Is Anakeesta Worth Visiting? Our Guide to Visiting With Kids

Is Anakeesta worth visiting? 100% YES! Anakeesta was one of our (and our kids!) favorite parts of our trip to the Smoky Mountains. This mountain adventure park has epic mountain views, a playground in the sky, and fun obstacle courses and bridges in the sky. Plus, how many places can you enjoy a craft beer in the sky while your kids play on a playground with incredible views?!

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How to Get to Anakeesta

Anakeesta is located in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee. You’ll enter the park and ride the chairlift up from there to the top of the mountain. It’s very easy to find if you’re just walking around it’s on the North end of downtown and you can easily map yourself there. You can choose to get tickets there (you will have to wait in a line) or you can get tickets ahead of time online.

Parking for Anakeesta

If you park in the Anakeesta parking lot it can be steep. It’s about $20 for parking, but there are some other options. Number one would be to take the FREE Gatlinburg shuttle from your hotel so you don’t have to worry about parking. Another option is to find parking at one of the other cheaper lots around town. The Aquarium garage and the Mcmahan lots are the $10 options.

How to Get to the Top – The Chair Lift

To get to the top of the mountain from downtown Gatlinburg, you’ll need to take either a chair lift or a gondola.

Anakeesta tries their best to keep the chair lift moving to prevent delays. So when you dismount, you need to be able to get off and walk out of the way quickly. You may not be comfortable/able to ride on the chair lift because of small children that can’t sit still (definitely us), have a disability, or a fear of heights.

Fortunately, they do have gondolas, enclosed cabins, for people that are part of this group. Unfortunately, they have only 2 cabins for every 26 chairs and it moves pretty slowly. We waited in line for an over an hour for our gondola on a weekday.

Don’t let the wait time discourage you, though! Anakeesta is a magical experience and we all loved it :)

Gondola Cabin Size

The gondola cabins can seat up to 6 people and they try to fill them to reduce wait time, understandably. This means that if you’re part of a small enough group, you may be sharing a cabin with strangers. We ended up sharing a cabin with two strangers both on the way up and down. They were both very friendly couples and fun to talk to – so you might make a new friend!

Time Management

As I said before, you may be waiting in line longer than you’d like to go to the top. Especially if you’re like us and need a gondola cabin. Make sure to arrive earlier than expected so you have plenty of time to enjoy all the attractions at the top. And if you have small kids, maybe leave the park earlier than you’d like so you aren’t keeping them up too late and risk some overly tired situations.

Weather Preparation

Since the park is at the top of a mountain, it tends to be chillier and a bit windier than in town. Be sure to pack some extra layers, especially for the little ones!

Food and Drink

Outside food and drinks aren’t allowed. So eat a big meal before you go, or plan for some extra spending at the top for meals or other treats. We couldn’t resist getting some delicious local beer, a giant pretzel, and some ice cream!

Ride Requirements

The only height requirement that affected us was a big slide at the Bird Venture playground, which had a 44 inch height requirement that our 4 year old was just short of. Their are more requirements for the mountain coasters:

Rail runner

• Single Riders
  • 48 inches tall
  • 7 years old
• Tandem Rider Passengers
  • 3 – 7 years old
  • 38 inches tall
• Combined maximum of 230 lbs

Hellbender

• Single Riders
  • 54 inches tall
• Tandem Rider (driver)
  • At least 16 years old
• Tandem Rider (passenger)
  • 38 inches tall
  • 3 years old
• Combined maximum 330 lbs in wet weather
• Combined maximum 375 lbs in dry weather

The Treetop Skywalk

One of the main attractions of Anakeesta is the Treetop Skywalk. This incredible walk is a series of bridges among the trees and is the longest tree-based bridge in North America. It gives amazing views of the mountain and is completely lit up at night! We suggest saving this for last because it leads back to the beginning, ending right next to the chair lift.

Is Anakeesta Worth Visiting?

It may be impossible to find yourself bored in Gatlinburg, but if there’s one thing you don’t want to miss, it’s the unique experience of a theme park at the TOP OF A MOUNTAIN! There are so many things to do and see for all ages. We had a blast and would highly recommend anyone who visits the Great Smoky Mountains to not skip Anakeesta!

The tickets can be a little pricey depending on your budget. We don’t do many paid excursions on our trips, but this one we felt like we really got our moneys worth!