Now that I'm back from our trip I can give a brief report. We were there the week of our spring break, the week before Easter.
One thing first - if the traffic on 441 is horrible and you need to get to the opposite side of town, take Taester Lane as a bypass. It connects back to 411 in many places.
We stayed at the Quality Inn & Suites at Dollywood Lane. It was nothing fancy, but it suited our needs. The room was clean and had thick towels in the bathroom. There was a large mini-fridge and a microwave, which came in handy for all the take-home we had from our meals. A hot breakfast was included (scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, waffles, instant oatmeal and grits, as well as cold cereals, hard boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt). They have an seasonal outdoor pool, and they share the postage-stamp sized pool over at the Comfort Inn next door. It was so small that we skipped it.
It's on the far side of Pigeon Forge, closer to Gatlinburg, and a short drive to Dollywood and just about across the street from the Dixie Stampede. We paid an extra $10 per night for a rollaway bed, which brought our room costs before taxes from between $64 - $73 a night. There are sit down and fast food restaurants in walking distance, as well. If we ever go back we'll stay there again.
Here's what we did: Wonderworks, Dollywood & the Great Smoky Mountains.
Wonderworks. It was fun, but GET THERE EARLY! You've been warned. We skipped attending Palm Sunday services to go there instead, and I'm glad we did. The place was virtually empty for the first two hours (hours are 9:00 am - 10:00 pm). You can go in and out all day long, which is nice. It was getting full when we left for lunch around 12:30. We went back at 2:30 and it was PACKED. The kids did a few things, then we left. There was even a line to do the bubble room. Granted, it was raining out that day, so it could've been busier than usual.
Dollywood. Now, I'm a Disney Parks fan through and through, but Disney has met their match in Dollywood. No, it's not the same, but I thoroughly enoyed it and I can't wait to go back. It's like being in one huge Frontierland. The food prices are about on par with other theme parks (= expensive), but what I loved most about it was that about the only place you found the typical theme park goodies for sale was at the emporium at the front of the park and a few selected kiosks and shops. Otherwise you could find items for sale from clothing (LOVED Dolly's Closet!), hand crafted items, rocks and gemstones, a wagon maker, and the like. You can get a full list on it's website. And the prices were so reasonable!
If you arrive after 3:00 pm, you get in the next day for free. That's what we did and we loved it! We told the kids they could wait 45 minutes in line for the rock climbing wall at Wonderworks, or leave and go to Dollywood and ride roller coasters. Humm... There were hardly any lines at all. DH & the kids did the coasters while I shopped and saw the Bird show. We went back the next day and had a blast, even though it snowed all day! Make sure to see the shows - they are amazing!
Great Smoky Mountains. We entered through the Gatlinburg entrance and stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. It is still under construction, and it's going to be beautiful once it's complete. Instead of planning our day there ahead of time, we waited to figure out what to do once we talked with the park staff. Since it was snowing we needed to change a few plans, but ended up hiking to Laurel Falls (1.3 miles each way) and touring Cades Cove. That took up one day. I'd plan for two days or more if you wanted to do more hiking or driving tours.
The Old Mill. We ate lunch there on Palm Sunday, and it was an hour wait. Luckily (?) there were some shops to visit so we could get out of the cold rain. The food was good and very substantial, and we took half of it back to the hotel to eventually eat for dinner.
We tried to get into the Dixie Stampede the day we went to the Smoky Mountains, but we weren't able to get in. I guess everyone in town were seeking indoor entertainment since it had been snowing all day long. It would've been fun to see, but I'm glad I didn't plan it ahead of time. Sometimes we were just too tired - or full - to do anything else at night except for watching a movie on tv.
We drove through Gatlinburg the first evening to see what it was like. One word - claustrophobic! Parking was outrageous and the traffic even worse. So, we didn't stop except for going to the sporting goods store to purchase DH a jacket.
I hope this helps - let me know if you have any questions.
We stayed away from the outlet stores and gift shops, but I do believe I've never seen so many go-kart or putt putt golf places in my life!
We are huge animal nuts & that is my children's fave aquarium There is a Ripleys Mirror Funhouse in downtown Gatlinburg close to aquarium that's great very inexpensive with an armband that allows access all day!! The Tunnel in the aquarium is great to redo when waiting for feeding times or shows there's always different activity of animals each time you stroll through! Good Luck
The Park is def something to do each and every trip no matter how many returns we've actually made it to NC over 11 yrs lol WonderWorks is loved by my 2xds 16&12 tho yes I'm sure the weather made it over crowded glad y'all caught early hours;-) Thanx for sharing
