Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, The Great Smokey Mountains review by Dealing with Disney

Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, The Great Smokey Mountains

Great town and some may call it a tourist trap (in a good way) but every time we have gone, we have always enjoyed it.

From the amazing Smokey mountain views to the beautiful streams that run through, you will definitely find great picture spots.

We have normally stayed at the WestGate resorts during our stays here -they have a large indoor water park (pay extra to get in) and have condo style rooms. It is a Vacation club resort but they still will rent rooms available. This resort is on the outskirts of town so you can’t walk to town from here. They offer a trolley service however.

I have many friends that have rented amazing cabins which can provide amazing views, home comforts and privacy. Many cabins will have their own hot tubs or mini inside pools(like a grotto) !

Parking in town can be tricky at times and many places require a parking fee. Just things to keep in mind.

Just a heads up, lots of Hemp stores. Not to knock it-not my place but so people will know, I tend to encounter many smokers in TN.. Not sure why but it is not uncommon.

We opted to stay at a resort in town for this trip. We wanted to be in the area for walking access and to see it all.

Town consists of about 1-1.5 mile strip, traffic can be a mess especially during busy season. Lots of stop and go due to pedestrian traffic.

Many of the resorts here are older, things to keep in mind. The important factor is if they keep it clean.

We did the whole tourist trip –we opted for a newer resort, the Margaritaville Gatlinburg Resort. This chain has really grown and can be found in many top tourist cities.

The hotel is fairly new so all the features of the room was great! It was a little more pricey because of this as well..Parking at least was free!

We had a large room (could sleep 5), grabbed a city view. You can either have City or pool view. Our room offered 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa. The sleeper sofa was not the most comfortable. My son decided it was more comfortable to sleep on as a sofa. The sleeper sofa and kitchenette area is separated from the 2 queen bed area. The bathroom was in between them. The beds were ok but I am used to Disney mattresses which have been amazing. The pillows were nice.

The room was clean, we had a balcony which was great to sit out on. We ate out there one night. They had a coffee maker (k-cup), a large oversized mini fridge and a microwave available in the little kitchenette our room came with.

The bathroom was very spacious with an oversized shower that had multi shower head options, a large spa tub & double sink vanity. All very clean as well.

This resort offered a temp controlled pool and a heated indoor pool. The main pool had a fun twist slide which we made great use of.

Two fire pits were available to sit at; one by the river and one by the patio. They had a live band playing cover tunes which was so enjoyable. A large sitting area for this where they served bar grill food.

The food here was pretty good, not spectacular but enjoyable enough. They had strong drinks! It was not overly loud, just right! Wait staff came out to take orders for guests around the pool.

Margaritaville hotels always offer a table service restaurant available, called LandShark. As you can imagine, it has a very Beach island vibe. They offer typical bar foods. It was ok, not great but good.

Our other restaurant choice which was GREAT, we ate at Crockett’s Breakfast Camp.. This was Super Yum-May! They only serve breakfast. Open daily 7am to 1pm EXCEPT closed on Wednesdays. The Menus are on an old newspaper to keep with the over all theme. It is so cute.

Their prices were very fare with large portions! I highly recommend the waffles! We did wait about 45 min for our table. The cinnamon Roll was amazing!

Now, I tend to travel mostly with family and my family is not quite as adventurous as I am. Saying that, there were things available to do but we didn’t do them.

Here is what we did do.

We played 3 different Mini golf (AKA putt putt) courses. We love putt putt!!! Which is a good thing since this place has a TON of putt putt centers! Most are really fun courses with great themes, some are pretty simple and typical. Make sure you see one that fits your liking since there are many! Mini Golf centers can really vary in costs… The cost range for mini golf is $11.00 to $15.00.

We also did the Ripley’s Aquarium. It is not a huge one but it is an enjoyable one. It runs $34.00 per person. Ripley’s Offers a combo ticket deal, There are quite a few Ripley attractions throughout the town; mirror maze, arcade, 2 Mini golf centers, museum etc. This was only $50.00 per person for the combo we picked; aquarium entry and 2 other attraction entries.

There is a mini mall in town, tons of pancake houses, great little stores and typical ‘junk tourist’ stores. Sometimes the junk stores can be fun as well!!

So all in all we did:

Mini golf 3 times, Aquarium, Ripley Museum, Mirror Maze, walked through town, swam, ate and relaxed

Side note on Ripley Museum: has lots of $1.00 machines: claw machine etc.. Don't do these.. they don't work!!!

We were going to go to the Wax Museum in Pigeon Forge, they were requiring Face Masks which we had no interest in. We left. If we gone, it would have been $26.00 per person.

Pigeon Forge is only about 10 minutes down the road from Gatlinburg, This is where tons more attractions are located.. Of course tons of mini golf options, Go kart race tracks, arcades, The Famous Dixie Stampede and Paula Dean’s Famous restaurant! This is where you can find all the ‘tourist’ shops -$9.99 & up stores.

Other fun options:

Dollywood theme park (they have not a re-opening date as of yet from COVID)

Wax Museum (Pigeon Forge) ($26 PP)

Wonder Works (Pigeon Forge)

Dixieland Stampede (pigeon Forge $55+ PP)

Numerous Walking trails and nature centers

Gatlinburg Ziplines

Mountain Coasters ($16 + PP)

Rafting

SkyLift: includes skylift, Skybridge and Skydeck ($25. PP)

Ober Gatlingburg: a Skylift -aerial tramway to park on top of mountain.

Lots of Dinner Show options from HatField and McCoy to Pirate

Many restaurants

Many mini golf centers

Pigeon Forge has many fast food options as well as table service locations.

Gatlinburg is mostly Table service options.

Now it is very easy for all these activities to quickly add up in cost –especially when paying for all family members.

Just keep that in mind for budgets. A simple activity can cost around $60.00 min which only lasts about 10-30 minutes depending on activity. Some activities can last longer.

Usually you will have many activities lined up for a day unless making room for the pools available. This is why when some people comment about Disney being expensive, I can agree but many other places can easily end up costing the same. Disney gives a more upfront cost where many other locations –you pay as you go –it is the nickle and dime affect. It is easier to spend the lower amounts without noticing the totals. It is still great to get out and do other things outside of Disney!! Lots of the world to see!