Wilderness at the Smokies- Perfect Family Vacation
If you are looking for the perfect family vacation, look no further than Wilderness at the Smokies! My family and I spent 2 days at this amazing resort and had a blast! It was by far the best family vacation we have ever been on and none of us wanted to leave. From the waterpark to the buffet, there was always something for us to do!
We arrived to Wilderness at the Smokies on a Friday evening and quickly explored the resort to see what we wanted to do first. Of course, my boys immediately wanted to go to the Adventure Forest, but we were able to convince them to go to our room first and put our things down. When we entered our room, we were pleasantly surprised to see how spacious and functional it was. The room included a sofa bed and a pull-down wall bed. I loved this because when we were not sleeping, we were able to tuck the queen sized beds away and have ample space in the room to hang out. In our room, there was also a full kitchen and table. As a mom, this stood out because I was able to wash the cups and snack trays that came along with us on our vacation. No going home with dirty dishes!
After getting settled into our room, we made our way down to the Adventure Forest. We were in awe of all there was to do because it was filled with games and activities from wall to wall. In addition to all of the games, the Adventure Forest also had a rock wall, ropes course, mini golf, laser maze, playground, and mini bowling!! We made our way through all of these activities in the first night. Shockingly, the youngest member of our family showed his hidden bowling talent that night and ended up with the second highest score!
Once we were all tuckered out from playing, we decided to head to the Thirsty Miner Restaurant for dinner. It is a buffet-style restaurant and the food was amazing! We ended up eating at Thirsty Miner the remainder of our stay because they are open for breakfast and dinner! The variety of food options were endless and there was something for everyone to enjoy. In addition to Thirsty Miner, there are a few more restaurants available on the property. Inside of the Adventure Forest, there is Billy Jack’s Snack Shack which serves pizza, burgers and sandwiches! There is also Grizzly’s Grill which can be conveniently found in the WaterDome. My family and I were pleased at all of the options that were available to us and we never had to leave the resort for food!
Oh, and if you’re wondering about sweets… Wilderness at the Smokies has that covered too! A candy shop and Frozen Yogurt shop are both located right outside of the Thirsty Miner Restaurant! We were all in heaven and enjoyed all that there was to offer!
Now for the best part… THE INDOOR WATER PARK! For months the boys have been asking to go to the pool or to a waterpark and we were unable to go because its been cold. I was so glad when I found Wilderness at the Smokies because they have an indoor waterpark that is open eve during these cooler months! The boys were beyond excited when they saw the water park and woke up early on Saturday morning to get the day started. Of course we went to breakfast first at the Thirsty Miner and were able to look down at the Wild WaterDome from our table! Once we made our way down, we were in a completely different environment that felt warm and tropical. Inside the Wild WaterDome it is 84 degrees year round and the water is also heated! My boys quickly went to Washout Mountain, which is a multi level play structure for kids that has slides, play and spray features and a 750 gallon bucket dump! We played their for a while an d then went to The Great Wave. The boys loved the wave pool and had a blast jumping over the waves! My husband and oldest son stayed in there for a bit while I took Austin to the Flying Squirrel toddler area. This is where he came alive because everything was his size and he was able to roam free! I absolutely loved that the Wild WaterDome was perfectly laid out and they didn’t miss a thing! There was a bar, water slides, surf simulator, pool with basketball hoops… and the list goes on! We had so much fun that day and the kids are still talking about it!
All in all, we can not wait to go back to Wilderness at the Smokies! Next time we go it will be during the summer months when the 2 outdoor water parks are open! Wilderness at the Smokies really does have it all and we didn’t leave the hotel not once!! We planned to explore Tennessee, but had no problem with changing those plans once we saw all that was available to us on the property. If you are planning a family trip, click here to book a stay at Wilderness at the Smokies. No matter what time of year you go, family fun is waiting for you.