Dollywood received the 2010 Applause Award during a special ceremony at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 16.  
The Applause Award, the most prestigious award within the amusement and theme park industry, honors a park whose management, operations and creative accomplishments have inspired the industry with its foresight, originality and sound business development.  
The award is presented every other year by Liseberg amusement park located in Gothenburg, Sweden.  For this 2010 award, Dollywood competed with AltonTowers in the UK and Phantasialand in Germany for the honor.
Entertainment legend and Dollywood owner Dolly Parton accepted the award for the park.    
“We are so honored to win this award.   Our success over the last 25 years is because of the great team at Dollywood that I lovingly call my other family.  All those folks back home cooking, cleaning, entertaining and landscaping – I am proud of every one of them,” Parton said.   Dollywood’s Applause Award comes as the park completes a successful and eventful 25th anniversary season.   
Dollywood was one of three finalists for the honor in 2006, along with Legoland and the winning Universal’s Islands of Adventure.  The family park Xetulul, located in the rainforests of Guatemala, won in 2008.  Previous Applause Award winners include Epcot, Disneyland, Europa-Park, and SilverDollarCity.
            

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