Hello Friends!! We are Sarah and Stephanie. We are two local moms who live in the Smoky Mountains.
We both have small kids and are always taking about the alphabet with our kids. Since we have small kids we thought it would be fun to come up with some things to do in the Smokies that start with each letter of the alaphabet.
It’s hard for us to have alone time anymore with just us and our husbands but that’s ok!
Date Night with the family is still always fun!
Here are some Family Date Night Ideas in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee using each letter of the alphabet.
A
Anakeesta
Anakeesta is fun for the whole family with riding a chair lift to the top, shopping and dinning as well as walking the swinging bridge and observation tower! You will have fun with the whole family and could easily spend half the day there!
B
Beyond The Lens
Beyond The Lens is an interactive pop culture museum with fun things to take photos with, video games, and my kids favorite the alien ball pit. You can easily spend half the day there and definitely go ride their fun Sky Rider, where you fly over different parts of the world.
C
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is a great place to ride around, look at the scenery, explore old cabins and have a picnic. Depending on when you come in the season you could ride your bikes through the 11 mile loop on Wednesdays when they close it off to traffic, or do a hike in the Cades Cove area. I would plan to spend at least half a day there. Be sure to be filled up with gas and bring some snacks. There is no cell phone service in Cades Cove and during peek times, traffic can get backed up.
D
Dollywood
Dollywood is always a fun place for a family night out! We love the food, shows and rides. Each season at Dollywood is decorated so beautiful for Spring you will find a lot of flowers and seasonal food, The Summer Months they have lots of extra fun shows for kids, Fall and Halloween is always very pretty that time of the year. You can find lots of Halloween decorations all along the park. We love to ride all the rides at night! Lastly, Christmas time at Dollywood is our favorite time to visit. It puts you in the Christmas spirit for sure. Here are some blog posts we have about Dollywood.
The Ultimate Guide for a Toddler going to Dollywood
and
What to pack when going to Dollywood
E
Escape Rooms
Escape Games maybe something we do without our smaller kids and bring some friends along! Your older kids would love to do this with you as well. We have so many to choose from here in Pigeon Forge.
What is an escape game? You and a group of friends or sometimes with strangers, go into a locked room and have to solve puzzles and riddles to get clues so you can escape in under an hour.
F
Firepit
Firepits and s’mores nights are the best! Cozy up with blankets and stories and have some fun with the family either on your back deck or if you don’t have your own fire pit we like to sit around the fire at the Mountain Mile location, let the kids run around in their open area and play with their yard games.
G
Go Carts
Go Carts are so much fun and so easy to find out here in the Smoky Mountains! NASCAR Speedpark is our go to place, but there is also The Track, Ripley’s Super Fun Park or Xtreme Racing Center.
H
Hiking
Hiking with your family is sometimes exhausting but so worth to do. We love Grotto Falls the best because it’s not a long hike but around 2.6 miles round trip and takes close to 3 hours to complete. Grotto Falls has a 25 foot waterfall you can walk behind and it is so beautiful.
I
Island
Go to “The Island” and ride some fun rides, go shopping, grab some good food with the family and see the water show! Parking is Free and this fun family activity you could spend half the day here if you did all the exploring and rides.
J
Jumping
Go and be a kid again and go to a trampoline park to go jumping. We have Top Jump and Sevier Air! Both are super fun. They have Ninja courses, climbing walls and air bags to jump into!
K
Knoxville
Go out and explore our neighbor town of Knoxville. You can see a show, watch a game, eat or shop! There is so much Knoxville has to offer. Click to read >> WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR KIDS IN KNOXVILLE
L
Laser Tag
Get competitive and see who can win the most points during some laser tag fun! We have several places to play laser tag out here in the Smoky Mountains such as Laser Port Fun Center, Battleground Tactical Laser Tag and WonderWorks.
M
Mirror Maze
Kids love to get all mixed up and try to get out of a mirror maze! We have a fun one at the Island in Pigeon Forge called Island Mirror Maze and on the Gatlinburg Strip. We personally like Amazing Mirror Maze and Circus Golf on the Gatlinburg Strip.
N
New Restaurant
There are so many local and mom and pop restaurants here in the area, I am sure there is somewhere you have never ate at. We did a HUGE in-depth blog post about all the local mom and pop restaurants in the area. >>LOCAL MOM AND POP RESTAURANTS IN THE SMOKIES <<
O
Ober Mountain
This would definitely be a fun family date place. Ober Mountain is in downtown Gatlinburg. You pay one flat price and can do all the fun things. They offer a beautiful Ariel Tram ride to the top or you can drive your car to the top as well. Your wristband includes a mountain coaster, seeing the animals, ice skating, Ice Bumper Cars, Chair Lift, Carousel, Rock Wall Climbing, Pillow Jumping, Spider Jump and their classic Outdoor Bobsledding,
P
Pink Jeep Tour
Let Pink Jeep do the driving and take you where you want to go and see all the beautiful scenery of the Smokies. Pink Jeeps offer tours of Cades Cove, The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail or Foothills Parkway. You also get a fun off road adventure everyone will remember.
Q
Quiet Walk
Hold hands and take a quiet nature walk in the National Park or anywhere you like to stroll. Put in some headphones and listen to an audio book, music or just listen to nature and pray.
R
Rafting
Bring your own raft or find a place to handle everything for you such as River Rat in Townsend. Float down the river and relax and have fun!
S
Show
Go and see a Show with your family. There are all kinds of shows to see from Dinner Shows, Magic Shows or Variety Act Shows. Our kids favorite show to watch is Comedy Barn, Hatfield and McCoy, Terry Evanswood Magic Show or The Stampede.
T
Titanic
Go and visit the Titanic Museum and learn all about how the ship looked, the outfits they wore and what the staterooms looked like. I loved this movie growing up so it was fun to walk through it and see it with my kids.
U
UT Game
Travel to Knoxville and go watch a UT Game. We all love football at Neyland Stadium but you could also go watch a basketball game at Thompson Boling Arena.
V
Village
Have you ever heard of the Village area in downtown Gatlinburg? That is a fun place to explore and go shopping, eat, grab some coffee hang out! We love the looks of the building, the fountain and old London Phone Booth. Eating at the Pancake Pantry is also a fun treat when in the area.
W
Wonderworks
A family date night to Wonderworks will be the perfect thing to do with your kids at the iconic Upside down house. They have all kinds of things you can do such as fun rides, science experiments, ropes course and activities to have everyone entertained. Here is a recent blog post that goes in detail what to expect. Click HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT WONDERWORKS
X
Xperia
Another Perfect place to take the kids is Xperia. This is a guided virtual aquarium that has fun interactive rooms to explore and learn about sea creatures. Here is a blog post we wrote about this place and what you can expect if you would like to go >> OUR REVIEW OF XPERIA<<
Y
Yogurt
Have a family date while eating yogurt. Our favorites are Old Mill Creamery, Cruze Farms or Sweet Frogs. They have so many flavors to chose from and if you visit the one at the Old Mill Creamery you can explore the area and shops, Cruze Farms has an outdoor area for fun corn hole and next to the General Store to shop.
Z
Zipline
Get the adrenaline pumping by going on a family zipline while out in the Smokies. The Smokies has several to choose from, but we like Wahoo Ziplines the best. You can go racing against each other, hang upside down and do some fun things once you get comfortable.
We hope this list of ideas helps you plan a fun day or night out with your family and helps make some special memories!