TTQ B4U Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Looking to take a trip down to TN and perhaps putting a week or so in at Pigeon Forge. Researching it now but was wondering if anyone here has been? Any Good? Thoughts? Other items in that area or on the way appreciated. I have a 6 & 9 year old to entertain so keep that in mind. Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 we went this past winter and it was a blast, don't know that we could spend a week there, but we did 2 nights 3 days and we could have probably done another night. we did the winery tour which was actually pretty cool and it was free. the main strip in pigeon forge is a sight to see, reminds me of a family oriented Vegas in the mountains. we went to the titanic show and got in for free, i wouldn't have gone if i had to pay. I wish we had gone to the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show as that sounded like fun. I will say make sure your car is up to date on all maintenance and that you have good tranny fluid. those hills that lead up to some of the cabins are STEEP! All in all i would say its a good place to go, very family oriented and its cabins are priced about the same as hocking hills. Things to do on the way down.... Jack Daniels, Makers Mark, Wild Turkey, really anything on the bourbon trail :gabe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted July 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 we went this past winter and it was a blast, don't know that we could spend a week there, but we did 2 nights 3 days and we could have probably done another night. we did the winery tour which was actually pretty cool and it was free. the main strip in pigeon forge is a sight to see, reminds me of a family oriented Vegas in the mountains. we went to the titanic show and got in for free, i wouldn't have gone if i had to pay. I wish we had gone to the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show as that sounded like fun. I will say make sure your car is up to date on all maintenance and that you have good tranny fluid. those hills that lead up to some of the cabins are STEEP! All in all i would say its a good place to go, very family oriented and its cabins are priced about the same as hocking hills. Things to do on the way down.... Jack Daniels, Makers Mark, Wild Turkey, really anything on the bourbon trail :gabe: Cool! Thanks for the tip on the car. I'm not sure if I'll be able to talk the wife into it, but I'd like to pack lighter and take the Fusion Company car vs the van. I can absolutely see a fully loaded minivan being a PIA up the hills. :fuuuu: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bastard Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 i went there a couple years ago with the wife and the in-laws. as stated above, it is a very family oriented place. definately skip dollywood, it sucked, i cant remember the name of the next town over, but the ripleys aquarium was over there and that was pretty cool. also riding atv's was fun, the place we went to ride had 400's for adults and 125's for younger ones (not sure the age limit though). all in all, it was a good time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 i went there a couple years ago with the wife and the in-laws. as stated above, it is a very family oriented place. definately skip dollywood, it sucked, i cant remember the name of the next town over, but the ripleys aquarium was over there and that was pretty cool. also riding atv's was fun, the place we went to ride had 400's for adults and 125's for younger ones (not sure the age limit though). all in all, it was a good time. I think you are talking about Gatlinburg, that is where we stayed. there is a cool moonshine distillery thing there. however, Gatlinburg sucks for parking and walking around. I agree the aquarium was cool and definitely worth the money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGU Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Wife and I went to that area on our honey moon and we thought it was just way to touristy for our tastes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco-REX Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Anyone else get the mental picture of someone hitting pigeons on an anvil with a mallet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodRed Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 I go down to the Smoky Mountains multiple times a year. Wife and I love it down there. Warning, a lot of roads and trails are closed due to a very nasty storm that hit the area on July 5th. Storm seemed to be very similar to what hit us on 6/29. A few people died from trees falling on them or their cars. I am not a huge fan of staying in Pigeon Forge. It is a very busy area with a lot of touristy stuff. Try to stay as far off the main road (441) as possible. There a ton of amazing cabins out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBQdDude Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Sure did Draco. You BEAT me to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontiacfreak142 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Went there a few years ago on the main strip and it was pretty cool. The hotel we stayed in had a huge pool and we were almost directly across the street from a huge arcade place (great for entertaining the kids lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRD2BDF Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 I have no input to add but take the 3! Manuals will help in the hills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wease Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Very touristy, very WT. Without a doubt, the aquarium is the best part... :nod: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spankis Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Nobody mentions that both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are ON THE EDGE of Smokey Mountain National Park! I've been probably 5 or 6 times, and the park is absolutely the best part of the area. There is a cool visitor center, lots of hikes to do both easy and tough, long and short - lots of waterfalls to see, creeks to play in, old structures/homesteads to tour (google Cades Cove). Kids would love it for sure. If they get tired of outdoorsy stuff Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg offer the touristy entertainment too. The park is a great place to have a good camera and tripod too, Tim. If you do go, do not miss the Roaring Fork Motor Trail, Cades Cove, and Clingman's Dome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Had been there years ago, and was there 10 days ago. We now have the area added to our "places to avoid" list. It has attractions, adventures, and tons of places to stay. However, the people that are there made us hate that we stopped there. It was worse than going back to the trailer park I grew up in. And it seemed like every family of 9 kids was there. The lines were murder just to get breakfast. Our shower worked in our hotel room, but I don't think anyone elses did, or maybe they just didn't use them. Body odor like I was back over seas. That was it for us and we hit the road to GTFO there. Then it seemed to take forever to move through all the traffic, plus the speed limit is really low for a loooooong way. This was the first time the girl and I have travel together in that area. She LOVED Deals Gap. It's not far from the area you are looking at either, and you can take the Blue Ridge parkway for a short clip if you map it right. In the future our plan is to stay at Deals a week and see the out laying area from there. We jet skied, hiked, swam, and of course we ran the Tail of the Dragon every morning. It's just depends on your tolerance level and we had had enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 yea i would think the summer time it would be filled with family and kids, we went in the winter and i think that kept people away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky31186 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Everything in Tenn. Is awesome. We went during the winter of 2010. Rented a cabin by gatlinburg. Such a great view from the cabin, but damn when the roads got icy / snow covered it made me nervous. (we drove her awd CRV, but it did GREAT). There were still a lot of people visiting, but not as many as summer time. We went to the ripleys, Ober gatlinburg, We took the Tran to the top of the mountain (Great view on the way up). We did some Geocaching. Along with a ton of other stuff. If you go, you HAVE to eat at Bennetts BBQ.. Best BBQ I have ever had. Another good dinner spot is "The best italian restraunt" I dont like wine, but you MUST stop by the apple barn and try their Apple based wine. We always buy 6 bottles when we go. The Go cart tracks there are AWESOME, they go up 3 flights, and you come down a huge steep hill. Nothing like go carts in ohio. The TITANIC Is awesome too. Then we went back in 2011 during the summer. But this time we stayed out of the tourist area. We stayed in Caryville, and rented a pontoon boat on Norris lake for a week. We drove to gatlinburg and did some more sight seeing. We did the wine tour or "Crawl" as I like to call it. Because I was pretty tipsy by the end of it. I guess I sampled too many on an empty stomach. We were going to go this year before the baby came.. But finances said otherwise. Just a couple photo's.. http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr133/probin007/tenn2.jpg View from our cabin http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr133/probin007/tenn10.jpg http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr133/probin007/tenn30.jpg Edited July 11, 2012 by Rocky31186 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis Nice Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Summer trips there suck. We always go spring or fall when school is in session. It's a MUCH better experience. Family goes there at least once a year. Also, my parents neighbor owns a private cabin/second home about 15 minutes outside Gatlinburg that he rents out. MUCH better than staying in a hotel or cabin resort where they're all butted up against each other. As for Pigeon Forge, the shows, shopping, and exhibits are nice. I recommend The Titanic, The Comedy Barn, the outlet malls, and the go karts. They have a couple sweet deals on fast tracks there. My fat 295 pund self was getting sideways. Just outside Pigeon Forge in Sevierville is the huge friggin' knife store and museum. Love that place. For food, Bennets is god, Huck Fins is good if you like sea food, Big Daddys pizza is legit. Brick oven baked pizza FTW. Best restaurant for a steak? Great Smoky Mountain Brewery, bar none. Dare you to find a better one. Gatlinburg is cool too. Park all day for $5 and enjoy tons of shopping, putt putt, and exhibits. Ripleys is great. The Aquarium rocks. Avoid Stars Cars museums if you've ever been. It hasn't changed in 15 years. Theres tons of restaurants and coffee shops but I won't list all my fav's. Too many. Just walk the strip and you'll find something you like. As for the national park, as mentioned above, check out Cades Cove, Clingmans Dome, and the plethora of trails and scenery off the side of the road. For a killer day hike take the Alum Cave Bluff Trail to the top of Mt. LeConte. Best views I've ever seen. 5.2 miles long with an elev gain of ~2,600. Stellar. Took me 7 hours at a leisurely pace top to bottom. I love this place. As others said, if you go during the summer expcet traffic and tons of kids. If you can wait until school starts up it'll be MUCH nicer. Oh, and I wasn't able to go this year, but DollyWood supposedly has a few more big coasters to make it a bit more exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted July 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Summer trips there suck. We always go spring or fall when school is in session. It's a MUCH better experience. Family goes there at least once a year. Also, my parents neighbor owns a private cabin/second home about 15 minutes outside Gatlinburg that he rents out. MUCH better than staying in a hotel or cabin resort where they're all butted up against each other. As for Pigeon Forge, the shows, shopping, and exhibits are nice. I recommend The Titanic, The Comedy Barn, the outlet malls, and the go karts. They have a couple sweet deals on fast tracks there. My fat 295 pund self was getting sideways. Just outside Pigeon Forge in Sevierville is the huge friggin' knife store and museum. Love that place. For food, Bennets is god, Huck Fins is good if you like sea food, Big Daddys pizza is legit. Brick oven baked pizza FTW. Best restaurant for a steak? Great Smoky Mountain Brewery, bar none. Dare you to find a better one. Gatlinburg is cool too. Park all day for $5 and enjoy tons of shopping, putt putt, and exhibits. Ripleys is great. The Aquarium rocks. Avoid Stars Cars museums if you've ever been. It hasn't changed in 15 years. Theres tons of restaurants and coffee shops but I won't list all my fav's. Too many. Just walk the strip and you'll find something you like. As for the national park, as mentioned above, check out Cades Cove, Clingmans Dome, and the plethora of trails and scenery off the side of the road. For a killer day hike take the Alum Cave Bluff Trail to the top of Mt. LeConte. Best views I've ever seen. 5.2 miles long with an elev gain of ~2,600. Stellar. Took me 7 hours at a leisurely pace top to bottom. I love this place. As others said, if you go during the summer expcet traffic and tons of kids. If you can wait until school starts up it'll be MUCH nicer. Oh, and I wasn't able to go this year, but DollyWood supposedly has a few more big coasters to make it a bit more exciting. Great feedback man! Thanks, especially for the food places. I can certainly appreciate the during-school information but we'll be one of "those families" with kids. Again, we have a 6 & 9 year old that will be in toe and it's more about all of us having a good time, then the kids (which we as parents love) and then mom and dad. Kids eventually crash and mom and dad can bring beer wine and more back to the hot tub as the bears watch how it's done I'm early in the planning stages but it looks like we'll leave on a Saturday and return on a Saturday. I'm thinking cabin during the week as the rates are $20-$40 lower per night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripleskate Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Wife and I went to that area on our honey moon and we thought it was just way to touristy for our tastes. This. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are tourist traps. Fortunately, 20 minutes out of town are some kickass mountain roads, but I assume this is a family outing and not a "let's make a detour to Tail of the Dragon" sort of trip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedfocus1647545489 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Great feedback man! Thanks, especially for the food places. I can certainly appreciate the during-school information but we'll be one of "those families" with kids. Again, we have a 6 & 9 year old that will be in toe and it's more about all of us having a good time, then the kids (which we as parents love) and then mom and dad. Kids eventually crash and mom and dad can bring beer wine and more back to the hot tub as the bears watch how it's done I'm early in the planning stages but it looks like we'll leave on a Saturday and return on a Saturday. I'm thinking cabin during the week as the rates are $20-$40 lower per night. I've been probably 10 times. Randy already hit most of the things I have any input on but here's a few more. Definitely rent a cabin. I usually hate tourist traps but there is a really good mix of stuff in that region. By renting a cabin you can cover all the bases. You can see the touristy stuff for as long as you can stand, then see the Smokies and still hang out and grill at the cabin if you want to stay in. A few times I have cheaped out on lodging and every time it ended up being rainy or snowing (season dependant) and we spent alot of our trip killing time instead of actually enjoying ourselves. The beauty of spending more for a really nice cabin is that you have a pretty neat place to spend time if you get rained out of other activities. Many of them have pool tables and such, or even video games. We usually get a 4+ person cabin for ourselves just because we like the added space and amenities. We have always had good luck with cabins from www.majesticmountainvacations.com. Beware, they do have a security deposit now that I don't think is mentioned on their website. 2-300 bucks I think, but you get it right back if you don't burn down the damn cabin. Also, if you call them I think they can tell you which cabins are up retarded slopes, if you think that will be a real concern. The last time we stayed at a mountain-top cabin it was up the steepest roads I have ever been on. The Wife's Saturn was having trouble going up and down but we made it. The knife store in Sevierville is Smokey Mountain Knife Works. Yes, it's awesome. It's a neat store to check out even if you're not really into knives. We go to Smokey Mountain Brewery for lunch or dinner just about every day we're there. I prefer the newer, larger restaraunt they built in Pigeon Forge. It's worth the short drive or trolley ride. The original one is in Gatlinburg near Calhoun's (good BBQ and they serve SMB's beer). Either one has the same stuff mostly, I just think the old one really feels old. Another restaraunt I haven't seen mentioned is The Blue Moose. It's kinda off the strip, behind BullFish in PF. It's mostly locals in there so their prices are a little better and the food has always been great (Burgers, hot dogs, wings kinda stuff). +11billion on the Aquarium for the kids. One of the best I have been to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradyPPC Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 It is fun. Im more of a nature person than a tourist person and the parks are a blast. Cades Cove is really cool. There are tons of old houses and churches to see from the 1800's although it is sad to see the way people have defaced them by carving their names into them.....The last time at Cades Cove, we saw 4 or 5 bear along the route. It was pretty cool. Another cool place is Klinman's Dome. I belive it is the highest lookout point in the smokey mountains. It is a decent hike to the top but it has great scenery. There is also a Musclecar museum on the way down that has some pretty cool cars in it that is worth checking out on a rainy day. Cant remember the name of it off the top of my head but there is some neat history in there and worth stopping by. Private cabin is the way to go and the more secluded, the better. I could literally stay in a cabin for a week and be very content...Most have hot tubs on the decks and are very relaxing. There are plenty of places to eat with good food. The Dixie Stampede is a cool dinner show worth seeing and the food is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye1647545503 Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 I am doing the Run through the hills event in September at tail of the dragon and most likely hanging for a few days. Looking forward to it very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Chief2011647545501 Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Looking to take a trip down to TN and perhaps putting a week or so in at Pigeon Forge. Researching it now but was wondering if anyone here has been? Any Good? Thoughts? Other items in that area or on the way appreciated. I have a 6 & 9 year old to entertain so keep that in mind. Regards, A very good friend of mine grew up in cock county and is was a rafting guide on the pigeon forge for a long time. Its definetly worth it, the area is so pristine and beautiful. If you do go down there ask people for directions to "The forte" its a double wide trailer bar. Also the "patio" is an interesting mix, live bluegrass and mexican food plus BYOB what more could you ask for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moostang Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Nashville >* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tshensley Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Great location for family vacation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.