Vacation in Pigeon Forge

We spent a long weekend in Pigeon Forge, TN last week! I'd heard from several families at school that it was a fun, family-friendly place to vacation, so we decided to check it out. Dan's parents joined us, which made the trip even more fun!  

After a 9-hour drive and checking into our rental house, our first stop was the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. It was AWESOME! They built the track up and down the mountain and lit it up at night. Emma and Hallie sat in front of Dan and I on our cars, and Dan's mom and dad rode solo. They pulled your car to the top of the mountain and then you had a fast, curvy downhill journey to the bottom.  There was a brake on the car so you could slow down if you wanted to. 

It was a great way to kick off our trip, and the girls couldn't wait to ride more roller coasters!

We spent our first day touring Pigeon Forge's restaurants and shops on the main strip. We ate brunch at Farmhouse Restaurant, and the girls got a kick out of their giant rooster.

We visited The Three Bears gift shop, which of course was full of bear decor.

They also had three live bears in a habitat behind the store!

We visited the gem mining shop next, which had gorgeous gems and stones of every size and color.

Hallie found a unicorn horn-shaped stone

We also stopped by Pigeon Forge's year-round Christmas Village 

That night, we enjoyed the Pirate's Voyage dinner show. They served a big, tasty meal while we watched two pirate captains and crews compete against each other with diving, trampoline, and rope stunts. There were some mermaids who made appearances and they even had live sea lions, dogs, and birds that performed tricks.

Another exciting event happened that night at bedtime - Emma lost her 3rd tooth! The Tooth Fairy had to do some extra flying to deliver her dollar in Tennessee. Heh!

Our 2nd day of vacation was spent at Dollywood!

The iconic Dollywood train. We rode it, and I would not really recommend it unless you enjoy having ash blown all over you and want to listen to a very loud train whistle for 15 minutes. The views of the park were nice, once you cried the ashes out of your eyes.

Emma was fearless and wanted to ride all the roller coasters!

Hallie rode some of the bigger rides, but she preferred the calmer rides. 

We took a break to watch Dollywood's wild bird show and have some lunch

But otherwise, we were riding fun rides!

We loved the butterfly theme at Dollywood. They had super creative carved pumpkins on display throughout the park.

My beautiful girls

By the evening, both girls were understandably tired. They tried to share the stroller that we brought for Hallie, but it was clearly not worth the pain.

It was worth staying at Dollywood until nighttime to see the Halloween decorations lit up. Their decorations were kid-friendly, which we appreciated.

They did a nighttime light show at the Wildwood Tree and played a recording of Dolly Parton telling the legend of the tree. We stayed until the park closed and had a blast, although it was the longest time any of us had ever worn our masks, and we were ready to breathe freely again!

On our 3rd day at Pigeon Forge, we ate lunch at the Old Mill Restaurant. While we were waiting to be seated, we walked down to the water so the girls could play.

We also got a pretty view of the mill.

We decided to ride the Rocky Top Alpine Coaster that afternoon because we'd enjoyed our first alpine coaster so much. We didn't like Rocky Top nearly as much as the Smoky Mountain coaster. Instead of taking you to the top and letting you fly down, it was a stop-and-go experience the whole ride. Plus, they decorated the path with grotesque Halloween mannequins, which really upset Emma. I'm so glad we rode it in the daylight instead of at night! But we loved watching Dan's mom conquer her fears and ride TWO roller coasters on our trip! Dan says he's never seen her ride anything like that before!

We drove 45 minutes to the beautiful Cades Cove Loop in Smoky Mountain National Park that afternoon. It's apparently one of the best places to see wild animals.

As soon as we entered the national park, there were friendly horses waiting to greet us. So of course we stopped to say hi and feed them some apple slices.  We drove the loop slowly and saw a dozen deer in the woods and meadows, but unfortunately didn't see any other animals that evening. But the scenery along the drive was beautiful.

We ended our day at The Island at Pigeon Forge where we ate dinner, watched the water fountain light show, took the girls shopping to choose souvenirs, and let them try trampoline bungee jumping!

Hallie got some good air on the trampoline bungee jumping ride!

Emma really put effort into jumping high and it looked like she was going to bounce off the ceiling!

We had the best vacation, and would definitely like to re-visit Pigeon Forge!