Dollywood Christmas Giveaway “Chasing Rainbows”

Dolly Parton:                      Oh, well hello everybody. How are you? Well, I hope you’re having a wonderful here at Dollywood. You know, I always wished that I could personally greet each and every guest that comes here. Well as it turns out, that’s another one of my dreams that I was able to make come true. So welcome to my Chasing Rainbows Museum.

Speaker 2:                           Welcome to the show, Mary Jane, how are you?

Mary Jane:                          Fine, how are you?

Speaker 2:                           I’m fantastic. I want to ask you how long have you been at the Dolly Museum?

Mary Jane:                          Been working for Dolly 22 years.

Speaker 2:                           What changes have you seen in 22 years?

Mary Jane:                          Oh, a lot. But I can’t remember all of them. But there has been a lot of changes.

Speaker 2:                           And now out of that 22 years, how long have you worked in the museum itself?

Mary Jane:                          All of them except four.

Speaker 2:                           So you must have seen a lot of things change in the museum. Tell us a little bit about the museum to begin with. When did it open? And what’s the feeling that everyone has?

Mary Jane:                          I think it opened in 2001, the new museum. We had an old museum.

Speaker 2:                           Tell us about that.

Mary Jane:                          Of course it wasn’t near like this one. I tell everybody this one’s bigger and better.

Speaker 2:                           It is. It’s gorgeous.

Mary Jane:                          Right.

Speaker 2:                           So when people come in, what do they expect to see?

Mary Jane:                          Well, they really don’t expect to see what they see. They think it’s very small, so they’re really amazed when they get in here. And they end up staying longer than they thought they would because a lot of people come in at the last five minutes and then they say, “Oh, I wish I’d have got here earlier,” because they want to stay an hour.

Speaker 2:                           And when we talk that, Mary, it’s all about the dresses in here.

Mary Jane:                          The dresses.

Speaker 2:                           Tell us about the dresses. Where are they from? And what’s the importance of them being in here?

Mary Jane:                          Well, they’re things Dolly has wore before, for her award show, different movies, lots of different events.

Speaker 2:                           And people love seeing them, because when I look at them it takes me back to when I saw her wearing them.

Mary Jane:                          Right. They love the dresses. They love the shoes. They love the hologram.

Speaker 2:                           Oh, I love the shoes.

Mary Jane:                          I know.

Speaker 2:                           The shoes are amazing.

Mary Jane:                          They are.

Speaker 2:                           And the hologram, you’re right. I forgot about the hologram.

Mary Jane:                          Right.

Speaker 2:                           It’s where you come in and she starts talking to you telling you a little bit about her story.

Mary Jane:                          Well, I love to tell people when they come in the front door that Dolly’s upstairs in the attic. I say go on up, she’ll talk to you.

Speaker 2:                           And what do they say?

Mary Jane:                          They like … They say, “Are you kidding?” I say no, she’s waiting on you.

Speaker 2:                           And do they get … but even when she puffs out into a cloud of dust at the end, it’s just so magical.

Mary Jane:                          It is.

Speaker 2:                           What is it about Dolly that everyone loves?

Mary Jane:                          Well, probably just because she’s so real. Dolly’s just like us. She’s just a person but everybody loves her.

Speaker 2:                           It’s amazing how much they love her.

Mary Jane:                          It is.

Speaker 2:                           It really is.

Mary Jane:                          It is.

Speaker 2:                           Okay, now, she’s got about 90% of her awards located in the museum as well.

Mary Jane:                          Right. She said she would rather have them in here for the fans to see than store them in some kind of building to gather dust.

Speaker 2:                           I agree on that one.

Mary Jane:                          I do, too.

Speaker 2:                           Okay, so what is your favorite thing in here?

Mary Jane:                          My favorite thing? Well, I have a lot of favorite things, but probably the favorite of mine is the hologram.

Speaker 2:                           Really?

Mary Jane:                          Yes. Of course I love all of it. And I love talking to the guests. I think that’s my favorite thing.

Speaker 2:                           Is it?

Mary Jane:                          Getting to tell the guests about Dolly.

Speaker 2:                           What would you do if you weren’t doing this?

Mary Jane:                          Stay at home in my rocking chair. And get old.

Speaker 2:                           And we don’t want to do that. Do you want to tell everyone your age?

Mary Jane:                          75.

Speaker 2:                           You’re amazing.

Mary Jane:                          Thank you.

Speaker 2:                           I think you are doing so well. And I love the fact that you’re here doing the tours, telling everyone what’s going on. We’re so blessed to have met you. Thank you so much.

Mary Jane:                          Thank you.

Dolly Parton:                      Well, I do want you to remember this one thing, that I will always love you. Yes I will always love you. I’m out of here.