citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message herschend family entertainment type private industry amusement parks founded 1950 1950 founder hugo herschend mary herschend headquarters atlanta georgia area served united states 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 . 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 atlanta georgia . the company s mission is to create memories worth repeating . contents 1 history 2 current properties 2.1 amusement parks 2.1.1 owned operated 2.2 water parks 2.3 other 3 the dollywood company 4 past properties 5 references 6 external links history edit 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 furthermore at the attraction 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 . it also is home to many bats and they try to protect them from diseases that kill bats . current properties edit amusement parks edit owned operated edit name location year opened year acquired notes dollywood pigeon forge tennessee 1961 1976 sold stake to dolly parton in 1986 silver dollar city branson missouri 1960 wild adventures valdosta georgia 1996 2007 purchased for 34.5 million 39.4 million in 2016 dollars 1 water parks edit name location year opened year acquired notes dollywood s splash country pigeon forge tennessee 2001 splash island valdosta georgia 2003 2007 included with admission to wild adventures white water branson branson missouri 1980 other edit name location year opened year acquired notes adventure aquarium camden new jersey 1992 2007 dolly parton s dixie stampede pigeon forge & branson 1988 & 1995 chain of dinner theaters pirates voyage myrtle beach 1992 2012 dinner theatre first opened as a dixie stampede harlem globetrotters international inc. phoenix arizona 1926 2013 exhibition basketball team newport aquarium newport kentucky 1999 2007 ride the ducks 5 locations across the united states 2004 sightseeing amphibious vehicles showboat branson belle table rock lake in branson missouri 1995 a showboat stone mountain stone mountain georgia 1998 owned by the state of georgia ; operated by hfe talking rocks cavern stone county missouri 1969 the dollywood company edit 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 . 2 along with the herschend family dolly parton co owns the dixie stampede 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 . past properties edit 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 3 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 . 4 in 2004 hfe purchased the hawaiian falls water parks located in dallas garland and the colony texas . in 2006 all three parks were sold . due to unreliable peak season water access ride the ducks in memphis closed in 2007 . celebration city in branson closed on october 25 2008 . the company has plans to restructure the site . references edit federal reserve bank of minneapolis community development project . consumer price index estimate 1800 . federal reserve bank of minneapolis . retrieved november 10 2015 . about dollywood company information dollywood welcome to james rogers online . jamesrogersonline.com . retrieved 2012 01 23 . orlando premium outlets owner buys dixie stampede orlandosentinel.com external links edit official website v t e herschend family entertainment amusement parks dollywood silver dollar city wild adventures aquariums adventure aquarium newport aquarium water parks dollywood s splash country splash island wild adventures white water branson other dolly parton s dixie stampede harlem globetrotters ride the ducks showboat branson belle stone mountain park talking rocks cavern retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title herschend family entertainment & oldid 743264044 categories amusement park companiescompanies based in atlantaherschend family entertainmenthidden categories articles needing additional references from august 2010all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 21 39 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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