Ober Mountain Tramway Mall — Attraction in Gatlinburg

I have never enjoyed any ski resort as much as i enjoy Ober.

The lodge is huge, there's an ice rink, an arcade, and an upstairs restaurant with a fantastic view of the outer area. I only go during winter for snowboarding, and judging from some of the reviews that would be the best time to visit. Website has a webcam that you can watch, and when i see the snow blowers on, i get excited.

The food is tasty, the staff are helpful, and the rentals aren't as bad as most places, though that strong stinky-feet smell is still a thing (it IS a rental room, after all). speaking of rentals, they are in amazing condition. though i miss the old step-in rentals (loved the boot design and how the system felt, got the same system for my personal board), i understand why they switched to the strap-on system, even though i have a hard time with them.

the other attractions are lots of fun as well. There's an alpine slide, the alpine coaster, snow tubing, and the tramway which im counting as an attraction because of the sights you see. If your operator is an older man with a long beard, you're going to have lots of laughs. The arcade has quite a few games, but they aren't very exciting, and as of my last visit they still use paper tickets.

and now for the negatives. For starters, sometimes the staff clearly have a problem at times. one time I sped up on the alpine slide because there was an angry wasp trying to sting me, and i was called a "F*ing wuss". I can die from a bee sting in that situation, so that was not appreciated. The lift attendants don't care about your personal well-being. too many times have i seen someone nearly break their ankle because they accidentally bumped their board or turned their skis. When i asked (more like screaming from pain) to stop the lift to fix my board, they ignored me and kept the lift moving. as a result, i twisted my left knee and had to find someone to carry me down, as ski patrol seemed to think a twisted knee wasn't worth their time.

The alpine coaster was clearly rushed. the joints have a lot of space, and create a jerking motion each time you hit them. If you can't handle sharp lurches, I recommend the coaster near town on the way to pigeon forge. it's much smoother.

The positives far outweigh the negative, and they're not even consistent. the staff issues seem to be more mood-based than deliberate, and despite that, i still enjoy every...

Now don't get me wrong, I love me some Over :) and it's really more of 3.5 stars. The gondola tram ride is by far the best part. It goes well up the mountain. Farther than you can even see from the bottom. It's a 10-15 minute ride. That's honestly the best part, and sometimes I do only that and just ride it back down.

The downside is everything is an upcharge. They do offer a $20 "do it all" or rather, do 3 things. You can do the alpine slide, scenic chairlift and carousel for that. The alpine slide is fun in the winter. And you control your speed, which is pretty fast. In the winter the chairlift takes you to the very top of the mountain. That takes about 15 minutes with no line. It's nice to look everything over. The downside though is we went just to really do that, so we're just in jeans. And the seats were still a bit snow covered so we ended up with wet butts by the end. There's a nice scenic overlook, and refreshments available. A band plays up top in the warm months. Then you take it back down and enjoy the sites. It's actually pretty nice.

The snow tubing was sorely lacking it was maybe 100 meters long at absolute most! We thought about it but you could only purchase time by the hour and a half. It wasn't worth it as an adult. Kids for sure. Not sure how the skiing is, but it looked nice and they were constantly cleaning the runs to flatten them out. They have their own separate chair lifts for those. You could also ice skate indoors. It seemed a decent size rink.

There's a mountain coaster as well, but it won't be open if the blower's for the fake snow are or were recently running. The carousel they advertise is anything but. It's a kiddy carousel with like 6 horses on it. I was excited for a full size one but was glad I didn't buy tickets for it after I saw it. There's some kitschy souvenir shops up top, as well as a snack bar and restaurant. Walking to the restaurant and bathrooms though, you have to walk through the main skiier area and omg does it reek of sweat and bo. I completely lost my appetite just walking through there.

So it's not a horrible place, more family oriented, especially preteens. The team is totally worth it. The rest is just based on your level of seeing snow...

Cool place to visit for sure. There is a lot of cool little shops and stores inside building where you go to purchase tickets for the lift up to the top of the mountain. If you want to ski or go tubing in the snow at the ski resort and make sure you make reservations at least 2 days in advance has there was a sign that stated the snow tubing was sold out the day that we arrived and the next day - which we didn't plan on doing anyways. Just a friendly heads up for those of you who plan to do so. The tram tickets I believe our about 15 to $20 per adult and I think 10 for children age 11 and under. Again make sure you get there early because the line for the tram to go up to the top of the mountain starts getting really slammed round 11 a.m. it pretty much stays like that for most of the day. Give yourself plenty of time to get up in the morning and get everyone ready so you can get your spot in line. We walked by at 12 p.m. on our second day here and the line was coming out of the building and was heading down the block. I do have to state that the ride up to the top of the mountain is absolutely beautiful and is very picturesque. The trams at a decent pace but nothing that would be worrisome for one with a queasy stomach or one that gets motion sickness I would think. You can drive to the mountain and park up top but all I can say about that from previous experience is have fun and I wish you the best of luck in doing so. I am 85% sure that you will shortly be driving down the mountain back to right where you started - all while cursing under your breath about how you should have just bought the tickets for the tram.

Once you get to the top of the mountain there is ice skating inside as well as an arcade and a few other various things that one weather family can do together. I believe they have a restaurant up...