Disclosure: We received complimentary tickets to the 8 Must-See attractions in Gatlinburg for review purposes. All opinions expressed are our own.
If you have never been to Gatlinburg, Tennessee…you are really missing out! This mountainous town is full of fun and is simply beautiful! The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just minutes from Gatlinburg. Our family really enjoys visiting the area. It’s our home away from home—-our relaxing place.
Today I wanted to talk to you about a few of our favorite attractions in Gatlinburg.
8 Must See Attractions in Gatlinburg
1.) Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies
Ranked Top 5 aquariums in the USA & World on TripAdvisor, and it’s no wonder! Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is fun for the whole family! Enjoy Stingrays and the Touch a Ray Bay, Live Dive shows, live Mermaid shows (in June and July), Live sharks swimming above and around you in the Shark Lagoon, Awesome Underwater tunnel (this is our favorite part of the whole aquarium!)
One of our other favorite parts of the aquarium is the Penguin Playhouse. It is such a unique experience where you can get close to penguins (they are so neat to watch!)
There is also a new Pearl Harbor exhibit that you don’t want to miss!
2.) Ripley’s Marvelous Mirror Maze
The Ripley’s Mirror Maze is so much fun! I highly recommend you hold hands with the younger children if you don’t want to be separated through the maze. The mirrors can play tricks with your mind and make you think you are standing right next to one another when you are really a distance apart! Our family has so much fun walking through the mirror maze every time we visit Gatlinburg! This is especially fun on a rainy day!
When you are finished going through the Mirror Maze you can stop by Ripley’s Candy Factory and choose from the 144 varieties of candy available!
3.) Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium
The Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium has been recently renovated and it now has over 500 Exhibits! There are all new interactives that are fun for the whole family! I feel like this would have made a great field trip for my boys! They learned so many interesting facts and were able to see some pretty unique stuff with their own eyes. We definitely had a lot of questions to answer from our younger boys as we were walking through this attraction.
4.) Ripley’s Guinness World Records
We had so much fun at the Guinness World Records attraction! This is the largest Guinness World Record Gallery and they have even added 20 interactive games, making it super fun for the whole family to compete and try to break world records (or just the record of other family members!) We spent quite a bit of time trying to break each other’s records.
We are looking forward to going back in the future to compete against one another again! There are always new records and my boys are looking forward to seeing them!
5.) Ripley’s 5D Moving Theater
We have never been to a 3D theater, let alone 5D! This was a new experience for us and we are so glad we had the chance to check out the Ripley’s 5D Moving Theater! You get to ride the movie and experience every bump, dip and turn! The cutting edge technology and state-of-the-art motion simulator make this the #1 ride in Gatlinburg! The theater has an incredible six channel digital surround sound. The seats move in 8 directions so that you can truly feel like you are a part of the movie! This was a lot of fun for our whole family!
6.) Ripley’s Davy Crockett Mini-Golf
We didn’t realize how much we all enjoyed mini-golf until our trip to Gatlinburg! We had so much fun playing mini-golf at the Ripley’s Davy Crockett Mini-Golf, that we actually tried to go back a second time (however, the pouring rain kept us from doing so).
My boys are still talking about how much fun they had playing golf on this fun filled golf course!
7.) Ripley’s Old MacDonald’s Farm Mini-Golf
It’s not in Gatlinburg, but we must include the Ripley’s Old MacDonald’s Farm Mini-Golf in Sevierville! This is another super fun Ripley’s attraction that was enjoyed by our whole family!
The characters are animated and they talk to you while you are putting off! There is even a super fun zone arcade inside the building! With 3 unique courses to choose from, you will have loads of fun at this mini-golf course in Sevierville, TN.
8.) Ripley’s Haunted Adventure
And last, but not least is the Ripley’s Haunted Adventure.
We didn’t visit the Haunted Adventure this year because our younger children were a little scared, however I’m sure we will be back to visiting the Haunted Adventure again for some more scary fun on our future visits to the area! The Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is for ages 6 and up. It is the only Haunted House in Tennessee that is open 365 days a year. There are state-of-the-art animatronics and special effects to make it a super frightening experience. The pitch black corridors that you must feel you way through will have you wondering what you got yourself into. The neatest part is that you start your tour with the world famous incline and there are live actors! (Remember kids, these are simply actors and for good fun).
We hope you visit some of our favorite 8 Must-See Attractions in Gatlinburg!
