April: Welcome to the Explore the Smokies Podcast. Have you ever wanted to jump on that Pigeon Forge Trolley System ?

Host: Yes, April. But I just don’t know where I’d end up. And who has that kind of time?

April: Well, today we’re going to teach you how to confidently use the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg Trolley systems. But before we jump into that, we want to give a shout-out to the sponsors of today’s podcast – Smokey River Vacation Rentals. The Sweet Magnolia is a beautiful resort condo located just off the Parkway in Pigeon Forge with resort amenities and a fully stocked coffee bar. The Sweet Magnolia sleep six, while it’s a peaceful location, it’s just a minute away from the action, down the street from the Apple Barn. You can check out this property at smokeyrivervacations.com.

Host: Okay. So let’s talk about this trolley system now. I’ve obviously seen the trolleys and I’ve seen the stops. But the routes are what get me. Is it one trolley that goes from Pigeon Forge all the way into Gatlinburg?

April: So, I’ve actually wondered that same thing and luckily we have an expert with us today. Joining us is Lynn Wilhoite, the director of the Pigeon Forge Mass Transit Authority and he’s going to help us and all of our listeners feel confident about using the system. Hi, Lynn.

Host: Hi Lynn, thanks for joining us.

Lynn Wilhoite: Thanks guys, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

April: So there’s some common misunderstandings about the system and one of those is that there’s just one trolley system, but there’s actually two.

Lynn: That’s correct. Eight City Gatlinburg, has their own mass transit system and of course, we have ours and we connect with them up at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center to bring their guests down to Pigeon Forge and to take our guests up to Gatlinburg. We work together so we can commute between the two cities.

Host: It’s great, it’s great Lynn. Another misconception is that people think the trolley system is a tour. Is that not the case?

Lynn: It’s not. That’s a great question. We have folks looking for the tour and what it’s going to be. We are for transportation purposes. We move you around all over Pigeon Forge, any of the areas that you want to go. Like I said we get you up to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center so you can get on to Gatlinburg. We take you to Sevierville so you can get down to the malls and that area part of Sevierville, the Apple Barn area. We take you to Dollywood, to Splash Country, and we’ve got trams over at our convention center next to the island to move you around the park over there. Our goal is to take you anywhere in town to see any attraction that you might want to find.

Host: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Hey Lynn, how long does the trolley run?

Lynn: Right now, we’re in our season, our summer season, we open at eight in the morning and we bring them off the road at about 15 minutes till midnight. So we’re trying to get the vast majority of folks around town. We also help out with J1 students, trying to get them to work and back. So we try to stay open long enough for them to get off work and let’s get them home.

April: So, one of the questions I have, this is what always goes through my mind when I’m thinking about using the trolley for Dollywood is you know, say, my family ends up staying longer than we thought we were going to and we come out and we need to get onto the trolley in order to get back home or back to, you know, a resort destination and there’s so many people lined up for the trolley. Trolley gets filled takes off, what happens then? Will they run long enough in order to take care of the people that they have there?

Lynn: Yeah, our promise, when we take people to Dollywood is we stay in contact with their security and we will not stop running until we’re told the park is empty. Because a lot of folks stay for their fireworks. Especially in the summer, they have fireworks. Now they’re not. We want to make sure that you can enjoy the fireworks and enjoy walking around the park and still have time to get back out there. You know, the convenient thing about going to Dollywood is you can park here for free as long as there’s space available and we take you to the front door. And then we pick you up at the front door to bring you back. So it’s an extremely convenient way to travel to and from and we will not leave you stranded over there.

April: That’s good. That, I think that that’s a relief for a lot of people because I think that’s one of the things that hold them back a little bit about knowing whether or not they want to utilize it for Dollywood and you mentioned parking. So parking is at Patriot Park, it is free of charge but the lot does fill up pretty quickly.

Lynn: Yeah, I know we’re working on that parking lot to add almost 200 parking spaces over this year to make it even more convenient for folks, to be able to have some space once they get here. But it is a great way to get over there and a great way to get back and that’s also true for Splash Country. Take you to the door. Pick you back up. It’s just a very convenient way to move around.

Host: That’s awesome. Hey, Lynn, what about the cost? Season passes? Daily passes? How does that work?

Lynn: Okay, first of all, if you’re on a Parkway and you just want to get on a trolley and go for a ride, it’s a dollar per person, if children, three and under are free. But if you want to come here and pick up a Day Pass, they’re $3 and they’re good from the time you purchase it until midnight that night. You can get on and off the trolleys as much as you want. You can ride any route. It’s a great way to get around town. That gets you to Dollywood, it gets you to Gatlinburg, it does all those things. We have a season pass for $35. That is good from whenever you purchase it to purchase it until December 31st for $35 per person. And it’s literally unlimited riding – day, night, whatever, as long as we’re open. That’s a very good prospect for folks who are going to be in town more than, you know, a few times a year. It’s definitely worth it. To go to Dollywood. If you just paid on the trolley, it’s $2.50 over, $2.50 back. So instead of doing that, if you just get the day pass for $3 a person it would be over and back plus the rest of town, the rest of the evening. That seems to be what most folks want to do.

April: Right. I was just going to add that the Pigeon Forge trolley route map, can be downloaded on explorethesmokies.com under the Travel Hub. So that’ll be a good place for them to access that.

Lynn: Absolutely.

Host: Is there a direct route to Dollywood?

Lynn: There is. We have such a large amount of folks who want to travel you know, just to Dollywood. We have normally two trolleys that are dedicated strictly to Dollywood. They run about every 15 minutes from here to there. So there’s not a very long wait. Just to and from, all day long. Just to keep the service open there.

April: And I want to just give me… let’s just give one real-life example, of somebody who’s maybe staying in Pigeon Forge, but they really want to get to Ripley’s Aquarium. What would it look like?

Lynn: The easiest thing to do would be come here, get on the Gatlinburg trolley, which is a dedicated trolley just to Dollywood, on a, when we’re fully staffed, that’s normally about a 30 minute time, period of 30 minutes, we pick up. We would take you to the Welcome Center. From there, you would transfer over to Gatlinburg’s. And for now, those are free. You would transfer over and ride, and matter of fact, if they drop you off at the aquarium, that’s where their transit facility is at, so you would already be at their aquarium. It would cost you $1 from here to the Welcome Center and then $1 to get back.

April: That’s great. I mean that’s fantastic, especially since it gets so busy down there to be able to reduce some of the cars on the parkway would be fantastic.

Lynn: You know, both transit facilities, we pride ourselves in folks parking their cars, enjoying their families, the driver there doesn’t have to be concerned about traffic. Obviously, we have a low traffic here. The driver can relax and enjoy and see things. You’re going to see things you wouldn’t normally get to see you because you’re concentrating on the traffic; whereas if you’re on the trolley talking and looking out the windows and enjoying your stay, you see more things that you might want to check out and you know, traffic is rough in Gatlinburg of course, and the parking stop there as well. So for us to be able to get you there without you having to take a car and then bring you home the same way, it’s a great way to travel around town.

April: That’s awesome. So I understand you’ve got some new features coming to the transit department.

Lynn: We do, we’re really excited. Actually, we have a brand new transit facility that will open in late August. It’s the plan at the moment, we’re watching the construction daily, it’s really improving. We’re going from a very small facility to a facility that’s almost 18,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor with covered berths for folks to get on and off the trolleys. It’s just so much … such an easier way for things to work here, as far as getting on trolleys. We’re going to be opening out a mobile app so that you can actually get on your phone and see where trolleys are at, and you can actually make purchases of day passes and other passes from your phone, you never even have to come into our building.

April: That’s great, that’s awesome.

Lynn: So, we’ve got a lot of technology coming along to kind of bring us into the future.

Host: It’s great. That’s great. Hey Lynn. I want to play a little game with you for our last segment. Are you familiar with Family Feud at all?

Lynn: I am, I sure am.

Host: I’m going to hit you with five quick questions. First thing that comes to your mind. I’ll start the clock now, are you ready?

Lynn: Sure.

Host: Okay. Favorite place in the Smokies.

Lynn: Probably either the Le Conte trail or Cades Cove.

Host: Favorite place to eat.

Lynn: Probably the Smokey Mountain Brewery or the Local Goat.

Host: Local Goat, okay. Favorite photo spot if I had to take one photo, where would I go?

Lynn: I would definitely be in the Cades Cove, huge fan.

Host: And if you’re just there 24 hours – 24 hours. Where are the two places I have to go?

Lynn: You have to go hike Le Conte, take pictures from the top up at the cabins. And again, I got married at Cades Cove; my wife and I did 30 years ago. So on the Carter Shields Cabin, the last cabin in the park, in Cades Cove. Photo shoot out from there and normally, you’ll find a deer or a bear or something out there waving at you.

Host: Oh my goodness. And one reason you think people love coming back to the Smokies year after year?

Lynn: I want to think it’s the hospitality of the folks that live here. We are country people. We are mountain people. We invite you here. We don’t even call you tours. When you come here, you’re our guest. So I hope it’s our hospitality. We know we need you and we go out of our way to make sure you’re comfortable while you’re here.

Host: That’s awesome. One bonus question, Lynn. Do I get anything special in the trolley? If I show up with a I love Lynn Wilhoite t-shirt.

Lynn: Absolutely. That’s negotiable. You come into that, and we will give you the keys to the city.

April: Awesome. I would like to see that. So, thanks for joining us today, Lynn. I think I’m going to harness my inner Judy Garland and go take a little ride on the trolley.

Host: Thanks. Appreciate it, Lynn. Thanks so much.

Lynn: Thank you guys for everything. We appreciate it.