Gatlinburg Family Adventure - Ripley's Aquarium, The Old Mill & Sugarland Cellars

If you've been following my blog then you may of seen that my husband surprised me with a weekend getaway to Gatlinburg, TN this past weekend. If not, then you should check out Day 1 of our trip to the Chimney Tops, The Island, Crave Putt Putt and more!

Below you will find what we did on Day 2 and 3 of our trip. Feel free to leave a comment below of what you thought of the attractions we visited!

DAY 2

The second day we woke up and walked to Ripley's Aquarium. We decided to go to the Aquarium shortly after it opened so it wouldn't be as packed and I'm glad we did because when we were done, there was a long line for tickets. 

On the way to the aquarium, most of the shops were closed still so we posed with all the fall decorations and cool things we found on the strip.

 

Here is what happens will you explain to your kids that this is what the old bathrooms use to look like and tell them to act like they are going potty...

Ripley's Aquarium

If you haven't been, you should check it out. I have been to a few different aquariums and this is one of my favorites. The kids really enjoyed it and so did my husband and I. 

If you buy tickets online, it's cheaper. I also saw coupons in one of the coupon books making it the same price as online. My youngest was free and my husband got a teacher discount (ID & pay stub needed). 

The aquarium had some cool animal exhibits and interactions like touching a horseshoe crab, a jelly fish, and a sting ray. It also had a 4 story play area, a glass bottom boat (we didn't do), a ship wrecked area, and a President Lincoln area.

If you haven't been to an aquarium before, you walk through and look at all the fish and sea creatures while reading fun facts about them. It took us about 2 hours to go through the aquarium and the was stopping to let the kids play and take pictures. 

We all got to pet a horseshoe crab and a jelly fish which was pretty awesome! You could also attempt to pet a stingray at the end of the aquarium. If you time it right, you can also catch a diver feeding the stingrays which was neat to see.

One of the last exhibits is the penguins. My daughter asked throughout most of the aquarium when we would get to see penguins so she was pretty excited. You can climb through a tunnel and take a photo in the middle of the exhibit to which is pretty cool and all of the penguins have name bands on their wings which was kind of funny. 

After the aquarium we caught a bite to eat at Tom & Earl's Back Alley Grill. We were stopped talking about where to eat and happened to see it through the alley so decided to try it out and it didn't disappoint. It was a nice, smaller restaurant with decent size portions. I loved their signs such as the one pictured below. 

After lunch we checked out some of the shops, hit up the taste testings at a few of the wineries and the Ole' Smoky Whiskey Brewery - DO NOT try the Mango Habanero whiskey unless you want your mouth to be on fire.

We also walked into a fudge shop just in time to watch the worker make it. The fudge was personally a little to dry for me but the show was great and the kids loved their free sample!

Sugarland Cellars

We saw that rain was about to hit so we headed back toward our hotel and stopped in at Sugarland Cellars. We taste tested one wine at the Sugarland tasting room in the middle of the strip close to the distillery and it was just alright but decided to check it out anyway and I'm glad we did. Not only were we able to wait out the rain but we got a free wine tasting and tour.

Sugarland Cellars has a free tasting of four wines and you can share with your spouse so you can try more. They also have a free winery tour, a lounge area and a shop. The bartender was super friendly and knowledgeable. The tour wasn't anything special, maybe five to ten minutes but I did learn how wine was made and some fun bear stories. 

Sugarland Cellars is located at the end of the strip right before you enter the national park. It is worth a stop if you like wine and have some time to waste!

After the wine tasting and the rain passed, we hit up the pool for a swim then got ready for dinner. We were originally going to try a restaurant called Calhoun's but the wait was to long so we once again stumbled along another restaurant called Smoky Mountain Brewery. This was a very laid back restaurant/sports bar. It was very good and had a variety of items from chicken to pizza. 

Taffy Making

After dinner we walked down to the candy shop to see if they were making taffy (they weren't earlier) because I wanted the kids to see how it was made and they were! As soon as we got there a worker started pounding the taffy and stuck it on the machine and flavored it. We were able to watch the whole process. The kids even got to sample the taffy. Fresh taffy is so much better and easier to chew!

We thought about going to the arcade around the corner but the kids were getting fussy so we headed back to the hotel an let them watch TV as they fell asleep - which they never do but it's vacation so it's okay right?!

 

Day 3 

The Old Mill District

On our way home we stopped in Pigeon Forge to show the kids the Old Mill. It ended up working out perfect because it was raining and most of the Old Mill has a covered walkway. 

We started at Old Mill Farmhouse Kitchen. They had free samples of their products set up throughout the store so needless to say we sampled several items. They have several unique flavors of vinegar and olive oils. If you stop in, make sure to try the Pear Vinegar, Apple Pie Dip and the broccoli cheese soup.

Next we stopped in the Old Mill Candy Kitchen and let the kids pick out some taffy.  I was excited because we finally found taffy in barrels. Most of the taffy is now placed in small bags or behind the counter at the candy stores. 

We checked out some shops and made our way to the Mill Bridge Winery. This winery wasn't there five years ago and my husband saw a Cider tasting sign so we had to go in. You could taste 4 wines for free and the wines weren't to bad. 

The Cider tasting cost money but it was good and they had some different flavors than we've seen before. 

After the Old Mill, we headed to the Apple Barn for lunch. The Apple Barn is a family farm style restaurant located in Sevierville, TN. While there we checked out the Christmas store and did a free tasting at the Apple Barn Winery. I honestly can't say which tasting was my favorite as I liked and disliked wines at all the places so you will have to taste test for yourself.

As you can tell we had a fun filled weekend getaway full of free tastings, paid tasting, good food and entertainment. Some other things on our list that we didn't get to do was Ober Gatlinburg, hiking in the national park, and getting an Old Time Photo. 

Overall we had a blast if you can't tell by the pictures and the kids slept almost the whole way home. Thank you to my wonderful husband for surprising me with this weekend getaway!

If you haven't already, check out Day 1 of our getaway.
Hint: Creekin, The Island, Putt Putt & More!

Let me know in the comments below what your favorite attraction was!