Herschend Family Entertainment

Herschend Family Entertainment

Formerly	Herschend Enterprises (1950–1982) Silver Dollar City, Inc. (1983–2003)
Company type	Private
Industry	Amusement parks
Founded	1950 (1950)
Founder	Hugo Herschend, Mary Herschend
Headquarters	Peachtree Corners, Georgia, U.S.
Area served	United States and Canada
Website	www.hfecorp.com

Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE) is a privately owned themed-entertainment company that operates several theme parks and tourist attractions within the United States, and as of 2021, one aquarium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Founded by Jack and Pete Herschend of Branson, Missouri, in its early years HFE was simply known as Herschend Enterprises. In the 1980s the name was changed to Silver Dollar City Inc., and in 2003, the company gained the current name. HFE is currently headquartered in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. The company says its mission is to "Create Memories Worth Repeating” in a manner “consistent with Christian values and ethics.” ^[1]

History

HFE traces roots back to Hugo and Mary Herschend from Chicago, Illinois along with sons Jack and Pete. The family vacationed in Missouri's Ozark Mountains region and fell in love with the nature the area offered. In 1951 Hugo obtained a 99-year lease on a Branson, Missouri area attraction called Marvel Cave. Hugo suffered a heart attack and later died in 1955, however Mary along with her two sons continued to improve the cave attraction by installing electric lighting and building cement walkways. A cable train was installed in 1958 to ferry guests out of the depths of the cave upon the end of the tour. The attendance nearly doubled and a small frontier town was erected to entertain visitors as they waited for their cave tour. In order to increase attendance, a gimmick was used by naming the village "Silver Dollar City" and distributing silver dollars as change to every visitor in hope that when they would spend the rare coins they would tell people where they had got them from. The idea was a success, and the Herschend family soon found themselves involved in the theme park business.

In 1969, Silver Dollar City drew national attention when producer Paul Henning brought the cast and crew of the popular Beverly Hillbillies television show to the park to film five episodes.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2010, Herschend Family Entertainment was featured on the reality TV series Undercover Boss .

The company also co-owns and co-operates with partners Dolly Parton and her company The Dollywood Company, the dinner and theatre company Pirates Voyage Dinner and Show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina ^{[2] [3] [4]} and Dolly Parton's Stampede (formerly Dixie Stampede). ^{[5] [6] [7]}

In April 2021, Hershend announced its purchase of the Vancouver Aquarium following the latter's severe economic losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[8]

Current properties

Amusement parks

Dollywood

Kentucky Kingdom

Silver Dollar City

Wild Adventures

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Locations of Herschend Family Entertainment amusement parks — Fully or jointly owned by Herschend Family Entertainment

Owned/operated

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Dollywood	Pigeon Forge, Tennessee	1961	1976	Sold stake to Dolly Parton in 1986
Kentucky Kingdom	Louisville, Kentucky	1987	2021	Owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board but operated by HFE
Silver Dollar City	Branson, Missouri	1960
Wild Adventures	Valdosta, Georgia	1996	2007	Purchased for $34.5 million ($48.7 million in 2022 dollars [9] )

Water parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Dollywood's Splash Country	Pigeon Forge, Tennessee	2001
Hurricane Bay	Louisville, Kentucky	1992	2021	Included with admission to Kentucky Kingdom
Splash Island	Valdosta, Georgia	2003	2007	Included with admission to Wild Adventures
White Water Branson	Branson, Missouri	1980

Aquariums

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Adventure Aquarium	Camden, New Jersey	1992	2007
Newport Aquarium	Newport, Kentucky	1999	2007
Vancouver Aquarium	Vancouver, British Columbia	1956	2021	[10]

Attractions

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Talking Rocks Cavern	Stone County, Missouri		1969
Callaway Gardens [11]	Pine Mountain, Georgia [11]	1952	2022 [11]	Leased from Ida Cason Callaway Foundation

Dinner shows

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Dolly Parton's Stampede	Pigeon Forge & Branson	1988 & 1995		Chain of dinner theaters, Formerly in Myrtle Beach & Orlando
Pirates Voyage	Myrtle Beach & Pigeon Forge	1992 & 2019		Dinner Theatre first opened as a Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede but converted to Pirates Voyage in 2011. Pigeon Forge location opened in 2019.
Showboat Branson Belle	Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri	1995		A dinner, show and cruise originally known as Kenny Rogers Showboat Branson Belle.

Lodging

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Dollywood Cabins	Pigeon Forge	2010		Cabin style lodging in the Great Smoky Mountains
Dollywood's DreamMore Resort	Pigeon Forge	2015		Full Service resort and spa
Dollywood's Heartsong Lodge and Resort	Pigeon Forge	2023		Full Service resort and convention center
Silver Dollar City campground	Branson			Log cabins and campground
The Lodge & Spa at Callaway Gardens	Pine Mountain [11]	2006	2022 [11]	Full Service resort and spa, conference & golf

Sports Entertainment Franchise

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Harlem Globetrotters International Inc.	Atlanta, GA	1926	2013	Exhibition Basketball team

The Dollywood Company

The Herschends extended their brand in 1976 upon purchasing a small tourist attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, called Goldrush Junction. The following year the attraction was renamed Silver Dollar City Tennessee as part of a development plan to transform the property into a theme park patterned after the original Silver Dollar City in Branson. For the Pigeon Forge park, the Ozark Mountains theme of the original Silver Dollar City was slightly reworked to represent the Great Smoky Mountains and Appalachia culture instead, fitting the location in the foothills of the Smokies.

In 1986, singer and actress Dolly Parton, who grew up near Pigeon Forge, became a co-owner, and the park's name was changed to Dollywood, reflecting her involvement. At this point, the Pigeon Forge park was branched off into a separate division of HFE called The Dollywood Company, which oversees all the properties that Dolly Parton has interest in. ^[12]

Along with the Herschend family, Dolly Parton co-owns the Dolly Parton's Stampede (formerly Dixie Stampede ^[7] ) dinner attraction chain, which has locations in Pigeon Forge (opened 1988), Myrtle Beach (1992), and Branson (1995). A location in Orlando opened in 2003 and closed in early 2008.

In 2001 a new water park was opened adjacent to the Dollywood theme park called Dollywood's Splash Country.

Callaway Gardens

Main article: Callaway Gardens

Former Herschend employee William R. "Bill" Doyle, III was hired as the President & CEO of Callaway Gardens in June, 2015. ^[13]

Doyle resigned effective July 8, 2019 after four years on the job to return to Herschend. He continued as a trustee of the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation and assisted in the search for a new president. ^[14]

Herschend began managing Callaway Gardens in 2020. Two years later, they purchased most of the assets, including The Lodge & Spa, Golf: Lake View Course & Mountain View Course and conference center. Herschend will lease and manage the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation's Virginia Hand Callaway Discovery Center, Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, Ida Cason Memorial Chapel and the gardens. Callaway had about 500 employees. ^[11]

Past properties

HFE built several water parks in the 1980s which have since sold to other companies such as Wet 'n Wild, Frontier City, and Six Flags. White Water Branson, built in 1980, was the forerunner and is still owned by HFE; while the White Waters in Oklahoma City (1981), Grand Prairie, Texas (1982), Garland, Texas (1982) and Atlanta (1983) have been sold.

The 4,000 seat Grand Palace Theatre opened in 1992 by the Herschends. The theatre was co-owned by singer Kenny Rogers. Along with Rogers headliners were Glen Campbell, Louise Mandrell and Barbara Mandrell. In 1994 HFE entered into a ten-year contract with Radio City Entertainment. The Grand Palace Theatre would be the first to host the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the world famous Rockettes outside of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. The shows were successful and led to Radio City Entertainment launching tours of their shows in other cities throughout the United States.

HFE built the $10 million Grand Village Shops with Kenny Rogers adjacent to The Grand Palace Theatre in 1993. Ozark wares and English bone china filled the twenty six New Orleans themed shops. HFE later bought out entertainer Kenny Rogers and sold The Grand Palace in 1996 and The Grand Village in 2005.

American Adventures, a children's theme park opened alongside White Water Atlanta. The park was sold to Six Flags in 1999.

In 1994, The Dollywood Company constructed a large music theatre in Pigeon Forge called Music Mansion. Headlined by James Rogers, ^[15] the highly successful theatre was operated by HFE until 2001, when it was sold to Anita Bryant. In 2005 the theatre was sold again and converted to a WonderWorks location. A Music Mansion Theatre was planned for Myrtle Beach, but never materialized.

In 2003 the Dollywood Company opened a new Dixie Stampede location in Orlando, Florida along Interstate 4. The location operated until early 2008, when the property was sold to Simon Property Group for an undisclosed amount. The building was torn down, and an extension of the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets was built on the land. HFE has plans to build another Dixie Stampede in the region at some point, though specific plans have not been disclosed. ^[16]

In 2004 HFE purchased the Hawaiian Falls water parks located in Dallas, Garland and The Colony, Texas. In 2006 all three parks were sold.

In 2004 HFE purchased Ride the Ducks. In 2017, HFE sold Ride the Ducks to Ripley Entertainment and shut the operations down in 2018 after the deadly sinking in Branson.

Due to unreliable peak season water access, Ride The Ducks in Memphis closed in 2007. 2 years later, Ride The Ducks in Baltimore shut down due to safety concerns.^{[ citation needed ]}

Celebration City in Branson closed on October 25, 2008.

Herschend also briefly operated Six Flags Darien Lake from 2012 to 2014, installing the famous Moose on the Loose Pony Tack ride.

References

1. "Our Commitment". Herschend Family Entertainment. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
2. Zay, Libby (June 6, 2011). "Dolly Parton's 'Pirates Voyage' replaces 'Dixie Stampede' in Myrtle Beach". Gadling. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
3. Moore, Cassidy (September 23, 2010). "Curtain to close on Myrtle Beach's Dixie Stampede". MyrtleBeach.com. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
4. Palisin, Steve (December 20, 2013). "Pirates Voyage all settled in former Dixie Stampede location, enjoying holiday shows". Myrtle Beach Sun News . Retrieved July 24, 2017.
5. Boyd, Christopher (January 8, 2008). "Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede dinner theater in Orlando sold, closed". Orlando Sentinel . Archived from the original on March 11, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
6. Blake, Scott (January 8, 2008). "Orlando's Dixie Stampede shuts down". Florida Today . Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
7. Jones, Maggie (January 9, 2018). "Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede gets name change, now called Stampede". USA Today . Retrieved January 9, 2018.
8. Griffin, Kevin (April 15, 2021). "Facing closure, Vancouver Aquarium sold to U.S. entertainment company". Vancouver Sun . Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
9. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
10. "Vancouver Aquarium's Future Assured Under New Ownership".
11. Rice, Mark (April 6, 2022). "Ownership changing at Callaway Resort & Gardens, largest employer in Harris County". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
12. About Dollywood: Company Information: Dollywood
13. Adams, Tony (June 5, 2015). "Callaway Gardens hires new CEO with resort, theme park background". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
14. Wooten, Nick (June 18, 2019). "Callaway Resort & Gardens President & CEO resigns". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
15. "Welcome to James Rogers Online". Jamesrogersonline.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
16. Orlando Premium Outlets' owner buys Dixie Stampede - OrlandoSentinel.com

External links

• Official website