Just finished our 5 night vacation and had an amazing time. For those who say you'd spend as much or more than Disney, I have no idea how
...okay, I have an idea...stopping and doing every attraction on the "mountain boardwalk" in Gatlinburg might do it
. We thought we should have stayed 2 extra days...so next trip we take here (and we are deciding when) will be a 7 day stay and we're planning on Dollywood, the Titanic Museum, and a few new shows (and the mountains - we got the caverns and that was the priority, so I can't complain)...
We had an amazing time. We considered the area "Vegas without the "R" rating". Instead of sedentary gambling activity, you walk everywhere, see caverns, hike mountains (if you want - we didn't end up with time for this - next trip), etc. Instead of steamy shows, you get family-friendly ones. You have every tourist trap on earth and every meal is about 3 meals in one
. I got deals ahead of time for almost every attraction we did, but I figure I'd post our trip breakdown, thoughts, and costs...
With timeshare fees ($600 maintenance cost to us, since we paid this off 12 years ago) we stayed at both the Wyndham Smoky Mountains (4 nights) and Wyndham Great Smokies Lodge (1 nights - attached to Wilderness at the Smokies). Both resorts were wonderful. The kids LOVED the waterparks and craziness of the Great Smokies Lodge and parents loved the quieter and resortier parts of the other resort. Waking up to Krispy Kremes, coffee, and OJ with a USA Today is just a nice peaceful way to start (this was at the non-waterpark resort
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For paid attractions, we enjoyed three separate night shows - Hatfield McCoy, Smoky Mountain Opry, and the Magic Show with Darren Romeo. All of these were incredible shows. I felt like I underpaid for each of them. My family members all had different favorites, but none was a "fail" for anyone. The magic show was my favorite - we had front row seats in the center (amazing!) and the magician could be both a broadway singer and a magician, so it makes for a unique and kinda incredible show. But they all just have you leaving feeling so good
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We also enjoyed the Forbidden Caverns. As our 1st cavern visit, we enjoyed it not being too long, not being too strenuous, and being a little cheesy. We had a great guide (Dakota), who knew how to handle kids - crucial!
We also got to 3 Ripley's attractions - the aquarium, the Guiness records museum, and the 5d theater. For those who get motion sick, the 5d theater has non-moving seats - TAKE them! We WAY got our money's worth at the 3 attractions and we'd rank them in the order I listed them (but if you're not a gamer, you might like Guiness less b/c this is a gaming paradise, not really a museum). Pro tip - if it's raining, go EARLY!! It's so much more enjoyable to walk right in than wait in a huge line at noon.
Finally, we enjoyed the Bush's Bean Museum - there's not much too it, but the movie is fun, the free pic is great (it's the only we got all trip with the whole fam), the store was fun to shop in, and it's a perfect side trip to the caverns. If you go, you MUST go to the cafe and order the best single food item we had all trip - the Pinto Pecan Pie - and then get a side of onion rings (also amazing
...also, if they still have the Jamaican black beans in a can - buy them! We sampled them and they were great
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For other free activities, we also enjoyed 2 of the 3 waterparks at our 2nd resort (5 1/2 hours - boy, were my kids wiped out) and the huge play gym there (the morning we checked out). At the 1st resort, we played free air hockey, ping pong, the resort's bingo (I won twice - kids loved the candy prize), mini golf (3x), Battleship (had a family tourney), large checkers, and swam in the indoor pool (it rained a lot, so this was nice to have). My spouse and I also got out for a free moonshine tasting in Severveille, 2 free wine tastings (one at Applewood and one in Gatlinburg after our Guiness trip) and a nice tour of Books a Million (we don't have that here) - it pays to wear out kids.
For food, we ate at Old Mill twice (gift card wasn't burned after 1 meal) - lunch was WAY better than breakfast (although I was in the minority and still liked breakfast
. We also ate at the Applewood Restaurant (Old Mill and Applewood fritters are the best items with the apple butter and maple butter - I bought both items to take home), the Bean Museum Cafe (as mentioned), the Applewood Creamery (great ice cream), Steak and Shake (we don't have this at home), and Hatfield McCoy (BBQ was great and food was better than expected for a dinner show - not great, but actually good). We had fast food on the way and way home (plus Cracker Barrel) and the last night when it was 8pm and kids just wanted to crash in the room, so we got the closest food and brought it back (Taco Bell, for those wondering - Arby's was across the street
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Total Cost (for 6)
Resorts 5 nights $600 (this was not OOP, but it's fair to include b/c it did use our points)
Gas $60 for 1000 miles total driven (gas is SO cheap there - $1.89...sigh)
Parking (3 days in town) $15
Tips for Tastings $6
Souvies $37 ($10 in beans, $22 for Applewood Sourwood Honey and Apple Butter and a Caramel Apple, $5 for Maple Butter add in at Old Mill)
Ripley's 3
attraction tickets - Sweet Deals $165
3 night show combo tickets (3 adults, 3 kids 11 and under) - $378ish + $21 tip at HM show - $400
Forbidden Caverns $75 (used $1 off/adult coupon)
Groceries $50 (water, juice boxes, chocolate milk boxes, bread, PB, nutella, jam, individual mac and cheeses, individual cereals, granola bars, single serve snacks, bag of apples, bunch of bananas) - used these and resort coffee/donuts/juice and leftovers for a few meals
Steak and Shake (did 1/2 off milkshakes deal) $38 (tax/tip included - so sad this isn't here, b/c this was SO cheap)
Old Mill - 2 meals $75 (cost of $100 gift card) + $43 OOP for $118 (tax/tip included)
Applewood Dinner - $81 (tax/tip included) - had 10% off coupon
Applewood Ice Cream (4 single scoops - had 2 BOGO coupons) - $10
Bush's Bean Lunch - $63 (tax/tip included) - had free drink coupon
Taco Bell Dinner $28
Total Meal Cost to and From (2 meals each - 1 sit down at Cracker Barrel and 3 fast food - Bojangles another chain we don't have, 2nd Steak and Shake, and Subway) - $135
Total Vacation Cost - $1800 (Under my planned budget which I thought was really low already - helped that spouse didn't really love moonshine, so the planned purchase didn't happen b/c those aren't cheap and we ate much cheaper than expected with free breakfasts at the resort plus our groceries and leftovers - we got almost 2 full meals from the Applewood food - just added apple slices to the 2nd meal)
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I told my spouse if he gave me the cost of just Disney park tickets for 6 and didn't count our timeshare cost (just like we don't in Disney), we could do even more next time
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EDIT: Putting on our schedule for others to see...not overscheduling and enjoying our resort (and the in-room jacuzzi - aaahhhh) made it vacation
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Sun - Drive In - Resort Activity Time (as mentioned above) (air hockey, ping pong, mini golf)
Mon - Breakfast at Old Mill, Ripley's Aquarium (spent 3 hours), Hatfield McCoy dinner show 5pm, Resort Activity Time (Battleship, checkers, mini golf), Adult Moonshine Tasting
Tues - Forbidden Caverns, Lunch and Tour/Shopping of Bush's Bean Museum, Indoor Swim, Dinner at Applewood Farms, Old Smoky Mountain Opry 8pm
Wed - Resort Bingo Activity, Resort Activity Time Morning, Guinness Records Museum (2 hours), Wine Tasting (and walk of the "boardwalk"), Parent late afternoon at Books a Million, Steak and Shake Happy Hour Dinner, Applewood Creamery Ice Cream Outing and Shopping/Wine Tasting the complex, Magic Show with Darren Romeo 8:15pm
Thurs - Condo Swap, Ripley's 5d Theater, Lunch and Shopping at Old Mill, then total Waterpark Craziness all day, Taco Bell Dinner
Fri - Play Gym Morning, Check Out and Drive Home
