Tourist for a Day

When the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster was being built, Jay and I knew we wanted to give it a go. Despite driving by it every day on my way to work or church, months have gone by without us taking a ride - until now. My sister and her kiddos were in town for the 4th of July holiday, and much to my surprise everyone wanted to try it out.

The little man isn't big enough to ride solo, so he paired up with his mommy to ride. Despite being tall enough, the princess wanted to ride with her favorite auntie.

Each car has its own breaks, and is controlled by the driver. I made sure she understood that no brakes would be used for the entirety of our ride before agreeing to double up with her.

Best practice is to put the fastest person (or person less likely to use the breaks) in the front. It is possible to come up behind another car, if that driver is braking more. For our ride we put Jay in the first car. The princess and I went next. Kelly and the little man next, and Baby (my dad) bringing up with the rear. (My mom opted out this round, but wants to try it in the future.)

 That's Jay in the middle of the hill.

The ride up (they say) takes 5 minutes. I'm not sure if it was that long, but its the time to sit back, relax, enjoy the scenery and let the mechanical thing-a-majig pull you up.

I put the phone away when it was time to ride. To not actively push down the handles is to brake, and I didn't want any part of that!!

Wooooooooooooooooosh!! We zipped down full blast, and never saw Jay's car up ahead. My sis and the little man never braked on their journey down the hill. 

We had time for an selfie (us-ie?) complete with a photo-bomb by one of the workers before my dad finally rolled in.

We did the weight limit math - 375 on a dry day and 330 on a wet day - and both Jay & I and my mom & dad want to couple up and go for another ride soon!


In no way did Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster compensate me for this post. We did get a discount on our tickets, but so does any local showing proper identification. I was just pleasantly surprised that the slide would be so much fun for each thrill-seeker level and wanted to share the experience with anyone visiting the area.