Trick-Or-Treat & Birthday Sweets! Oct 2013 PTR *NEW* 11/4 TR Link Posted!

[mandas08]

All caught up...on this one still need to go back and finish your last TR.

Its funny that I commented you would never get to beat Prestons 2nd birthday and you now might just be able to do it....what a lucky boy!

I think your dates sound great. We are heading to Florida in Sept for our 5yr anniversary. Sadly we are not doing any Disney this trip. We are sticking to Sea World, Discovery Cove, and Aquatica and whatever else we end up planning. I would have loved to make our trip in October, but with so much of our trip being involved with water I'm hoping that it is warm enough for us to enjoy Aquatica and Discovery Cove. I know Zavier is going to love all the animals so I'm soo excited.

We had originally started looking at Bonnet Creek because of your great reviews but ended up booking Vista Cay since it is so close to Sea World.

I think you are really smart for making your trip midweek. Flights really are so much cheaper. We actually booked our flight last week for a decent deal so I'm pretty happy. I'm sure you can relate that it is hard to go from 2 tickets to 3 .....ouch. I told DH if we have more kids we will need to look into vacation spots within driving distance because our entire vacation budget will be spent in flight

Thanks for sharing your Disney history, your pictures were great. My first trip was with DH in 2009 (i think) so I do not have quite the history you both have Can you imagine what Prestons Disney history will look like when he's an adult

I hope you all have a blast visiting the Smokey Mountains our last trip was for our babymoon and we had a great time as always. Just as an FYI that you may already know- You can use your Dollywood tickets the day before your actual park visit after 3 pm for free. Or at least it was like that when we went. Our favorite restaurants are the Apple Barn in Sieverville and Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg (sweet potato pancakes...yum!) Also Best Italian is AMAZING. Their stromboli is huge and their garlic rolls are our of this world. Greasy...but amazing!! Cant wait to hear about your trip. Have fun!!!

 

[khertz]

Aww - poor little peanut. Hope he is better soon! We are going the 9th to the 22, we leave the day you arrive. Hope your days aren't too crazy, I know how you feel. I stayed up until 3 last night to get some work done. Little ones are hard work.

Have a great time on your upcoming trip!

Luckily, he feels fine, it seems as though he just got the rash part of it!

Too bad our days don't really overlap, but I think anytime in October is a great time to go!

It has been rough getting packed and organized the past couple of days with him home and underfoot, but somehow I've gotten most of it done!

All caught up...on this one still need to go back and finish your last TR.

Its funny that I commented you would never get to beat Prestons 2nd birthday and you now might just be able to do it....what a lucky boy!

I think your dates sound great. We are heading to Florida in Sept for our 5yr anniversary. Sadly we are not doing any Disney this trip. We are sticking to Sea World, Discovery Cove, and Aquatica and whatever else we end up planning. I would have loved to make our trip in October, but with so much of our trip being involved with water I'm hoping that it is warm enough for us to enjoy Aquatica and Discovery Cove. I know Zavier is going to love all the animals so I'm soo excited.

We had originally started looking at Bonnet Creek because of your great reviews but ended up booking Vista Cay since it is so close to Sea World.

I think you are really smart for making your trip midweek. Flights really are so much cheaper. We actually booked our flight last week for a decent deal so I'm pretty happy. I'm sure you can relate that it is hard to go from 2 tickets to 3 .....ouch. I told DH if we have more kids we will need to look into vacation spots within driving distance because our entire vacation budget will be spent in flight

Thanks for sharing your Disney history, your pictures were great. My first trip was with DH in 2009 (i think) so I do not have quite the history you both have Can you imagine what Prestons Disney history will look like when he's an adult

I hope you all have a blast visiting the Smokey Mountains our last trip was for our babymoon and we had a great time as always. Just as an FYI that you may already know- You can use your Dollywood tickets the day before your actual park visit after 3 pm for free. Or at least it was like that when we went. Our favorite restaurants are the Apple Barn in Sieverville and Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg (sweet potato pancakes...yum!) Also Best Italian is AMAZING. Their stromboli is huge and their garlic rolls are our of this world. Greasy...but amazing!! Cant wait to hear about your trip. Have fun!!!

Happy to have you here!

That sounds like a fun vacation, even with no Disney involved. I always think maybe we should plan a Sea World day, but then I feel like I don't want to give up any Disney time. So planning a vacation just there sounds like a good idea. It should definitely be warm enough in September for you!

I know, I don't know what we will do when eventual baby #2 also requires a plane ticket! Well, actually, I do know, we will be driving to Disney World. Just dreading it. I couldn't believe how much cheaper it was to fly out on Tuesday vs. our usual Friday or even Monday! So we are definitely saving by going mid week to mid week.

DH actually read about the after 3 pm tickets for Dollywood, so I think we are going to do that. Head over Wednesday afternoon when Paxton wakes up from his nap, then spend the whole day Thursday! Hopefully we can get a lot done in that day and a half.

I'm so excited that you recommend those three places, because we have them ALL on our list of places to eat! Friday we had nothing planned, so we thought we'd spend a little time checking out the Apple Barn, then have lunch at the restaurant. We were thinking of doing Best Italian for dinner one day, and Pancake Pantry for breakfast on the morning we leave! I now understand what DISers go through when making their ADRs because since DH said he doesn't want to cook ANY meals this vacation, we have been looking for places to eat! We're also trying Old Mill Restaurant, Bullfish Grill, Mama's Farmhouse, and Bennett's Pit BBQ. Plus whatever else we come across and want to try.

 

[mandas08]

Luckily, he feels fine, it seems as though he just got the rash part of it!

Too bad our days don't really overlap, but I think anytime in October is a great time to go!

It has been rough getting packed and organized the past couple of days with him home and underfoot, but somehow I've gotten most of it done!



Happy to have you here!

That sounds like a fun vacation, even with no Disney involved. I always think maybe we should plan a Sea World day, but then I feel like I don't want to give up any Disney time. So planning a vacation just there sounds like a good idea. It should definitely be warm enough in September for you!

I know, I don't know what we will do when eventual baby #2 also requires a plane ticket! Well, actually, I do know, we will be driving to Disney World. Just dreading it. I couldn't believe how much cheaper it was to fly out on Tuesday vs. our usual Friday or even Monday! So we are definitely saving by going mid week to mid week.

DH actually read about the after 3 pm tickets for Dollywood, so I think we are going to do that. Head over Wednesday afternoon when Paxton wakes up from his nap, then spend the whole day Thursday! Hopefully we can get a lot done in that day and a half.

I'm so excited that you recommend those three places, because we have them ALL on our list of places to eat! Friday we had nothing planned, so we thought we'd spend a little time checking out the Apple Barn, then have lunch at the restaurant. We were thinking of doing Best Italian for dinner one day, and Pancake Pantry for breakfast on the morning we leave! I now understand what DISers go through when making their ADRs because since DH said he doesn't want to cook ANY meals this vacation, we have been looking for places to eat! We're also trying Old Mill Restaurant, Bullfish Grill, Mama's Farmhouse, and Bennett's Pit BBQ. Plus whatever else we come across and want to try.

Oh ya Old Mill is great as well. We weren't a fan of Bennets but maybe u will have better luck

 

[LadyBeBop]

Since it seems you always stay at Wyndham resorts, do you own Wyndham points? And if so, what is your home resort? We have an every-other-year contract at Wyndham Smokey Mountains.

Also, my eldest daughter lives in N. Louisiana. Bossier City, near Shreveport.

 

[khertz]

Since it seems you always stay at Wyndham resorts, do you own Wyndham points? And if so, what is your home resort? We have an every-other-year contract at Wyndham Smokey Mountains.

Also, my eldest daughter lives in N. Louisiana. Bossier City, near Shreveport.

We bought a Wyndham contract on our honeymoon at Bonnet Creek! We originally bought an every-other-year contract, but when we went to purchase the second half of our contract it wasn't available, so we switched home resorts to San Francisco and have a full contract there now. We stayed at the Smoky Mountains resort overnight when making the drive to D.C. 3 years ago. This time, we are staying at the Wyndham Great Smokies Lodge, and I'm really excited! We mostly chose this one because it has an indoor water park, and I'm glad now that we did because it's supposed to be pretty cool this week coming up when we will be visiting.

I know just where Bossier is! I had a lot of friends from there in nursing school. I went to school in Monroe.

 

[SEASONK]

Small world I am from Saline. It's a very small town in between Ruston and Natchitoches. I went to Tech for a couple of years and lived in Ruston. I then got married moved back to Saline and transferred to Northwestern State. Shreveport/Bossier, Ruston and Natchitoches are out going out to eat and movie towns.

 

[khertz]

Small world I am from Saline. It's a very small town in between Ruston and Natchitoches. I went to Tech for a couple of years and lived in Ruston. I then got married moved back to Saline and transferred to Northwestern State. Shreveport/Bossier, Ruston and Natchitoches are out going out to eat and movie towns.

Just googled Saline, and wow that sure is a very small town! That's funny that Ruston is a going out town, when we were there, we always left Ruston and went to Monroe to go out! I think it has built up a bit since we were there...they maybe were getting a movie theater when we graduated, I think?.

 

[leshunlenese]

Have Fun! I absolutely love going to pigeon forge and Gatlinburg. Last Summer was devyns first time and my first time in like 7 years and the boy loved the go karts! He still ask to go to them! My nephew asks to go to the smokies after we tell him no to Disney of course

 

[PirateSnowmen]

Joining in! I just recently found one of your old TR's, so I read it (and some others) and I figured I'd join in for this PTR/TR!

Also, since you just said you went to school in Monroe, I just have to say that a large majority of my family (on one side) went to school in Monroe! My parents, aunt, uncle, cousins, etc. all went to school in Monroe, and they all still live in either Monroe or West Monroe (or in a rural surrounding area). One of my cousins and I are the only two on that side of the family that didn't go to school in Monroe

 

[SEASONK]

Just googled Saline, and wow that sure is a very small town! That's funny that Ruston is a going out town, when we were there, we always left Ruston and went to Monroe to go out! I think it has built up a bit since we were there...they maybe were getting a movie theater when we graduated, I think?.

Yeah i guess we are technically a village and not a town. We have 1 caution light, 1 store, 1 restaurant, and 1 gas station.
When I was a student in Ruston we went to Monroe for everything. They now have the movie theater and several chain restaurants. It also helped that they began letting restaurants serve alcohol. There is still not a lot of shopping choices, so I have to shop in Shreveport or Monroe.

 

[khertz]

Have Fun! I absolutely love going to pigeon forge and Gatlinburg. Last Summer was devyns first time and my first time in like 7 years and the boy loved the go karts! He still ask to go to them! My nephew asks to go to the smokies after we tell him no to Disney of course

We had a really great time! Paxton seemed to enjoy the Dixie Stampede dinner show most of all the things we did. So cute that Devyn still asks for the go-karts! Randomly throughout the week, Paxton would mention the "horsey show."

Joining in! I just recently found one of your old TR's, so I read it (and some others) and I figured I'd join in for this PTR/TR!

Also, since you just said you went to school in Monroe, I just have to say that a large majority of my family (on one side) went to school in Monroe! My parents, aunt, uncle, cousins, etc. all went to school in Monroe, and they all still live in either Monroe or West Monroe (or in a rural surrounding area). One of my cousins and I are the only two on that side of the family that didn't go to school in Monroe

Yay! Happy to have you here, and I hope you enjoy the old TR's.

Being from New Orleans, I didn't even know that much about Monroe until I started looking into schools close to where DH (then BF) was going to school (he went to LA Tech in Ruston). It was really great, and perfect for me! Not too big, but big enough to force me into some independence. My aunt went there a long time ago (but still has the accent!) and my grandfather actually helped build the stadium there.

Yeah i guess we are technically a village and not a town. We have 1 caution light, 1 store, 1 restaurant, and 1 gas station.
When I was a student in Ruston we went to Monroe for everything. They now have the movie theater and several chain restaurants. It also helped that they began letting restaurants serve alcohol. There is still not a lot of shopping choices, so I have to shop in Shreveport or Monroe.

DH and I used to work at a Mexican restaurant in Ruston called Tia Maria's. I don't remember there being any chains in Ruston when we were there, so I guess it has grown quite a bit since DH graduated in 2006!

 

[amazingact21]

Fell behind since having DS, but I'm all caught up now!

It was cool to see your recap of past trips. It's fun to look at pictures and see how much people change and grow over the years. I'm sure you'll look back 10 years from now at your pictures with Paxton and be like, "Wow, I can't believe how time flies."


I'm very jealous of all your non-Disney vacations. Hawaii and D.C. are on my list of to-visit-one-day. Plus, I laughed out loud and the Lost reinactment post. Totally would've done the same thing.

 

[khertz]

Fell behind since having DS, but I'm all caught up now!

It was cool to see your recap of past trips. It's fun to look at pictures and see how much people change and grow over the years. I'm sure you'll look back 10 years from now at your pictures with Paxton and be like, "Wow, I can't believe how time flies."


I'm very jealous of all your non-Disney vacations. Hawaii and D.C. are on my list of to-visit-one-day. Plus, I laughed out loud and the Lost reinactment post. Totally would've done the same thing.

Oh goodness, well that's an acceptable excuse! Congrats!!

Even now, I look back at pics from his first trip (I'm still working on the scrapbook for that trip) and think, Oh my gosh, he was so little! I can't even imagine what 10 years will be like.

The guide on the Lost tour was fantastic and set up a lot of different reenactment scenes for us. That was one of my favorites, along with the Jurassic Park ones! I had a blast on that tour, and I'm usually pretty reserved and would have declined doing something like that. But being in Hawaii and seeing where they filmed my FAVORITE show definitely did it for me! The other couple on the tour ONLY took that one picture and declined the rest. Party poopers!

 

[khertz]

Hey, everyone, we are back from a GREAT week in Tennessee! The weather was almost perfect, and almost everything went according to plan. Hey, I guess we can't expect complete perfection...we are traveling with a toddler after all. I hope you don't mind a mini-TR of our Tennessee week to keep this PTR moving? I'll try to keep it brief and mix in trip planning updates, although not too much has been happening. I did start working on ADRs this week, but being at Bonnet Creek I have to do each one 180 days from the day we want the reservation. A bit frustrating, but it has always worked out in the past so I'm not worried. I'll do one post of our ADRs once I'm finished making them!

On to the first two days of our trip!

Saturday April 20th

Our alarms were set for 4:45 am (can I just say UGH!) and of course I didn't sleep well at all because I was so nervous about the drive. The plan was originally to get up at 4:30 to be in the car for 5 am, but DH hadn't been feeling good for a few days and thought the extra 15 minutes of sleep would help. We had packed pretty much everything the night before and loaded the truck with our suitcases. So all that was left was any last minute packing and to get the ice chest filled and in the truck. When we were ready to leave we went to get DS from his crib, and poor little guy was so confused. He even told DH, "Pajamas, Daddy!" like "Why are you not getting me dressed before putting me in the car?" We had hoped he would fall back to sleep once we started moving, but no go.

I know this says 5:22, but DH's clock is set 5 minutes fast!!

Breakfast! Homemade chocolate donuts DH had made the night before

Sun coming up as we passed through Baton Rouge​

Our first stop happened at 8:30 am at a gas station for a potty break, to change DS from his pajamas into clothes, and to let him run around a little bit before hitting the road again. At 10 am he was getting pretty miserable and we were begging him to take a nap but he was fighting it so hard. Finally he napped around 10:30 but only for about 30 minutes. We stopped for lunch in Tuscaloosa, AL and by the grace of God found a McDonald's with a Playplace! We took our lunch into the enclosed Playplace area and while DH and I were eating, DS would run over and play, then come back for a bite of his nuggets in between.

After almost an hour letting him play, we got back in the car where DS finished eating his fries and apple slices. We stopped for gas but the pumps weren't taking his credit card, so we had to go to another station. It took almost 25 minutes to get gas before we could get back on the road!

We only made one more stop at a rest area and took our time letting DS run around a little bit before getting back on the road for our final stretch of the day.

Playing at the rest stop

Coloring Mater with his new Color Wonder markers​

We didn't realize we were changing time zones until suddenly the time on my phone jumped from 3 pm to 4 pm! We got to our hotel for the night, the Microtel Inn in Chattanooga, at 5 pm. We checked in and brought our stuff up to the room on the second floor (no pics, but it was a pretty standard, small hotel room). We changed clothes and headed out to the Cracker Barrel around the corner, but quickly decided sitting down to a meal probably was not a good idea after having DS in the car all day and only a 30 minute nap several hours ago! There was an Applebee's next to the Cracker Barrel, so we decided to go back to the room and call in an order to pick up and eat in the room.

We only got meals for DH and I to share with DS, but he hardly ate anything. We took our baths and were all in bed by 7:30 pm. It was still sunny outside!! The TV was on ABC Family showing Enchanted, and then Tangled came on after! I had to just give up and close my eyes because I knew if not, I'd end up staying up until the end of Tangled.

Sunday April 21st

Sunday morning, we were up at 7 am after a rough night of sleep. The room would get SO HOT the second the a/c cut off until it kicked back on! We went to mass around the corner at St. Stephen's church, where DS was surprisingly well behaved! Then we went back to the hotel to pack up our stuff we had taken out the night before (I was really wishing I had thought to pack a smaller bag with stuff for that first night instead of having to dig through our suitcases!) and then checked out of the hotel. DH had looked online the night before for something we could do in Chattanooga to pass the time so that we would not be getting to our resort super early and have to wait around all day to check-in.

Our destination for the morning was the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum for a ride on a vintage locomotive! Sure, we could have seen Rock City or visited Ruby Falls, but this seemed perfect for our train loving DS! We got there with just a few minutes to spare to buy our tickets before the 10:40 am departure. While DH bought our tickets, I took a couple pictures around the train station.

After getting our tickets, we went outside to wait for the train to come up the tracks for us to board. I don't know if DS was very aware of what was going on, but he was just excited to be surrounded by trains and train tracks!

We boarded our train and found a seat. Not difficult to do because the train was huge and there were not a lot of passengers.

DS checking out the train

Excited!

Our tickets! DH and I were $16 each, but DS was free. He still got a ticket though!

​

Once we started moving, the conductor came down the train asking for everyone's tickets and punching them. So cool!

We passed a lot of bridges, which DS is very "into" right now, so that was a big hit. We also went through a tunnel! DS was not so much a fan of this, as it got pretty dark inside the tunnel.

We stopped at the train yard and were able to get off the train and watch it turn on the turntable. They explained that because it was a diesel engine, it really didn't need to turn on the turntable the way a steam engine does, but that they do it just so the passengers can see how it works.

While the train got ready to make the return trip, we went inside the area where they work on the engines. DS didn't care much for this part, so we stood kind of outside to where DH and I could still hear what our tour guide was saying but where DS wouldn't be too loud for anyone else to hear. He mostly enjoyed looking around the yard and comparing the trains and equipment he saw to the characters on Thomas and Friends!

Hey look, there's Cranky!

An engine in the yard​

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

...Continued from previous post

Once the train was ready for our return trip, we headed back to the station.

Paxton pretending to be a piece of luggage lol

Riding with Daddy!

When we got back to the museum and off the train, we went into the gift shop hoping to find some good stuff. Their t-shirt selection was pretty limited, so we only ended up getting a refrigerator magnet and a postcard for DS's collection. The plan had been to eat lunch there because they served food and looking at the menu on the wall, it seemed to be a great selection! But then we went over to actually purchase something and saw it was ALL prepackaged food...sandwiches, mini pizzas, hamburgers, etc. So we abandoned that idea. We headed outside to check out the trains in front that we had hurried past to make it onto the train on time.

We stopped for a gas fillup and a quick lunch at Wendy's before we left Chattanooga and headed to Sevierville. It was about a 2 hour drive, and DS napped and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad until we got there.

There are 2 Wyndham locations in Sevierville. One is the stand alone resort we had stayed at on our way back and forth to D.C. The one we were staying at this time was part of the Wilderness at the Smokies Resort, which was HUGE!! An indoor water park plus 2 outdoor water parks, and tons of rooms. There were probably about 10 buildings and 2 of them had been converted to Wyndham units. We were staying in building 6, which was connected to the main building of the resort by a skyway.

It was 2:45 or so when we arrived, so our room was not ready but they told us they would text or call us on DH's cell when it was. So we decided to just explore the resort.

Inside the lobby

I just liked this furniture!​

There was a pretty big gift shop in the lobby that we looked around to get an idea of souvenirs we might want to get. They had these cute little guys!

And DS found something he really wanted...

We also found the indoor water park, and there was a balcony on the second floor that we could walk out onto. As soon as we opened the door and stepped out there, we were hit with noise and chlorine!! It was literally burning my eyes and nose it was so strong. And the water park was PACKED! I was hoping it wouldn't stay like that all week.

[/IMG]​

There was also a huge arcade that we looked around, and DS decided he wanted to be a speed racer!

We still had not received word that our room was ready, so we went down to check and it finally was. We were on the 5th floor in room 6503. I made sure to take some pictures before we brought all of the stuff in!

[/IMG]
Our view from the balcony​

We unpacked, then decided to have dinner at the Thirsty Miner, the restaurant in the resort that we had found on our explorations. It said they had both a buffet and off the menu items for dinner, but when we got down there, they let us know it was menu only. That was fine for now. I got a make your own pasta with penne, Alfredo sauce, chicken and broccoli, but it wasn't very good. It was actually a little cold, and I expected the broccoli to be cooked, but it was raw and just tossed in with the pasta. Not my favorite. DS had a hot dog and applesauce, and DH got the fish & chips, which I tried and it was really good.

After dinner, we stopped at the little bakery/candy shop in the lobby for some soft serve ice cream cones!

We also stopped by the concierge desk to buy our Dixie Stampede tickets for the next night and got a little bit of a discount. We ended up paying regular price for the preferred seats.

Back in the room, we bathed DS and put him to bed, then DH and I stayed up for a little bit to kind of put together a game plan for the week. We had come up with a short list of things to do, but DH had really wanted to go to Cade's Cove. We decided that would be best to do the next day since we didn't have anything planned until Dixie Stampede at 6 pm. So we hit the sack early, but...no alarms set! That was my favorite thing of the whole week, no alarm clock. We got up when DS got us up, which was almost always after 7:30 am. I think he was enjoying sleeping in on vacation too!

UP NEXT: Cade's Cove & Dixie Stampede

 

[MEK]

A Tennessee vacation - fun! I have been to Sevierville and it was a 9 hour drive from my house. I was shocked at how crowded it was - of course I was there in July.

That Wyndham resort looks very nice and the room is lovely.

Paxton looks like he really enjoyed his train ride. How cute. Did you have the whole train to yourself?

Really looking forward to reading about your week. We only stopped there on our way to Nashville and back and I would like to go back to the Smokeys and so a real vacation there.

 

[khertz]

A Tennessee vacation - fun! I have been to Sevierville and it was a 9 hour drive from my house. I was shocked at how crowded it was - of course I was there in July.

That Wyndham resort looks very nice and the room is lovely.

Paxton looks like he really enjoyed his train ride. How cute. Did you have the whole train to yourself?

Really looking forward to reading about your week. We only stopped there on our way to Nashville and back and I would like to go back to the Smokeys and so a real vacation there.

That was one great thing about the week we chose. We were in that sweet spot between Spring Break and summer vacation to where the resort was still pretty slow during the week and only packed on weekends. That kind of translated to the other activities we did during the week as well. And the parkway wasn't nearly as slow moving as I remembered it being in May when we stopped there on the way to D.C.

He LOVED the train ride! Although it looks like it from the pictures, there were other families and couples on the ride with us. The cars were so large and there were so few people occupying them that we had a large chunk of the car to ourselves. But there were at least 3 or 4 other little boys there with their parents and a few older couples. I would say maybe 15-20 people total.

That was exactly what brought us back there! We got that little taste of the Smokies in 2010 and thought it would be a nice vacation alternative to WDW. It was really the perfect choice! We had enough to do to keep us busy, but we also had a lot of downtime.

 

[afwdwfan]

I look forward to seeing what you did on your Tennessee trip. There's so many different things to do there that we still haven't done and I can't wait to see what you tried.

The train museum looks like fun. Is it a morning only thing, or do they do afternoon train rides too? We're probably going to stay in Chattanooga on a Saturday night when we head south for vacation this summer. I was thinking of doing the Ruby Falls/Lookout Mt thing that afternoon, but the train might be something to consider as well.

We've driven by that water park several times, and I've always wanted to check it out. Your room there looks fantastic!

 

[khertz]

I look forward to seeing what you did on your Tennessee trip. There's so many different things to do there that we still haven't done and I can't wait to see what you tried.

The train museum looks like fun. Is it a morning only thing, or do they do afternoon train rides too? We're probably going to stay in Chattanooga on a Saturday night when we head south for vacation this summer. I was thinking of doing the Ruby Falls/Lookout Mt thing that afternoon, but the train might be something to consider as well.

We've driven by that water park several times, and I've always wanted to check it out. Your room there looks fantastic!

The 10:40 was the first departure, and I know they had at least one other because it was our backup in case we didn't make it. I think around 12?

I just went and found their 2013 schedule! It looks like on the weekends all year, they have several afternoon departures as well. It was fun, and the ride took about an hour round trip.

Our building was right next to those big water slides that you can see from the entrance, and Paxton always got excited about the "big slides!" every time we came back to the resort. I peeked in some of the regular Wilderness at the Smokies rooms when we were walking down the halls as they were being cleaned by housekeeping, and they seemed pretty spacious for a hotel room. I loved the layout and the space of the Wyndham units, but the themeing of the common areas wasn't as rustic as the other parts of the resort. I'll have pictures later to explain what I mean, but that was the only downside.

 

[afwdwfan]

The 10:40 was the first departure, and I know they had at least one other because it was our backup in case we didn't make it. I think around 12?

I just went and found their 2013 schedule! It looks like on the weekends all year, they have several afternoon departures as well. It was fun, and the ride took about an hour round trip.

Thanks for the info and the link!