At Ripley’s, Gatlinburg, you can discover an amazing array of things to see and do. You can be sure to find something for everyone in the family, it’s a perfect place to visit with the kids on those summer road trips and the mountains is such a beautiful site. Get some great deals by going to TripAdvisor and let them get you the best rates for your road trip or vacation.
Ripley’s Odditorium features three stories of artifacts, oddities and exhibits from all over the globe. During your visit, you can experience human and animal oddities such as a life-size ostrich skeleton, shrunken heads and an authentic vampire killing kit. Kids will love seeing the 12ft tall Transformer sculpture made from scrap car parts and don’t forget to check out the awesome spinning vortex tunnel! This is definitely a place that you must visit and since I have a knack for history and crazy, weird stuff I really enjoyed and can’t wait until I get to go back because going once doesn’t do you justice for this amazing place.
At the Moving Theatre, you can experience two films in incredible state of the art Real D3D. The theatre features motion seats and digital effects that will leave you in awe. You can bump and shake your way through Ripley’s ‘Rats Race’ and ‘Winter Wipeout’ adventures. This ride is so good that you will feel like you’re actually in the movie! It is worth noting that expectant mothers and people with certain medical conditions do not ride this ride, for good reason. Nothing prepared me for how exciting this place would turn out and besides the Aquarium, this was the most exciting thing I done while there. First we did the “Winter Wipeout” and it seemed so real when the snow was falling on us and it feeling like we were riding with the snowmen. Then the “Rat Race” was fast and action packed as it was moving so fast and with the special effects feeling like you were a part of the race. When in Gatlinburg, please take time to visit this place because you will not be disappointed.
Not for the faint-hearted, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is the number one haunted house in Gatlinburg and takes haunted houses to the next level. Experience the scary ghosts and ghouls played by Ripley’s live actors and expect the unexpected! You must be over the age of six years old to take the tour, if you dare! Now I’ve been to several haunted house in my lifetime and seeing how my family reacted was priceless. The guy that met us when we were entering was really, really creepy and he definitely set the tone for what we were about to encounter. My family was scared the entire time and it’s something that we still talk about with our family still, but the only part I didn’t like was my baby girl was crying, so I recommend that if you have a young child, think twice about it. My daughter is 9 and she was scared out of her mind to the point I was just ready to get out of there.
A Gatlinburg favorite, Ripley’s Marvelous Mirror Maze is a mind-bending array of mirrors and LED lights that’s sure to leave you feeling puzzled. Luckily, Ripley’s helpfully send out search parties every half hour! I think this could have been better but my oldest daughter figured it out pretty fast and I was the one telling everyone stay together, yes I’m very overprotective and I believe if I was by myself I would still be in there.
At the same location as the Marvelous Mirror Maze, you can also visit Ripley’s Candy Factory. With a great selection of hundreds of your favorite candies old and new, it’s a must-see attraction for kids and adults alike. This place had so much candy and had some cools game for the kids-okay I think I enjoyed it just as much as they did. So if you have a sweet tooth, then this is the place for you to go.
Ripley’s Gatlinburg also has two uniquely themed mini-golf courses featuring thirty six holes of fun for everyone. At Davey Crocket’s fun-themed course, you and the family can replicate the ‘old days’ with the Great Smokey Mountains as your backdrop. You can also experience the 18th hole ‘Down on The Farm’ course, which features animated barnyard characters and water features. And best of all? You get a free game if you can get a hole in one! The entire family had so much doing this and now I have a new found respect for golfers but this was so much fun. We actually played 2 rounds of 18 holes and we laughed, joked and just had fun so this is something that will bring the entire family closer.
Voted number one aquarium by Trip Advisor, Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies really is world class family entertainment. With 350 individual species and 10,000 exotic sea creatures, there are actually more fish in the aquarium than there are people living in the whole town on Gatlinburg! Here, you can check out the shark lagoon, where you can wind your way through an underwater tunnel, coming face-to-face with some of the most amazing species that the ocean has to offer. You can also see the awesome tropical rainforest display and you can even reach and touch a live stingray. This was definitely the best place we went during our trip because it was cool touching some of the species and got to see the penguins walk around amongst the people. I have so much to say about this place that I’m going to do an entire post about our time at the Ripley’s Aquarium.
Here, you can see the world-famous book come to life. With hundreds of exhibits to see, you can even set your own records! There are fascinating exhibits of world records on topics such as sports, space, animals, food and human achievements. Guinness World Records also features memorabilia from famous record holders such as Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. Once again, I’m a history lover and several of the displays I had to read because I had no clue about, which is a good thing. Of course, it was seeing all the sporting records and displays which included Michael Jordan. This is another place you need to visit while you’re in Gatlinburg!!!!
So have you visited Gatlinburg? If so, what are some of the attractions you enjoyed while you were there? If there’s somewhere I need to visit while I’m there the next time, let me know.
One Comment
Jennie
Thanks for finally writing about >Visiting Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
In Gatlinburg, Tennessee <Loved it!