January Pigeon Forge on a budget ideas

[garnetandblack]

We have our lodging taken care of - 1 week in a 1 bedroom at Wyndham Great Smokies Lodge (indoor water park resort). We leave next Friday for a week. This is going to be a laid back vacation (I think we are still recovering from Disney in October ) and I only want enough to keep us from getting bored since we have DS4. We spent 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge last fall and I was going crazy from being indoors that long.

We enjoy hiking and tend to avoid most of the tourist traps. I know that the water park at our resort will provide a lot of our entertainment but I can't imagine us just doing that for an entire week. We have no plans to go to the aquarium since we go to the one in MB often and it's so expensive.

I bought a Groupon for an old time photo shoot and 8x10 ($12) at 3 Bears as a cheap souvenir and something fun to do one afternoon. We have a restaurant.com certificate for the restaurant at Ober Gatlinburg. I know they allow kids to play in the snow for $5 on the weekend, so we plan to do that on the Sunday we are there and possibly go ice skating. If we enjoy it we might return for the snow tubing later in the week. I have a torn ac joint so I have to be careful and my son is the type to go down once and say, "That was fun but I don't want to do it again!"

Is Ober fun? Will we be able to spend a day there with playing in the snow and ice skating? I know most of the other activities (other than skiing and tubing) are closed. I thought we would eat a big breakfast at Crockett's on the way there, play in the snow, eat a snack and drink hot coco by the fireplace, ice skate then have an early dinner.

We plan to go out to eat almost every night with gift cards (credit card rewards), restaurant.com, birthday Landry Select Club credit and we love The Apple Barn and want to try The Old Mill restaurant. We will eat most of our breakfast and lunch in our room but a few of those meals will be out. DH is excited to eat at Crockett's Breakfast Camp and I plan to get one of those giant cinnamon rolls to go, lol!

I was excited about the magic show at Wonderworks and thought my son would enjoy that but they don't have any shows in January. It also looks like Dixie Stampede will be closed while we are there.

If we were there in warmer weather we would spend a few days hiking.

TIA!

 

[Mom_Rides]

I've only been in the spring and fall but are the driving trails open during this time of year? I'm thinking Cades Cove would be more likely to be open than like Roaring Forks. I'm sure it would be a pretty drive if it's snow covered!

 

[tina.tina]

Winterfest is going on until 1/25. The lights are beautiful. We did a trolley tour of lights which DH and I enjoyed but your kids might think it's boring.

I love the Pancake Pantry in the Village in Gatlinburg.

We enjoyed Wilderness at the Smokies but the indoor wave pool seemed a little rough to me. Have fun!

 

[garnetandblack]

I've only been in the spring and fall but are the driving trails open during this time of year? I'm thinking Cades Cove would be more likely to be open than like Roaring Forks. I'm sure it would be a pretty drive if it's snow covered!

I know they were closed on November 1st because of an early snowfall - but there were still leaves on the trees and it was really dangerous. I will look into it. We were just there in September and hiked to Rainbow Falls and drove through Roaring Forks.

It seems unless I want to do the touristy stuff we are just going to enjoy the water park, lol! They have indoor mini golf, a ropes course, bowling, etc for a nominal fee so we will add the unlimited option to our room rate.

I don't know why I am so "worried" about things to do. We desperately just need to relax. It's been an incredibly stressful year and I want to make sure our son has a great time.

 

[jmartinez1895]

While you are at 3 bears you can pay a couple of dollars each and feed the live bears they have. My kids love doing this every time we go. Also if you have nit done so already you might enjoy driving over the mountain into north Carolina. It took us about 45 minutes to drive over. Along the way is a historical village ( I can not recall the name) that was fun to walk through. Once in North Carolina you can go to the Indian reserve for a free tour. The last tour is in the afternoon so you will want to head over earlier in the day. My kids enjoyed this as it is something they don't get to see at home.

 

[garnetandblack]

While you are at 3 bears you can pay a couple of dollars each and feed the live bears they have. My kids love doing this every time we go. Also if you have nit done so already you might enjoy driving over the mountain into north Carolina. It took us about 45 minutes to drive over. Along the way is a historical village ( I can not recall the name) that was fun to walk through. Once in North Carolina you can go to the Indian reserve for a free tour. The last tour is in the afternoon so you will want to head over earlier in the day. My kids enjoyed this as it is something they don't get to see at home.

We haven't been to Cherokee in almost 15 years, it was the first trip my husband and I took together. Camping for my 18th birthday

 

[CoffeeCup]

You may want to reconsider eating at Old Mill Restaurant. The food used to be great, but we were disappointed in the quality of the food and the size of the servings the last few times we ate there. The same people own Old Mill Cafe across the street from the OM Restaurant, and we love eating there. It's not as crowded, the food is excellent, they have freshly baked breads and desserts, and it's less expensive.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We have our lodging taken care of - 1 week in a 1 bedroom at Wyndham Great Smokies Lodge (indoor water park resort). We leave next Friday for a week. This is going to be a laid back vacation (I think we are still recovering from Disney in October ) and I only want enough to keep us from getting bored since we have DS4. We spent 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge last fall and I was going crazy from being indoors that long.

We enjoy hiking and tend to avoid most of the tourist traps. I know that the water park at our resort will provide a lot of our entertainment but I can't imagine us just doing that for an entire week. We have no plans to go to the aquarium since we go to the one in MB often and it's so expensive.

I bought a Groupon for an old time photo shoot and 8x10 ($12) at 3 Bears as a cheap souvenir and something fun to do one afternoon. We have a restaurant.com certificate for the restaurant at Ober Gatlinburg. I know they allow kids to play in the snow for $5 on the weekend, so we plan to do that on the Sunday we are there and possibly go ice skating. If we enjoy it we might return for the snow tubing later in the week. I have a torn ac joint so I have to be careful and my son is the type to go down once and say, "That was fun but I don't want to do it again!"

Is Ober fun? Will we be able to spend a day there with playing in the snow and ice skating? I know most of the other activities (other than skiing and tubing) are closed. I thought we would eat a big breakfast at Crockett's on the way there, play in the snow, eat a snack and drink hot coco by the fireplace, ice skate then have an early dinner.

We plan to go out to eat almost every night with gift cards (credit card rewards), restaurant.com, birthday Landry Select Club credit and we love The Apple Barn and want to try The Old Mill restaurant. We will eat most of our breakfast and lunch in our room but a few of those meals will be out. DH is excited to eat at Crockett's Breakfast Camp and I plan to get one of those giant cinnamon rolls to go, lol!

I was excited about the magic show at Wonderworks and thought my son would enjoy that but they don't have any shows in January. It also looks like Dixie Stampede will be closed while we are there.

If we were there in warmer weather we would spend a few days hiking.

TIA!

I just wanted to say goooooo cocks!!!

 

[garnetandblack]

You may want to reconsider eating at Old Mill Restaurant. The food used to be great, but we were disappointed in the quality of the food and the size of the servings the last few times we ate there. The same people own Old Mill Cafe across the street from the OM Restaurant, and we love eating there. It's not as crowded, the food is excellent, they have freshly baked breads and desserts, and it's less expensive.

Thank you for the tip

 

[garnetandblack]

I just wanted to say goooooo cocks!!!

Forever to thee!

 

[clshirk]

I wouldn't count out hiking at Cade's Cove just yet...
We live in Asheville -just over the gorge- and I've been hiking with my 6 and 8 year old boys in 35-50 degree weather on Christmas Day and New Years Day around here, so if its open and its not snowing, bundle up and go. Or shoot across the gorge into Waynesville or Maggie Valley for some outdoor hikes! The weather has been soooo much warmer than planned.

We live cheap in Pigeon Forge. We stayed at Wilderness in the Smokies 1.5 years ago and while it was nice, I could not have lasted indoors more than the 2 days we were there.

Sounds like you have a great plan on the food. We always do that too- traveling with Bread, PB, Jelly, chips, fruit, yogurt, breakfast bars, etc... the rooms have microwaves and fridges so its great.
I could spend a day just walking through Gatlinburg too.

 

[Bete]

A little bit of a ride, but you could consider the Knoxville zoo.

There's a lumberjack show that your son may like.

I haven't done it, but there's a Jurassic park ride.

 

[bbak3030]

A tip for Ober--drive to the top instead of taking the tram. I didn't even realize this was an option til we were up there. The tram was pricey. We enjoyed Ober--but it's a tourist trap. We really enjoyed the snow tubing. I think it was $25 a person but sooo much fun. We also liked just walking around downtown. I won't lie though, I found that we spend less in Disney. Pigeon Forge is expensive when you are paying for Every. Little. Thing.

 

[garnetandblack]

I bought some winter hiking gear today in case the weather is nice enough to go I really hope it is. I can't eat out every meal on vacation and need a full kitchen if we are anywhere longer than 3 nights. I tend to cook at least 2 dinners at the resort but we have a lot of gift cards and places we want to try on this trip. DH cooks awesome vacation pancakes and bacon with fresh fruit and we can eat a huge breakfast every day for the cost of going out once even though we all can't wait to try Crockett's. We will have leftovers (the portions at every restaurant look ginormous), salads and sandwiches for lunch.

The Jurassic boat ride gets awful reviews on TripAdvisor but we all love dinosaurs. When I say awful reviews only 9% recommend it I was super excited when I read your suggestion though Is the Lumberjack show worth the cost? I know DS won't eat anything on the menu.

I have been pondering whether or not to take the tram. I know Ober is a bit of a tourist trap but I think we will have a lot of fun there. I bought the restaurant.com certificate because they have German food and DH's grandmother is from Germany. The tubing is only $20 on weekdays and I need to call and ask if DS is free since he is 4. On the website most of the activities are free if you are under 5.

We don't do souvenirs and I hate having to pay for every little thing. My poor son has been begging to do the skywheel in MB for over 2 years (we go 4-5 times a year) and we still haven't taken him on it. Maybe we will do the skywheel in PF I love that all of your entertainment is included at Disney and we were able to have a very nice trip on a budget in October.

 

[garnetandblack]

We have decided to drive to Cherokee and go from there to Asheville on the way home since we live in South Carolina.