Dolly Parton’s 60-plus-year career is a testament to her ability to put her sassy trademark stamp on anything and make it distinctively “Dolly.”

Last November, she released her first rock album, “Rockstar,” her 49th solo effort, proving she deserved her spot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Now, nearly four decades after welcoming guests to Dollywood Parks & Resorts in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and just a year after Dollywood introduced its new roller coaster, Big Bear Mountain, the country legend has unveiled a sleek new immersive museum-like attraction called the Dolly Parton Experience.

“Well, I think you need to freshen up everything every now and then,” the 78-year-old, 10-time Grammy winner told Lonely Planet during the opening festivities. “We felt like my whole career had grown so much more than what we had in the old museum.”

A new chapter for Dollywood

Replacing the traditional Chasing Rainbows Museum, which closed in 2019, the Dolly Parton Experience goes big, tripling the size of the original museum with four distinct spaces. “I really love the fact that the fans can really see who I am, where I came from, what I’ve done,” Dolly said. “You can’t do that with a few items here and there. You can tell that story, but this just makes it a bigger picture all over, the way my life has been.”

The heart of the experience is Songteller: Dolly’s Journey, tracing Parton’s path from her modest roots in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains of Sevier County. It includes a replica of the “Coat of Many Colors,” hand-sewn by her mom (the original was discarded), which inspired the 1971 hit song of the same name. Along the way, visitors can sit on the swing from Dolly’s mid-1970s variety show and pose behind the desk of Dabney Coleman’s character from her 1980 movie “9 to 5.”

Across the way is Behind the Seams: Dolly’s Life in Rhinestones, which feels like stepping into Dolly’s sparkly closet. Inside are dazzling displays of butterfly jewelry, colorful heels, and a mega-bag of pearls that has been part of Parton’s creative director Steven Summers’s longtime secret stash.

“What’s funny is you’ve seen those pearls for 20 years – you just don’t know it because I’m still using them,” he said, chuckling over the fact that a dozen gross were ordered instead of just 12. “A lot of it’s trial and error – you don’t know what works until you try it.”

Family affair

There’s also the DreamSong Theater, with a Precious Memories exhibit at the entrance. This exhibit features a multifaceted video dedicated to Dolly’s family and friends, serving as an appropriate lead-in to the stage where her niece, Heidi Parton, headlines the theater’s inaugural show, “Heidi Parton’s Kin & Friends.” (Heidi is the daughter of Dolly’s late younger brother Randy Parton.)

Rounding out the area is one of Dolly’s old tour buses, which visitors can climb right into. Her niece Rebecca Seaver, daughter of Dolly’s younger sister Cassie Parton and her archivist, shared her excitement: “It’s so wild because of all my childhood memories aboard both this bus and another one now being used as a luxury accommodation, the Dolly Suite 1986, starting at $10,000 for two nights.”

“Every time I’m on one of those buses, I’m transported back immediately to road trips as a kid or being on tour with her,” Seaver told Lonely Planet. “It’s cool that the fans get to enjoy that too – those bunks were where we used to have little tea parties… and I might have kissed my first boy on that bus!”

Up close and personal with a new album

Inviting fans into Parton’s world in such a personal way makes the Dolly Parton Experience feel incredibly intimate. “A lot of my fans have learned things they didn’t know before,” Parton said of the early visitors, who have been able to see never-before-seen photos and get to know her family better. This is especially fitting since, at the opening event, she announced her upcoming album, Dolly Parton & Family: Smoky Mountain DNA – Family, Faith & Fables, set to release on November 15.

The exhibits offer a rich, multi-dimensional experience. “You can see where I’ve been, what I was doing, and feel what I was feeling at the time,” she explained. “Not only that, you can see where we’re headed. This is a complete experience – I really think that word captures it perfectly. It truly is an experience.” (Insider tip: The public restrooms might be the most Instagram-worthy of any theme park!)

Parton revealed that while she and the Dollywood team had long wanted to update various parts of the park, enhancing the museum was a priority. The upgrade not only increases its size but also incorporates “all the new digital and multimedia stuff,” improving the guest experience and allowing for ongoing updates to keep pace with her evolving legacy.

An ever-growing legacy

“It was just time to evolve,” Parton said of the updated museum experience. “You’ve got to roll with the punches and keep up with the times.”

The park has always been a part of the dream of the little girl from Sevierville. The idea for the park was planted “long before I was ever a star,” she shared with Lonely Planet. The original theme park on the site opened as Rebel Railroad in 1961, became Goldrush Junction in 1970, and then Silver Dollar City in 1977.

Parton recalled visiting as a child and dreaming of one day having a theme park in her own home county. “I kept thinking that one day I’m going to have a bigger theme park here,” she said, first sharing this vision with Barbara Walters in a 1982 interview.

When the Herschend family, who owned the theme park, learned of Parton’s dream, they turned it into a “joint venture and adventure,” even nicknaming her “Dolly Partner.”

Reflecting on Dollywood’s opening day in 1986, Parton acknowledges that her younger self had high hopes. “With any dream, you hope it does well,” she said. “You have the desire and just hope it comes true.”

Dollywood today and tomorrow

The park’s evolution into a 160-acre resort, featuring two hotels—DreamMore Resort, which opened in 2015, and HeartSong Lodge, which opened last year—as well as the Splash Country water park, which debuted in 2001, has exceeded all expectations. “Nobody could have imagined how Dollywood would grow over the years,” Parton said, confident that her 1986 self would “be thrilled, just like I am today.”

Though Dollywood bears her name, Parton, often dubbed the park’s “Dreamer in Chief,” shares the credit for its success. “It’s thriving now, but that’s thanks to many wonderful people,” she said. “Just like my career, nothing is done alone.”

The parks are now embarking on another growth phase with a 10-year, $500 million strategic plan, which includes a third hotel set to open by 2027.

“With all the brilliant minds who cherish Dollywood for what it is… we’ll always be creating bigger and better things,” Parton said. “As long as there are families and people looking for entertainment, Dollywood will continue to be the park that has it all.”