Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains have always been a place dear to me. When I was a child, my grandparents and my aunt would take my sister and I up to Pigeon Forge for a full week, and we would have the best time. When I look back on my childhood, those are some of my greatest memories. But my grandfather and aunt have since passed, so it is a place that is somewhat bittersweet to me. I want to come here and make new memories with my children, but I can't help but to be sad for when I was a child visiting. If you live anywhere in the south then you've probably been here at least once. People come from all over to visit these towns. And almost every time you come, there will be something new. Just since I was a kid, this place has changed drastically. We have visited many times and at many different times of the year and we have found that you must come during the week during an off season.
This is our 3rd year in a row that we have come up on Labor Day weekend. It being a holiday, we knew it was going to be busy. We have stayed at Wilderness at the Smokies the past 2 years and just spent most of our time staying at the hotel and the waterparks, but that place was so awful last year, we'll never be back. This year, we just opted for a cheaper hotel in Pigeon Forge and would put our money towards attractions instead. We booked the Park Tower Inn, and although I can't say the place is good, it's not horrible either. We have heard quite a few complaints from other people though. It has a nice indoor lazy river, and with kids, a pool is our biggest must have.
Traffic has definitely been a bummer around here and it has not been fun to get into Gatlinburg. We had all decided to do Anakeesta because their fall festival was starting, but when we got there, the line to get on the ski lifts were 2 hours long. The kids were very disappointed but I knew that even if we made it to the top, it would be so crowded that we wouldn't be able to really enjoy it. We decided to go walk through The Village and walk the streets a little bit. We came across a mirror maze and went through it, which was so fun. They even gave us some glasses that made it harder to see. I noticed a Parrot Mountain place that had a sign that said it was free to come in and hold the parrots, so I ran in so fast. I love parrots! It turns out that the reason the place is free is because you are not aloud to take any pictures or videos, and they take pictures for you on their camera, and then you must buy them. A simple 20 cent print from Walmart was $45! A parrot bit Helena's finger, too.
After we left there, we walked up to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum. This was another attraction that I have not been in since I was a child with my grandpa and aunt. It was always a lot of fun and really cool, and even though the exhibits are different now, it was still so much fun. Everyone was hesitant to go in because they heard 'museum' but I promised them that it wouldn't be a typical boring museum. There were so many cool art exhibits and interactive things for the kids. My favorite thing was the Hogwarts made from match sticks.
When we got done at the museum, we were hungry, and the arcade with the giant slices of pizza were right up the road just a bit, so we walked over there and each got our giant pizza. My mom, sister and I all could not eat even one slice ourselves, but both of the kids ate their whole slice. And not only was the pizza huge, it was good and cheap!
Walking the streets of Gatlinburg is always a lot of fun because there are so many shops and cool things to see and do. This weekend was insanely busy though and it was a bit overwhelming trying to walk through the streets with 2 kids. I was not very comfortable and i don't tend to care for these large crowds anymore. We started our Labor Day trip by staying in Cherokee the first night and then coming up to Pigeon Forge for the rest of the weekend, and I really wished Cherokee had more things to do because I would have happily stayed. I love Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, and love any chance to come up here, but I definitely think we will be trying to go in the off-season months. I don't like when a place is dead, but I don't like when there are so many people that it's just over-stimulating to even think about where to go and trying to get from one place to another takes an hour because of all the traffic.
For more info about where we stay, where we eat and what we like to do, check out the pages under the Gatlinburg/PF tab!
