The newest attraction at Dollywood is the Wild Eagle roller coaster.
Real wild eagles have been featured at the park for more that 20 years.
"I've always just loved the majesty of birds of prey and the seriousness of them and the power. There's just something very, very attractive and magnetic about them," Al Cecere said. He is President of the American Eagle Foundation.
"The mission of the American Eagle Foundation is to restore and protect America's national bird, the Bald Eagle, and also other birds of prey," he said.
There are two facilities, one in the park at Dollywood and another one on Dollywood property but closed to the public.
The off-park location has a breeding program.
"We breed disabled parent eagles and release the young into the wild and we rehabilitate a lot of injured birds of prey that come in and try to put them back into the wild where they belong," Cecere said.
The adult birds in the sanctuary cannot be released into the wild for various reasons, mostly injuries. For example, some are missing a wing.
"Here we have the world's largest eagle exhibit. It's one million cubic feet of naturally landscaped hillside and we have probably about 13 or 14 bald eagles in there including three breeding pairs," Cecere said.
Those breeding pairs are parents.
"We have four eaglets here on the Dollywood park, one in one nest and three in our Independence and Franklin nest. At about 6 weeks of age we'll take them out of the nest and put them in our hack tower on Douglas Lake and they'll be released into the wild at about 13 weeks of age," he said.
Four cameras pointed at the nest allow anyone to watch the eaglets on the internet.
Next to the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, the Wings of America Birds of Prey show educates Dollywood visitors.
There's something about seeing the birds in person that's fascinating.
The aviary itself gives visitors a chance to see eagles up close, and for them to see you.
It may look like one giant space but it's actually divided.
"There's actually four compartments in this big aviary and three of the compartments have breeding pairs with a nest so they need to check out the nests. And the middle section we call the pick-a-mate," Cecere said.
It's a place for single birds to perhaps find a mate and move to their own section to live out their lives together preserved and protected by the American Eagle Foundation.
"I've been at this for over 28 years and it's always been a blessing. It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of challenges. But it's one of those things when I'm on my death bed I'm going to look back and I'm going to be happy that I spent my life restoring and protecting the national bird," he said.
Across the state, more than 300 eaglets have been released into the wild. At the Douglas Lake Tower alone, more than 130 eaglets have been released to increase the bald eagle population.