Spring Break: Wilderness at the Smokies, TN

We headed south for Spring Break this year in the hopes of finding fun a little closer to home.  Joke was on us because the 5.5 hour drive from IN to TN took us closer to 8 hours each way.  Darn traffic, accidents and lane closures.  The good news is that we stopped at almost every Buc-ees along the way to make the trip a little more enjoyable.  We're huge fans.  I know they are crowded, but it is the yummiest gas station food around with the cleanest restrooms ever.

We came to Wilderness at the Smokies several years ago and liked it enough to return.  There is so much to do in the Pigeon Forge area.  We've still got a long list of things we'd liked to see and do for our next visit.  We tried a mix of new things and favorite things from our last trip.

We were excited for the upgrades that Wilderness Resort had done - roof top pool, fire pits, new lazy river, new slides, cabanas and new indoor water play structures for the younger kids.

The highlights of our trip were:

PS There were definitely lows and hard moments, but those aren't as fun to document :)  Just know there were kids up at midnight, car sickness, scary drives through the HILLS of TN that seemed right out of a horror film and excursions that didn't quite pan out.

Kevin surprised us and rent a cabana for us for the day.  It was so nice to have a cozy spot to relax, order food, eat and watch March Madness.  I was taking his picture with the kids and a sweet lady told me to hop in the picture while she took our whole family picture.

They had a new roof top pool that was so cool!  There is a roof top restaurant, fire pits, cabanas and this fun pool.  The views were amazing.  The boys loved the helicopters that fly over for tours.  Leo couldn't touch so I was glad he had his puddle jumper.

Cabana life suits him.

And them.  The food was yummy, too.  We all enjoyed the new lazy river, big kids loved the slides, Fletcher and Kevin really enjoyed the wave rider/surf attraction, wave pool and hot tub.

Now that Leo is five he wants money to play the arcade games.  Gone are the days of him happily just pretending to play them.

The weather was so nice in late March in TN.  We loved sitting on that patio.

The kids found a rainbow for me.

The firepits that overlooked the golf course were really fun.  We sat out there and played games, watched golfers come in and explored the property.  It's a pretty place!

A few more trips to the water park.  They added this big new play structure since we were there last.  Leo could have spent the day there doing the slides, shooting water guns and playing.

See Leo up top trying to shoot us?

It took two poeple to keep tabs on him.

Sunset strolls around the property were so fun.

And the kids LOVED the new robot vaccums.  They had the best time keeping tabs on it during our stay.

Check back on Wednesday for some of the fun things we did around Pigeon Forge!