Big Bear Lodge
Our family of 21 (grandma age 80, 6-age 50 something, 9 age 25-30, and 4 little ones ages 1-5, just returned from Elk Springs Resort- Big Bear Lodge.This property gets a 4.5 star rating from our family. We would all go back and recommend it highly to friends traveling to the area. We have rented a summer vacation home every year for over 30 years in various places around the central and southern US, so we know the details that families are looking for and have a lot to compare this property to.
You are in the mountains, and it is a beautiful drive up the mountain! The parking area is large (probably comfortably 8 parking spaces) and is on a flat plain area of the mountain so seems very safe. It is only 20-25 minutes to downtown Gatlinburg and Dollywood, so very convenient between the 2 towns either way you go, and not a difficult drive between either, in fact, enjoyable.
The decks are very usable and safe as long as an adult stays with the kiddos. The lower level has a convenient outdoor hose so we filled up a little blow up pool for our young kids next to the hot tub that they used daily.
The kitchen is well equipped, blender, bullet, skillets, wine glasses, mixer, large fridge, and another small one for drinks on the top level.
The bedrooms all have their own mirror and sink, so no need to feel like you are taking up the bathroom for lengths of time to do hair or apply make-up. VERY convenient... the best set up for bedrooms bathrooms I have ever seen in 30 years of vacation rentals.
Each floor has its own central air conditioner unit and temperature control, so none of the freezing up if you like to run it a 70-72 that can be a problem in large rentals. Bedroom stayed cool even on the top floor.
The pool table is in a huge room, plenty of space to have other things going on around it, like a table for family puzzle, card game, we even set up our giant Jenga game and used it while pool games were going on in the same room.
T
You are in the mountains, and it is a beautiful drive up the mountain! The parking area is large (probably comfortably 8 parking spaces) and is on a flat plain area of the mountain so seems very safe. It is only 20-25 minutes to downtown Gatlinburg and Dollywood, so very convenient between the 2 towns either way you go, and not a difficult drive between either, in fact, enjoyable.
The decks are very usable and safe as long as an adult stays with the kiddos. The lower level has a convenient outdoor hose so we filled up a little blow up pool for our young kids next to the hot tub that they used daily.
The kitchen is well equipped, blender, bullet, skillets, wine glasses, mixer, large fridge, and another small one for drinks on the top level.
The bedrooms all have their own mirror and sink, so no need to feel like you are taking up the bathroom for lengths of time to do hair or apply make-up. VERY convenient... the best set up for bedrooms bathrooms I have ever seen in 30 years of vacation rentals.
Each floor has its own central air conditioner unit and temperature control, so none of the freezing up if you like to run it a 70-72 that can be a problem in large rentals. Bedroom stayed cool even on the top floor.
The pool table is in a huge room, plenty of space to have other things going on around it, like a table for family puzzle, card game, we even set up our giant Jenga game and used it while pool games were going on in the same room.
T