Titanic Museum to host "Christmas in a Winter Wonderland"

Titanic Museum to host "Christmas in a Winter Wonderland"
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Posted: October 21, 2010

It will snow this holiday season in Pigeon Forge; Titanic Museum Attraction guarantees it. Starting Saturday, November 13, it will snow – yes, REAL snow – at the Titanic every Friday and Saturday evening through January 1, 2011. The snow is part of the museum's "Christmas in a Winter Wonderland," which is dedicated to honoring and celebrating the lives of the 2,208 passengers and crew of the Titanic.

titanic museum staircase
Full scale replica of the Titanic's Grand Staircase

Titanic Museum Attraction co-owner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn is pulling out all the stops this Christmas and invested $150,000 in snow equipment (the same equipment used to make it snow at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom every Christmas) that will produce real, falling snow every weekend at the museum. An additional $100,000 will be spent on Christmas trees, lights and decorations that will decorate the interior and exterior of the Titanic Museum Attraction.

Since opening in April, the Titanic Museum Attraction has quickly become one of the region's premier destinations and was voted one of East Tennessee's "Top Five Attractions" after being opened less than three months. Once visitors see the ship adorned bow-to-stern in Edwardian period holiday decorations, they will understand why approximately 100,000 people per month are flocking from all parts of the country to experience this one-of-a-kind attraction.

Everything at Titanic Museum Attraction is done on a large scale – from the amazing fireworks display and free concerts that kicked off the museum's April Grand Oopening (hosted by Regis Philbin) to the perfect re-creation of the Titanic's Grand Staircase and the collection of more than 400 authentic Titanic artifacts on display in the museum's 20 galleries. The Titanic Museum Attraction gives its guests – young and old – an experience they will never forget, and its Christmas in a Winter Wonderland Celebration will be no exception.

"What is the Titanic Museum Attraction? It is a celebration of the ship and her passengers and crew. Every day the Titanic honors each and every one of them by telling their stories and bringing them to life for our guests," said John Joslyn, co-owner of the Titanic Museum Attraction. "Our visitors truly experience what it was like onboard the Titanic, and during the holidays, they truly experience what Christmas would have been like onboard the ship."

"Everything about our Christmas in a Winter Wonderland Celebration is aimed at giving our visitors and their families a unique, memorable holiday experience. A memory that will last forever – and isn't that what Christmas is all about?"

Titanic Museum Attraction is a half-scale, permanent, three-deck re-creation of the Titanic. The museum houses 20 galleries to display nearly 400 authentic, priceless Titanic artifacts that were either carried from the ship and into lifeboats by passengers and crew, or were found afloat soon after the sinking and quickly salvaged by rescue boats.

Inside the Titanic Museum Attraction, visitors find full-size recreations (built from actual Titanic blueprints) of Third-Class quarters, a First-Class suite, dining rooms and – the museum's centerpiece – a $1 million exact reproduction of the Titanic's Grand Staircase. The First-Class suite in the Titanic Museum Attraction, which is dedicated to Isidor and Ida Straus who co-owned Macy's Department Stores, was also the cabin used in James Cameron's blockbuster movie Titanic as Rose's suite.