If you’ve seen the movie Titanic, you know what a sad and enormous tragedy the sinking was. We were able to imagine how the passengers felt and reacted throughout the trip and the subsequent impact and sinking. As realistic as the movie was, some of the aspects of the enormity of the ship, the wealth, the tragedy and the loss were still difficult to imagine.
So when we were able to tour the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, I was curious about seeing some of the displays in person. With over 4 million dollars worth of real Titanic artifacts, life-size staterooms and sleeping bunks and interactive displays, I knew the Titanic Pigeon Forge would be an amazing experience.
You can see from the enormous size of the museum that this is an attraction unrivaled by any other Titanic attraction.
From the striking 1 million dollar replica of the actual Grand Staircase from the Titanic, everything in the museum was first quality and impressive. It’s hard to describe the feeling of standing at the bottom of the stairs and quietly imagining the passengers walking it in their fine gowns and suits.
Here is the true sized Third Class Bunk Room. It doesn’t look too small here, but it was really narrow and cramped in size.
And here’s the much different First Class Stateroom. It was enormous and everything in it the height of extravagance. Thefull size of the room was actually almost twice the size of this sitting area.
One really cool part of the Titanic tour was the Furnace Room interactive display. I was able to pick up the shovel of coal and pretend to load it into the furnace. It was really heavy! I can’t imagine how difficult it was for the men who worked in those horrible, hot furnace rooms shoveling for hours at a time.
The Captain’s Bridge display was really cool. You could stand inside the room and look out the windows across the dark night sea, or stand out on the deck and look over the water.
The display has a huge wall of ice to simulate the iceberg that sliced through the ship. And we were able to put our hands down into the 28 degree water around the edge of the ship to feel how horribly cold it was. It was almost unbearable after a few seconds and impossible to imagine how horrible it would have been for the two-thirds of Titanic passengers and crew members had to endure.
The Titanic deck display was also interesting. There were decks built at 3 different levels – 15 degree slope, 30 degree slope and 45 degree slope. I was able to walk up the lower one by myself. The middle one was more difficult and I had to use the handrail to be able to climb up. The 45 degree angle was impossible to climb. I had to almost climb the poles on the railing and wouldn’t have been able to hold on long if I were truly on that sloped deck.
The Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge was truly a memorable and amazing experience. To be able to see true artifacts found from the ocean bottom, to touch the frigid cold water and see the grand staircase, it was like nothing else I’ve ever done. I was in tears for many parts of the tour, but felt that the passengers deserved to be remembered, learned about and honored.
I would absolutely recommend seeing the museum. I’ll never forget it.
Here are the girls after our Titanic Museum tour:
You can find out more information on the Titanic Museum Attraction on their Website, on Facebook and on Twitter.
Lisa Kerr says
I am just so fascinated by everything and anything having to do with the Titanic! This museum is really awesome, I hope that I will be able to take my family to visit one day! Again you take the best photos anr I love your reviews! Thank you 🙂