Owned by Dolly Parton
My family recently went to the mountains in Tennessee for a week and while there we decided to splurge (and I do mean splurge since adult tickets are $41.00 and children $20.50!) and go to the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show.
We had been several years ago when the smaller children were free (if they can sit on your lap and eat off your plate they are not charged.) It was a great show with the North Versus the South and cowboys and indians. This year we went after the Christmas show had started.
The show is almost 2 hours long and one hour before it starts you can wave to the beautiful horses in their outside stalls (no touching!) and then go into a "bar room" where some of the local music comes out and entertains you for 1/2 hour or so. Lots of Country and Bluegrass music.
The show consists of horseback riding tricks, pig races, ostrich races, lots of wonderfully choreographed horse displays, singing, some ice skating, audience participation and of course for Christmas... Santa.
It is a fast moving show with something for everyone. My husband got bored in parts, but those might be parts that thrilled the kids or some of the older folks.
The food was a very interesting part of the show. NO UTENSILS! Everything is eaten with your hands! You get a whole chicken, a piece of pork loin, corn on the cob, a fried potato. creamy veggie soup, rolls, etc. You do get a warm, wet towel at the end. :)
The photo below is a little misleading as Pigeon Forge is a completely "dry" town, including restaurants so your choices of beverage at the show are only Pepsi, tea or coffee. There are three other locations in the South though and I imagine they probably serve alcohol.
At the end of the show the riders stay in the arena right at the edge and you can go down and pet the horse, shake the rider's hands or have them autograph the photos they take when you come in, if you have purchased them. (I thought about buying the photos, but the backdrop doesn't actually say Dixie Stampede, it's just a backdrop, so I decided why bother for $20.00.) Oh, personal cameras and videos are NOT allowed.
It's an expensive little outing, but if you can forget that part, it's a fun show that kids and adults alike will enjoy.
And you sure the heck don't leave hungry!