Spring Break at the Smoky Mountains Tennessee

 Warning:  This post is picture heavy of great awesomeness!

Hey yall!  Another epic road trip in the books!  Although our trip was just a few days, my family and I had one of the best experiences going to a place we never traveled to, the Smoky Mountains!

The Smoky Mountains was actually not on the top of the list of places to travel to for spring break, we were thinking about traveling to Orlando FL, or Savannah GA. 


About a couple of weeks before spring break I was doing my usual thing on Facebook (checking notifications and replying back to people) and seen an ad about visiting Wilderness at the Smokies, an indoor and outdoor family waterpark resort.  I went on the their website and seen all the cool things they had at their resort, of course the pools, arcade, pottery, restaurants, golf, laser tag, rock climbing, rope courses, gift shops and so much more! 

So this was a no-brainer, Wilderness at the Smokies was the right choice to spend our spring break at.   We stayed there for 2 nights and our total with tax was $596.24 (this is spring break prices so off season will be lower).

Now, you may be thinking this is a bit too much but let me break it down if we would’ve gone to Orlando instead.

Let say my family and I went to Disney World like we were planning on doing; tickets to Disney World starting price is over a $100 so with the 4 of us it will be well over $400 plus tax (1 day at Disney).  Don’t forget, we must pay for a hotel too!  So we would’ve paid in total around $700 to $800 and another thing to not forget, gas to get to Orlando since it is about an 8 hour drive.  

Going to the Wilderness at the Smokies took about 3 ½ hours to travel to.  Seems shorter since there were things to look at during our drive there like the mountains, small towns, log cabins, streams and waterfalls, old town stores, art and craft stores, and more!

Once we arrived to Sevierville, TN where our resort we were staying in is located, we checked in and went to see what our room looked like.  Wilderness’s rooms have a modern mountain style décor.  Our studio suite included 2 queen size beds, a leather sofa couch, TV that has over 100 channels, counter stove top with cabinets, small kitchen sink, a small refrigerator, a coffee maker, 1 bathroom, small vanity, and small wooden table for 2.  Wilderness has several different size suites and even has lodging that can fit up to 15 people.  This place is perfect for family reunions!  Our room had a wooden pine smell that didn’t really bother me and our room was clean and comfortable.

We put all our stuff down and left the Wilderness resort to see the surrounding area.  I was very impress to see all the local attractions nearby in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  There were a lot of different museums, go karts, rides, even Dollywood!  If you travel a little farther you can go to the aquarium, ride ski lifts, and go hiking in the National Smoky Mountain park.

We were getting hungry so we gotten a bite to eat at Cheddars and then stopped at a place called The Island, a place with a ferris wheel, arcades, restaurants, and shops.  This place reminded me of Pier 39 in San Francisco.

This shop won cupcake wars on the Food Network!

Michelle and I got on the ferris wheel while Mr. M and Lauren ditch us for the arcades.  We joined them later after our ride.

All of us stayed in the arcade for about an hour and then headed back to the Wilderness resort to call it a night.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a local diner and then headed back to the resort for all day fun at the pool!  The indoor pool is 86 degrees in there and it felt like a steam room.  They offer cold poolside drinks to keep you cool if the heat bothers you.  The pools are a bit cold but my girls had no problem getting in and joining in on the fun.  

There were so many different things to do in the indoor pool like the tidal wave pool, several water slides, water playgrounds, ride the waves on a board, water sports, and more!

My family and I visited the outdoor pool to see what it looked like and there were more pools, a lazy river, and huge water slides.  Due to the inclement weather, the lazy river was closed so the girls went on the rainbow water slides that were open.

My girls pretty much swam all day long and then we took an afternoon break in our suite.  After we were well refreshed we went to the restaurant at the resort.

I want to say that don’t always believe the reviews you read online. One of  the Wilderness restaurants has bad reviews but our food was great.  People usually only leave reviews when they have a bad experience, hardly ever leave a review if their experience was good.  So please if you had a wonderful experience anywhere you go leave a good review, this really helps the company out and help others looking to see about the company they’re interested in visiting.

The Wilderness restaurant (called The Thirsty Miner) has a choice to order from their menu or enjoy your meal from their buffet in which for each paying adult a child eats for free.  Of course we had chosen the buffet option.  There were steaks, ham, pizza, roast, a salad bar and so much you can eat at the buffet.  My food was so good that I forgotten to take a picture of it, LOL!  

Once my family and I were fueled up, it was back to the indoor pool for the rest of the night (indoor pool closes at 10pm and outdoor pool closes at 6pm).

Tuesday quickly came and it was time to pack up and check out, but before we left we enjoyed the breakfast buffet at The Thirsty Miner restaurant.  Also, I forgot to mention the buffet is $13.50 a person but since with each paying adult a child is free so only Mr. M and I had to pay for our meals.  Drinks for adults and children are not included with the price.

Farwell Wilderness at the Smokies!  We shall see you again!

Before we hit the road home, we stopped at an amusement park called Wonderworks.  We never heard of the place before but we’re fascinated by the building being upside down.

Lines inside were like an hour long but we were glad that we stood around because Wonderworks was pretty fun, a lot of neat things to do in there.  The indoor amusement park is science based and helps to stimulate your mind.  I’m glad we done something fun, yet educational.   There are rides inside that you must have closed toe shoes so if you ever visit make sure to have tennis shoes on.  

After Wonderworks, it was time for us to go home, but while we were driving through Gatlinburg we made a wrong turn and went into the Smoky Mountains National park.  There were a lot of winding roads and we seemed to be going higher and higher in the mountains.  My ears were starting to pop and I was getting nervous because the fog was so thick and it was hard to see while driving.  Although the drive seemed like forever in the mountains, we got to drive right next to a family of elks, how amazing!  We were so close to them that we could’ve touched them!  The elks seemed to be not bothered by us and other people that were around, so I was able to get good close up shots of them.

What a great way to end the trip by seeing wildlife up close and being deep in a forest, I have a new found love for nature!

Make sure to add the Smoky Mountains to your travel bucket list, a great place for everyone!  Also go there during the winter months if you love seeing snow on the mountains.

What did you do for your spring break?

Subscribe to My Email List

Follow Product Review Mom on Google News!