Every summer we start scanning the map for somewhere new to take the kids, and this year the winner was the Smoky Mountains. We loaded up the car in Florida, made the drive to Tennessee, and set up home base in Sevierville — close enough to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to hit everything on our list without spending half the vacation in the car.
Traveling with our daughter Lila (8) and son Gavin (12) means every stop has to earn its spot on the itinerary. This one did, over and over. Here’s everywhere we went and loved.
Pirates Voyage Dinner Show
It came highly recommended to us as one of the best shows around for kids and families, and it delivered. You’re seated with one of two crews — Crimson or Sapphire — competing head-to-head in a storyline built around Captain Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and the hunt for Davey Jones’ lost treasure, so you spend the whole night cheering for your side. Get there early if you can — before the show even starts, you can watch the sea lions play and warm up in their habitat, and it’s worth catching. The food isn’t gourmet, but it’s exactly right for kids: pan-fried chicken, sugar-cured ham, their well-known Voyager soup, a biscuit, mac ‘n’ cheese, and a choice of apple pie or chocolate coconut cake — all part of their Four-Course Feast, included in the ticket price. Add in the pirates, the acrobatics, and the ship-to-ship battles, and it’s a full night of entertainment in one sitting.
Titanic Museum
This one surprised us. I expected the kids to breeze through, but the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge held their attention for close to two hours. Our favorite parts: everyone gets a boarding pass with the name of an actual passenger at the door, and you follow that person’s story through the museum to find out, at the end, whether they survived.
There’s also a ship’s wheel where you can try to steer clear of the iceberg, a station where you can practice sending an SOS distress signal in Morse code, and a basin of real 28-degree water so you can feel exactly how cold the Atlantic was the night the ship sank. It turned a history lesson into something the kids were still talking about at dinner.
- There’s a Titanic-themed ice cream shop right next door too, which made for the easiest “we’ll behave if we can get ice cream after” bribe of the whole trip.
WonderWorks
If you need a rainy-day (or just a break-from-hiking-day) plan, WonderWorks is it. The highlights for our family: the Bed of Nails (3,497 real nails, in case you’re wondering), the World’s Largest Indoor Ropes Course — four black-light, glow-in-the-dark stories with more than 50 obstacles — the Wonder Coaster, where you design your own roller coaster and then actually ride it, and laser tag up on the second floor, which is included in the price of admission and you can play as many rounds as you want.
Lila couldn’t get enough of the ropes course and the rock wall, and pretty much every interactive exhibit across the Wonder Zones kept both kids entertained, including the Quake Cafe and the Hurricane Shack. WonderWorks Pigeon Forge also just celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and it shows in the little touches — including a new exhibit in the Illusion Art Gallery spotlighting the work of two Sevierville-area landscape artists, Randall Ogle and Robert A. Tino.
- Plan on a solid two hours minimum. If you actually stop to read the exhibits and let the kids do everything, you could easily stay longer.
Anakeesta
We added Anakeesta to this trip’s list, and it did not disappoint. The Firefly Experience along the Treetop Skywalk — an immersive light display inspired by the real synchronous fireflies native to the Smokies — was a highlight, and Lila and Gavin practically lived at BirdVenture, the massive birdhouse-themed playground that lights up after dark. There are two mountain coasters, plenty of food options (we grabbed lunch at Cliff Top), and no shortage of viewpoints — Vista Gardens and the AnaVista Tower both make for a great sunset stop.
If you want to add an evening on top of the day, Astra Lumina is a separate nighttime lantern walk through the woods worth the upgrade. Worth building a half-day around, though if you’re traveling with younger kids, we’d say Ober Gatlinburg edges it out slightly on kid-friendly activities. If you’re planning your own trip, you’ll run into the debate every local and past visitor has an opinion on: Anakeesta or Ober Gatlinburg. We did Ober on a previous trip and Anakeesta on this one, and honestly, they’re different enough experiences that if your itinerary has room, we’d say do both rather than pick a side.
Lost Mine Mountain Coaster & Mini Golf
The Smokies are covered in mountain coasters — we counted well over a dozen options between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge alone — but Lost Mine stood out for its storyline. The ride winds through a mining village, ducking tunnels and dodging mischievous bears hunting for honey, and it’s a gentler, more scenic ride than some of the more intense coasters in the area, which made it a great fit for our 8-year-old. Gem mining is right on site, with bags in a few different sizes depending on how invested you want to get — Lila and Gavin sat at the sluice for close to an hour, and the “I found something!” moments never got old. We didn’t get to the mini-golf course next door because of the weather, so that’s on the list for next time.
Hike to Cataract Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
For an easy win with young kids, the hike to Cataract Falls is hard to beat. It starts right outside the Sugarlands Visitor Center at the entrance to the national park, and it’s a short one — 0.7 miles round trip — following Fighting Creek, crossing a footbridge, and winding along the water before ending at the falls themselves.
Small, but genuinely breathtaking, especially after a good rain. Just enough hike to keep an 8-year-old moving without anyone melting down halfway there.
Best Italian
After a morning on the trail, we stopped for lunch at Best Italian, a Gatlinburg cafe and pizzeria that’s been serving New York-style Italian since 1976 — recently remodeled, so it’s a lot more upscale than the 80s-pizza-joint vibe you might be picturing.
We ordered garlic knots, an antipasto salad, a pepperoni pizza, and the chicken parmesan.
- Pro tip: get the chicken parm with the vodka sauce. Hands down the best chicken parm I’ve ever had.
Meek’s Kitchen
Meek’s Kitchen might be the best-kept secret on this whole list. It operates out of a tiny Marathon gas station in Sevierville — easy to drive right past if you’re not looking for it — but it’s home to some of the best burgers we’ve had anywhere, gas station or not. It’s family-owned and run, with the sons making every burger to order right in front of you, using real farm-raised, grass-fed beef instead of frozen patties. Ours came stacked with bacon, lettuce, and tomato, and it didn’t last long enough for a proper food-styling photo.
Herbert Holt Park
This is one of those spots most visitors drive right past — it’s tucked at the north entrance to Gatlinburg, the first turn on your right as you come in from Pigeon Forge. Don’t miss it. There’s an amazing playground, but the real draw is the hatchery: Gatlinburg actually stocks the river with trout every Thursday, so there’s basically always something biting.
Fishing is technically for kids 12 and under (though we spotted plenty of bigger kids, and a few adults, giving it a shot too), and you’re allowed to keep two per person. Beyond the fishing, it’s just a great spot to be outside — the park runs right along the river, and we watched people tubing past while the kids cast their lines. We ended up going back three different days, and it wasn’t until the very last day of the trip that Gavin finally landed one — a MASSIVE trout that turned into a genuinely delicious lunch.
Cinnamon Bread Factory
You will smell this place before you see it, and that’s the point. Everyone talks about the cinnamon bread at Dollywood — but if you can’t make it into the park, this Sevierville bakery holds its own. We tried the apple fritter too, but it’s the cinnamon bread that keeps people coming back.
They’ve got varieties like The All American (loaded with cinnamon apple filling, streusel topping, and vanilla icing), plus cinnamon rolls and donuts if you want to branch out. Our advice: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — go with the traditional. Trust us.
Cookie Dough Monster Burgers & Shakes
Yes, they sell food too — and good food at that, not just an excuse to eat cookie dough for dinner (though you can absolutely do that as well). Tucked behind The Island in Pigeon Forge, Cookie Dough Monster is known for inventive burger toppings and edible cookie dough by the spoonful.
We ordered a loaded burger and fries, and it hit every mark a kid-approved dinner needs to hit. Save room, though — the edible cookie dough is what you’ll be thinking about on the drive home.
Goats on the Roof
Another spot with something for everyone. Down below there’s a petting and feeding area, but the best part is the pedal bike — you load it up with goat food and literally pedal it up the incline to deliver the meal to the goats waiting on the roof. It’s a small thing that turns into a highlight of the day. Then there’s the alpine coaster, which doesn’t have the storyline Lost Mine has, but makes up for it by being way more thrilling. Ride it after dark if you can — lit up at night, it’s a completely different, better experience than during the day.
Rocket Fizz Candy Store
We hit more candy shops on this trip than I can count — they’re basically on every corner in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge — but Rocket Fizz was the clear winner.
Wall-to-wall novelty soda in glass bottles, nostalgic candy we hadn’t seen since we were kids, and enough pop-culture treats to keep Lila and Gavin occupied for a solid twenty minutes just browsing. If you only have time for one candy stop on the trip, make it this one.
Worth a Mention: Dollywood
We’d already done Dollywood on a previous trip, so we skipped it this time around, but if you haven’t been, build in a full day for it — it’s worth the visit.
More on the Way
We covered a lot of ground on this trip, and there’s more still to share — including news on a very exciting local project of our own. Stay tuned.
About the Author
Todd Grasley is a freelance journalist based in the Tampa–St. Petersburg, Florida area. He enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and two children, in addition to attending sporting events.
