At Herschend, we often speak of “love” as an important value and expectation of how we treat one another. When we say “love” each other, “love” our guests, and “love” our communities – we’re not talking about brotherly, emotional, or parental love – which are nouns. Love at Herschend is about our actions – choosing to treat one another with kindness regardless of our feelings. It’s not always easy, but the power of love in action is what creates memories worth repeating.
Give love in action a try by practicing its core principles – being patient, kind, humble, respectful, trusting, unselfish, forgiving, truthful, and dedicated.
Each Herschend property is unique, but what's always constant is our love for one another, our guests, and our communities. This month’s Love in Action Story comes from several Dollywood® hosts sharing what they love most about their careers, with a heartwarming story of kindness sandwiched in between.
Have a story to share? Email Jamie.frumusa@hfecorp.com
Danny Eakin has been performing at Silver Dollar City® for nearly 40 years. For one of his final performances, his friends and family surprised him by joining a standing-room-only crowd of guests and Silver Dollar City® Citizens to honor his career of Creating Memories Worth Repeating®.
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The Kentucky Kingdom® staff were quite busy in the weeks leading up to Pumpkins. The Horticulture team, managed by Jason Anderson (pictured), grew most of the Pumpkins for the festival and showcased them on a behind-the-scenes tour with the Louisville Water Company; James McQuade (pictured), the Food and Beverage Director, shared a sneak peep of the new fall menu items with a local lifestyle reporter; Carly Uglow (pictured), the Sales & Marketing Director, led a hard hat tour for location media to capture the parks transformation just days before opening; and Logan Sanderson, Marketing Manager, was interviewed alongside one of the entertainment acts, David Garrard, a key festival performer.
Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort® is opening its doors to guests a few days early. Sneak preview days began on Oct. 12, 2023, before the official grand opening this Friday, November 3. The spectacular HeartSong Lodge & Resort® marks the second world-class resort created by Dollywood Parks & Resorts® and Dolly Parton.
The exquisite details that create HeartSong Lodge & Resort’s® unique atmosphere are no longer renderings but reality. The resort’s remarkable four-story fireplace and stunning four-story lantern-inspired windows are in place to welcome guests into the grand atrium as they arrive. Inside the guest rooms, no small detail is left untouched. The Smokies come to life in each room with imaginative murals, while the color palettes showcase the rich natural beauty of the resort’s picturesque surroundings.
Many rooms include balconies, providing sweeping views of the vast resort property. This Smoky Mountain lodge features epic indoor and outdoor pools that provide guests with a refreshing escape in all seasons and a picture-perfect outdoor cove with family gathering spaces. With 26,000 sq. ft. of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space, the property can also accommodate gatherings of several hundred guests.
Dollywood® welcomes the more than 242 new hosts at HeartSong and thanks everyone who helped make the opening of this milestone property possible. Congratulations on a job well done!
Wild Adventures’® Great Pumpkin LumiNights boasts a brand-new attraction this season. The LumiNight Legends Pumpkin Gallery features 150 intricately carved pumpkins depicting famous Georgians, regional icons, and many members of Wild Adventures’® animal family, all carved by master pumpkin carver Jim Morey. He spent a whole year carving pumpkins with the Wild Adventures team to bring the LumiNight Legends Pumpkin Gallery to life.
This exclusive documentary showcases Jim’s process and love for his craft.
The Vancouver Aquarium® marked Sea Otter Awareness Week from September 24 to September 30 with social media content to educate the public about sea otters. The content included ways to help sea otters in the wild and information about their diet and enrichments at the Aquarium. Check out the video to meet Vancouver’s eight rescued sea otters!
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Newport Aquarium® marked African Penguin Awareness Day earlier this month with a special meet and greet between the mermaids and Green Bean, the African Penguin. The mermaids and the African Penguins worked together to encourage guests to keep our oceans and waterways healthy by reducing single-use plastics and our carbon footprint. Aquariums play a vital role in motivating guests to save endangered animals like the African Penguin by giving them moments like this that they remember for a lifetime. Those special memories help inspire real, positive change.
The team at Adventure Aquarium® recently led a waddle walk through the aquarium to raise awareness about conservation efforts for African Penguins. Every step counts in safeguarding these incredible birds and their habitats.
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After more than 20 years, Pink Jeep’s Las Vegas team moved to a new office space. Although the team was excited, the move date fell during peak operating season. The team also had to navigate major roadway construction as the city prepares for the upcoming Formula 1 race (happening right on the Strip!) Despite the literal roadblocks, the team rallied to help make the move smooth and efficient. Every department worked together as one – or better yet, as a well-tuned Jeep – to finish the job in less than 24 hours!
Pink is better positioned in the new space for operational needs, including an indoor space for the Fleet, which helps preserve the paint and protect the vehicles from the hot Vegas sun.
“What Terry Powers, our Las Vegas General Manager, and his team pulled off in Las Vegas is nothing short of a herculean effort,” said John Fitzgibbons, President of Parks and Adventures at Herschend. “In my 30+ years with Herschend, this was by far the most efficient and seamless relocation of an operating base I have ever been involved with.”
The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters® and Microsoft® have partnered to create The Harlem CODEtrotters, a coding curriculum and web-based accessible platform designed and developed for underserved elementary and middle-school students of color in order to bridge the educational gap that many face throughout the school year. The microsite introduces basketball-themed programming fused with cutting-edge technology, including coding fundamentals and AI skilling, serving as an engaging curriculum tool inspired by the Harlem Globetrotters'® brand.
Earlier this month, CODEtrotters debuted in New York City, where elementary and middle-school students were invited to connect with players and try the new game’s functions and tooling. CODEtrotters is available online.
At Callaway Resort & Gardens®, the Special Events Team is known not just for their professional excellence but for their incredible camaraderie outside the workplace. Recently, they gathered after hours to attend their colleague Kalia's high school musical production. Kalia's performance was outstanding, and her teammates, including Emma, Barbara, DeeDee, Brian, Rook, Shelby, Alix, Nick, and Chris, were there to cheer her on and provide an inspiring example of support that extends beyond the workplace.
These moments remind us of the extraordinary team we have at Callaway Resort & Gardens®, where professional excellence and personal connections go hand in hand.
