Why Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies needs to be on your Gatlinburg itinerary

This blog post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Have you ever had something that was so hyped up and talked about that you were extremely disappointed by the time you got around to trying it for yourself? Like the new restaurant in town that everyone keeps raving about or that movie that got amazing reviews…but they just don’t live up to your expectations. Me too. And it’s no fun at all. I was a little worried that our visit to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, would be just like that. Because how great could an aquarium really be if it’s landlocked in the mountains, high above sea level?

Really great. Like highlight-of-the-trip great.

As far as aquariums go, this one pretty much has it all. Tons of interactive experiences and opportunities to touch live animals and see them up close. Oh, and lots and lots of sharks. Did I mention sharks? If you’re planning a trip to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, visiting Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies should be at the top of your list.

Check out the predators of the sea in the Shark Lagoon

Everyone in our group agreed that the shark lagoon far exceeded our expectations. In fact, I would make a return trip just to go through this exhibit again. The shark lagoon is full of large sharks, sawfish, a green moray eel, a variety of other sea creatures and a sea turtle named Sally.

You can explore the entire thing walking at your own pace or you can ride along a 340-foot long glidepath. It’s really easy to hop back on at the end, so you can literally ride the path around and around until you’ve spotted all the animals. It took a couple rounds to find Sally.

Don’t forget to look up and see what (or who) might be resting above you too.

Tip: Plan to arrive for the 9:30 dive in the shark lagoon. You’ll be able to see divers cleaning the tank and interacting with the animals. It’s so fun to see them wave as the giant sharks swim close by.

Get up close to the ocean’s most exotic and colorful creatures

I was really surprised at how many opportunities the aquarium had for touching and interacting with some of the animals. You’ll be able to touch stingrays in Stingray Bay and horseshoe crabs in the Discovery Center.

Our favorite was the new Touch Jellies exhibit, where we each got a chance to touch moon jellyfish.

There were also plenty of opportunities to learn fishy facts, solve puzzles, and see some of our favorite kinds of fish.  

Play with the penguins

We caught the penguin feeding at 10:30 (there’s another one in the afternoon too) and it was so fun to watch the penguins dive and chase after fish. The kids loved crawling through the tunnels and seeing the penguins swim by.

Meet some of the most beautiful and deadly creatures of the sea

Whether it’s their enormous size, ability to camouflage to their surroundings or their ability to protect themselves with venom, you’ll be able to spot some of the most unique sea creatures in the Gallery of the Seas exhibit. Here, you’ll be able to see things like a large octopus, a Japanese spider crab and lionfish. The jellyfish are always my favorite to see, because they always look so calm floating around in the water.

Explore the Savage Seas

Pirates, shipwrecks and the mysteries of the sea – you can read about it all in the newest exhibit at Ripley’s Aquarium.

We learned all about what life was like as a pirate and even hunted for buried treasure. We read about ghost ships, famous shipwrecks and discovered items from a sunken ship.

Liam also got to face hurricane-like winds in a storm simulation.

The favorite of this exhibit was probably getting onboard a submarine so we could explore the ocean.

Note to parents

While we loved the Savage Seas exhibit at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, it didn’t occur to me how impactful the Shipwrecked portion might be for younger children. One of the displays specifically covers the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, a ship that sank in Lake Superior in 1975. There’s a computer animated video that depicts what could have happened during the storm that caused the ship to sink and talks about the crew that was lost.

After we’d moved on to a different section of the aquarium, Liam mentioned that he was really sad about all the sailors that died and wanted to know why they didn’t get off the ship in time. We had to have a pretty in depth conversation about it all before he felt ready to meet up with our friends again. I think it’s a combination of the sinking ship on video as well as the narrator discussing the sailors on board that affected Liam more than just images of shipwrecks seen throughout the exhibit. I felt like this was important to highlight for those of you with empathetic kids.

Other things to do at Ripley’s Aquarium

The tropical rainforest section isn’t hard to miss – it’s the first area you’ll walk through when enter the aquarium. But it was easy for us to breeze past because we wanted to get to the shark dive. If that happens to you, I definitely recommend circling back so you can see things like piranhas and colorful poisonous frogs. If you’re in to splurging for extra experiences, you can do things like swim with the stingrays, have a close encounter with a penguin, feed Sally the sea turtle and ride a glass bottom boat over the shark lagoon. You’ll also want to plan to spend some time in the large play space they have in the middle of the building.

Note: The play structure is quite large and best suited for kids ages 3/4 and up. With Caleb being just under two, I couldn’t find a good spot for him to play where he wouldn’t get tripped over by a bigger kid. We opted for a couple more rides through the shark lagoon instead.

Buying your tickets

If you know what day you want to visit Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, you can purchase your ticket online. Supposedly it saves you a little per ticket, but I’m not exactly sure if it’s worth it once you add the online processing fee. We opted to buy our tickets at the door instead since we wanted some flexibility on what day we visited. Another way to save is by picking up a combination pass if you want to check out some other attractions in town too.

Tips for making your trip easier

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your visit to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies:

• There are several places to park around downtown Gatlinburg, especially if you plan to explore the city after your visit. We opted to park in the parking garage directly behind the aquarium. The cost was $6 and it was really convenient.
• Go early. The Aquarium of the Smokies opens at 9 a.m. We got there right as they opened and were able to spend a couple hours exploring the place without it being too crowded.
• If you plan to spend the entire day at the aquarium, they have an eatery with the typical food you’d expect like burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches. It’s not cheap, but worth it if you aren’t done exploring the place.
• You can rent strollers for $3 or bring your own. However, I find it hard to get through crowds easily with a large stroller. We took our Tula baby carrier and it was perfect for carting around a toddler for a couple of hours.
• Plan to spend at least two hours in the aquarium. More if you want, but two hours is enough time to see everything without feeling rushed.