Think of it as a little bit the Goonies meets Peter Pan meets Esther Williams.

It’s bright and colorful and your buckles will be swashed. Speaking of Pirates, Blackbeard and his quartermaster Calico Jack are the stars of the Pirates Voyage, a show featuring daring acrobatic stunts on land, on deck a full-sized pirate ship and in and above the indoor hideaway lagoon, which also features mermaids. There have been many Skeeters over the years, it’s a title that gets passed down like the Dread Pirate Roberts or Batman. It features riders performing thrilling stunts on horseback, special effects, large and frequently patriotic-themed musical productions and the comedy styling of a gentleman who goes by the name of Skeeter. The Stampede, despite having shied away from Civil War themes, remains a “friendly” competition between North and South. (media photo courtesy of Dolly Parton’s Stampede) The main difference between the two shows is theming A Stampede actor rides a horse while carrying an American flag in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Let’s break it down scientifically with a tale of the tape. You can only do one of the two shows, which one is best? Let’s say you’re visiting for the weekend. Though the money ultimately ends up in the same pot, it doesn’t mean there’s no competition to be the best dinner theatre show in town. In 2019, World Choice Investments brought the Pirates to Pigeon Forge. The Pirates Voyage set sail in Myrtle Beach in 2010, ironically, for the purposes of this completely made-up battle, replacing the South Carolina version of the Stampede. Read Also: Is Hatfield and McCoy worth it: A review of the Pigeon Forge dinner show The Stampede with its horse tricks, musical numbers and down-home comedy survived, flourished and remains the king of the mountain when it comes to Pigeon Forge dinner theater.īut several challengers have arisen, including one particularly formidable one from the same ownership group. Over the years, the Stampede led to a sister facility in Herschend’s backyard of Branson and endured some amount of controversy as national attitudes about the light-hearted Civil War theme shifted. World Choice Investments is also the company that manages the Stampede and other dinner attraction venues in Branson, Missouri and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The former Dixie Stampede has weathered the times.īorn in 1988, today it is part of the still relatively recent partnership between tourism business powerhouse Herschend Family Entertainment, Sevier County legend angel-on-Earth Dolly Parton and Fred Hardwick, chairman of the board of World Choice Investments. In one corner, we have venerable veteran Dolly Parton’s Stampede, a legend in the tourist dinner theater game. Two staples of American culture, of our collective mythology, go to battle on the strip in Pigeon Forge each day in a fight to the finish for your tourist dollar.

Pirates voyage dinner show