Need ideas for a stop-over in Knoxville, Chattanooga, or Nashville

[Claudia1]

On our return trip from Disney this month, we want to stop on a Friday night in any of these 3 areas. We were planning to see some Civil War sites but the government shutdown has blocked that plan.

Any family-friendly Halloween haunts? Any thoughts on Lookout Mountain on Saturday morning? We are looking for something that won't take all day..... maybe Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Motel/lodging ideas are appreciated, too!

 

[asta]

On our return trip from Disney this month, we want to stop on a Friday night in any of these 3 areas. We were planning to see some Civil War sites but the government shutdown has blocked that plan.

Any family-friendly Halloween haunts? Any thoughts on Lookout Mountain on Saturday morning? We are looking for something that won't take all day..... maybe Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Motel/lodging ideas are appreciated, too!

I am thinking that Halloween Haunts will be nighttime activities. I know at one time Ruby Falls at the base of Lookout Mountain had a very popular haunted house. You might want to check on that or see if something is going on at Rock City. Chattanooga also has a good aquarium.

For a daytime activity in Nashville you could visit the Country Music Hall of Fame or take a bus tour of local sites. There are also a couple of fall farm activities like corn mazes at local farms but these are located outside of the city.

A word of caution about visiting on fall weekends. College football is extremely popular in Knoxville and Nashville and there are some big games in October that could affect room availability or at least the cost of the rooms. Keep that in mind whenn making your plans. If you like football that would make for a great Saturday afternoon if the schedule works out.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

I vote for Chattanooga. We have stayed at the Marriott Courtyard on the riverfront, which was nice.

I agree with asta's suggestions of Ruby Falls or the aquarium.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Well Nashville is 2 hours further from WDW than is Chattanooga and Knoxville is an hour and 40 minutes further from WDW than is Chattanooga. So that might weigh into your decision.

Chattanooga has the aquarium and the stuff on lookout mountain. Nashville has some old pre and post civil war homes to go through. They're all in private hands and fully open. There is the country music museum as well. Knoxville doesn't really have much that is touristy. They have a couple of civil war homes to go through, Note that on weekends the Volunteers are playing, hotel room can be extremely difficult to come by in Knoxville. Traffic downtown before and after the game can be bad. Nashville has a much greater volume of rooms and the Commodores are not nearly as popular as the Volunteers are in Knoxville, so finding a hotel isn't as big of an issue there.

 

[chanda7]

The Knoxville Zoo is pretty good, and the Sunsphere is cool to see.

On the Sweetwater exit, the Lost Sea is a great cave system, with better formations than Ruby Falls.