ice skating in the smoky mountains

Wilderness at Smokies held it’s opening weekend for their real Ice Skating rink on November 11th.

Last weekend we kicked off our holiday festivities and had the opportunity to go to Sevierville, Tennessee. Sevierville is just north of Pigeon Forge. We stayed at Wilderness at Smokies and checked out the opening of their 5th season of real ice skating, which is happening now through January 15th!

The Gingerbread House was our first stop, which is an information center and where you can also buy apparel. They directed us to the “Boarding Station” to go redeem our skating tickets. Once we got those we walked over to the ‘Skate Exchange’ to grab our skates. The skates are a little bigger and in Men’s size, so you’ll want to size down. The smallest size they had was a 9 for Toddlers, but they fit Wynter perfectly whom is typically a size 7. After we got our skates we headed to the rink!

DJ went on the ice with the kids, I stayed on the side with Golden and took pictures and video. The kids were so excited, as this was their first time ice skating! There were many slips, slides, and laughs!

There was a sweet stranger that was a little older than Jionni that helped him get the hang of ice skating! Every time he fell the sweet kid would give him some tips! Proof that the Christmas spirit was present! I loved that even though Ji kept falling he was that much more determined to figure it out! He just kept skating, kept falling, and kept having a blast! Check out all the video footage.

It started getting cool around 5:30pm so we started to make our way slowly back in. It was about 37 degrees evening time so you’ll want to make sure you’re you and the kids have hats and mittens. I appreciated and loved that there were heating towers throughout the area so we could warm up. I was standing with Golden so these were our best friends.

Standing there, I got to take in all the Christmas decor! Lights, big presents, candy canes, all the Christmas things! Christmas decor is literally my JAM! I was so sad not to completely see what it looks like at night, but I know just from the set up it’s gorgeous. There is also an actual DJ playing music in the evening so you can get your dance on in the rink (if you’re skilled)!

How do I learn more?

You can look for the complete list of activities at https://www.wildernessatthesmokies.com/waterpark-hours . Skating is included in your room rate as a guest using code ICESKATE when you book your stay.

Ice skating not your thing?

There are also other kid friendly activities outside and a food truck, Tacolicious! Ice skating is just the tip of the holiday family fun! Santa will be making his appearance starting this week on November 25th, right here on the Winter Wonderland ice rink! Santa will be bringing his workshop to the River Lodge, and Mrs. Claus for story-time.

Soaky Mountain will also be opening up for “Shadrack’s Super Sized Christmas Adventure” across the street, which is a drive thru immersion into a Christmas Adventure. These tickets can be purchased at http://www.shadrackchristmas.com .

Whatever you do, make Wilderness at Smokies in Sevierville, Tennessee one of your must do holiday traditions with the family! It’s a blast! And while you’re at it, check out my article here on our stay at the resort. Let me know when you book in the comments!