By Sabra Rieck
Situated 600 feet above the city of Gatlinburg, TN, is an outdoor family experience like no other. Anakeesta is a 70-acre amusement park on the mountaintop. You can ride an open lift or an enclosed chondola up the mountainside.
If you’re a little fearful of heights (like me), you can take the Ridge Rambler instead. This is a tram that takes about 35 people at a time, up a steep and curvy road to get to the top. As the lady behind me said, as we reached the top, “that was enough excitement for me!”. I totally agreed with her.
We arrived midday on the first day and found the lines to be hours long waiting to get up the mountain. Then we found out from friends that they were actually sold out for that day. I’m not sure how they determine this, but they must only be able to sell so many tickets a day.
So, we got our tickets for the next day and were the first ones in line for the Ridge Rambler, putting us at the top at 9 am when they opened.
You just can’t ask for better views than from the top of a mountain. There are many rocking chairs throughout the park for the purpose of sitting and admiring those views.
We're not extreme ride/experience people, so we didn’t have to be concerned with that. There's plenty to do for those who are thrill seekers; dueling ziplines, rail runner mountain coasters, a treetop skywalk with hanging bridges, and the Vista Tower that is 60 feet higher in the air.
There are some less dangerous activities for younger children, such as the Bird House Adventure with lots of slides and a Bear Venture obstacle course.
For those that don’t like the rides, they have seasonal shows throughout the day, repeated several times daily in different locations.
There are many restaurants for dining, including Cliff Top and Smokehouse, both of which have amazing views. There are firepits throughout the park for sitting and relaxing with your hot chocolate or other beverages of choice.
There is also a good variety of shopping experiences available. We found the park to be very clean and well-maintained everywhere.
It was very busy when we were there, as it was “Hell Week”, the week between Christmas and New Year’s. They say the week of July 4 and the last couple weeks of October when the colors change in the mountains are the other busiest times to be there. If you visit at this time, be prepared for a wait.
Expect the Unexpected
Our exciting experience came from everything being shut down early. Since the Ridge Rambler was the only way down, the lines were extremely long. We figured we would not be off the mountain before dark, as we had been told there was a wait of several hours .
People were handling the situation very well, and staff were coming around to offer rain checks to those who wanted to come back another day.
We waited over an hour in line, moving very slowly, until they finally decided to release us to WALK down the mountain if we so choose. People were cheering and running to get that opportunity.
I think they were concerned because there was rain in the forecast and knew people would not be happy standing around in the rain. So, we took the challenge and did the walk down.
We guessed it to be about two miles, all downhill of course, and not really steep or dangerous. We just had to watch for the traffic that was coming up to take other riders down. It took us about 30-40 minutes to do the walking addition to walking the park for over four hours already that day.
The Takeaway
Be mindful of the weather, as it can play a big role in your visit to Anakeesta.
Would we go back?
Yes, because I would like to see it in warmer weather and when the trees were changing colors. It was a good experience despite all the problems of the day. We did get a chance to see our friends perform one show, before the rest of theirs were shut down.
Final Thoughts
We got to do what we intended, and like I said, would like the chance to go back and eat at some of those nicer restaurants to see the sunset views.
