While Gatlinburg offers plenty of fun and unique experiences located at the beautiful Smoky Mountains, not every attraction is worth your time or money.
Disclosure: We partner with Smoky Mountain Vacation Cabins. Use code TSMFRIENDS for exclusive discounts on your cabin rental.
Here’s your guide to what you should probably skip during your visit. This is just our opinion, based on living near here for years and trying everything there is to do in Gatlinburg.
Related: Are the Smokies' attractions overrated? What our readers say
This Gatlinburg “classic” hasn’t been updated since it was built and earns a dismal 1-star rating on TripAdvisor.
The plot involves getting on a train/subway, which is just a row of seats on a track, with “gut-wrenching high-tech special effects” that include some shaking, strobe lights, and inexplicable animal attacks.
At $15 for a 4-minute experience featuring some of the worst animatronics imaginable, this is a hard pass.
This long-time Gatlinburg attraction doesn’t get much better reviews, and it’s location and bright colors make it something our kids have asked to do many times.
Ripley’s Super Fun Zone includes indoor mini‑golf, laser tag, arcades, and a retro-themed prize shop—but it’s one of the strip’s least worthwhile options.
The super fun zone includes a small indoor mini-golf, but there are much better (and unique) options for that, like Hillbilly Golf. And laser tag, which is also pretty small and crap.ed
Timeshare promotion in Gatlinburg often come with “free” tickets or discounted stays—but they usually require sitting through 90–120 minute presentation.
These are typically high-pressure and designed to sell you ownership on the spot.
If anyone offers you “free tickets”, keep on walking!
If you decide to attend a timeshare presentation, we recommend conducting thorough research beforehand rather than acting on impulse.
The Parkway is full of mass-produced t-shirts and souvenir spots, all at inflated tourist prices.
Unless you’re hunting for something specific, don’t stop at every store.
Some stores also contain what we’d refer to as some not-so-family-friendly t-shirt designs.
If the whole Parkway mix feels different than the Gatlinburg you remember, read what readers say changed about Gatlinburg.
Then there’s also the t-shirt shop with a strange rule posted: you’re only allowed to bounce a ball once, we even saw staff correct a child for bouncing it twice.
Parking in Gatlinburg along the parkway costs $20+. If you’re just driving into town, it’s tempting to take the first one you get to.
But drive a few blocks off the main road to the south, and you’ll find options like $10 on Historic Nature Trail (Airport Rd). Just look in the Space Needle area.
Speaking of the Space Needle. While it’s not terrible, the Space Needle’s observation tower is much shorter than the surrounding mountains.
You’re paying premium prices for views that pale in comparison to what you’ll get from Anakeesta or the SkyBridge.
As one reviewer noted, “the space needle looks tiny from the top of the mountains!”
Ticket Deals
Skip this and invest in a mountain experience instead.
Updated September 2026. An earlier version of this section used the old “Ober Mountain” name and said the base building had not been renovated. Both are out of date, so we moved Ober out of the skip list and rewrote this entry.
This is one of Gatlinburg’s oldest attractions, open since 1962, with a 2-mile aerial tramway from the Parkway up to the mountaintop. New owners bought it in late 2022, ran it as Ober Mountain for a few years, and brought the Ober Gatlinburg name back in spring 2026. Over the last few years they have added two new chairlifts (Sky Village in 2024 and Ober Challenge in early 2025), the Cloud Catcher zipline, a summer tubing hill, lift-served downhill mountain biking, a disc golf course, and an archery course. The mountain coaster now runs as the Tennessee Flyer, and the old alpine slide is now the Smoky Mountain Bobsled. The old Sidewalk Café space was rebuilt, and dining now includes Smoky’s Grill, Alpine Slice (pizza), and Fiddle & Pick (smoked barbecue). The wildlife habitat, indoor ice skating, and ice bumper cars are still there.
Tickets work on two passes, and both include the tram. The Fun Pass (from $39 online) covers the tram, the Sky Village lift and observation deck, ice skating, ice bumper cars, the wildlife habitat, and the smaller kids’ activities. The Adventure Pass (from $59 online) adds the bobsled, one ride on the Tennessee Flyer coaster, summer tubing, the mountain bike lift, and disc golf. A tram ride on its own is $29. Buy online at least a day ahead. The Fun Pass, for example, is $39 a day ahead, $49 same-day online, and $54 at the ticket window.
Our take: if you want the tram ride plus a full day of rides on one pass, it now competes with Anakeesta. If all you want is the view, SkyPark is the quicker stop. In winter it is still the only place in Tennessee to ski or snowboard. We have not been back since the 2026 upgrades, so this entry is based on Ober’s published pricing and attraction list rather than a fresh visit. Our 2024 review shows what it looked like before the work.
One of Gatlinburg’s busiest attractions, the aquarium is a good option when the weather doesn’t cooperate.
However, it’s expensive for its size compared to other aquariums.
If you’ve visited larger aquariums elsewhere, you might find this experience underwhelming for the price. Read more on our review here.
Read our guide on saving money on a Smoky Mountain vacation here
Instead of falling for tourist traps, consider:
Save what's useful here, then check stays before dates fill up.