Dollywood

As a fan of Disney, I wasn't overly impressed with Dollywood. But, for the location and price I thought it was a good park. It's a cross between a Renaissance Faire and an amusement park. There are sections with the "good" (faster and more daring) rides, then a section with more traditional fair types of rides. There is also a section with renaissance faire types of shops and attractions - leather making, hat making.

The good: It is a nice theme and felt homey and countryish. It also had a good selection of food throughout the park, though when I was there several places were not open due to smaller crowds. I ate at a buffet place with BBQ types of foods, the food was good though I hadn't intended to spend quite so much on lunch. The lines were very short, I never waited more then a couple minutes for any ride.

The bad: You "may" get wet on almost every ride, not a great selling point when it's not hot out. It's a long walk (unless you know the back way up the steep hill) to get to the better rides at the back of the park. The park layout wasn't very good. I don't like going to an amusement park, paying admission and then being asked to pay the regular rate to play a carnival game that I can play at any street carnival. I'm also not a fan of carnival rides at amusement parks, I prefer a better themed ride that's more complex and that I can't find in other places.

Overall it's a good park and a nice place to spend a day if you're in the area. If you're used to a Disney Park then you'll be a bit disappointed at the atmosphere. If you're used to Great Adventure parks you'll probably be disappointed with the rides.

Pigeon Forge - Vegas for kids

Zorb Smokey Mountains is located in Pigeon Forge, TN. It's a place I had never heard of and it seems the NYC bubble was keeping an interesting place off my radar. Often people not from large cities think that the people in large cities are out of touch with what goes on in other places, sometimes it is true. I actually only know one person who knows what Pigeon Forge is, everyone else I know couldn't even figure out why you would go to Knoxville let a lone Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge struck me as the type of place that people who live within a half days drive might go to for a family summer vacation. It's Vegas for kids! Driving down the main road in Pigeon Forge is like a miniature Las Vegas Blvd. The road is lined with chain restaurants, mini golf, souvenir shops, hotels, go-cart places, arcades and other random attractions for families. It's cheesy middle america and I loved it! There is also Dollywood and its water park. A family could spend a week here as long as they bring plenty of money. I overheard someone from my hotel say that he goes there every other month, I suspect that he's not unusual. There's a lot of fun things to do there and while it's not fancy, it's entertaining. Pigeon Forge also has a couple different outlet centers. I went to one small one but wasn't impressed with it, I didn't even get out of my car. I went to the Tanger Outlet and that had a much better selection of stores. I didn't have much room in my luggage, but I did get a couple things there.

5 miles south of Pigeon Forge is Gattlinburg. Gattlinburg is a nicer area, though similar to Pigeon Forge in some ways. It's more of a walking type of place, a smaller main road and a quainter feel. The road is lined with hotels (if I went back I would look to get a hotel on the river with a view of the river), restaurants and shops. There are also touristy activities - Rippleys Believe it or Not, a Wax museum, and you can take a chair lift to the top of a mountain. I didn't do too much when I was here as I had already spent quite a bit of money that day. I think Gattlinburg is a better place for older children and adults, but either way it's a nice spot to spend some time if you're in the area.

Adventures in Pigeon Forge, TN

I thought I would try a different way of posting. I thought I would tell everyone what I did in one big post, then do reviews on particular things in later posts.

I flew out of NY on Sunday evening and after a stopover in DC landed in Knoxville around 9:45 at night. I stayed at the Airport Hilton, which was a good move since the airport and probably the city was dead at that hour of night. I don't even know if I would have been able to get a rental car.

Monday morning I picked up my rental car around 8:00 and drove to Pigeon Forge. I decided since this was going to be the only day when the weather was supposed to be nice that I would Zorb and go to Dollywood. First, I Zorbed, which was tons of fun, then I went to Dollywood. The timing worked out well since Zorb opened at 9am and Dollywood at 10am. I stayed at Dollywood until 4:30-5:00 and went back to Zorb since the guy forgot to give me my CD with the pictures on it. After that I checked into my hotel, Comfort Inn. I rested for a while since I was exhausted from all the fun I had been having. I decided then to go for a drive to Gattlinburg, a nice little town 5 miles south of Pigeon Forge. I didn't do much more then just walk around and check out a couple shops, but it felt good to be out and about and seeing things.

After that I decided it was time for some shopping in Pigeon Forge, I tried one of the outlet centers, but it was lame so I went to the Christmas shops. I did get myself and ornament for my Christmas tree. Back at the hotel I opted for a quick dinner at Denny's. It was actually one of the better Denny's I've been to, and then took a dip in the hot tub, ahhhhhh.

The following morning I was heading to Knoxville but decided to take one more roll down the Zorbing hill. And what kind of trip would it have been if I didn't go to the outlets? I stopped at the Tanger outlets and they were very good, a nice selection of stores. I was also able to get myself a belt and a new pair of sunglasses, both things I had forgotten to bring on the trip. I did buy myself a new wallet too, I was at the outlets so obviously I needed to buy something that was just a good deal. At this point I noticed one of the benefits of only using a carry-on, I couldn't buy much. If I had a full size suitcase I probably would have bought more stuff, but since I had limited space I found myself being very careful as to what I bought, this probably saved me a bunch of money.

What does the future hold in blog posts? Reviews of Pigeon Forge, Gattlinburg, Hotel reviews, My experience Zorbing and at Dollywood.

Booked my flight

I've booked my flights to Knoxville and Pittsburgh! Well that's one less thing to worry about. Now I'm working on hotel rooms and rental cars. any suggestions?

For my first night since I'm getting in around 9:30-10:00 I'm going to stay at a hotel airport so that I can save a day of the rental car and the drama of trying to find my hotel in the dark. I'll probably stay a night in Pigeon Forge near Dollywood and the Zorb place, then my last 2 nights I didn't figure out yet. I'm considering staying downtown, but the hotel prices are a little higher then I really want to spend. I would rather spend money on fun activities then on a hotel.