Tips & Tricks for a Fun & Affordable #FamilyVacation at Wilderness at the Smokies

DISCLAIMER:  I would like to Thank the amazing staff and my Rep at Wilderness at the Smokies for hosting my family and me for two amazing days. I was provided with complimentary accommodations and attraction tickets to facilitate this post, however all opinions, experiences and pictures are my own.

I can't believe how fast this school year has flown by. It feels like it was just  a couple of weeks ago, I was watching Steven (my oldest) walk across the stage and get his diploma. Now, he's almost a year into his first job.  Kaylee (my sweet 16) is going to be a Senior this year and  "Baby" Micah will be four in August & growing like a weed, getting bigger and smarter every single day.

Time is going by way too fast for my liking, so every chance I get, I try to make new memories with my kids, before they are all grown and flown from the nest.

When you're young, you don't realize how good you really have it, we just assume that things will always be fun and exciting. We don't realize all the work and effort it takes to make those things happen.

Now, as an adult, I look back and I remember all the fun things my parents did with me, as a kid, . . .  family cookouts, Friday dinners when we'd go out to eat, going to the Wave Pool and Opryland in the Summer, going to The Smokies and riding the incline up the hill to play "Hillbilly Golf", riding the bumper boats at the mini golf course. 

All these things stand out in my mind as some of the best times of my life and I want to do those things with my kids; things that they will be able to keep going as traditions with their kids and what better time, than Summer, to start making some new memories.  Our first "adventure", this Summer, was an amazing trip to Wilderness at The Smokies.

We are a family of five and in order to take all of us on a family vacation, even a short one, requires lots of planning and finding the best deals and money saving short cuts I can find, but it is totally do-able, with a few simple tips.

First, you need to define your meaning of the word, "vacation". To me, vacation is. . . time away from home, spent with the family, doing things you wouldn't normally do, relaxing, not arguing, eating meals at the same time, at the same table, laughing, relaxing... Did I say relaxing? 

Vacation is our (mine & hubby's) reward for being good and not running away from home all year long, so for us, it's important to create a relaxing environment. From the place you decide to stay, to the attractions you choose to visit, planning is key in achieving your grown up nirvana.

My first suggestion, is to plan your trip early. Most places will give you a nice discount if you book several weeks to months ahead of time. Also, try to travel during the week, not on the weekends. Weekends, starting Friday, are peak times for resorts, so you will pay a premium if you stay during these days. When you call to make your reservation, be sure to ask for any discounts the facility may offer, such as military, AARP, AAA or even a discount for certain state employees. Making memories doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Read reviews on websites like Trip Advisor or Travelocity. After you narrow down where you want to stay, be sure to read the reviews, because you will be surprised to see what you'll find. If someone has a good time, they will write about it, but if someone had a bad time, they will share that too. These unbiased reviews will lead you in the right direction for you family's needs.

It might sound counter intuitive, but I highly suggest spending the extra few bucks to get a room with a kitchen. On our recent trip to Wilderness at the Smokies, our room had a full kitchen attached.

 It was fully stocked with dishes, pots, pans, silverware; everything you need to cook/serve a meal. It was so nice to be able to eat at a table, together. Yes, I know it costs a bit more, but the money you save by not having to eat out, will more than make up for it.   Let me break it down for you...

Eating all meals out scenario: A family of 5 will eat 3 meals a day at a minimum cost of $20 per meal times X number of days (for this, I will use 2 {the number of days we were at Wilderness}). At that rate, you will spend around $180 on meals, not counting snacks and drinks.

If you buy a few groceries and eat in-room scenario: You can look to spend around $57.50 for the same two days' meals and that's not eating Beanie Weenies either. We had carne picada steak burritos for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and burgers, fries and hot dogs for dinner.

If you plan accordingly, you can save around $122.50, just on meals alone, so you can put that money towards something fun, like mini golf or go-carts.

On the subject of entertainment, my best advice is; don't over schedule yourself. Plan to do one big thing per day, more than that will cause vacay burnout super quick. Remember, vacation = relaxing, not chasing your kids all over town, all day.

Which is another reason I adore Wilderness; there are so many fun things you can do, on-site, that are all included in your stay. From the lazy river to the indoor water park & wave pool. There's a little something for everyone, even the little ones.

I also love that Wilderness is looking out for kids'safety, in the required use of life jackets, on all the littles and there were more life guards than you could shake a stick at. The girl (Kaylee, 16) had to put her eyes back in socket, more than once. I plead the fifth, on the grounds that I might incriminate myself.

Both mornings we were there, Micah would open the blinds, go out on the patio and look at the life guards, getting the pool ready and ask when we could go swimming. It was so cute, to see how excited he got.

After a quick breakfast, we would make the short trek downstairs to the pool where we had a blast, riding in our inner-tube, floating down the lazy river, then Steven and I headed inside to conquer our fear of heights and water slides.

It was super scary, at first. We walked the, what seemed like, eighty flights of stairs that led to the top of what I was sure to be my demise. We situated ourselves into the two person inner-tube, the life guard gave us the OK and we were off! We were whisked into a dark tube, with water wizzing by, I screamed, like a school girl at a Beatles concert.

What I was sure was going to kill me, had brought me immense fun and joy and I got to make a fun memory with my 19 yr old son, which is getting harder and harder, with his growing independence.

After you get your fill of water park fun, you can dry off and head to Adventure Forest, the newest addition to Wilderness at the Smokies.

Credit: Wilderness at the Smokies

This DRY family adventure center is full of different activities, games & rides as well as attractions to keep the youngest to oldest entertained and engaged and If, after allll that adventuring, you still need something to do, there are tons of family friendly things, all within a few minutes drive or trolley ride away.

I admit, I haven't played mini golf since I was a teen, but it was just as much fun as I remembered, minus hubby and Steven's super competitive nature. It's freakin Old McDonald Mini Golf, not the World Cup, but whatever, we still had a blast and made a ton of memories... and some really cute pics too...

If mini golf just isn't your thing, there's always the more nature-y things to do. Before we left, I Googled "Cool, Free things to do in the Smokies" and I got many different results, but one location that kept popping up was Roaring Fork Auto Nature Trail.

Every single review of this place was outstanding, so I added it to the list of places we needed to visit, before we left and it didn't disappoint.

The winding roads throughout he nature trail are very narrow, but the views and the beautiful flowers & trees made it all worthwhile and there are tons of great backdrops and photo opps for family pictures.

After a long day, it was soooo nice to be able to go back to our room at Wilderness and relax and just kick back for the evening, even better was the door separating our room from the kids' room.

We had a one bedroom deluxe suite and it was amazing. It is actually two rooms with a connecting door. The left side, claimed by hubby and I (and Micah), had a twin over Queen bunk bed, a queen size bed and a twin size pull out sleeper chair.

The other side of our suite had a queen size Murphy bed and a Queen size pullout, along with a beautiful fireplace and the kitchen. This was officially the "teens" room. We only went in there to eat meals and I did a once over when we left, but apparently not a very good one, because I left my awesome new purple skillet there. Hubby is a skillet snob and had to have his own.

Wilderness provides free wi-fi for all guests, a safe in each room, a special "family only" area in the water park for nursing Moms and diaper changes and all areas are handicapped accessible.

There are two on-site restaurants at Wilderness at the Smokies (kids eat free with paying adult in most, check your info brochure for full details), on sitepaint-your-own pottery, retail shops, arcades,golf and even a fitness center... I'm tired just thinking about all that.

A getaway is a great way to renew your spirit, have a great time, make memories with the kids and fall in love with your family all over again. I mean, you kind of can't help it, especially when you see how much fun they are having. I honestly, find myself getting a little misty when I look back at all our pictures and all the smiles.

All the whining in the car, the kids griping about being cramped, listening to the girl sing all the way there, the time it took to pack and drive, all of it was worth it, when I think about all the memories we made.

Even though I never got a formal "Thank You" from the kids, I know they appreciate it and I know they will remember it forever... because I will continually remind them... "Remember when I took us on that AMAZING trip to Wilderness at the Smokies?"

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