Smoky Mountain Helicopter tours

In and around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg TN, helicopter tours are a big thing. We saw 5 or 6 in the two miles from the interstate to our hotel. My mom decided this was the thing to do our first evening in town. Since we had no frame of reference for who was good or who was bad, we just picked the one nearest our hotel and hoped for the best.

It turned out that the nearest was pretty darn good. We found ourselves at Smoky Mountain Helicopter Tours. We initially decided to take a short tour because we weren't sure how TB would do and we weren't sure if MT would get bored. They offer several tours over various parts of the area and we settle on one that took 11 minutes. We went the kids with my dad and brother because mom and I aren't all that interested in flying. The cost was $65 per person for the 11 minute ride. The kids, surprisingly, LOVED it and begged for more.



As we stood there discussing, the guy running the place offered us a buy 3 get one free pass for the rest of the week. Of course, I realize that it was a sales gimmick but still, it ended up being a pretty good deal. We went to dinner and came back at 8 (the suggested time) to partake in the sunset ride. We sent them up for a 30 minute trip, which in the end, proved to be a little too long. MT got bored but that only speaks of her attention span, not the ride itself. The 30 minute trip was $175 per person but we had the one free so it saved us nearly $200. While my mom and I waited on the ground, the guy running the tour was telling us about all the other neat things to do in the area. Although we ended up not getting to do most of them, his suggestions could easily have made an "action adventure" trip all on their own.

Overall, the kids (and my dad and brother) really enjoyed this attraction. I would rank it 4.5 stars because it was fun, interesting, and educational. The only drawback was that it was pricey. You will find this is a standard theme in most of my reviews of this trip.