Outdoor ,Indoor ,and All around fun
Written: Oct 19 '01
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Pros: Wonderful family trip for all ages, activities galore.
Cons: Alot of the activities are expensive.
The Bottom Line: It's a vacation with everything from the great outdoors to dinner theaters. I highly recommend going it has something for everyone.
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| beth01's Full Review: Ober Gatlinburg |
When your a family on a budget it's hard to find vacation spots that you can all enjoy but can manage to afford. Gatlinburg is one of the places that you can enjoy while not breaking the bank.
Gatlinburg streets are lined with shops selling just about everything you can imagine, then there are restaurants and attractions in between creating a carnival like atmosphere. If your like me you learned the lesson long ago to avoid these types of places, it is not usually money well spent.
Ober Gatlinburg is the upper side of this town and has many things to offer.
Tramway(round trip) $8 adult and $5 kids (ages7-11)
Municipal Black Bear Habitat $1.50
Indoor Ice Skating(includes skates and 3 hours time) $7
Scenic Chairlift $4(round trip)
Ober's Lightnin Water Ride $2
Kiddie Land and Kiddie Rides (All Day)$4
Sking is paid for by session depending on how long you want to ski and the times, prices start at $12.00 for a night session with both adult and childrens rates. I think the highest price listed is $35.00
Equipment rental includes Skis, Boots, Poles, and Equipment Breakage Insurance. Starting price is $13.00 for during the week and $15.00 for weekends.
They offer lessons for beginners starting at $10.00 and go up to $25.00 for private lessons. Lesson's are mandatory for first time skiers.
You must purchase an airlift ticket to ski and the only cost I could find is for 2 weekdays at $45.00.
Their longest run is 5,000 feet Vertical drop is 600 feet. They have 2 easy runs, 4 more difficult, and 2 most difficult.
All trails are lighted except for one and first aid is operated by Ski Patrol System. the closest hospital if 15 miles away.
They also have Restaurants, Snack Bars, Lounge and Warming room.
I have not gotten brave enough to try sking yet but these are some of the things I thought you might be interested in. There are even more things to do there that I haven't listed but I tried just to hit the high lights for you.
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.
This was a wonderful place. It cost us about $80 for 3 adults and 2 kids ages 7 and 11. It was well worth the money! The kids loved it and we plan to go back again when we are in the area(next march).When you first begin the tour you can wonder around at your leisure looking at the many built in aquariums in the wall with all kinds of water life, examples: sea horses, octapus, live coral, sea hermit crabs, star fish, sharks, mantarays, electric eels, and many many more. Each tank has a plaque telling about what is in the tank. You just follow the large hall like area that the tanks are located in so you know which way to go and I really didn't see any way to get lost, just to get seperated if one is going faster ahead than the other.
In about the middle they have a large open restaurant and several different movie rooms so that you can view an educational movie that they are presenting each hour. Then they have a classroom presentation with a huge view screen every hour so you and your kids can learn many new things.
My favorite part is the underwater tunnel surrounding you above and on the sides with Huge Sharks(some are 10 feet long), eels, saw fish and small fish they put in the tanks to feed the sharks. You don't even have to walk if you don't want to. You know how we have all wished for sidewalks that moved (like the Jettsons)so we could just stand there and be taken where we want to go? Well they have one! It carries you through the tunnel at a leisurely pace, but if you want to walk you can or you can get off on the large side areas and then get back on when you are ready.
They have a large play area for the kids where they can pet some of the sea life that they have and they have a gift shop which you have to exit from to browse through.
Gatlinburg has many other things do do from miniature golf and go karts to indoor 3-D and simulated movies.
But the best part of the trip is of course the smoky mountains. According to geologists the smoky mountains are more than 2 million years old. they have over 4,000 kinds of plant life, over 65 different mammals, over 200 kinds of birds, 70 kinds of fish(trout fishing is said to be great in this area)more than 80 reptiles and amphibians(that part they could have skiped but the food chain demands satisfaction, I guess as long as I don't have to see them it's okay).The Great Smoky Mountain National Park are on the North Carolina and Tennessee borders. They have 521,000 acres with over 300 streams.
The first known inhabitants of the smokies were the Cherokee they lived there until the 1830 Removal Act. (Some resisted the act and stayed behind. Today the Cherokees have a reservation on the park's North Carolina side. If your interested in native american culture you might want to plan your trip to include going there. They have many things to offer.
Now one of the things that we enjoyed the most was the view! We had a chalet that sat up on one of the mountains and we had glass around our living and dining areas so we could have coffee in the mornings while looking off at the magestic mountains with there many colors reflecting and the tops were covered in cloudy white. We almost didn't make it to do anything else but enjoying the beautiful view. Then when you think that your ready to brave the town you step outside and are hit with the amazing crisp fresh air that carries the sent of not only green grass but a hint of flowers and clear flowing streams, it makes you just want to move back to nature and not come back.
Bears are popular sights in the area and can become pests. They have all of their trash container locked in wooden coverings so that the bears can't rumage through it and they are seen quite often in the summer. The locals will warn you to stay away from them and to not feed them. If you give in and feed them they will come back and you have to remember that they are wild and you really don't want to make one mad.
I would highly recommend this area for a vacation for the whole family. I would advise you to pick your activities ahead of time and not to vary to much from it or you can find yourself spending alot of money quick. We stayed in a four bedroom chalet(with hot tub OOOOOHHHHHH) so we cooked meals there and saved a ton of money by just eating out a few times.
The other attractions in this area include Dollywood amusement park and dining theater. Lots of water slides and mini golf courses and much much more. You can visit one of the many web sites by pushing in Gatlinburg TN in your browser, I would give you one I liked most but I liked so many of the sites and was able to get information on just about anything that it would be hard to tell you which ones were better.
But I do recommend visiting VRBO.com if you are interested in lodging in the area. This site has chalets and cabins to rent by owner. I found one that has 4br fireplace(with wood provided) hot tub washer and dryer and of course the have to have dish washer for 600 for 7 days in the off season, 750 in season. It was only about 10 minutes from Gatlinburg.
The only bad things were the parking in Gatlinburg is all pay and then you have to walk back to where ever you are going, and the roads after you get off the main ones are have very bad curves and are very narrow with some poorly marked signs.
Recommended:
Yes
Level of Experience Needed: Beginner
Best Time to Visit: April
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
beth01
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Location: Paducah KY
Reviews written: 21
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