The Island in Pigeon Forge Tennessee

A great family-friendly location with much to do. Great attractions to be seen! A must-visit when passing through or staying the weekend.

8/31/20234 min read

The Island in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Our Experience

I want to start off by talking about our own personal experiences. Back in March of 2022, we stayed at the Margaritaville Island Inn. We booked the stay through Hotels.com but really didn't know that we had just put ourselves at a location that would be within walking distance of attractions. We had never heard of the Margaritaville Resorts, so we basically stumbled onto this experience. We just knew that this location was close to a few attractions that we were interested in seeing, nothing was really planned out for the vacation. On a side note, we had such a great experience we had to return as a family for our daughter to have these experiences as well. The second trip was in August 2023 and this was just as amazing, but more to come on that in another blog.

Upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to see all the attractions that were at our doorstep. The Inn is located at the front of The Island and we had a great view of it from our room.

The Attractions

The list of things to do is pretty long, I am listing everything first and then I will talk about what we did and our thoughts on each one.

7D Dark Ride Adventure
Alcatraz East Crime Museum
Arcade City
Battleground: Tactical Laser Tag
Clockwork
Dance Party 360
Funny Cars
Gatlin's Bumper Cars
Gatlin's Mirror Maze
Happy Swing
High Score
Island's FARM'n
Lil' Ribbits
Old Time Photo
Reverse Time
Shooting Gallery
Sky Tykes
SkyFly: Soar America
Spinning Parrots Coaster
The Escape Game
The Flying Horse Carousel
The Great Smoky Mountain Wheel
The Island Ropes Course
The Island Show Fountain
ThunderDome
Tree Fall Drop Tower
Twist 'N Shout

Our Room at The Inn

Let's just say that the pictures on Hotels.com did not do the place justice, I regrettably did not take any of our own pictures in the room :( but these are from the website and give a really good indication of what you get when you stay at The Inn at Pigeon Forge. The room we had was very spacious and had a private balcony to walk out on and get a great view of The Island. The bed was very comfortable, absolutely a great sleep. The hot breakfast served every morning is different each day and served with a smile. The food was really good compared to some of the other hotels that we have stayed at. The staff throughout The Inn was very welcoming and pleasant.

Our Experiences

For our first visit we had special parking with the hotel that was right by it with security features, you had to have a key code to get in. The second visit we parked in the free parking area which was very conveniently located near The Island. There was also a shuttle bus that passed regularly to pick up visitors since it was a bit of a walk, though we didn't mind.

In the small amount of time that we have spent in the area, we were able to go into the Alcatraz East Crime Museum. We did The Top Detective Challenge which basically forced us to pay more attention to each exhibit and really look for the answers. They encourage pictures so I do have a slideshow of a few of the items and some of us just being silly. The museum is kid-friendly and handicap accessible. That being said it is a good bit of walking. We only went into this museum once on our first time there, it wasn't something that our daughter was interested in doing.

The Great Smoky Mountain Wheel was something that we had to return to. The view from up at 200 feet in the air was amazing and our daughter loved it just as much as we did. You are able to see so much of Pigeon Forge from the top of this wheel. For those of you who might be weary of the ride because of heights, don't worry, there is a panic button that you can press that signals the workers that you need to get off the ride for any reason.

The last attraction that we did was SkyFly: Soar America. This was an experience that was amazing, My husband and I did this one twice in 2022 and again with our daughter in 2023, the look on her face and the squeals of joy she let out were so rewarding. There was no denying that she really enjoyed herself. The begins in a tram, giving you a story video that is more entertaining than really anything about the ride. Once you get into the main room for the ride, you are asked to put any bags or items you are carrying in the secure area below your seat. You are then buckled in and an attendant assures that you are fastened correctly.