Pigeon Forge Vacation

#27
#27
ABINGDON VOL FAN said:
Sure is a lot of class warfare and snobbery going on in this thread.
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I was in Gatlinburg last weekend actually and camped at Elkmont back in October. The scenery is beautiful. The tourist traps in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg themselves though...I know everybody is different, but I truly fail to see how that is appealing to anyone.
 
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#28
#28
05_never_again said:
I was in Gatlinburg last weekend actually and camped at Elkmont back in October. The scenery is beautiful. The tourist traps in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg themselves though...I know everybody is different, but I truly fail to see how that is appealing to anyone.
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I agree with you about the commercialization of certain towns like Pidgeon Forge. Maybe I’m misinterpreting the intent in some of the posts but there seems to be a couple of demeaning posts here talking about Walmart people, etc which sounds snobbish or elitist IMO.
 
#29
#29
ABINGDON VOL FAN said:
I agree with you about the commercialization of certain towns like Pidgeon Forge. Maybe I’m misinterpreting the intent in some of the posts but there seems to be a couple of demeaning posts here talking about Walmart people, etc which sounds snobbish or elitist IMO.
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Trying to be careful not to go that direction, but I’m sorry, some of the things you see when you go to the Gatlinburg area don’t even seem real lol. The whole area is beautiful. It just looks like Planning and Zoning was on meth when they put together the strip.
 
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#32
#32
Okay, here's the most unlikely recommendation you'll get and one I would never have thought I'd give, but....

We visited East Tennessee in the summer and after a couple days hiking and picnicking in the Smokies we let our girls (10 and 12) pick a few things to do in PF as a reward for putting up with Mom and Dad's boring nature crap. One of the things they wanted was to go to the Titanic museum. Uggghhhh. Big gaudy-ass boat building on the strip, had to be even cheesier inside. It was my most dreaded stop of the whole trip.

But I really enjoyed it! It wasn't really cheesy at all, more of a real museum that took the whole historic event seriously and did a good job of selling the real-life story with lots of interactive exhibits, artifacts and photos. I ended up making the kids mad by taking too long to look at and read everything. I was quite impressed with the place.

We showed up late in the day and there was no one else entering, so the woman who sold the tickets (clearly a mega-Titanic nerd) took the opportunity to talk up the ship, the story, lots of nerdy details that were really fascinating, things the movie did completely wrong, etc. We were probably there with her for 10-15 minutes before we even went in, and happily so. Glad we went.
 
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#36
#36
Roustabout said:
And you really think this compares with PF in terms of commercialization? I was just there last month. It’s all local restaurants, brewers and retail. So, what exactly are you talking about?
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I never said anything like that.
 
#38
#38
Bennett's BBQ is good stuff. Crazy to say, but their green beans are usually A+. Wish we still had one out in West Knoxville. Dollywood is a fine park, albeit expensive. The Alcatraz crime museum was pretty interesting.

I certainly don't see anything wrong with spending some time in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg.
 
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#39
#39
Roustabout said:
So, why did you LOL? When someone asks “what exactly are you taking about,” that usually begs an answer. I was contrasting an area like PF with one like Blue Ridge.
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I know what you were doing. I've got family in Fannin and Gilmer counties (McCaysville, Blue Ridge, Ellijay) . It's beautiful, for sure.
 
#40
#40
Roustabout said:
....And swords.

They have really made an abomination out of a wonderful part of the country. We go to little towns in the the North Georgia mountains and North Carolina and think, this is how Gatlinburg could be. Instead, we are overrun with the people of Walmart on vacation.
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Always liked Helen..Troll Tavern was a unique little gem
 
#42
#42
DrRosenRosen said:
Bennett's BBQ is good stuff. Crazy to say, but their green beans are usually A+. Wish we still had one out in West Knoxville. Dollywood is a fine park, albeit expensive. The Alcatraz crime museum was pretty interesting.

I certainly don't see anything wrong with spending some time in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg.
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It's all in what you're looking for.

I don't know why someone would think they are required to visit Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg just to enjoy the Smokey Mountains.
 
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#45
#45
05_never_again said:
The mountains are awesome. The towns themselves, yes, you couldn't pay me to hang out there. They are the epitome of tourist traps.

It was a totally snobbish comment I heard someone say once, but also thought was totally true. They said that Gatlinburg is a place that poor people think that rich people think is nice.
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That's about as perfectly as I've heard it put.
 
#46
#46
Mine is more about memories when my folks were alive and spending time in a cabin in the mountains with kids and grandkids now in Gatlinburg I do like being able to take the fifteen dollar trip to the game and back in pigeon forge rocky top tours
 
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#48
#48
vollygirl said:
It's all in what you're looking for.

I don't know why someone would think they are required to visit Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg just to enjoy the Smokey Mountains.
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For those of us who treasure the GSMNP that doesn’t jive. You have massive eye pollution. you now how a giant, glowing wheel you can see from Laconte. You have a large amount of overflow traffic intro the park. A lot of that is from people who would otherwise never venture into the NP except for the fact that it’s adjacent to redneck world. There are tons of ridge lines littered with cabins. Many of those cabins (as we found out in the fires) were not built to acceptable codes. This area is 3rd only in visitors to Orlando and Vegas and yet there is nothing being given or done to protect the sanctity of the park. Too me, that’s a huge problem. If people want to buy airbrushed shirts and taffy and go to corny attractions that’s their prerogative. However, the impact on our area is absolutely a problem.
 
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#49
#49
Roustabout said:
For those of us who treasure the GSMNP that doesn’t jive. You have massive eye pollution. you now how a giant, glowing wheel you can see from Laconte. You have a large amount of overflow traffic intro the park. A lot of that is from people who would otherwise never venture into the NP except for the fact that it’s adjacent to redneck world. There are tons of ridge lines littered with cabins. Many of those cabins (as we found out in the fires) were not built to acceptable codes. This area is 3rd only in visitors to Orlando and Vegas and yet there is nothing being given or done to protect the sanctity of the park. Too me, that’s a huge problem. If people want to buy airbrushed shirts and taffy and go to corny attractions that’s their prerogative. However, the impact on our area is absolutely a problem.
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GAVol said:
Trying to be careful not to go that direction, but I’m sorry, some of the things you see when you go to the Gatlinburg area don’t even seem real lol. The whole area is beautiful. It just looks like Planning and Zoning was on meth when they put together the strip.
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To the OP sorry for the rant and the Ripley's aquariums are always pretty cool to me and Smokey Mountain Knife works has an interesting area downstairs of Fossils, military memorabilia, and old historical stuff (some for sale some for looking).
This all day... I know everybody is different but my idea of a week long vacation isn't fighting traffic for hours a day to go somewhere. Feel the same way about Myrtle beach, used to be decent now not so much. Elbow to elbow folks and the amount of vehicles that clog up what could be some of the most beautiful scenery/ nature on the east coast. I'm in central NC but grandparents used to take us (from west Knox) to Gatlinburg when it was small mom and pop shops with interesting stuff not all the tourist crap now.
I have hiked, fished and backpacked in GSMNP for 45+ years and the impact of all the people have had on the park is sad. I used to get dropped off by/ into a beautiful clear trash free trout stream minutes from Gat. to fish while the rest of the family shopped or ate and get picked up a few hours later. I have seen the amount of trash, Cig Butts, roadside erosion from idiots, and environmental impact that turns my stomach and brings a tear to my eye.
I have been coming to games in Knoxville for a long time ( ticks of family, friends) but when I first got my own season tickets a few years ago we would rent a house off of VRBO for all the long weekends we could make. After the first year it was absolutely clear to me I wanted nothing to do with that area due to the absolute nightmare traffic was especially on Saturdays trying to get to the game or Sunday coming back home. Now I try to find a cabin up Wears valley or on the lake in Dandridge, book it for the fall and never deal with Sevierville, gat, or PF.
 
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#50
#50
Roustabout said:
For those of us who treasure the GSMNP that doesn’t jive. You have massive eye pollution. you now how a giant, glowing wheel you can see from Laconte. You have a large amount of overflow traffic intro the park. A lot of that is from people who would otherwise never venture into the NP except for the fact that it’s adjacent to redneck world. There are tons of ridge lines littered with cabins. Many of those cabins (as we found out in the fires) were not built to acceptable codes. This area is 3rd only in visitors to Orlando and Vegas and yet there is nothing being given or done to protect the sanctity of the park. Too me, that’s a huge problem. If people want to buy airbrushed shirts and taffy and go to corny attractions that’s their prerogative. However, the impact on our area is absolutely a problem.
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So who are you upset with exactly, the poor rednecks who come visit, or the money men developers who built it so they would come?
 
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