A visit to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and the Smoky Mountains is great trip, especially with kids. Lots of quirky nonsense to enjoy, as well as some beautiful nature.
(That is, I should "fix that" by going up to the Smokies with them, not by getting rid of the kids!)
I grew up in metro Atlanta and some of my favorite childhood memories are of family trips to the Smokies.
Mingus mill is one of my favorite places in the world.
I live in Chattanooga now and we take the kids every 6 months or so.
We all had a blast and didn't expect to love it so much. Just a fantastic place and they are doing a great job.
I'm still sad that Cedar Fair sold out to Six Flags, because they had at least a modestly better reputation. Six Flags in my opinion has long been run in a fashion that makes private equity proud: Reduce cap-ex to the minimum level, minimize cleaning, maintenance, staffing, etc. while extracting every last dollar possible for short-term gain.
It's hard not to worry about the Cedar Fair parks under that sort of management having seen it at its worst first hand once already. Kings Island has a big place in my heart and I saw the Six Flags takeover with some grimacing from the viewpoint of a tiny, tiny shareholder in Cedar Fair.
But also yeah, trying to come back from the CapEx problems Kentucky Kingdom was saddled with by Six Flags is a part of where I have a lot of respect for what Herschend has been doing at the park. It's slow, but steady improvement so far, with a CapEx plan that doesn't seem that aggressive, but also takes into account how much was needed and most importantly seems to be planning for the long term again (versus Six Flags' short-term mentality).