I’m including the same intro and review before and after each of these three reviews.  You can read our family’s Mirror Maze Review here and our 5D Moving Theatre Review here.

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Gatlinburg in the winter is a different sort of town than Gatlinburg in the summer.

When we took our recent adventure to the mountain town, we found it sleepy and quiet and that’s exactly the way we liked it.  Traffic was minimal (except for the weekend) and the streets were not overcrowded and the restaurants had no wait time.  Again – that’s exactly what we love – especially when we are always a party of six (at least) and generally tables for six are not as readily available at peak times.

The Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies was hands down our favorite activity of the week, but we had some great laughs and funny moments at several other stopping points along the Gatlinburg streets.

In exchange for writing honest reviews, the kind folks who run all of the Ripley’s attractions offered us tickets to a few of their other museums and amusements.  I’ll be sharing all three reviews in a three part series over the next week or so.  In addition, this post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the links, I’ll receive compensation

 

Ripley’s Guinness World Records

 

In sixth grade my friend Susan and I wanted to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.  We scoured the pages of this tattered copy of a book we had and looked for any record we thought me might be able to break.  We found a record for two people being tied together at the ankles by a section of string for the longest time.  That was a real record.  I’m not making it up.  And Susan and I thought we could break it.  We used red yarn and a decent amount of it because we wanted to be able to use the bathroom without one of us having to actually see the other one on the toilet.  (These were the things that were important to our sixth grade selves.)  What I can no longer remember is how long the real record breakers stayed tied together.  I can remember that we lasted about two days.  But two days – you guys!  For two days we literally were tied together by red yarn.  We were the talk of our house.  (It was summer so that made sticking side by side simpler.)

Ripley’s Guinness World Records was one of the spots I wanted to check out, probably based on my fond memories of that paperback book my family had growing up.  Right on the main street, entrance was easy, just like all the the other Ripley’s attractions.  One of the world’s tallest men – in statue form – greets you at the entrance.  He sits down and stands up and it is ridiculous how tall he is.

 

 

You are given a bracelet at the front gate, and although it seems like a nuisance, it would be worth your time to sign up right at the beginning and register your bracelet.  Inside there are a passel of opportunities to break world records yourself and if you sign up at the beginning your name and info is entered into all of the other games and challenges through out the museum, which makes it more rewarding as you compete against other previous guests at the museum.  (The signing up takes a few minutes – but don’t worry.  There’s a Ms. Pacman game for you to play while you’re waiting.)

 

 

At first you are simply guided along a museum with bizarre and interesting and kooky and odd and entertaining world records.  There’s a lot of reading on the exhibits at first and the kids were just rushing past and I, typical parent, wanted to read a few of the posters and stories.  Eventually, and pretty quickly, you are in a large room set up wth all kinds of displays and games and exhibits and interactive opportunities.  This is really the bulk of the museum and it’s a good place to land for a while and compete with one another.  (This would make a pretty great rainy day option and if your kids are older, like mine, they’ll be quite entertained for a long time and you’ll feel like your money’s worth has been spent.)

 

 

The games were varied – memory challenges with name and face recognition (at which I stunk!), virtual chopping down trees, a game where your eyes lead the computer to draw a picture, typing challenges, a basketball game (of which I dominated, much to my surprise and pleasure), frisbee golf, drumming, hopscotch, soccer, an old western style shooting game, and more that I cannot even recall.  It was fun to go up against the world record holders but even more fun to challenge your own son or daughter.  The room was open enough that the kids were free to explore and visit each challenge themselves instead of us being forced to move as an amoeba.  I could see the kids at each station and that allowed me to actually compete and play too.  Otto toppled me quickly in frisbee golf – it’s a frustrating game to me.  London beat us all in the face recognition challenge.

 

 

It was a great way to spend our afternoon and everyone felt like they were able to play together for a long time.  There weren’t any cries of “no fair”.   With five kids, that might have broken some kind of world record itself.

 

In Review

 

I’d say the key to all Gatlinburg attractions is the same, keep your expectations in line.  Recognize that this is not Disney.  This is Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  These are mirror mazes and world record museums and 5D moving theaters on a street in a mountain town.  A town that sells footlong corn dogs at place called Fannie Farkle’s for the same price that you can buy two kids’ meals at Chick-fil-A.  

Be reasonable, guys.  

If you are visiting Gatlinburg for the second (or thirtieth) time, you already know this.

And you’re okay with it.

You’re making these return trips to Pigeon Forge and to Gatlinburg, to the cabins and to the go cart rides, to the outlets and to the pancake houses, because it’s nostalgic, because you first came to Gatlinburg as a kid with your Memaw and your Pepaw, because you brought your toddlers here and you remember how big their eyes grew when they first ordered their silver dollar pancakes at the Pancake Pantry and rode their first roller coaster at Dollywood and you like the idea of returning to the same quirky streets that seem like they never change, old time photo shops on every corner and a gem store and wooden guns and beanie babies.  That’s why you come to Gatlinburg.

So you stroll through the mirror maze and you let the kids buy a couple of pieces of candy and you stop in for the free fudge samples (always take the free fudge, people) and you admire the hand crafted wooden knives and you buy the funnel cake and you stack up those memories and that nostalgia for all its worth.

Expectations, friends.  Most adventures fare better when you can manage your expectations.

 

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