March 12, 2010

A Sinking Ship in Pigeon Forge?

By Judi Janofsky & Rich Steck

People have been traveling to Pigeon Forge for decades but the town really was put on the map when Dolly Parton, an East Tennessee native, opened Dollywood, a "family adventure" park themed around the nearby Great Smoky Mountains, in 1986. It was an instant hit and now Dollywood draws more than two million visitors a year.


But Pigeon Forge isn't only about Dollywood. There are now nearly 50 other attractions in town. Including a new one to open this spring, called Titantic Pigeon Forge.

If you're driving down the main parkway in town, you'll do a double-take when you see two huge smokestacks rising from behind the trees. You can't help but ask: "what is that?"

"That" is the 100-foot towering, ship-shaped museum/attraction devoted to the world's best-known ship, the Titanic.

Rising on a hill, the forward half of the ship has been re-created to half the size of the original that was sunk during its fateful maiden voyage in 1912.

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Titanic Museum Attraction is designed to celebrate the luxury liner, her passengers and her crew.

As visitors enter the world of the Titanic, they will receive a passenger boarding ticket with the name of an actual passenger or crew member and the class they were traveling. During the 90-minute self-guided tour, guests will learn about the individual and later, in the Memorial Room, find out if he or she lived or perished.

Titantic Pigeon Forge will include galleries with over 400 personal and private artifacts on display. Each tells a story about someone on the maiden voyage that day.

Guests can get a feel for what it was like that night. They can walk the Grand Staircase, touch an iceberg, get into a lifeboat, listen to survivor stories and stand on the ship's bridge as the captain did when he stared into the cold waters and realized the ship's fate.

For more information on Dollywood, Pigeon Forge or the Titanic Museum Attraction, visit www.mypigeonforge.com.