We started out our fourth day bright and early at Dollywood. I had looked at the crowd calendar the day we were supposed to be there and Wednesday looked like the least crowded day. It was also supposed to be a beautiful day. Everyone in Gatlinburg must have had the same plan because it was PACKED. They said they were expecting 5,000 people and ended up with 15,000. The wait for everything was really really long. We didn't get to ride that many rides, but the kids still had a blast.
Our first ride was Rockin Roadway
Everyone was hungry afterwards so half the adults stopped for lunch while the other half took the kids to ride sky rider.
Next up was the Firechaser express. Caitie was the only one not big enough to ride, so we hung out while they rode the ride. It ended up taking almost an hour and a half for them to ride!
We took a quick picture and then headed to the eagle sanctuary to look at the Eagles.
Some of the adults and older kids wanted to ride some larger wooden roller coasters. So we headed to a small little roller coaster while they did that. Last on our list for the day was the Smoky Mountain River Rampage. We got soaked. The kids were begging to ride more rides but the theme park was closed for the day. It was a bummer we didn't get to ride more, but we still had a great time!
We headed to dinner at Michael's favorite restaurant, Calhoun's, and then all went home exhausted!
We woke up on our fifth day to a lot of rain. We had planned to do a few more hikes with the kids, but played in the cabin instead. We watched a lot of basketball, swam and played games. In the afternoon we headed to Alpine mountain coaster. Last year we rode the coaster at Goats on a Roof. Michael and the boys said that this mountain coaster was faster and longer.
We spotted a gorgeous rainbow while waiting for everyone to finish riding!
On our last day we checked out of the cabin at 10am. The other families had to head back to Nashville, but we decided to spend a little bit more time in Gatlinburg just our family of 6. We headed to downtown Gatlinburg and went to the Donut Friar. It was delicious!
Our boys love mini golf. So we walked a couple blocks down the road and went to Gatlin's. I have to say that it wasn't my favorite. It was twice as expensive as the other courses we have played. But, it did have beautiful views of downtown Gatlinburg.
After putt putt we walked to the car with the intention of driving home. But, on the way Conor started chanting "more putt putt, more putt putt." Then all the boys starting chanting it too. Michael and I decided that since it was such a beautiful day that we would try another course. We went to Ripley's Davy Crockett mini-golf. It was a really cute course. We only played 18 holes, but there were 36 holes to play.
Conor and Peyton loved the little gophers in the background
Love how excited she is about playing like her brothers
The boys were begging to play the other course but we decided it was time to drive back to Nashville. It was such a fun vacation!
