I'm definitely not a history buff, but I do like true crime shows, and this place was fantastic! We…read morespent about 2.5 hours inside and honestly could have spent even more time. It wasn't crowded when we went, which made it really easy to take our time and look around. There are a ton of cool and interesting stories and exhibits covering everything from the late 1800s all the way up to more current crimes and events. I was surprised by how much there was to see. We did the basic package with the family and, in my opinion, that was plenty. If you have younger kids, probably under 11 or 12, they may not get as much out of the museum until you get toward the end. There are some hands-on activities there, including half of a police car they can sit in and turn the lights on, drunk goggles, a police motorcycle you can sit on, and a tunnel where you can try to "escape" from jail. Overall, just a really cool place. I'm sure there was stuff I missed even after spending 2.5 hours there. I would definitely go back and do it again!

This was one of my favorite museum that I have visited out of town…read more Not only was it informative it was interactive too. There were areas where you could answer questions about what you just read and see if you retained information. You could go behind bars and take pictures like you were locked up. You could take a picture of a motorcycle. Learn about Ted Bundt, and OJ. You could learn about cold cases and people you never heard of before which was the best part for me.

The Salt & Pepper shaker museum was the highlight of our Gatlinburg trip. Less than $4 to get in,…read moretake as much or as little time as you want. The admission fee is put towards your gift shop purchase, if you choose to take home a souvenir. Do yourself favor, if you come into town, stop by and enjoy this quirky museum.

Whooo hoo! The S & P Museum has been on my MUST SEE for the last 4.5 years and it did NOT…read moredisappoint!! I was so totally stoked and my face couldn't stop smiling! Their collection of over 20,000 salt and pepper shakers is so well curated!! They are grouped by theme and so totally organized! You just can't see everything the first time you go but at only $3.75 a person you can go back over and over. They give you a $3 discount in the store if you buy anything the day you visit. Such a fun kitschy place!

We did the dinner experience and it didn't disappoint at all. Exceptional service, performance and…read morequality food.

On a Sunday morning in September, we visited the museum for the first time. We bought our tickets…read morein advance for the first entry at 9 am. It turned out not to be necessary, as the lines were short. When you enter the museum, you get a card with a bio of one of the passengers on the voyage. You don't find out until the end whether you "survived" or not. I think about 30% of the passengers were rescued, so your odds of making it aren't great. Spoiler: the ladies in my party survived, but I did not. I thought the museum would be more interactive. You do get to experience 28-degree water and try walking up different angled, sloped decks. But mostly it is stories, photos, and artifacts, from ship design and construction to the voyage itself. I learned tons, though, about the ship and the voyage and found it all fascinating. You can get even more out of it using your phone and their app for an audio guide on the highlights. We really enjoyed our two hours touring the museum.

This was on our short list for our trip, based on our visit decades ago, and it did not disappoint…read more This time we came with our own kids, and they just had a blast. The aquarium sea life itself is great with all the favorites: a big shark tank, the electric eel, the dragon fish, the ray touch tank, the octopus. It also has that Ripley's goofy charm, a big climbing playground in the middle for the kids, a mermaid show, and even a penguin march through the middle of the exhibits. You can buy food and drinks (including local beers) in between the exhibits. The city parking garage is right behind the location and the trolley drops off right beside the front door. If you have kids, you'll want to spend some time here.

If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be a salmon swimming upstream during peak season,…read morejust visit Ripley's Aquarium on a busy day. I didn't take many pictures because I was trying to live in the moment--and also because I was too busy dodging people who apparently trained for this event at the "Cutting in Line Olympics (my kid came up with that analogy.) This place was packed. I mean Black Friday at the Best Buy packed. Half the time I couldn't even see the tanks because someone's unk decided the best viewing angle was directly in front of my face. Patience was not the theme of the day. Luckily for him I'm not only patient but handsome. But then... the shark tunnel appeared like a gift from the aquarium gods. We hopped onto a slow-moving convey like a lazy river at a Vegas hotel, for people who don't want to walk. Honestly, I wish the entire building worked this way. Zero chaos. Zero pushing. Just vibes and sharks gliding over your head like "Come on in the waters fine" The stingrays were another highlight--majestic, chill, and many different sizes. Crowds aside,(but not really) those two moments made the visit worth it. If you go, bring patience, comfortable shoes, and maybe a bullhorn to get people's attention. But once you hit the sharks, it will be smooth sailing. FYI I will never go again but it was pretty cool in general..

Wow. Pricey, but great experience. Should be some sweet memories for the kids - and us!!…read more Special shout-out to Chad (no idea about last name), who was taking tickets before we got on the lift. Super nice guy - professional and helpful (good tips) - friendly and welcoming. Sending us off with a God bless was a nice touch, although I could see that sounding funny to some folks, ha ha. (Dear God, please watch over us on this chair lift...) It was the kids' 1st time on a chair lift / ski lift, and it was a good one. Had to go open-air. No one freaked out. They even took selfies together on it. So sweet. Great views on the way down! Lift was rebuilt in... 2019 (?) after wildfires destroyed it, but they maintained a great old-school feel. Now! To the top. The SkyBridge. THE SKYBRIDGE. WOW. So so cool. Longest suspension bridge in North America, apparently. It was awesome, complete with grating and plexiglass at the middle. Amazing views. A little scary, sure, but so cool. Was stoked the kids wanted to walk across it multiple times. The trails up top are better than I expected. Not top tier Smokies trails, but better than expected. And more good views. Tulip Tower was cool, too. The overall SkyPark area was also beautifully landscaped. REALLY impressive - beautiful. Highly recommended.

The Gatlinburg SkyPark is a good experience worth buying tickets for. The ride up was great with…read morenice views of the town (the seats fit up to 3 people) and the bridge had good views of the mountains, and for the thrill seekers had a part that was transparent glass. At the other end of the bridge there is a drink and burger place and seats with a view. Though you might wonder why isn't this review a 5 star review. It's because the workers print out photos of you on the ride up and wait for you at the top asking you to buy them. They also take a photo of you before the ride, knocking the background out, putting it on a picture of the bridge and expecting 36 bucks for it. If you say no it goes in the trash which is a big waste. Now my family's face is shredded like iceberg lettuce and tossed into a dumpster somewhere in Gatlinburg (probably owned by Blake Shelton) The prices of the food were good, though just a notice the "frozen lemonade" is STRAWBERRY lemonade and is pre packaged.

It's best to get the combination ticket passes if you plan to go to two or more of the Ripley's…read moreattractions since you are saving some. We got the three attractions with the aquarium and it saved some. The museum is filled with unbelievable things that make you go huhhhhh. Believe it or not, it's real! Some of the things they have on display here is cool. It was fun to interact with the exhibits and learn about the history of people, animals, things, and events. There was a group of 5 adults with two kids, who were 6 and 9 and we found it to be an adventure. Again, this was inside and a wonderful way to beat the hot summer day. The layout consisted of two floors and it was easily navigable with directions on where to go. The truth is before your eyes.

I visit these a lot..I have visited 9 Ripley's Believe It or Not in the many years that that I have…read morelived on this earth and this one of the better locations,the two in California and New Jersey are by far just dirty and not as entertaining. The location in San Francisco is better than both of those however I enjoyed this Gatlinburg, Tennessee location, downside is they replaced a few displays with video screens. My grandkids did enjoy this location, learned a bit and made me stay WAY LONGER than I wanted to. Anything for the babies!! UGHHHHHH... On another note I know they offer a military discount, I asked and my son nor I did received one after I and chucked out about 240 bucks for our family of six which I think was a little expensive. I dont think we deserved a discount, I just think if its a discount you offer I should have received it. I believe this was a good location just not worth the price per person. Overall a great visit but something I will not do again.

Castle of chaos is a 7d motion movie theatre ride located in a popular tourist strip of pigeon…read moreforge Tennessee. Castle of chaos can be purchased as its own separate event but is usually bundled up with a 4 way attraction event with Hollywood wax museum, Hannah' mirror maze and the haunted house called "outbreak". The wax museum is in its own exterior building and at the rear of the parking lot is a second exterior building that is a castle. Inside the castle you will find the other 3 attractions. After visiting the Gatlinburg/Sevierville/pigeon forge areas I do feel this 4 attraction pass is the best bundled tourist attraction in all 3 towns. The castle of chaos has two theatre rooms along with two adventure or show types. On our visit we chose between carnival which is a creepy clown attraction or Los banditios which is a robot attraction. We had actually done the carnival attraction at a Destin Florida tourist spot so we all chose Los banditos. Like most 7d attractions you wear 3d goggles, have a hand held gun for shooting the "enemies" to see who scores the highest (I won!). Your stationary seat will move up and down and sideways as you go through the adventure. Overall while most 7d tourists traps are pricey but fun this one the blow is a little lessen since you can get it with that 4 ticket attraction. The whole experience takes probably 5-10 minutes. Between the two rides offered they both have there advantages and disadvantages. I prefer carnival but I enjoy creep and scare factors. So younger or more frightened folks would probably prefer Los banditos.

We only came here because it was bundled into a discount package with the tickets we purchased for…read morethe Hollywood Wax Museum (we loved that place). The maze was just ok. If you've ever been to one of these before (and we have) you've been to them all. It's about 5 minutes of giggling while you bump into mirrors trying to find your way out, with colorful archways and black lights guiding your way. Not very big at all, and not very challenging. As we had young children with us, we skipped the zombie area (? Can't speak on it) and instead hit up both of the little 3-D shoot-em-up video game/films. (If you do the zombie walk, you only choose one of these) The first one we went on was scary clown themed, and had I known just how scary, I would have skipped it. (My 4 year-old was a bit traumatized). The other one, where you shoot at evil robots in the Wild West(!) was much better, not only because it wasn't too scary for little ones, but because it was smoother and less headache inducing than the other. It was probably my favorite experience of the three, but not worth the price of admission unless you got the discount pass for the wax museum and you've got time to kill.

Listen. My kids LOOOOOOOOVE Back to the Future and Ghostbusters (especially Back to the Future)…read more They've seen the films countless times, they have toys and legos and shirts. My youngest is actually obsessed with the cars more than anything else Can you imagine a museum that has both of the actual cars from these films? Well, here it is. Just these two cars would have been worth the price of admission for us, but it turns out they have a lot of other neat cars too (and I am not a car person, but they were still really, really cool) like: one of Elvis Presley's cars, the car from the original Batman TV series (and a couple from the newer films), the car from the Munsters, the car from the Flinstones (for some reason my kids loved that one). The museum is a decent size but as there is not a whole lot to read, you are just bouncing around taking photos with the cars and it's over pretty quickly. I think even sitting down for the little film they play upstairs we were in and out within an hour. Even so, it was one of the most memorable stops on our trip. My kids loved it, and now when they watch their favorite movies they can bask in the glory of having seen the cars in person.

I've been to a lot of places in Gatlinburg that are considered tourist traps. Well, I'm glad I was…read more"trapped" into this place! The majority of the attractions are not worth the money spent, but Hollywood Star Cars is worth every penny. It's one of the best places to check out! My daughter and I had a blast here! Whoever is in charge of obtaining the stars cars and organizing how they are displayed in this building, has done an incredible job! It was jam packed of so many to view, and they were so easy to recognize. They were displayed in settings where they were used in TV shows or movies. They also had the stars pictures and details about them, when they displayed their individual cars. It's such a cool feeling to be near a vehicle that stars have actually driven. It's the closest I'll ever get to them, some deceased, like Elvis Presley. It also makes me happy that these vehicles have been preserved for museum purposes, instead of being destroyed. Anyway, if you're trying to choose which place to go to, I would certainly choose this place. I plan to go again, because they said they switch the cars out pretty often. Young and older people will enjoy it, and everyone can relate to the cars displayed. I related more to the ones that were the older stars, and the cars that were used in the older movies and tv shows. But, my daughter related to the old and new. She's an "old soul," because she watches shows and listens to music that her father and I grew up with, but she also stays abreast of all the modern stuff. So, she enjoyed it, even more than I did. And, that's saying a lot, because I enjoyed it a whole lot!

I haven't played pinball in decades, but my boys really wanted to hit up the Pinball Museum. But…read moreit's not just pinball, it has classic arcade games too. Considering how long you can play without using quarters, it's totally worth it. We went on a rainy day and stayed 5 hours. There are facts on all the machines and while a few classics need repair, their selection is fantastic!

Disappointed and NOT OPEN?!…read more I came to town with my fiancé for our honeymoon from San Diego. I love Pinball so much and had high hopes to play here. We came on Wednesday night when the website and all the social media platforms said it was open , it was not. I called the phone number and it said "temporarily closed Monday thru Thursday" and they were open "Friday through Sunday" so I made plans with my wife to come back Friday afternoon. It's Friday and it's STILL CLOSED?! I messaged their Facebook account and they said it was closed and that they had no clue when it would reopen. I even messaged the Gatlinburg Space Needle manager about this. I can understand being closed fine but at least post this on the website or something so I don't waste my time and money on parking for a closed door. Thank God there were other Arcades nearby.

Many interactive games/exhibits, cool facts, history, and photo opportunities. However, the…read moremachines that are supposed to take the photo for you were all down with a paper that pretty much said use your own phone.. so if you don't mind asking strangers to take a photo for you, it's not a big deal. I thought the ride was a nice feature.

Are your kids obsessed with video games like mine are? Do they love all-things virtual reality?…read moreThen they will absolutely love Beyond the Lens. This is a great place for all ages, but I think older kids will get the most out of this interactive museum. Which was perfect for my family, as my kids fit into that "older kid" category. Packed with more than 150 interactive exhibits, we had a blast checking out all of the VR games, as well as the four-story-high, state-of-the-art Flyride, a flying adventure that makes you feel like you're really flying! What else? There are old-school video games to play, Big Foot exhibits to explore, skee-ball and basketballs to shoot in the game area, a giant white ball pit to jump into, and lots more. This is a very hands-on, interactive museum. I highly recommend Beyond the Lens for families with older kids. Sometimes, it can be hard to find things that older kids will like. But older kids will like this place! And it's also suitable for younger kids, too, so the whole family can enjoy.