Ten million visitors can't be wrong.

Sitting in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, the lights of its parkway flashing like a beacon to fun seekers from miles away, Pigeon Forge, Tenn. reigns as a vacation destination. Not to overstate, there are the mountains - ancient forested ridges straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

There are the countless entertainment venues, music theaters, wacky golf, pancake houses and themed dinner shows - everything from Paula Deen's Lumberjack Feud to Dolly Parton's Stampede. And then there is Parton herself, megastar with a megawatt smile and entertainer extraordinaire, whose legions of fans may contend that she had as much to do with turning this Appalachian community into a tourist mecca as the mountains themselves.

Here are six reasons visitors love Pigeon Forge, a town that took its name from the extinct passenger pigeon:

THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS AND MAGNIFICENT MOUNTAIN VIEWS

The number one reason people flock to the Great Smoky Mountains (www.nps.gov/grsm) - the most visited national park in the country - is for the views. Following at a close second is the wildlife. This is why the population of a town of about 6,000 residents annually swells to more than 10 million. In fact, on a busy day, Pigeon Forge's parkway can teem with some 50,000 people.

More than 1,600 black bears live and lumber about the wilds of the park. Visitors may spot them - along with turkey, ground hogs, coyotes, white-tailed deer and other animals - while driving the one-way, 11-mile Cades Cove loop. The drive also affords breathtaking views of the looming, layered peaks of the Smokies.

Hikers get up-close views of mountain streams, chimneys and stone walls and other evidence of past inhabitants and an astonishing array of wildflowers. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is known around the world for its preserve of wildflower diversity; it has nearly as many kinds of flowering plants as it does bears.

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP DOLLY - DOLLY PARTON, THAT IS

Dolly Parton's entertainment empire is impressive: Dollywood (www.dollywood.com), Dollywood's Splash Country Water Park, Dolly Parton's Stampede, the Smoky Mountain Opry, the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud, the Comedy Barn, Magic Beyond Belief and Pirates Voyage.

In 2015, Parton opened the Southern manse-like Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa. A special natural gas-powered trolley transports resort guests to Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country. DreamMore is in addition to the more than 100 Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Cabins teetering above the clouds and offering sweeping views of the Smokies. Oh, and the Dolly Parton Parkway is named in her honor.

"What I'm most proud of," Parton said during a May 11 press conference, "I got to build a place where I can honor my family and give jobs to people."

What's new: Wildwood Grove. Based on Parton's own childhood imaginings and daydreams, the largest expansion in the park's history features the natural habitat Black Bear Trail; climate-controlled Hidden Hollow with climbing structures, slides and games; rides including the Mad Mockingbird and Dragonflier; and area focal point, the Wildwood Tree.

WORKING ARTISANS KEEP MOUNTAIN CRAFTS CULTURE ALIVE AT OLD MILL HISTORIC DISTRICT

At the place where Pigeon Forge began, the Old Mill Historic District (https://old-mill.com), artisans still grind out corn meal, corn grits and a variety of flours with the help of a two-ton French Buhrs, installed when the mill was built in 1830.

Perched on the banks of the Little Pigeon River, it is home to the iconic Old Mill Restaurant and site of one of the most photographed mills in the country. Products ground at The Old Mill are used in many of the restaurant's dishes: biscuits, corn bread, pancakes, hush puppies, muffins, grits and fritters.

Across the street at Pigeon River Pottery, craftsmen shape special-recipe clay into jugs, vases, dishes and other home goods on a site where pottery has been crafted for more than half a century.

TITANIC PIGEON FORGE - THE WORLD'S LARGEST MUSEUM ATTRACTION

From the sweeping Grand Staircase to the grim gated and locked third class compartment whose occupants would have seen the stairway fill with rushing water, the Titanic (www.titanicpigeonforge.com) presents the story of The Unsinkable and its 2,208 passengers and crew.

Half the size of the original, this Titanic displays a carefully chosen 400-plus artifacts, each an authentic item either carried off the ship or recovered from the floating debris field after the sinking. It includes the largest collection of Titanic photographs in existence. Pick up a Boarding Pass of an actual Titanic passenger/crew member at the beginning of the tour; learn their fate by the end.

What's coming: The museum acquired six of the remaining 12 Titanic life jackets in existence. The jackets will join the one already in the collection a special exhibit opening on July 1.

THERE IS AN ISLAND RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT

Surrounded by the Little Pigeon River and anchored by Jimmy Buffett's breezy four-star Margaritaville Island Hotel, The Island (www.islandinpigeonforge.com) is a sand-free summer beach party, with 60-plus retail and specialty shops like Ole Smoky Moonshine and 18 eateries, including Paula Deen's Family Kitchen, lining its wide, curving walkways.

The Island's 21 adventures include bumper cars, ropes course, carousel and the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel, scraping the sky at 200 feet to gift riders seated in climate-controlled glass gondolas with panoramic views of the lights of downtown Pigeon Forge.

Dozens of deck chairs surround the Island Show Fountain so visitors can catch the splashy presentation, at 30-minute intervals, of dancing water choreographed to music.

IT'S CHRISTMAS YEAR-ROUND

Think of Pigeon Forge as North Pole South. A sprawling 45,000-square-foot complex that lives up to its name, the Incredible Christmas Place (www.christmasplace.com), is an enchanted winter wonderful whose thousands and thousands of Christmas lights twinkle among ornaments, collectibles and a huge variety of holiday decor. It is the largest year-round Christmas village in the South and the second largest in the United States.

Ten fully decorated and themed Christmas trees - all masterminded by one very artful designer - provide plenty of inspiration, like "Let It Snow" in shades of blues, silver and white and featuring a quartet of fur-clad carolers within its branches.

The Christmas theme extends across the street to the Inn at Christmas Place (www.innatchristmasplace.com) where it feels like every night is the night before Christmas.

Plan Your Travels

Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism: www.mypigeonforge.com.

(Author and travel and lifestyle writer Kathy Witt feels you should never get to the end of your bucket list; there's just too much to see and do in the world. Contact her at KathyWitt24@gmail.com, @KathyWitt.)

Visit Kathy Witt at www.kathywitt.com