We arrived in Pigeon Forge on July 19, 2022. Just driving through Pigeon Forge was quite the experience. What a tourist mecca! You can easily get distracted by all the larger-than-life attractions block after block, and they are not cheap. We stuck with the priorities we made coming here: see the actual Smoky Mountains (National Park)- especially Clingmans Dome, check out Gatlinburg, and find a specific alpine coaster – The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. This blog is focused on where we stayed, Gatlinburg, the alpine coaster and a surprise treat.
We stayed for four nights at Pine Mountain RV Park by the Creek. It was gorgeous. We were in a nice cul-de-sac with a very nice size lot.
Our site in a cul-de-sac:
Views from our site:
We simply crossed over on the lush grass to get to a shallow, but unique pool that we really enjoyed. It had a “walk-in” entry like you’re at the beach. It provided several fountains and a splash area. We thought about Isaac and Mona, and how much fun they would have in a pool like this. The pool’s deep end was only 3 1/2 – 4 ft. We went around the dinner hours which was perfect in having the pool for at least part of that time to ourselves!
We were excited to go to Gatlinburg to take the Ober Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway for views of the Smoky Mountains. The town of Gatlinburg was so crowded. Parking lots were full, but we found one right at Ober Gatlinburg that had plenty of vacant spots, and was cheaper since it was so far from the town center of tourist shops. Since it was so hot and humid we were glad that the shops at Ober Gatlinburg met our needs perfectly, and without the crazy crowd down the street!
The Aerial Tramway was $19 for each of us. There were purchase package options to include multiple “fun” features, but they were mainly child oriented, and not enticing to us. Since views were our focus, we selected only the additional chair lift ticket (another $9 each) to take us to the top.
Aerial Tramway:
Ober Gatlinburg has an ice skating rink and an ice bumper car area. Ice skating would be fun with such few people, but neither of us need a sprained ankle or wrist or any broken bone for the rest of our trip.
Taking the chairlift up to the top.
As the clouds seemed to lift a little, we kept taking fresh pictures. Not sure it really changed significantly – or more wishful thinking. LOL
(Why do people who offer to take your picture feel they have to get your entire body in the picture?)
There was live music at the top of Mt. Harrison. Elevation 3590 ft.
There was this viewer to look through that was for people who are red/green color blind. The special lens works in a way that lets them see the true beauty of the greens with colored red berries. This was amazing! It was a few weeks later that I heard something on the news about lenses to alleviate red/green colorblindness. Technology is awesome!
Back down the chairlift.
There was a great puzzle store here at Ober Gatlinburg. I couldn’t resist adding 3 new ones to our collection. (AND by buying 3 we received 20% off.) I love the quality of Ravensburger puzzles. Therefore, two of the three were Ravensburger. The third was new to us. It is a Wooden City Puzzle, and is only about 8″ x 14″ with 300 pieces.
We were anxious to put together the “Landmarks of the World” wooden puzzle. We loved it. It had 16 unique, fun puzzle pieces, such as the Eiffel Tower, a camera, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a helicopter, a suitcase, etc. We are on the lookout for more as we travel. These smaller puzzles are great for the motorhome.
We saw an episode by Nomadic Fanatic (an RV YouTuber) where he went on the Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster. It looked great, so that was the one we wanted to do. Turns out this attraction was only 2 or 3 miles from Pine Mountain RV Park! The price was $18 per person for one ride, and then additional runs on the same day were $10 each. I looked on Groupon and bought a ticket for each of us for that initial ride. $26 ($13 each)!
We enjoyed it so much that we wanted to ride one more time. Since we discovered the coaster runs after dark and is lit up then, we decided to come back after dinner for a second ride of the day.
Ride #2: Wow. This place is crazy busy at night! We had a 50-minute wait, but we were glad we got there when we did because the line was insane by the time we got on the coaster. Barry wore a helmet cam to capture the ride since you were not allowed any phones, cameras, purses, etc on the ride.
Unfortunately, my ride was quite disappointing this time because I had to come to a complete stop. The guy in front of me had his young child riding with him. Evidently he or she didn’t like going fast. I told Barry about it as we were walking through the gift shop. The manager heard part of what I said, and asked me more about it. She apologized for the experience, and gave us both tickets for a free ride to use within the next two days! Sweet! Nice customer service!
Ride #3: Our THIRD and final ride! We decided to make it a morning ride before it gets crowded. We made sure we did NOT get behind anyone in line with small kids, or anyone who looked like they might slow down. Success. It was an awesome run! Experience Barry’s ride below via his helmet cam.
The day we went to Gatlinburg was not going to clear up enough to make it worthwhile to further explore the Smoky Mountains, so we checked out Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge. It was so much more than I expected.
Now let’s go inside!
I enjoyed how each area had a specific theme. The inside is huge!
I am partial to these blue Santa/Father Christmas figures. I absolutely love the reindeer! Blue is our accent color at home. 🙂
Christmas gnomes have become fairly popular. Donna O, I thought of you. 🙂
Angel and Nativity sets.
Cookies and Gingerbread time
I love the artistry of Jim Shore figures. I did not, however, see the glorious angels and nativity figures like the nativity set I got for Abby years ago.
Loved the variety of such realistic instrument ornaments! I wanted several, but refrained. I played the flute. Abby played the clarinet. Richard played the alto sax (they didn’t have an alto sax here – only a tenor). I have a collection of a few brass and string instrument ornaments. Christmas is amplified with beautiful Christmas music.
Cloisonne ornaments that caught my eye.
NUTCRACKERS – various themed nutcrackers, and of course from the Christmas favorite “The Nutcracker”. (But no Steinbach nutcrackers.)
And of course MORE Santas. (Karen Didion Collectibles)
Till next time – Watch out for those impish elves!
That was quite a roller coaster ride! Loved the video! Beautiful Christmas Village too! Looks like a great visit!
Glad you enjoyed Barry’s video. Of course it is better in person. 🙂 I had to keep reminding myself that we didn’t need anything in the Christmas Place, other than ONE ornament. 🙂 We downsized for a reason. Pictures are my treasures.