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thinking about going next week for a couple of days. Any advice on thing to do? Eat? Just picked their because its a road trip (couldnt convince the S.O. to fly somewhere) and only have 4 days to get away from michigan

Great Smokey Mountain National Park just down the road. Beautiful country. Great Hiking! Typical touristy stuff....Ripley's Believe it or Not....Aquarium....etc.... http://www.mypigeonforge.com/things-to-do/

http://www.gatlinburg-attractions.com/

Good Lord there are so many great restaurants. First: Paula Deen's at the Island. Then: Old Mill Restaurant, Calhoun's, Harpoon Harry's (great drinks and food), Apple Barn, Alamo Steakhouse, and of course, there's that Margaritaville Cafe place also in the Island.
You gotta ride that huge large big ferris wheel (also at the Island), and see it at night.
Sample the moonshine flavors at the Ole Smoky Mountain Moonshine places (one in Pigeon Forge and one in Gatlinburg).
Shopping is all over the place. Ride the tram in Gatlinburg to the top of the mountain. Drive through Cade's Cove.
LOTS of stuff to do. Watch out for the bears and make sure your brakes are in GOOD shape (for coming down the mountains).

thanks for the help . Sounds like alot to do then. Was worried after the pool at the margaritaville hotel I'd be struggling for stuff to do.

Would love to see some bears. lol

Anyone ever done any fishing for trout down there?

the rules are pretty confusing it says you need a license but no trout stamp is required. Does that mean you dont need one at all or that you only need one if you plan on trout fishing??

Looks like there is alot more down there than I thought browsing the webpages.

Got a chance to stay at the Pigeon Forge location recently and thought I'd share some thoughts.

Margaritaville Pigeon Forge is in an area called The Island. It's a tourist/shopping area, and some of the other posters already described what's there. The hotel's rooms are upstairs, above some of the stores. There's a rooftop pool that I didn't get to go in due to the weather, but it looked cool. Downstairs is a Margaritaville Coffee shop that was okay, and there's a lobby bar but the service was a little slow. Across the street is the Margaritaville Restaurant with the usual merch shop, and apparently they're opening a second hotel on the property.

The room was spacious and clean. The decor was typical Margaritaville with a blend of Smokey Mountains styling. I had the river view, and I don't think it was worth the extra money. On the other side of the river was a cell phone store or something with people coming/going, and all of the balconies were close together with a person in the room next door chain-smoking constantly.

Every room has a Frozen Concoction Maker, which was awesome, but keep in mind that Tennessee is one of those states that has alcohol laws bizarre to us northerners, where liquor can only purchased at liquor stores, and certain booze can or cannot be sold in grocery stores, so 1) the Margaritaville merch store sells the non-alcoholic mix, 2) the Publix nearby sells various kinds of non-alcoholic mix, but 3) the closest places to buy tequila are the liquor stores in Gatlinburg.

The music selections were a little out of place in the restaurant. Being two hours east of Nashville, I expected a lot of country, both modern and classic. Instead, the playlist was consistently three pop songs followed by a Buffett or Marley song, then right back into three pop songs, and repeat. It felt very out of place, again, given the area, and compared to other Margaritaville restaurants I've been to.

Overall, it was an okay hotel to stay at. Having stayed at the Pensacola Beach location before, I can say that I liked everybody about Pensacola Beach way better. Nonetheless, I think this is a good hotel to stay at for a Parrothead that wants to visit the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area.