The Ultimate Guide to the Wilderness at the Smokies
Welcome to the Ultimate Guide for Wilderness at the Smokies! If you’re like our family and you love waterparks, we found the perfect place for your family’s next vacation. It’s in Tennessee. Located in Sevierville, about three hours from Nashville.
The Wilderness at the Smokies is an indoor and outdoor waterpark resort that boasts 66,000 square feet of state-of-the-art, waterpark attractions with several eateries, arcades, cosmic mini putt putt, duck-pin bowling, a 3D-virtual reality ride, as well as a soaring glider ride. This place has it all ya’ll!
Resort Accommodations
There are many different types of rooms for all sizes of families at Wilderness. Choose between the two main resorts, River Lodge, located within the main waterpark or choose the Stone Hill Lodge across the street.
Both resorts offer rooms that sleep up to 6 guests, however, the River Lodge has rooms more like a condo that includes a kitchen. You can also choose two adjoining rooms at River Lodge and sleep up to 15.
Wilderness also offers Villas that have three bedrooms and a kitchen, or you can rent a Mountainside Cabin that has four and five bedrooms, a fireplace, wet bar, and multiple outdoor decks.
Our family stayed at the Stone Hill Lodge. We chose a King bedroom with a pull-out sofa and balcony. This room was equipped with a mini fridge, microwave, standard coffee maker and a table with two chairs.
This set-up worked well for our family of four. We also were only in our room to eat breakfast, change and sleep. What we loved about Stonehill was the smaller attraction it offered, Salamander Springs Outdoor Waterpark.
Explore rooms at Wilderness:
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Waterparks
Salamander Springs
Salamander Springs is designed for smaller kids, but it has a large swimming pool called Catfish Corral Activity Pool.
It also offers two tube slides, the Timber Rattler, and the River Otter. These two slides are single or double riders and has the patrons going down 207 feet of rushing water with twists and turns into a small pool.
These two slides were more my speed, since I was not looking forward to large-monster water slides like my kids.
In addition to the slides and the pool, this smaller waterpark has a huge multi-level water play structure called Lunker’s Landing with a tipping bucket that drops 500 gallons of water every five minutes.
For the smallest members of the family, there is also Minnow Marsh with a zero-depth pool, several small slides and bouncy swings. Waterpark hours for Salamander Springs are 11 to 6 p.m. This is where we started each day after we ate breakfast in the room, before heading to the main water park.
Lake Wilderness Outdoor Waterpark at River Lodge
After spending some time at Salamander Springs, we usually head out of the waterpark for a late lunch and then onto Lake Wilderness Outdoor Waterpark at River Lodge. This is a short drive across the street from Stonehill, and we did not have any trouble finding parking.
I will suggest that you park close to the door that leads to the entrance of the water park. The hallway from the entrance of the lodge to the entrance of the waterpark is long!
This entrance leads you through the arcade and right into the opening for the lazy river. Grab a tube and hop in! The Cataloochee Creek Adventure River is a fun and relaxing ride around the park which leads you right into the Washout Wilderness Rapids.
This is a 12, 000 sq ft wave pool that mimics the waves in the ocean and leads up to a graded pool where you can sit and let the waves wash up on your feet.
Lake Wilderness also has a child-themed area called Treehouse Springs. This area offers four water slides, a geyser, zero depth wading pool and sprinklers.
Parents can relax and watch their kiddos under the umbrellas or while soaking up the sun from the loungers provided, as their kiddos have a blast in a safe environment built for their age group.
Epic Water Slides
This water park is also home to all the massive water slides like, the Wall, where you head up a 35-foot wall and vertically drop down into the slide. You can also race a friend on the Cyclone Racer where you head up to the top of 50-foot tower and race down a spiral course to the finish.
Finally, you have the Wild Vortex where a trap door opens and you enter a 39-foot vertical free fall with twists, turns and loops. Perfect for the adrenaline junky in the family. Lake Wilderness is open from 10 am to 7 pm.
As the outdoor park starts to close, we head into the indoor waterpark, Wild WaterDome, and grab a large peperoni pizza. Our favorite place to eat is at the rooftop bar area called Peak Rooftop Bar and Grill which has plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.
Lookout Lagoon
After dinner, we hop in the new infinity pool on the rooftop and enjoy the sights of the Great Smokey Mountains. The views from this pool are truly breathtaking. We spend the rest of our time in the indoor water park, enjoying everything the indoor water park has to offer, including my son’s favorite, the outdoor jacuzzi area.
Wild WaterDome Indoor Waterpark
Start out in this waterpark enjoying the Great Wave pool that has 10,000 square ft of ocean waves and a graded pool area that mimics the beach. This area also offers loungers for family to relax soak up natural sun rays and watch patrons jump and swim in the simulated ocean waves.
Next head to the new indoor lazy river, Kaleidoscope Kaverns, this psychedelic experience takes you around the small indoor lazy river where you enjoy a light show as you relax and listen to music. The indoor area is also home to another water play structure with another 500-gallon dump bucket called Washout Mountain.
You can also learn to surf with an instructor at the Smokies Surf Rider.
Enjoy the Magnolia Grove Hot Spa an indoor outdoor large jacuzzi where you can relax as a family and take a breather from all the fun Wilderness had to offer. For the little ones, there is a child play area The Flying Squirrel Shallow Activity Pool with a mini water slide and squirrel house with lots of water play structures. There is a little something for every age.
Indoor Water Slides
The Indoor water park has two family water slides that quickly became our favorite. The first is called Runaway Canyon, a five-story-high raft ride that sends riders through 450 ft of exhilarating swirls and twirls as you experience the thrills together as a family.
The other is the Storm Chaser Thrill Ride is 55-feet long and this slide takes you through a dark tunnel with a quick drop into a funnel where you slide up and down the walls until you slide into the fast-moving tube into the pool below.
The other indoor water slide is the Trail Twisters Tube Slide, this is a fun-filled double rider slide that’s sure to create lasting memories.
Wilderness Arcade
When your family is ready for some dry activities head to the arcade for plenty of family fun and lasting memories. Wilderness offers three tiers of passes to enjoy these attractions: Tier one is 24.95 per person for one admission to these 7 attractions.
Tier two is the Unlimited Pass which is the price of tier one and an additional fee of $15 per person, this gets you unlimited access to these 7 attractions for the length of your stay.
Fury in the Forest Laser Tag
Tree Top Towers Rope Course
Moonshine Run Black Light Mini Golf
Copperhead laser maze
Howlin Hound Dog Alley mini bowling
Mount Wild climbing wall
Frog Hopper Spring Ride
Tier three is the Mega Fun Pass that includes all 7 attractions and the all-new Rocky Top Glider and Wilderness XD Theater Dark Ride and includes 180 arcade game credits.
This pass is for unlimited use of all these attractions for the length of your stay. The cost for these passes is $99.95 per person.
Wilderness Restaurants
Even more exciting than the attractions while on vacation is the food. Wilderness has plenty of offerings for any taste bud. Our favorite restaurant and a fan favorite is the new Swimmin Chik’n located in the arcade.
The menu is mostly chicken tenders, fries with a spin, because they add Queso. It was delicious. It was a little pricier than we would have liked to pay, but I would say it was worth it.
Next up, Grizzly Grill. This place is good for drinks, snacks and their large pizzas. This was probably the best value.
A large peperoni pizza was $22, and it was cheesy and delicious. This eatery also offers, chicken tenders, fries, salads, fruit and parfaits. This is also an area where you can refill your resort mug, if you choose to go that route. We did not find the value in them. This is in the Indoor Waterpark area.
Firefly Bar and Grill has a little bit of everything with a cute patio.
You can get a Firefly salad with Salmon, blue cheese, strawberries, orange ginger vinaigrette for 17.99 or a Delmonico Steak for 32.99. This restaurant is located in River Lodge, and you can get to it as well from a gate leading from the wave pool.
Tacolicious, a taco truck, is located near the wave pool and lazy river in the outdoor waterpark. They have Beef or Chicken, Carne Asada (Steak), Cajun Shrimp Tacos, 2 for 12.99. For the price, the tacos were small. We passed on these.
Located on the 2nd floor near the Candy Cabin and Yukon Yogurt is the all-new Camp Social.
This restaurant offers a self-serve burger bar as well as tacos, from the Tacoliscious truck, nachos, taco bowls and walking tacos.
The Deli is located in River Lodge close to the main entrance. This was mostly breakfast items and deli sandwiches. They also have a Starbucks located inside.
There are several snack bars, Coyote Cove, that is located at Salamander Springs at the Stonehill resort. This snack shack offers French fries, chicken tenders and nachos. Bluegill’s Cove is in Lake Wilderness the outside waterpark and has the same fare.
For the most part the food at Wilderness was subpar and the prices were astronomical. We chose to go to the Freddies steakburger restaurant and the Chick filet right outside the gate for lunch and dinner. There is also a Publix and Aldi down the street to stock up your in-room kitchen. Not to mention all the restaurants in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
Desserts:
Molly’s Shake shop offers over-the-top milkshakes complete with full pieces of cake, candy and other fun toppings.
There is also a Yukon Yogurt that is located on the 2nd floor of River Lodge. This is next door to Camp Social and the Candy Cabin. Several reviews stated Yukon Yogurt was
worth the money.
The reviews on Molly’s Shake Shop were that they were thin and not worth the price. Reviews on the Candy Bar, suggested to skip as well due to the prices of the candy that is weighed by the pound.
Let's Wrap this up:
For the value, this was a great family vacation. We did learn the resort cups were not worth the price. We didn't like that we were not able to bring outside food or drinks into the water parks. They will not allow any coolers into the water parks. We ate most of our meals off property and had breakfast in our room. This saved lots of money.
I would suggest taking a travel clothesline to dry your bathing suits if you are staying multiple days. We did not need water shoes, and we stayed for three days. All the shops at Wilderness sell them, as well as floaties and life vests for the kiddos. These gift shops also carry bathing suits and sunscreen.
Don't do the time-share presentation. It goes much longer than they advertise, and it's hard to book the free vacation they offer. Your time would be better spent enjoying the resort.
If you are looking for restaurants that deliver to the resorts, Papa John's and Pizza Hut. Make sure to bring your own liquor or wine to the resort, if you are looking for a night cap before bed. Sevierville doesn't have any liquor stores; however, you can buy wine or beer at Aldi, or any of the other grocery stores in the area. Also, just a heads up, you can't see the sunset from Peak, the roof top bar and grill, but visit anyway. The views are breathtaking.
I hope you choose The Wilderness at the Smokies for your next family vacation! As always, book your trip and let's make memories!!
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