As most of you know Sunday, June 28th, my mom, cousin, best friend and I made our way to Gatlinburg, TN. We left around 10:30 am and did not get to town until 8:00 p.m. With traffic, construction and bathroom stops that is why the trip was a little bit longer. Once getting to town we stopped at the Applewood Restaurant to have supper. After supper, we headed toward our hotel Econo Lodge Riverside to check in for the night.
Monday morning we got up and ate the free breakfast that was served at the hotel. Since I had ordered Dixie Stampede tickets ahead of time, but still needed to pay for them that is where we headed next. After paying for the tickets, we stopped at the Hatfield and McCoy show to take pictures of the building since we had an hour before we were allowed into the Titanic. Once we had taken pictures we drove over to the Titanic and went to the gift shop then went in for the tour of the ship. Once inside you cannot have your phone on or even take pictures. You may wonder why, but the artifacts inside the tour are actual artifacts from the Titanic. After you get your tickets you are given a boarding pass of an actual passenger from the Titanic. My passenger was Anna Salkjelsvik from Norway. Throughout the tour, you are able to see the artifacts from the Titanic, history of the titanic and learn about different passengers that were on the ship. My favorite part of the tour is you walk through the steering area to the outside deck. This part was my favorite because you could feel a real life iceberg and touch the water to feel how cold it was the night the shipped sinked. At first it is kinda hard to find the water and I accidently slipped my hand down and found it. Needless to say, I quickly pulled my hand back out because of the shock. I put my hand back in for five seconds, that is how long I could stand it. Even just for five seconds, it felt like the water was in the bones of my fingers. Toward the end of the tour, you learn about the fate of your passenger. Luckily my passenger along with everyone else on the trip with me survived. Right, before you enter the gift shop there is a room filled with the history of the survivors and you learn about what happened to them after Titanic. I will not spill the details of my passenger, just in case any of you get her on a future trip to the titanic.
After we were done with the Titanic we did some shopping and went on to Gatlinburg to check in at Carr's Northside Cottages. This will be the place we stayed for the remainder of the trip. My family and I have been staying here for years and will continue to come back no matter what. After checking in, unloading the van and resting for about 30 minutes we were back out the door. This time we were heading back to Dixie Stampede.
Dixie Stampede is a dinner show where you pick to be a Northerner or Southerner during the show. There are a lot of music, lights, fire and animals. You are given a ton of food to eat while watching the show, the only catch there are no utensils for you to use while eating. If you want to know more about Dixie Stampede let me know and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. After the show was over with we headed back to the hotel and went swimming.
This was Monday, yes it was definitely a full day and this has been a full post, so I will tell you all about the rest of the days in different posts.
Here are the websites for the attractions, restaurant and hotels I talked about today:
http://www.applewoodfarmhouserestaurant.com/
http://www.econolodge-pigeonforge.com/accommodations?s_kwcid=AL!4331!3!74160197424!p!!g!!econolodge%20riverside&ef_id=VTu8sAAAAFBfpDMW:20150704174039:s
http://www.titanicpigeonforge.com/
http://www.dixiestampede.com/
http://www.hatfieldmccoydinnerfeud.com/
http://www.carrscottages.com/
Monday morning we got up and ate the free breakfast that was served at the hotel. Since I had ordered Dixie Stampede tickets ahead of time, but still needed to pay for them that is where we headed next. After paying for the tickets, we stopped at the Hatfield and McCoy show to take pictures of the building since we had an hour before we were allowed into the Titanic. Once we had taken pictures we drove over to the Titanic and went to the gift shop then went in for the tour of the ship. Once inside you cannot have your phone on or even take pictures. You may wonder why, but the artifacts inside the tour are actual artifacts from the Titanic. After you get your tickets you are given a boarding pass of an actual passenger from the Titanic. My passenger was Anna Salkjelsvik from Norway. Throughout the tour, you are able to see the artifacts from the Titanic, history of the titanic and learn about different passengers that were on the ship. My favorite part of the tour is you walk through the steering area to the outside deck. This part was my favorite because you could feel a real life iceberg and touch the water to feel how cold it was the night the shipped sinked. At first it is kinda hard to find the water and I accidently slipped my hand down and found it. Needless to say, I quickly pulled my hand back out because of the shock. I put my hand back in for five seconds, that is how long I could stand it. Even just for five seconds, it felt like the water was in the bones of my fingers. Toward the end of the tour, you learn about the fate of your passenger. Luckily my passenger along with everyone else on the trip with me survived. Right, before you enter the gift shop there is a room filled with the history of the survivors and you learn about what happened to them after Titanic. I will not spill the details of my passenger, just in case any of you get her on a future trip to the titanic.
After we were done with the Titanic we did some shopping and went on to Gatlinburg to check in at Carr's Northside Cottages. This will be the place we stayed for the remainder of the trip. My family and I have been staying here for years and will continue to come back no matter what. After checking in, unloading the van and resting for about 30 minutes we were back out the door. This time we were heading back to Dixie Stampede.
Dixie Stampede is a dinner show where you pick to be a Northerner or Southerner during the show. There are a lot of music, lights, fire and animals. You are given a ton of food to eat while watching the show, the only catch there are no utensils for you to use while eating. If you want to know more about Dixie Stampede let me know and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. After the show was over with we headed back to the hotel and went swimming.
This was Monday, yes it was definitely a full day and this has been a full post, so I will tell you all about the rest of the days in different posts.
Here are the websites for the attractions, restaurant and hotels I talked about today:
http://www.applewoodfarmhouserestaurant.com/
http://www.econolodge-pigeonforge.com/accommodations?s_kwcid=AL!4331!3!74160197424!p!!g!!econolodge%20riverside&ef_id=VTu8sAAAAFBfpDMW:20150704174039:s
http://www.titanicpigeonforge.com/
http://www.dixiestampede.com/
http://www.hatfieldmccoydinnerfeud.com/
http://www.carrscottages.com/