Theme parks offering kids' events, more

Professor Smart's Fun with Physics show is being featured this summer at Dollywood.

By: Joe Tennis | TriCities.com
Published: June 24, 2010

Come summer, it’s all about kids at the theme parks bordering the Tri-Cities.
Of course, kid stuff is what you’ll always find at Tweetsie Railroad, a hallmark of Blowing Rock, N.C., for more than half a century’s worth of summers.
Little more than an hour from downtown Bristol, you’ll find the railroad-themed park’s upcoming “July 4th Fireworks Extravaganza.”
Tweetsie Railroad is honoring the country’s independence on July 4, featuring evening entertainment and a fireworks show in the North Carolina High Country at 9:30 p.m. And the Tweetsie folks are also paying homage to themselves: Tweetsie first opened to the public on July 4, 1957, becoming North Carolina’s first theme park.
This year’s celebration includes the famous “Tweetsie Railroad Wild West” train ride adventure continuing into the early evening, just before the fireworks.
Down in the Smokies, meanwhile, Dollywood has lined the walkways with all kinds of extra activities in time for “Kids Fest.” That includes a new “Adventure Theater” – featuring comedians and jugglers – plus a string of family variety shows, with acts by ventriloquist Kevin Johnson through Aug. 1.
Performances include shows by magician Curtis Adams (June 29 to July 4); the Gazillion Bubble Show (July 6-11); a juggling team called The Passing Zone (July 13-18); and the Mad Science Productions’ “Star Trek Live” (July 20-25), among others.
Also new is the Silly Science Fair kids’ activity center located in the park’s Country Fair area. Here, you’ll meet the likes of Professor Smart and his “Fun With Physics” show. This area also features science experiments and demonstrations.
Near Dollywood, you can also find an added element at the foot-stomping Dixie Stampede. Not exactly your typical dinner theater, Dixie Stampede features rodeo-style entertainment and a supper you eat with your hands. All the while, down in the arena, the horses kick, and the pigs run. And now there’s even more – a lumberjack show, recently mixed in, with a rivalry between muscle men racing up a pole and having at it, chopping a log with an ax.
It’s called “Rumble in the Treetops.” The seven-minute segment showcases the strength, skill and agility of two lumberjacks as they maneuver their way through a four-event relay.
The first leg, the tree climb, is a race to the top of a 35-foot pole that descends from overhead. Next is the two-man crosscut. With the help of a partner, each lumberjack battles to saw through a block of wood. The winning lumberjack collects medals for each leg of the relay. It’s an old-fashioned kind of contest, much like a circus. And just another show you’ll find around the mountains this summer.
Want to learn more? Check out the following:
Tweetsie Railroad: www.tweetsie.com or (877) TWEETSIE.
Dollywood: www.dollywood.com or (800) DOLLYWOOD.
Dixie Stampede: www.dixiestampede.com or (800) 356-1676.

Theme parks offering kids' events, more

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