Wilderness At the Smokies

We just left the lodge and we loved it… we were with our family… even us old folks loved the lazy river… our room had a complete kitchen and we cooked pizza and played games at the table for six. Our room was clean… even though people can be sloppy they kept up with it and everything was clean and I’m sillly about cleanliness. it was a wonderful trip for all of us… i can’t say anything thing bad about the place… loved it

Stay away! I’ll spare you the details, but the service is universally horrible. Every area is understaffed with slow, apathetic and incompetent employees. The layout, as other reviewers have said, is laughable. Very little is included in your room rate. Prepare to pay extra for any of the amenities outside of the water park. The breakfast, which is free at lesser hotels, is disgusting with horrible service. We loved our trip to the smokies, despite this mistake. Avoid it.

Not impressed at ALL. As other reviewers mentioned there are very long hallways and the walk to get to your room can become cumbersome. Tip: Take the second set of stairs on the right going down the hallway on the main floor if you are down in the 25 number area rooms.
Our room smelled funky and was not clean. The person before us (or maybe before them even) left peanuts on the floors which were not vacuumed up. My 1.5 year old kept finding them and eating them. Called housekeeping and they sent someone down to clean them up… Still not completely gone. The table right beside one of the beds had candy stuck to it. I cleaned it up. The top of the tissue box was dirty and dusty. Lots of examples like this of a room not properly cleaned.
The safe was also locked and I was told maintenance could come unlock it but there was no telling how long they would be. Didn’t feel like waiting for an undetermined amount of time so I left.
Called the front desk at 10:48 and asked if they could extend checkout by a half hour and the answer was no. Couldn’t give me a few extra minutes to pack? Really?
Lots of undesirable people staying here as well. LOTS of kids with no home training. A kid was splashing my 1.5 year old daughter and my husband asked him to stop. He then splashed my husband in the face with no reprimand from his mom who saw him do it. Saw a lot of this at this particular establishment for some reason. Also, you can’t have personal floats in the water park. Guess if you have a 1 to 2 year old that needs a float, you’re supposed to hold them all day in the pool. I am really unhappy with my stay here. Almost $ 300 for two days. I wouldn’t come back again. We cut our day visit short by two days. Maybe the rooms connected to the indoor water park are better. I wouldn’t recommend staying at the one up the hill though. That’s where we stayed and we will not return!!!

This was our third time staying here and has been the worst experience yet. Spotty cable service & had to walk to front desk for wi-​fi password. It was not included only any paperwork & pamphlet at check-​in and was not post anywhere in the room. And yes I did try calling guest service but could not get anyone to answer the phone after trying for 10 minutes. Glad this is a one day stay. Our other two trips here were amazing… this one not so much.

Stayed here two nights and was not happy at all with this «resort». We was planning on staying 5 nights here but decided two was too many.
The rooms: they were small in size with a balcony facing the golf course with a trash compactor going at 11pm at night. The room was very dusty and had a dark color scheme. Getting to the room has very LONG hallways with only one way to get to the rooms. We was room 23 045 that’s walking 45 rooms down a loong hallway. It literally felt like we had to walk a mile just to get to our room. Kids were running up and down the hallway constantly. The bathroom is very, very small. The door is sooo wide and there is not much room in there to move around.
The housekeepers: Got woke up by the maid at 9am she did not know that we already pre-​paid for two nights, very loud on her walkie talkie as it echoed in the hallway outside our door and couldn’t get back to sleep so we got up and left to go to the indoor waterpark, came back to our room around 3:30pm and the housekeepers were goofing off and laughing in the hallway. Got to our room and beds were not made. Nothing had been cleaned. Nothing. We called the front desk and asked if we were gonna get service anytime soon and also complained about the housekeepers behavior in the hallway. We left again, so they could clean the room, to get something to snack on. Came back to a room with no soap, shampoo and conditioner. The beds were just thrown together, no clean sheets.
The inside waterpark: There is a handrail on the left hand side of the top of the tallest ride, I forgot the name, it’s the big funnel one with the big drop. The handrail pulls away from the bracket where it’s attached to the wall. My hubby almost fell when he grabbed it as it gave way. This has been like this for awhile because we was there on New Years 3 years ago and it was like that. No one cares to fix it. They were notified of this year’s ago.
The wave pool water is freezing cold. The whirlpool, the one that goes in and out of the building by the family drying booth, could have been alot hotter water. The sign says «no children 6 and under» the whirlpool was full of 3,4 and 5 year olds with toddlers that parents were holding in there. The staff doesn’t monitor it at all. One of the lounge chairs outside by the whirlpool had a broken leg. My hubby had to tell me to get off of it because it could of collapsed on me. If my hubby was to of sat on it he would have been going to the hospital as he weighs more then me. I seen a heavy set guy that needed help getting up after going down the slide with the double tube and I asked the lifeguard why she wasn’t helping? Her reply was that she had a bad back! WHAT?!? Seriously! Why is she a lifeguard? (Yes, I told her this and told her that’s her job to help and protect people from drowning)
Outside waterpark: You have to walk through the inside arcade area that is very, very cold after being wet from the indoor waterpark and walk on slick floors until you can get to the carpeted areas. Once outside you have to walk to get inside a fenced area. You have to grab your own double tubes and carry them all the way to the top of the concrete steps with people passing you to get to the same level to ride the rocket, which doesn’t require a tube. The people knock into you as there is not much room for these oversized tubes.
I seen two younger gals that almost fell down the flight of stairs because the tubes are too big to be carrying up those steps. DANGEROUS!!!
Those double tubes are wayyy oversized and should have a lift taking them up to the top so people can hold onto the rail instead of the tubes. There are three rides with three lanes on a single platform of steps going to these rides. People are constantly bumping into each other. Its NOT safe.
I see lacking in the safety and housekeeping dept. of this place. Serious lacking. People are gonna get seriously hurt here if things keep getting overlooked. I have spoke to management until I am blue in the face and feel they just blew me off.
We did NOT eat at this resort. Checked on the buffet twice and no one was partaking in it, was not going to mess with temps being off or food poisoning.
Would NOT recommend this place.

Well I wish I would have listened to the negative reviews. To start off the place is really beautiful and the water parks were nice. My issue was having to find roaches in the bed and bathroom and have the staff act as if I were the problem and not the roaches. So basically they didn’t plan on doing anything about it. Then after further inspection we found uneaten food and crumbs behind our bed. So we continued to pull things apart and found a pile of blonde hair and ticks on the covers. Finally we’ve had enough and asked to be moved but unfortunately all they could do was come clean the room for us. When I realized they weren’t going to refund or accommodate us any further I asked what we would get in return for this inconvenience. We got a dinner voucher! Yeah us! Needless to say though I enjoyed the water park I will most certainly not be back.

Rating 1 because there is no zero. The water park is decent… but they will shut down the water park in the lodge without telling you. Room service is tardy at best… and it feels like the folks running the hotel don’t really care much.
The staff at the water park is very helpful and good. Go to the park– avoid the stay.

Well to be honest I wasn’t thrown back in my seat by the wilderness hotel. The rooms were rather small and I did happen to find a cockroach in the floor. So for the rooms I give the resort a 1 – 2 star rating.
The water park on the other hand was fantastic as far as the rides go. I wouldn’t count on the wild vortex to be open, it seems to be kind of problematic. Also a good number of the water park employees are rude and don’t want to be there. So 3 – 4 for the water parks.

Needed a family fun hotel while we took a small trip to Gatlinburg. The hotel does have an excellent water park that the kids loved. To tell the truth I enjoyed it too. The problem came when we got to the room. The room was cleaned by the staff yet was far from being cleaned to standard. To begin there was a previous guest underwear hanging in the bathroom, silverware in the room kitchen with fingerprints and stains, soap stuck in the shower from being left, crumbs and stains in refrigerator, and stains on blankets. Contacted the front desk and manager who were very professional and attempted to help fix the situation. Also, the free wifi does not work well at all. For the price I expected so much more.

Just spend 4 days and 3 nights in the River Lodge, this resort is divided into River Lodge and Stone Hill Lodge. Room was clean and we went with a 1 Bedroom Suite, with a kitchen. Room came with plenty of bedding and included a Murphy Bed & fold out couch off of the kitchen-​dining room. The other room included a queen bed and a queen/​twin bunk bed. Plenty of sleeping space for the largest family! Kitchen comes with plenty of dishes and utensils to fix your own meals in room. Make use of the kitchen, a Kroger is just down the road and like many of the other reviews the food at the Lodge leaves ALOT to be desired. The Lodge stay includes access to the indoor water park and both Lodges outdoor water parks. The parks are only for guests, so crowd size depends on days of the week and time of year. I do want to warn you, at Check-​In you will be directed to a nearby area to get a coupon book, this is a setup to attempt to sell you a time share, not my cup of tea and didn’t have the patience or time to deal with someone trying to sell me a time share after paying for my current stay. Overall had a great stay and would go back, but don’t eat the food offerings onsite.

during our stay the entire facility was without credit card services. They were I’ll prepared for the event that was at there location. The bar in the convention center (upper buildings) ridiculously over priced. $ 5.49 for a 12ish Oz beer served in a plastic cup. Also the bar closed as 10pm. The staff was mostly friendly, but the service itself was absolute garbage. 1 hr wait for a breakfast buffet is unacceptable. They wanted to move our room on Sunday I am still not real clear why. We had to re key our cards halfway through our stay. We had to be reissued parking passes and then had to deal with paying (refused to pay) event parking on premises. It looks like this place is just too large and unwieldy to be good, nice try but you fail. The Waterpark is nice and is the only reason the place will last. Subtract that you have an ok hotel with reasonably nice workers and shitty service that is Ill-​prepared for the job it signed up for.

Unfortunately we have to agree with the previous Unilocalers that did not have the best things to say about the wilderness. We wish we would have listened to their reviews however the reason we decided to stay here was because the wilderness was significantly less expensive than a competitors waterpark resort in Gatlinberg TN about 20 mins away. The reason I am giving at least two stars instead of 1 is because it is affordable as far as waterpark resorts go. We all know we usually get what we pay for and that is certainly the case here.
The waterpark was nice and was sufficient for our smaller kids 4 and 3. The wave pool was a blast. There was one big problem… the air temperature in the dome was too cold. Our kids were shivering every time they came out of the water. That made it impossible for us to fully enjoy ourselves and relax when our kids looked like they were the first ones off the Titanic. On a positive note the lifeguard staff was excellent. They were always attentive yet not overbearing.
The staff did very little to impress and I was especially perturbed by the front desk people directing me to the «information desk» that is really just a racket for their time share presentation for the new Wyndham property. Yuck! That really ticked me off. Having worked in the hospitality industry before, one of the most important things to make your guests feel happy is truly very simple, smile at them and say hi anytime you see a guest. The employees here just didn’t seem happy and it was like pulling teeth to get one to smile at you and acknowledged your existence.
The room layout was fine and would have met expectations had it not been for the terrible mattress and pillows. The mattress was at least 2 inches saggy and the pillows were old and way too soft. The minute we walked into the room I noticed the sagging mattress. That should not happen at any hotel much less one you spend over $ 125 a night at.
From my outsiders perspective this hotel just seems to be managed poorly. They seem to have all the pieces to make it a great destination but the overall experience just falls flat. I’m not saying don’t stay at this place, but if you do just check your expectations. It is fairly cheap in the world of waterpark resorts so if you are on a budget like us you might just have to ignore the «cut corners» if your family wants to go to a waterpark resort.

Water park was nice, but the room was cramped. Furniture was worn, and everything was very overpriced. It’s definitely meant for kids. Also, had a problem with ants which maintenance sprayed but housekeeping did not vacum up or even touch the room despite being asked. Not worth the price in my opinion.

This is a huge indoor and outdoor water park resort that’s only 5 minutes from the strip in Pigeon Forge. It’s got tons of parking, tons of rooms and lot’s of slides! We always have a good time when we go and the only thing I don’t like is the food.
The restaurant upstairs is awful. They have a buffet that’s probably one of the worst I’ve ever been too and the food of the menu isn’t much better. But Hey. That’s now whey were here — the water park is fantastic. So my recommendation, use the water park facility’s and eat out or order pizza in.

I went to The Wilderness the weekend it opened and I am glad I did. It was like having the place to ourselves. The rides were phenomenal. I still can’t figure out how they engineered the largest water tube so that nobody would get hurt. I am an adrenalin junkie and the indoor/​outdoor ride is a pure rush and psychedelic too. The rooms are a bit pricey but you get a full days water pass. It beats the Heck out of Dollywood Splash Country.

Disappointing is the best way to sum up this trip. We made the mistake of taking our small children. This place is more designed for kids 6 and older. This was completely our fault.
What wasn’t our fault was the foul mildew odor in the room. At first we thought the room was a bit stale but later on in the evening I discovered a wet spot on the carpet. We dealt with it but I noticed it quite a bit more during the night. There were other problems in the room. Perhaps we should have requested another room but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of gathering our belongings and relocating.
The park swim area was a but underwhelming. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I wasn’t stunned or overly impressed.
The lady at checkout heard all of my concerns and was very nice and accommodating.

Brought our 11 and 13 year old sons here for a mid week break from the snow. After reading a bunch of reviews I was a bit worried. Water park was dead, the kids made friends quickly and were busy the whole time. Water was clean and life guards were actively doing their job (though some of the parents could have done a little better. Room was a bit small but deck is spacious. Kids had the most fun with the additional purchase of the adventure pass. A great value! I did hear it is very crowded on the weekends, so if you like to have a little quiet time visit during the week! Only 4 stars because I wish the hot tub was a little warmer.
Leaving today. Would not recommend eating at the restaurants. Food was subpar at best.
Extra kudos to the lifeguards. They were kind, funny, attentive and helpful the entire stay.

This resort was really nice for the money. You can use the waterparks the next day til close, which I thought was great as most waterpark resorts let you stay til 230 pm. The rooms were average. 2 queen beds. It was clean. The resort is large. Our room was quite a walk from the lobby, but I don’t mind the walk. There is shuttle service to and from the indoor waterpark across the street if you’re not staying on that side, it runs til midnight. I would recommend this resort to families with children younger than 14. I think that is what it is more geared towards. But we still had a good time

It’s become a sort of family tradition for us to book a hotel with an indoor waterpark in the middle of long car trips, so I’ve been to a few places like this before.
It’s similar to a Great Wolf Lodge, the Wisconsin Dells, those kinds of places. In fact, this hotel is a cookie-​cutter image of their parent hotel in the Dells. It seems like this whole area is trying to emulate the Dells, with limited success.
So… the hotel itself. We went to check in and right off the bat the person at the counter starts playing dumb when I ask questions about our reservation, encouraging me to «call the number or go online» with my questions. OK fine. Next trick, you have to go to the end of the counter to get your «parking pass» from some other guy. Why? Because he’s trying to sign you up for a time share session. Oh yes you WILL get a 7 day cruise for sitting through a 90 minute meeting! So I verbally judo chop this guy down to size quick fast in a hurry and we make a break for the elevators.
Just FYI, nobody gives two hoots about those hard-​earned parking pass. I said something about going back out to put it in the car someone else behind the counter told me not to bother.
So we get to the room and… well it was an interesting study in economy of space. Not a big deal really… but trying to squeeze $ 200/​night for an «economy» sized room? What was a big deal later that night was you could hear the people in the next room when they were talking at a normal volume. Problem was, they weren’t talking, they were all screaming… at… I don’t know what? Each other? The kids? Everyone screaming like they were sitting in the room with you. Until midnight. Yay. Kids running down the hall outside… THUMP THUMP BOOM THUMP… LOUD. Oh yeah and the TV didn’t get any channels either. No basic cable, nothing. The heat in here was cranked so high it was hard to sleep. In fact the entire building was HOT, everywhere, all the time. (This was a winter visit)
The waterpark… not bad I guess. Probably mid-​sized compared to others I’ve been too. But the chlorine stung the eyeballs pretty bad. I went through a lot of visine after a few hours of this place.
The other fun thing was the staff. You could ask them anything and they wouldn’t know it. Like «What time does the water park open/​close?» You’d think that would be something the staff might know, right? NOPE. Blanks stares, confusion, ho hum. Asked someone at the front desk what the best places to eat in the area are… «Uhm, we have the usual stuff around here. I’m pretty sure there is an Outback because I used to work there. Why don’t you just eat in the hotel?» Hurr durr.
Pretty much everything in this area is closed by 10PM. The sidewalks are rolled up and no one is outside. We got lucky and found a subway in a gas station that was open until 11pm.

I’m going to go against my better judgment to give them 4-​stars here… It should really probably be three. But we had such a nice time and the location itself is sooo clean that I’m giving benefit of the doubt.
This hotel is pretty new — so everything is still in EXCELLENT condition, and VERY clean! We found the actual room to be quite comfortable! I was impressed. We had a standard double-​queen room, which came with a nice little oven /​microwave /​refrigerator. There was a comfy little leather couch. Nicely tiled bathroom area with separate sink. Each unit seems to have it’s own balcony, too. As far as the comforts go — it was A++ !
Now for the negatives… FOOD IS HORRIBLE, no matter where you get it. All food at this place is terrible. On top of being horrible, it’s pretty expensive! Do yourself a favor and bring a cooler full of munchies and pop! OR, just plan on eating expensive crappy food while you’re here.
Another negative is customer service… It just doesn’t seem to be there. Doesn’t seem like anybody really cares. Check-​in was a disaster. Also the girls working in the little «quickie-​store» place were slow as molasses. They just left all the lunch-​meat laying wide open uncooled with flies all over the place. No way in hell would i order a sandwich from there.
Now for the water park! It was really cool. The water temperature was fine, water seemed clean, facility was clean. Loved the lazy river outside! We stayed during the week, so it wasn’t overly crowded. Lifeguards were decent.
Definitely a super cool place to stay and have fun! And you don’t have to give up comfort or luxury to do it