Pigeon Forge, TN
Driving home from our recent spring break trip with the boys, Skot and I decided that this was the best Spring Break we’ve ever had! That’s a bold statement… so you have to read on!
We thought about the gulf coast, but it’s always just a little bit too chilly this time of year. We looked into Disney but we’re just not ready to jump on that ship yet. We thought about the Bahamas but we didn’t want to fly with all 3 kids. So we eventually decided to try out Pigeon Forge, Tennessee! We hadn’t been to this area in about 12 years and It’s somewhere the kids have never been.
Skot is a big Dolly Parton fan so I knew Dollywood would be a must during our trip. I also knew that we wanted to go on an easy hike with the boys. But before we started making plans I had to find the perfect Vrbo home for our family to be together after our fun, busy days!
I love the Vrbo website and app. I enjoy the ability to create separate trip boards and save homes for each vacation. The search filters are awesome to find the perfect home as well. I found this great cabin about 30 minutes from Pigeon Forge that had everything we were looking for… a quiet location, mountain views, a hot tub, and at least 2 bedrooms. Traveling can be stressful, and even though it’s so fun exploring new places, everyone is usually exhausted after a long day out. So having a relaxing single family home for us to unwind and be together is super important to us!
Here are all the details from our best spring break ever!
Day 1:
After checking into our Vrbo and letting the baby nap, we went to The Island. This whole area is new since we have last been to Pigeon Forge. It’s super cool! There’s a lot of restaurants, a brewery, candy shop, ice cream shop, an arcade, carnival type rides (including a huge Farris wheel), a water fountain that lights up to the music, and so many other shops. I definitely recommend planning an evening exploring The Island!
Day 2:
We had a slow morning at the Vrbo cabin. We sipped our coffee rocking on the deck while taking in the beautiful views, cooked breakfast, got in the hot tub and headed out around lunch. We randomly stumbled upon a food truck park on the way to the hiking trail. It was a great find! They had a playground for the kids and several unique food trucks. Check out the Wears Valley Social Food Truck Park here.
We then headed into the Smoky Mountain National Forest to do the Laurel Falls hike. We picked it because the whole trail is paved. We were able to push the BOB stroller even though some areas were a little bumpy. I’ve got to brag on my husband for a minute… he pushed our 4 year old in the stroller, and carried our 1 year old in the hiking backpack the whole 1.4 miles in and 1.4 miles out! He’s the best!
Just a heads up, if you do go during a busy season like we did, expect the trail to be pretty crowded. It seemed super popular among families with small kids, older people, and/or people who have never hiked before… but this made for great people watching on the hike!
After our hike we headed the opposite direction towards Cade’s Cove. It was about 40 minutes away from the Laurel Falls trailhead. This place holds a special place in my heart because my grandparents loved taking me there. It’s a beautiful loop drive that takes you by stunning valley views and historic cabins and churches that the original settlers used. It’s pretty amazing to see how well preserved the area is!
After Cade’s Cove, we were all hungry and didn’t want to drive back into Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg. So we decided to try our luck at the closest little town nearby which was Townsend, TN. I was fully prepared to have a choice between gas station pizza or Wendy’s BUT wholly moly we found a GEM of a restaurant called Peaceful Side Social Brewery & Craft Kitchen! Literally the best meal we had the whole trip. Bonus, they had a taco truck out back with amazing margs and a playground for kids! (Insert mind blow emoji) So save this place for next time you’re anywhere near Townsend!
Day 3:
This was our first time to ol’ Dollywood so we really didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t research much beforehand, which was fine but here’s what I learned…
You can bring in your own food! I only brought a few snacks for the baby because I thought I could explain it if I got “stopped.” But it turns out no one cares! Next time I will bring in uncrustables, chips, fruit, all. the. things. 1. Because the food is expensive like most amusement parks and 2. My kids are super picky.
Pre-K kids get in free! Dolly, yes Dolly herself, set up a program called “Pre-K imagination” season pass. Just be sure to have a copy of your kid’s birth certificate.
My hot take on the TimeSaver and TimeSaver Plus add on options. If you’re gonna splurge on the $60 add on of the TimeSaver then you might as well do the time saver plus that allows you to use it an unlimited amount of times to book the long wait rides. If you have young kids that aren’t going to want to ride many (or any) of the big rides then I don’t think it’s worth it. Cedar, my 8 year old, only rode 2 of the bigger rides. So if I spent any extra $120-$160 on our passes, I would have been mad. If you’re planning to ride all of the thrillers, then it’s totally worth it. Or if you LOVE roller coasters and you have a spouse willing to keep the littles so you can get your adrenaline rush, then having the TimeSaver pass would be worth it!
Download the Dollywood app BEFOREHAND and become familiar with the park. Where I didn’t do any research, it took me awhile to get my bearings so we wasted a lot of time looking at the maps and backtracking to hit up stuff we missed.
Buy the free refills cup! Totally worth the $15
I was pleasantly surprised by how reasonable the gift shop toys and items were. I’m talking like Target prices! Thanks Dolly.
There was a chance of rain, so I did bring my own disposable ponchos. They came in handy when it started raining towards the end of the day.
The Dollywood Express Train runs on the hour every hour. Every time we passed it, there was a long line. So we decided to wait until the last ride of the day at 6:00pm. We got there at 5:45 and walked right up! It was a great way to wind down the day too.
The kids in our group were between ages 1-9. So we spent most of the day in the Wildwood Grove and the County Fair areas. I loved how both of these were pretty enclosed. So one set of kids could be at one ride and another set at another and we could see everyone. The indoor playground at Wildwood Grove was also a hit!
My husband caught one of the shows and he said he wasn’t too impressed. But we’re also not big “show” people so take that for what it’s worth.
We enjoyed playing the carnival games. We waited until the end of the day so we weren’t carrying around a plushy Pokémon, basketball, and stuffed animal all day.
All of the Dollywood employees were so friendly! Everything was clean and kept up-to-date, even the older rides.
Overall… it was amazing! I’ve heard people say they like Dollywood better than Disney for their family. Since we haven’t done Disney as parents, I can’t confirm or deny this BUT I can tell you there was ZERO stress planning a trip to Dollywood, it wasn’t thousands of dollars to take our family of 5, and it was a super fun day!
We had so much fun at Dollywood but after 9 straight hours of going hard, we were ready to go back to our Vrbo and relax. Once back, we made pizzas and s’mores in the fire pit. It was the perfect last night relaxing and spending time together!
Day 4:
On our last morning, we slept in and had breakfast on the porch overlooking the beautiful Smoky Mountains. The boys played on the Vrbo’s Pac-Man game while we packed up the car. I love it when vacation rentals have special touches like these that really stand out.
After checkout, we headed to another special place. My late grandparents loved this place. They always made a stop at The Apple Barn when they vacationed to the Smoky Mountains. My family has a photo of my “Pop” peaking into the window of restaurant on site before it opened one morning to see if anyone was in there yet. We all love that photo! Even though this place is sentimental to me, I still think it’s great and worth a visit for everyone. They have apple cider, turnovers, donuts, hard cider, apple wine, and so much more!
We had a wonderful spring break trip to Pigeon Forge. Thank you so much for reading and thank you to Expedia Group for choosing me to be an Ambassador! If you have any questions about our trip or the Vrbo home please let me know.
