Anakeesta, Splash Country, and Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster

Back in April, I expressed a desire to visit a few new places in Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, TN. I’ve also established that when I’m anxious, I tend to want to drive away. I’m (again) waiting to hear about a new job prospect and found it hard to sit around at home, so I took a day trip to Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg on July 1, 2018.

ANAKEESTA

I had really high hopes for Anakeesta, one of Gatlinburg’s newest attractions. Ultimately, I was pretty disappointed in the experience, but I think there are ways to enjoy it for what it is.

Parking

First of all, I was hit with a $10 parking fee at the base of the Chondola. And while it was good for the whole day, I was expecting to just pay for a couple of hours. There are plenty of parking lots nearby where you can do this, and I do think it’s nice that there is a lot right at the bottom of the attraction. Just be aware that it’s a flat-rate, all-day parking fee.

It’s also worth noting that when I bought my ticket at 9 am, the expiration on the parking slip was 7 pm, but a nearby attendant said it was actually good until midnight, that “they won’t kick you out.”

Chondola

One of the most unique things about Anakeesta is it’s one-of-a-kind “Chondola” ride, basically a chair lift with a few small gondolas on the line. Chairs seat four adults and gondolas seat six (though that would be quite tight–better a few of them are kiddos.)

For a veteran roller coaster nut, I was actually a little bit nervous of the chairlift! There is a bar that comes down but doesn’t lock, and you swing a bit on the long journey up and down. There’s a mid-way point that gets some definite side-to-side action and the lift frequently stops, which makes all the chairs swing forward and back a bit. If you wanted to fall out, it would be really easy. I would highly recommend taking the gondolas if you have squirmy kids! 

I will say that I quickly got used to the Chondola after the first ride. It’s not that terrifying, I just thought there might be more safety measures in place.

Firefly Village

Once you reach the top of the Condola, you are greeted by…well, first of all, a place to buy your photo on the Chondola. But behind that, you’ll find Firefly Village. There’s a grill & bar overlooking a fantastic view and a couple of tiny shops and restrooms, all situated around a small landscaped stream, bridge, and a firepit. Farther along the ridge, you’ll come to a couple food trucks, generous seating that looks towards the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and some signage telling you what you’re looking at.

A climb up puts you in “Vista Gardens” a nice landscaped path next to some fire-damaged forest with a few cute elements. A paved path next to the gardens features photos of first responders and victims of the devastating 2016 forest fires in Gatlinburg. This path leads out to a spot to mine for gems, a cute treehouse playground, and the Tree Canopy Walk.

Tree Canopy Walk

The Tree Canopy Walk is by far the best attraction included in your basic ticket price. This is a series of tree platforms connected by suspension bridges. They are your typical suspension bridges, too–I thought they might be more sturdy and bridge-like, but you can bounce if you want to! (Though you’re not really supposed to…)

Along the way there are some informational signs about firefly synchronization, why the Smoky Mountain are called “smoky”, and some of the insects and trees in the forest. At the end of the one-way route, you exit into one of the gift shops back in the village.

Paid Attractions

Furthermore, you can pay to mine for gems, which is just like every other gem mining place on the strip. You can also pay for a dueling zip line adventure, two decently long zips you can enjoy side-by-side or alone. After zipping, you end up at that mid-way platform on the Chondola, where you catch a ride back to the top.

Also coming in “late-July 2018” is a single-rail mountain coaster, the first of its kind in the area. So far, it looks like they have built the track but are still working on the supporting structures like the loading platform. I did not see any carts around. Frankly, I have my doubts it will actually open this month, just because it was initially supposed to open late last year, and it’s still not up and running. So we’ll see when it actually starts taking riders.

Experience

Hoping for slightly cooler temperatures, I arrived at Anakeesta when they opened at 9 am. First of all, it was already hot, so that didn’t work out for me. Then I was hoping to score some type of second breakfast. I left Chattanooga at 6 am and was pretty hungry! I saw that there is a shop called  “Pearl’s Pie in the Sky” so I had assumed there was pie for sale or some sort of pastries. Unfortunately, all they had was ice cream and coffee drinks. The grill and the BBQ food truck were closed and wouldn’t open until 11 and 12 respectively. I was too hot for coffee and it was awfully early for ice cream, so the lack of morning food options was pretty disappointing.

And overall, the place is pretty small. I rode the Chondola, walked through the gardens, read the signs on the Memorial Forest Walk (which is just the sidewalk), walked through the treehouse playground,  walked the Tree Canopy Walk, and looked through the shops all in just over an hour. For over $30 for admission and parking, that’s just not a good value.

I did end up returning in the evening, just to get a bit more of my money’s worth. I rode the Chondola again (in the rain) and decided to try dinner in the Cliff Top Grill and Bar. I had a very good locally-brewed pale ale and a delicious burger with blue cheese and grilled onions. But even then, Anakeesta wasn’t done disappointing me. The burgers are supposed to come with a pickle and fries, which I was greatly looking forward to, but all it came with was tortilla chips.

The setting was nice, however. The Cliff Top Grill features a covered deck that hangs out over the edge to give you a great panoramic view of the mountains. Plus they have live entertainment most nights, and I was treated not only an excellent musician in Stephen Goff but also a dance battle between two 6-year-old boys. Another ramble on the bouncy Tree Canopy Walk with a beer in me was quite a nice experience as well.

 Recommendation/Conclusion

First of all, my impression of Anakeesta is that it is still under construction. They are still building the Rail Runner Coaster. It looks like they are continuing to build onto the Vista Gardens, with only about half open at this time.  The signs for the Memorial Forest Walk look awfully temporary.

As it stands as a place to go *do* things, it falls very short of offering a decent value for your money. To do all the things that will be available (chondola=$20, zip line=$30, mountain coaster=$15-20? gem mining=$8) it’s approaching theme park prices, and a theme park it’s not.

Where I think Anakeesta shines is as a place to just “be.” To hang out with your friends and family around the firepit or overlooking a fantastic view while eating ice cream. To share a meal with live entertainment in the middle of these beautiful mountains.

And I suspect Firefly Village really comes to life at night. I wasn’t there late enough to see the lights come on, but they have string lights all along the Tree Canopy Walk, on every building and even the treehouse playground. In the cool of the evening with the summer fireflies in the trees, I do think this is the place to be. And if you’re local and get a season pass to stretch that value as much as possible, I can see this being a favorite family outing.

If I go back, it will be for dinner, sunset, and fireflies at night. Then using the “after 6 pm get the next day free” offer, go the next day to ride the zip line and the mountain coaster, once that’s up and running. With a friend.

SPLASH COUNTRY

After my morning at Anakeesta, I went to Splash Country, Dollywood’s water park. For all the times I have been to Dollywood, I’d never visited Splash Country, so I thought I’d give it a try!

As hot as it already was, I headed straight for the lazy river. Over the course of the day, I would visit almost all the attractions, and I rode everything I wanted between about 11 am and 3 pm, so it’s not a large park.

Some afternoon thunderstorms rolled in, and while it didn’t rain much, they had to close all the rides due to lightning. I waited it out the first time while watching a mass exodus from the park. When the wait was over, I was able to get in several more rides with little to no wait. But on my way to re-ride my favorites, the rides shut down again and I decided to call it a day.

Rides

The best ride at Splash Country is definitely RiverRush, Tennessee’s only water coaster, so definitely seek it out early. Next best is SwiftWater Run, one of those down-the-toilet-bowl kind of rides. I am more of a fan of raft and tube rides like Big Bear Plunge, Raging River Rapids, and Wild River Falls than I am of body slides like Mountain Scream, or even mat rides like TailSpin Racer, Slick Rock Racer, and Mountain Twist. Fire Tower Falls is right out. I will ride the most extreme roller coaster in the world before I get on a speed slide.

There are also plenty of kid’s play areas, like old-fashioned Little Creek Falls, the bucket-dump Bear Mountain Fire Tower, and the new Cascades water play area. If I had kids, I’d head up there (way around the corner from RiverRush) and stay all day. And of course, there is a perfectly serviceable lazy river and wave pool, always a good time.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN ALPINE COASTER

Almost the whole reason for my trip was to use up a Groupon for two rides on my favorite, the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster, before it expired in mid-July. After dinner back at Anakeesta, I headed back to the Alpine Coaster on my way out of town. I had a good first trip down but on my second trip, I was slowed down significantly by a family ahead of me almost stopping on the track.

And because of that, I learned two things. First is that your cart will automatically slow if you approach a cart ahead of you. It’s great to know that there are safety measures in place to keep you from ramming another rider on the track! Some of those turns are sharp, and you can’t always see far enough ahead of you to slow down in time.

Second, if you are stuck behind someone going slow, they may give you a free ride! The ride operator at the bottom of the ride automatically knew that those of us that had been slowed down and gave us a free ride to make up for it.

It turned out that that last ride was the best of my night. The fireflies were starting to come out on the long ride up, the sun was starting to set and the sky was glorious, and the lights on the track were more visible. 

COSTS

So, in the end, I had a really delightful day after a somewhat disappointing beginning. It was an expensive day, about $200. I’m not sure it was a $200 day, but I’m not sorry I went. I needed that escape!

Here are all the costs for my day, besides the $20 tank of gas that got me there and back:
parking at Anakeesta=$10
Anakeesta: $22.34
parking at Splash Country=$15
Splash Country admission=$56
locker rental=$10
lunch at Splash Country=$11
souvenier photo=$17.51
dinner at Anakeesta=$19.35
Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster=$20.50 (paid last March)