Ober Gatlinburg, Gatlinburg

My family and I did not experience the horrors of others. We took the tram to the top of the mountain and the views were breathtaking. The wait was not long and the tram was about half empty. Visiting in late spring may have something to do with it but I found the experience very enjoyable. We visited the Ice Skating rink, Alpine slide and several of the shops there. Also took in a view of the black bears. I think it depends on what you are looking for and I certainly give the attraction at least four stars.

Why all people dont like there?I liked there so much..Just to get in tram is enough..Watchin the smokies...I really want to come there again but I am thousands of miles away from there...from İstanbul...have fun

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! If I could give this place less than one star I would. To be fair, we had a decent time at the resort itself but the experience in the restaurant and lounge completely ruined the day for us and I attribute that to it's manager, Tom Hopkins. I have actually NEVER in my life seen worse service. Even though more than half the tables were empty it was near impossible to get service in this place. They had one bartender and one server for probably about 150 people. They forgot our orders more than once, we waited 30 plus minutes for drinks and they couldn't keep tickets straight. After paying our check (which we shouldn't have done) I talked to Tom Hopkins about this and he offered no explanation or apology. The ONE barteneder who was working said they had FIRED most of the wait staff the previous day so I am sure you can imagine my surprise that I mostly saw Mr. Hopkins standing around. I didn't see him bus a single table, or deliver a single meal. Sorry excuse for a manager and an embarrasment to what is otherwise a hard working and friendly community.

Horrible experience at Ober Gatlinburg. I waited in line on 12/29/10 starting at 7:30 am for 1 hour to get a ticket for the cable car, 30 additional minutes to get on the cable car, then I stood out in the cold at the top of the mountain for another 1 1/2 hours to get snow tubing tickets for my family. After waiting in line all of this time (3 HOURS), and still at least 30 minutes from actually making it to the damn ticket window, an Ober employee told me that I had to have all of my family with me in the line so the wristbands could be put on my family. Absolutely ridiculous. Why wouldn’t you tell me this at the bottom of the mountain or on your website or in your brochure. More importantly, why would I have my family get in line with me at 7:30 am and stand in line (in the cold) for 3 hours for tubing tickets to be used 8 hours later at 5 pm. I stood in line all that time so my family DIDN’t have to. In the end, after standing in lines for over 3 hours, I left mad and disgusted, with no tickets. Meanwhile, my family was waiting for me at the hotel for the entire morning. We wasted 1/2 of our day just TRYING to get snow tubing tickets but ended up with nothing but anger and frustration. The MAIN reason we traveled to Gatlinburg was to take our children snow tubing. They were very unhappy to find out later in the day that I stood in line for 3 hours and that I wasn’t able to get tickets. Also, I bought tram tickets for my family that I wasn’t able to use since I couldn’t GET snow tubing tickets, and upon returning to the cable car building at the bottom of the mountain, I was told by the information counter that I had to get BACK in line (with over an hour wait AGAIN), to get a refund for the tram tickets that I purchased earlier for my family. I was able to sell my extra tram tickets to some desperate people that were waiting in line to buy tram tickets, but I was only able to sell some of my tickets, so I lost some money, but I was so ready to leave Ober Gatlinburg FOREVER, I didn’t care. This is the worst experience I have ever had on any vacation. EVER!!!!! What a complete waste of my time and my family’s time. Why in the world don’t they sell tickets online or at the bottom of the mountain for snow tubing? It is idiotic to make people wait in line early in the morning to buy tram tickets, to ride to the top of the mountain JUST to buy snow tubing tickets for sessions later in the day at 5 pm or 7 pm. They obviously don’t care about their customers at all. They should try standing in line for 3 hours by themselves (or better yet with your entire family and see how much they like it). They obviously have a constant stream out out-of-town suckers (tourists) coming to town so they can keep ripping people off and not care at all. Even without the lines, the facilities and equipment are old and outdated anyway, so please spend your time and money ANYWHERE else besides the rip-off capital of the world, Ober Gatlinburg.

Me and girlfriend went up tram and the earlier you get to tram, the better. Tram up and down was crowded so we could barely see out the windows. Lines for rentals/lift tickets were long and annoying. It seems you have to pay for everything, even after spending $140 for lift tickets/rentals. Lockers, etc. I'm surprised the bathroom was free. Only 7 slopes open and atleast 1,000 people there. I'm guessing only ab 100 or less actually knew how to ski or board, so you're dodging all the noobies. The ski school area is way too small. They really need to expand! We had a rough time fighting such a large crowd on one small mountain. Lunch was cold, but the girl at food place was only employee that spoke English. If you want to go somewhere to ski, this is not the place. Tubing was out-numbered also. The city is nice as far as walking and shopping. Dixie Stampede was the best dinner show ever, especially when the mini-donkeys are racing :) Do Gatlinburg as a family trip, but only ski on weekdays when they are making snow

This place has to be the biggest disaster of a ski area ever. First of all, downtown Gatlinburg is OK but only one way in and out so your going to wait in traffic forever. Then another long wait to get out of town at the end of the day. FORGET skiing! Take note in all the reviews. They are dead on. Lines are impossibe. No parking at the ski area. Lines for tram. lines for EVERYTHING! Many rude, uncaring workers and many that don't speak english. It is clear from how they do business they don't care about people, only making money. Game room is as old as old gets and over half of the machines didn't work. My children were beyond bored. Wish I would have paid more attention to the reviews. Don't make that mistake.

NIGHTMARE!!! OLD PLACE, RUDE STAFF, LONG LINES. We spent HOURS in line for the parking area to discover it was closed when we got to the gate! We spent 2 more hours waiting to get on the tram to get up the mountain! We waited 2 more hours for ski's and another hour for a helmet for our daughter! NO ORGANIZATION AT ALL. Want a simple lift ticket? forget it. Stand in line with everyone needing ski rentals. Rude staff, zero customer service. Long, long LONG lines. Everyone in line around us was frustrated with the same complaints. It took from 8am to 3pm to get to the slopes! No ski patrols. Out of control teens on the slopes crashing into other skiers. FIND ANYTHING ELSE TO DO WITH YOUR FAMILY! Pay attention to the reviews.

Ober Gatlinburg is a relic and a tourist trap nightmare. The whole gimmick is to get you to pay to ride the up the hill and after you pay for that, you will probably feel that you should somehow justify the trip up by trying to enjoy the pathetically outdated and dismal attractions. Mini Golf that looks like something someone would build in their backyard on a drunken weekend, a bear exhibit that looks like some local caught a wild bear and threw it in the bottom of a empty swimming pool. Workers chain smoking and talking to their dealers on their cell phones. If you go to Gatlinburg, enjoy the scenery and the natural beauty. I had a feeling Ober Gatlinburg would be tragically depressing, but luckily for me, I only wanted to ride the tram up and back down to take some pictures of the scenery. Since it was not a busy time of year, I was able to do this. If the place is busy, I would not even recommend this. Have some pancakes at The Pancake Pantry, buy some local art and crafts, but stay away from tourist traps like Ober Gatlinburg.

Went to Ober Gatlinburg to go snow-tubing this weekend. I called to schedule a time slot and they said they do not take reservations but if we arrive 30 min. early for the session, we will get tickets. We arrived 30 minutes early and the session was sold out so we had to wait 2 hours plus 30 min for being early for the next session! It was $25 each and there were four of us. At 7pm when our session began, they wasted 15 minutes of our time talking to everyone about rules, etc. There are eight snow-tubing lanes...However they only had FOUR open! There were young men running the place and in their 15 min. between sessions they were suppose to get lanes in proper order but they did not. We had to wait in line 15 minutes after going down hill before we could go again. AND THEN..they closed ANOTHER lane! So 45 minutes into our session time, we went twice and were down to 3 lanes! The wait was then 20 minutes! To make the situation worse, the workers who tell you when you can go down the hill (after the last person is clear from the track)..they would wait 2 minutes between each snow-tuber before allowing you to go! The last people off the track would have been gone for several minutes and I could not understand why they would just hold up the line like that! So, after spending $100 to snow-tube, we each got to go 4 times! Not to mention the complete wast of money we spent trying to amuse 2 teenagers for 2 and half hours while waiting for the next session! Spent $14 on a cardboard pizza! TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY. CARELESSLY OPERATED. TOTAL RIP-OFF! I will go back to ski beech for snow tubing instead! Just thought I'd give Ober a try but learned my lesson! DON'T WASTE YOUR $ HERE!

It did not keep my kids interest. The aerial tramway was cool but after that there really wasn't much to do. We went in the late Spring, maybe everything wasn't open yet. I won't go back.