Our Adventures
Here you will find our account of our personal travel adventures. Follow along to hear about the things we absolutely loved, and the things we wish we had done differently.
Coming Soon!
Walt Disney World Resort
Check back later this summer for our experience visiting Walt Disney World on a multi-family trip!
Gatlinburg, TN
Spring Break 2024
A great family destination, but prepare for crowds.
We previously visited Gatlinburg on a kid-free trip, so had some advanced scouting done when it came to planning a great family trip.
Where we stayed: Gatlinburg is one of those destinations that you really need to consider the location of your rental or hotel. Due to its location in the mountains, there are limited roads in and out, so traffic can be extremely congested. Our preference is always a cabin versus a hotel. On this trip we stayed in a great rental in the Skyharbour development that had easy access to the parkway between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and also had a route to access US-321 which enters Gatlinburg from the east.
Downtown Gatlinburg: As mentioned, be prepared for crowds. As with any crowded tourist area, parking is a premium. We found two great options to avoid parking stress: The Gatlinburg Trolley is free and runs from designated free parking lots on several entry roads in to Gatlinburg. If like us, you prefer to have the car close at hand, we always park in the municipal lot at the intersection of routes 321 & 441 (opposite Ole Red). As of our most recent trip, parking is a flat $10 per day, and we found no issue finding a spot when getting into Gatlinburg before 10am.
Things to do: There is no shortage of things to see and do in Gatlinburg. On our previous trip, we visited both Anakeesta and The Skybridge. While the view from the Skybridge was spectacular, we decided that there was simply not enough entertainment options to make a return trip with kids worthwhile. Anakeesta on the other hand, had plenty of play areas, eating options, and really neat walkways. Our kids spent close to an hour playing in the new "Birdhouses"
Back down on the parkway, we also visited the Moonshine Mountain Coaster (more on our mountain coaster experience below). It was one of the highlights of our trip. We also visited Hillbilly Golf twice.
What we learned: Back to our mountain coaster adventure. We had pre-purchased mountain coaster passes for Anakeesta. On the day we visited, the coasters were a little late opening, and by the time it did start operating, the wait was estimated at 1.5-2 hours so we were unable to stick around to try those. Later the same day, we purchased tickets and were in line for Ripley's Mountain Coaster and it broke down and closed for the day. Since a mountain coaster was the #1 item on our 10 year old's list, we made it a priority for our next day. We went to Moonshine Mountain Coaster first thing the next morning, before the crowds could go, and our son had a blast.
Tip: Mountain Coasters can be pricey, check Groupon for deals, we saved close to $70 on a gold package (2 rides each for 4 people with photos)
Hillbilly Golf is a staple of Gatlinburg and always on our list to visit. They have 2 different 18-hole courses, it's hard to say if either is better than the other, so plan to play both.
Tip: Hillbilly Golf offer discounted 2nd games if purchased within three days of your first game. So visit early in your trip to play one course, and plan to come back within three days to play the other.