Last week, I shared a few of the reasons why our family loves a year-round school plan. When the kids are tracked out of school, we take full advantage of the time off by heading off on family vacations. We love to travel when most other families are still in school so we avoid the crowds and long lines. By having more time to travel in spring and fall, we get to enjoy milder weather on our trips as well. Instead of having to plan our family trips in the sweltering heat of summer break, we love being able to choose a late spring or early fall travel time instead.
And early this spring, we had the coolest vacation we’ve ever taken as a family.
In just five days, our family enjoyed some of the most thrilling activities we’ve ever experienced – all in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Check out some of the amazing things we got to do:
Family Activities in Pigeon Forge
Horseback Riding
We took an amazing hour-long horseback ride with the awesome ladies at Gold Rush Stables. We rode through the forest, across a meadow, over a stream, and to the top of the mountain where we could enjoy the beautiful view before heading back down. My younger daughter who started off the ride terrified of her horse ended up having such a great time that before she got off her horse at the end of the ride, she was already begging us to go back and do it all again the next day. It was wonderful!
WonderWorks
This kid-friendly museum has 150 interactive exhibits with activities and challenges for the young and young at heart. Wonderwork Kids’ Museum has interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, rides, shows, and more. After heading through the very freaky inversion tunnel, we did everything from rock wall climbing to riding in an anti-gravity chamber to experiencing the effects of a 5.3 magnitude earthquake. We’re already planning to head here again on our next trip because there were a few things we ran out of time for, and dozens of things that we’d love to do again.
Dollywood
We were able to devote an entire day to Dollywood Amusement Park and had the time of our lives. We rode roller coasters, played games, saw shows, listened to great music, enjoyed fun rides, and more. I’d been to Dollywood one time many years ago and had no idea how much fun it would be for our kids. They all had their favorite rides and can’t wait to head there again on our next trip!
The Island
We spent an afternoon at this family-friendly shopping and entertainment complex and had so much fun that we cancelled breakfast the next morning so we’d have time to head back. At The Island Entertainment Complex, there are dozens of different rides, games, shows, activities, restaurants, shops, and more. We had a great time walking around, enjoying the music, food, and fun!
Escape Game Challenge
I’ve heard about escape challenges before but had never experienced once. Now that we’ve done the Mission to Mars at Escape Game in Pigeon Forge, I can’t imagine going anywhere else. Everything – from the check-in to our guide to the details of the rooms in our challenge were absolutely top notch. We’ve heard from a lot of people that Escape Game is a million times better than other places they’ve tried. Now that we’ve been to the best, we’ll only want to go to them in the future. We’re looking forward to trying their Prison Break challenge next!
Magiquest
We headed into Magiquest simply because the kids wanted to see what was inside the cool castle exterior. What we found inside was an awesome interactive live-action game, glow-in-the-dark miniature golf, a wild mirror maze, and The Vault – a laser beam challenge straight out of Mission Impossible. The kids loved all four activities and wanted to do each over and over. We could easily spend hours here and will definitely have to do so on our next trip to Pigeon Forge.
Our five days in Pigeon Forge were packed with fun from the time we finished breakfast until the kids were falling into bed at night. In fact, we planned to only stay four days but there were so many cool and unique experiences that we wanted to try that we added another day to our trip.
Honestly, we could have stayed another week. There were just so many awesome activities, museums, tours, challenges, and other recreational activities that we didn’t even come close to doing everything we wanted to do.
Be sure to check out other fun things to do in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and stay tuned to hear more about the fun we had on our family trip!
Gratis considerations were available during this travel program. All opinions are our own.
