Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge

    

      In April of 2021 our family of 5 drove from Michigan to Gatlinburg.  Our kids were 12, 10, and 6.  We wanted to keep the cost of this trip low but wanted to experience all the fun of the area.  So I did lots of research and found some great deals.  We ended up spending $311.33 for all 5 of us for the week.  I have broken down the cost of each activity   There were a few things that I bought with cash so I didn't have the exact amount but rounded it.  I hope my research will help your family have a fun time without spending too much of your hard earned money.  

Ripley's Aquarium - $61.40 for our whole family 

     The Ripley's aquarium is amazing and totally worth a visit.  They have a shark tunnel with conveyor belt, a jelly fish touch tank, a penguin parade, a fun play structure, a sting ray touch tank and an impressive collection of sea life.  The only down side to this place is the cost.  It is really expensive.  Luckily we were able to utilize the homeschool discount.  It's only $10.99 plus tax per person and you don't even have to reserve your tickets in advance.  You just have to show proof of homeschool at the ticket gate.  If you don't homeschool you can still get discounted prices through their ticket combo program.  

Alpine Coaster - $43.57 for our family 

     These alpine coasters are everywhere.  We got a good deal at Rocky Top Mountain coaster.  We used a coupon in the local coupon book and got our tickets for $11 for the kids $15 for me and $2 for our 6 year old.  My husband didn't want to ride.  If we go again I would do Rowdy Bear.  They have a $10 rate for homeschoolers and my youngest wouldn't get the 6 and under discount.  But these rides are so fun.  The best thing about them is that you get to control the speed.  They are also long rides. Ours lasted about 10 minutes.  This was one of our kids favorite activities on the trip. 

Go carts - $26 for our family 

     So I did not so much research on this one.  I would love feedback.  We used another coupon from the local coupon book and ended up paying $6.50 per person on this one.  It is really hard to find and activity in the area for around $6.  The kids wanted to do a a ride and this was half the price of the Ferris wheel. 

Davey Crocket Mini Golf - $27.94

   

  I thought this one was a fantastic deal.  We used the homeschool discount and only paid $5 per person plus tax to golf.  This deal is not well advertised.  I called in advance to make sure it was still valid. We also liked this course because it has free parking. Gatlinburg is a very congested area and parking spots are hard to find.  This was a fun course we all enjoyed it. 

Maze of Mirrors - $17.88

     My kids really liked this one.  We were able to use the homeschool discount again of only $4 per person plus tax.  The fun thing about this is that you can do it over and over again.  My kids played for over and could have stayed longer except our youngest got hungry. 

We hiked behind a waterfall - Free 

     The Smoky Mountains National Park is a unique national park.  It's completely free.  We love hiking and found some of these trails to be amazing.  Our first hike was to Grotto Falls.  It's special because you can hike behind the falls.  There are several great look outs and a beautiful river runs next to the trail.   This trail is not far from downtown Gatlinburg.  Parking is limited so make sure to plan for that. 

We enjoyed the amenities at our condo - Free 

     I enjoyed looking at all the hotels and rentals in the area. Each one seemed to have a great pool or play area.  Make sure to save some time to enjoy your hotel. We came home every evening for dinner and then stayed in after dinner.  We enjoyed the hot tub and watching the sun set every night.

Titanic Museum- $80 

     This was our most expensive activity.  But, our son has loved the Titanic for years and it meant a lot for him to see this museum.  We were able to use a homeschool discount on this one too.  You have to call in advance for discounted tickets.  You can get all your kids and one adult in for $13 but your second adult has to pay the online price (which is a few dollars cheaper then the door price).  This place is defiantly worth the cost if you have a titanic lover in your family. They have many real artifacts from the titanic.  Each of us also got assigned a real passenger and at the end you find out if your person lived or died.    

We sampled moonshine and whiskey- free

     There are tons of wineries and distilleries in this area.  All the shops are so cute and decorated in all kinds of fun ways.  The servers are fun and the drinks are delicious.  If fun to try the local flavors and try the different brands.  Several places also have their distilleries on site so you can watch the process which is also fun. These are all free but of course you can tip the servers.    

We hiked the Alum Cave Trail- free 

   This was such a neat trail.  You get to hike through an arched Rockway.  They also have cable lines to hold on to when the trail gets steep.  There is a beautiful river that runs along the trail at the beginning of the hike.  Our kids enjoyed the log bridges that only had one sided railings. We all loved the views at the bluffs.  

The Donut Fryer - $14 

     Our family started a tradition of getting donuts for breakfast on our first day of vacation.  Getting donuts for everyone is usually a cheap meal out.  The Donut Friar in in the village area of Gatlinburg. They only takes cash.  The donuts are delicious and we loved the area it was in. The Village reminded us of Hogsmeade from Harry Potter. 

We enjoyed our balcony- Free 

     I love Aldi!  They have such great deals on wine and coffee. We brought all our food from home to help keep costs down.  My husband and I enjoyed a glass of wine and great conversation each evening on our balcony.  We also enjoyed a cup of coffee each morning too.  We love having a slow start and a slow end to each day on vacation.  I enjoyed the view and company and encourage you to find space on your vacation to slow down and take in the beauty of the smoky mountains. 

We saw a movie in Pigeon Forge - $28.30

     I thought I was in pretty good shape.  I had been running faithfully for 3 days a week for months when we went on the trip.  But, we are from a very flat area and I was not prepared for how hard and steep some of our hikes would be.  So after 2 days of hiking I was ready for a low key activity. Pigeon Forge has a $5 theater that plays first run movies.  Raya and the Last Dragon was playing and I knew my daughter wanted to see it. So we took them right after a big lunch to go see it.  We didn't get snacks at the theater because we were all still full from lunch.  Our muscles were glad we took an afternoon off from such strenuous activity. 

We summited Chimney Tops - Free 

   This was a tough hike.  And the end of the trail wasn't opened the day we hiked it.  We loved the view from the top of the hike and the water that ran along side it.  We tried to do a mix of hiking and in town activities and 3 days of hiking seemed to be a good ratio for our family. 

We bought ice cream at the store and served ourselves  $4

     I kept my eye on ice cream prices in town. For a family of 5 to go out for ice cream one time it would have cost our family $25-$30, which isn't bad.  After hiking all day or enjoying the sights in town cold ice cream did sound really good.  So we stopped at the store and picked some up.  All 5 of us were able to enjoy a large helping of ice cream 2 times.  Spending $4 was a way better option then the $50-$60 route. 

We spent 3 days hiking in the National Park - free 

     There are so many great hikes and drive throughs to choose from.  There some places that I wanted to check out but were just too far from our condo.  Make sure to do your research ahead of time to choose national park options that are close to your lodging and match your physical capabilities. But make sure to send at least a little time in this amazing National Park.

We listened to a time share speech and got a free condo stay 

     This REALLY helped our budget.  We had a free condo stay.  We listened to a time share zoom call from our home this winter.  The timeshare company is called Global Connections.  We loved our condo and also enjoyed that fact that we didn't have to pay anything other than our time.  We also loved that we could do the talk at home so we had no timeshare obligations while we were there. If you can't utilize something like this but like to camp you are in luck.  We saw tons of campgrounds which are always a way to cut costs on a trip. 

 

We found free parking 

Gatlinburg is basically all on one street.  If you want to park there is will coast you $15-$20.  There is free street parking on the next street over that runs parallel to it.  This wonderful street is called River Street, and it runs along the river in town. If you are visiting in the none peak time you shouldn't have a problem.  But if you are visiting during peak time here are 2 other options. In the summer you can also ride the trolley in for free. During the rest of the year it only costs $2 a person to ride all day.  Lastly, at the end of the main street in Gatlinburg you will dead end into free parking at the national park. 

The kids got Junior Ranger Badges $8.24

     This one is not a deal at all.  Junior Ranger badges are usually free at national parks.  Our kids have collected almost 40 of them. But in the Smoky Mountains they charge us for them at the visitors center.  You can pick up a booklet at any visitor's center fill out the booklet   Our kids are pretty big collectors of these badges so we paid the $2.50 plus tax.  But as far as souvenirs go $2.50 is not a bad price.

We brought our own board games - free

     As I mentioned earlier we spent every evening at our condo.  Our family loves to play board games together so we always bring them with us on vacation too.  It's a great low key way to spend time together in the evenings and costs nothing.  We also watched some movies on TV, we all brought books to read, and the kids brought their drawing materials too. By coming home for dinner each night and not going out again we saved a lot of money and I was too tired to venture out in the evenings anyway. 

We brought our own food

     This is what food for 5 people for a week looks like. I went shopping the day before we left and brought all this food from home.  It may seem crazy but vacation towns often have really high prices on food. Plus I know my local Aldi really well and can get in and out really fast.  It does help me feel like I'm on vacation to not have to grocery pack while we're there.   But I spent the same amount of money on groceries that I do in a normal week so I didn't factor this into the "cost of vacation".  We would have spent this money at home.   

We used credit card points to pay for gas 

  We saved up our credit card points and used them to pay for gas.  This might feel like it's cheating  when it comes to counting the cost of the trip because it was an expense, but we did not have to use vacation budget money for this expense and so I did not count it in our total.  In addition people have different lengths of they are traveling to get to the area so this depends on how far away you live.  We did spend $155 in reward points in gas.  We drove a mini from Grand Rapids Michigan to Gatlinburg in 1 day.  It took us about 10 hours. 

 Totals = 

$61.40 - Aquarium 

$43.57- Alpine coaster

$26- Go carts 

$27.94- Mini Golf 

$17.88 - mirror Maze

$14- donuts 

$4 - ice cream 

$80 - Titanic museum 

$28.30 - movie theater

$8.24 - Junior Ranger Badge 

$311.33  =  Total 

If you homeschool here are some additional deals for you to explore:

https://thesmokymtnlife.com/2020/08/11/your-smoky-mountain-getaway-the-ultimate-guide-for-homeschoolers/