so beautiful and festive because it’s pretty amazing! Once you go, let me know how much fun you had!!