My family has been to the Smoky Mountains many times, and we thoroughly enjoy it each time we go there. I have memories of going there with friends before I got married as well. The Great Smoky Mountains area has several touristy attractions which are mainly centered in the towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
Pigeon Forge has many dinner shows for the whole family to enjoy. Some of the popular ones from my research are the ‘Hatfield and Mccoy dinner show‘, ‘Dolly Parton’s Stampede dinner attraction‘ and the ‘Pirates Voyage and dinner show‘. They are all kid-friendly. ‘Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Attraction’ reminded me of the dinner show in Medieval times.
Pirates voyage dinner and show:
Pigeon Forge has many dinner shows, and we chose to go to the Pirates Voyage show as I thought there may be mermaids my daughter would like. Also, my 12-year-old recently went to Medieval times and experienced all the sword fights and horseback riders, so she wanted something different from that. Dolly Parton stampede sounded like another Medieval time. I expected there to be a plot around mermaids but they didn’t really show up except for once which kind of disappointed my daughter.
The food at Pirates was the regular biscuit, vegetable soup in a teacup, a drink, chicken, slice of ham, corn con, herb seasoned half potato, and apple puff pastry.
It was pretty filling and enjoyable.
Shows were at 3:30, 6 pm and 8:30 pm. The show we went to at 6 p.m. was pretty much full on a Saturday in July.
Spoiler warning:
The show ran around 1.5. The beginning of the show introduced the pirates of two ships and showed the crew’s circus acrobatic abilities which included juggling, diving, and jumping in the water from a swing, acrobatics. Then there was a pyrotechnical who displayed interesting feats with fire including spreading fire on the surface of the water. I liked the sea lion act the best with Salty the sea lion dancing and acting along with the pirates.
Other attractions
Apart from shows, there are other interesting attractions that can be seen as you drive along the main streets there like ‘The Titanic Museum attractions‘, ‘Hollywood Wax Museum’, ‘Wonderworks’ and Dollywood amusement park. We are able to see the ‘Gazillion Bubble show’ and enjoy some rides in Dollywood. Some of the same attractions can be seen in Branson, Missouri in the midwest as well.
Places to go horseback riding:
https://www.visitmysmokies.com/blog/attractions-pigeon-forge/horseback-riding-smoky-mountains/
The price is around $40-$55 for 1 hr for most stables. But for the smokey mountain deer farm, it is $26 for 30 mins or $29 for 45 mins, $32 for 1 hr
Anakeesta seems more like ziplining and tree top adventures.
The Island in Pigeon Forge
The Island in Pigeon Forge seemed more like a boardwalk on the beach with a Ferris wheel and some other kiddie rides, arcades, and shops. We got on the Skyfly Soar ride which takes you around several national parks/landscapes in the US. It was priced at $22 and was enjoyable. It reminded me of the ‘Soarin around the world’ ride at Disney World’s Epcot.
We drove over to Gatlinburg about 20 minutes south of Pigeon Forge and closer to the Smoky Mountains. The Sky Bridge there is priced at $35 which is like a long narrow pedestrian bridge across a valley and has beautiful views. You will need to get on the Sky chairlift in order to get there.
Apart from touristy attractions, the Smoky Mountains live up to its name of breathtaking views and many cabins in the mountains for vacationers. For breathtaking views of the Smoky Mountains, you can check it any of these places.
We drove an hour away from Pigeon Forge to Clingman’s Dome which is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains. It was raining on and off but it did not stop people from taking the 1 mile hike up to the viewing platform. We luckily had umbrellas in our car, so we hiked up the 1-mile wearing hats and using the umbrellas. It was all uphill and tiring but the view was pretty good, reminding me of the view at West Virginia’s highest point at Spruce Mountain. There were a few scenic points on the way near Gatlinburg like a babbling brook which we stopped by and got pictures and enjoyed the rushing water. My kids would have got in the water if they planned to get their bathing suits. We also stopped by Chimney Tops viewpoint and saw the interesting Hemlock trees which were bare and had no leaves. Heard they are dead due to some insects. They looked like antlers in the mountains.
We did some shopping at the Nike clearance store which was close to the vacation condo we booked and at Tanger outlets in nearby Sevierville.
We booked a condo through Airbnb for 6 nights and we enjoyed the stay there. Being near a brook was enjoyable as we saw the view from the backyard.
Must-do hikes in the Smoky Mountains are here: https://www.outdoorproject.com/travel/16-must-do-hikes-great-smoky-mountain-national-park
Major Smoky Mountain expenses for my family:
Riverside condos vacation home: $1500
Pirates voyage dinner show: $400
Dollywood: $364