Parkside Resort - Accommodations by Parkside — Hotel in Pigeon Forge

Deer Haven: I don't want to say our experience was HORRIBLE, but it wasn't great or ideal by any means.

The Bad: When we arrived, our cabin floor was dirty, as in our feet/socks were brown on the bottom from the dirty floor. They didn't even give us enough hand towels for all the bathrooms. Several things were already broken too: the handle on the freezer, some of the cupboards/drawers in the kitchen, the drawers in the beds downstairs, the shower handle was loose and the door didn't stay on track (they definitely picked more chintzy appliances, which I get to an extent, but not when people are in and out constantly using the stuff and they're making money on renting the place out) the shelf in the downstairs bathroom is noticeably crooked, the toggles on one of the arcade games barely worked, some of the pool sticks were missing tips and there was no chalk, my siblings said the putt putt golf was underwhelming, the hot tub was cloudy and very stinky (we have one at home, I know what they're supposed to look and smell like when they're clean lol) so none of us adults even used it at all (the kids did once cuz they don't care as much lol,) and the list goes on. The worst part was the fact that it flooded; the basement was pretty wet and the water outside in front of the cabin by the steps took a while to drain too. The carpet in the theatre room was absolutely soaked and we couldn't use the room for the rest of our time there cuz it was wet and it smelled so bad in there, the rug was very wet in the game room downstairs, and our friends that were there while it happened said the maintenance guy that came to help clean up took a while to get there, and he didn't even tell the front office all of what had happened. He also told them it's a "rare occurrence" for it to rain that much up there, which I find hard to believe cuz we were only there for a week and it rained hard several times, plus the mountains are a very lush and beautiful green, so I'm pretty sure they get enough rain for that to stay how it is. Plus, there were other reviews stating their cabins flooded too, so obviously it's happened before lol. They didn't come back to clean up all the dirt that had gotten washed into the house either. I'm sure they won't give us a discount cuz like another review said when their cabin flooded they considered it an "Act of God" which technically it is, but He didn't build the cabin with a poor drainage system! My aunt left a detailed list of issues in the guest book too in case I missed any here 😜

The Good: The location is beautiful; it was really cool to stay in the mountains like that. It was nice to be close to the Ripken baseball fields for the tournament and close to downtown and all the things to do in Pigeon Forge, like horseback riding, shopping, and other activities close by. (It is definitely a tourist city lol, the traffic was not fun haha.) The cabin itself was very pretty too, and the decorations were cool (we loved all the deer stuff, even though a lot of it was fake lol and some of it was broken upon arrival, like the deer antlers on the kitchen table centerpiece.) We all LOVED the arcade games in the cabin (the ones that worked at least lol.) I played a ton of Dig Dug, the kids played lots of Donkey Kong and other games, my dad played some Frogger, and my mom of course had to get her Pac Man & Miss Pac Man fix. We got to see a couple bears from our cabin too, so that was pretty awesome! We loved the pool, the deep fried Oreos, and the yummy pizza too from the pool cafe. Wish they had a hot tub at the pool though. PS: there were some nail heads sticking up out of the deck at the pool that my cousin kept stubbing his foot on, so I hammered them down with a rock. Lol. There may be more that need to be hammered back down.

Overall, the pool and activities were good, but a lot of the "details" of the cabin were in need of repair and/or update. I would say I would come back, but I would probably want to stay in a different cabin (my fiancé had been there before in a different cabin and said...

As we headed to Parkside Resort, we were so very excited to be staying at Critter Cove. We drove 7+ hours only to be told at check in that the pipes were frozen at Critter Cove. Thomas, the resort manager, stated that he had tried to call to let us know. However, there were no missed calls or voice-mails on our phones. (And yes, we had service during our entire trip.) During our check-in, Thomas also stated that at check out, he would be compensating us for the inconvenience of being in two cabins.

We were offered a one bedroom cabin for 4 adults. After realizing that wouldn't work, a second one bedroom cabin was found. These cabins were about two miles from each other and we only had one vehicle. As we headed to the cabins, the snow was falling. It was clear that the resort roads were not pretreated, nor were there any resort staff working to keep the roads clear. We couldn't leave the resort to get food, and nothing was delivering due to the snow.

We woke up Tuesday morning to snow covered roads - even though the snow had stopped by 6pm Monday night. We kept checking the roads throughout the morning, but they were never salted nor plowed. At this point the temperature was well above freezing and any surface that was stepped on was clear. Neighboring cabins were out with brooms, cardboard, and shovels trying to clear the roads. Finally at 1:30, we braved getting out and made it to the state road, which was clear and dry. The resort road was still snow covered and barely passable.

When we checked back in with the resort office after eating, we were told that our road had been salted first thing Tuesday morning. This was clearly not the case. We were also told that the pipes were still frozen at Critter Cove despite the 50° weather and heaters that were placed in the crawl space (more on this later). We did make it back to both one bedroom cabins.

On Wednesday with 60° weather, we finally received word that the pipes were thawed at Critter Cover. As we pulled up, there was NO sign that anyone had tried to work in the crawl space. We only noticed tire tracks in driveway. This was also the first day we saw any maintenance staff and vehicles at the resort.

Critter Cove was definitely the deluxe cabin we were expecting. The cabin itself was fantastic. Our only complaint was the remotes to many of the TVs were barely working and the TV at the hot tub did not have any type of box connecting it to the cable.

Both of the one bedroom cabins were just ok. They needed to be deep cleaned and the sheets had stains on them.

Fortunately we were able to salvage the last two days of our trip. But our vacation was definitely overshadowed by the constant stream of lies and half-truths told to us by the resort staff - mainly by Thomas.

And Thomas still has not made good on his promise to make sure we were compensated for our inconvenience. We have given him several oppotunities to make good on his promise. But to no avail.

We were understanding that Mother Nature decided to give Tennessee a dose of winter weather and that the resort clearly was NOT prepared to handle it. What none of us can understand is the constant stream of lies from the resort manager, Thomas. We also felt that the resort clearly did not have any plan in place to make sure our safety was their top concern.

We definitely will NOT be returning to this resort, nor will we be recommending...

We stayed at Smoky Mountain Lodge for an extended wedding weekend and used the Smoky Mountain Pavilion for our wedding. Overall, we were very happy with our stay. As frequent Smoky Mountain travelers, we've stayed at several resorts and this one was a great choice! There are several great things to say about our stay, but I really want to talk about the biggest down fall.

There is a neighbor, whom owns a private residence, very close to this cabin. The very first day (within the first 30 minutes) of our stay, the neighbor turned on a sound system. The music was so loud that we couldn't have conversations on the back porch. The day of our wedding we had music playing to do our dancing and the neighbor again turned on a sound system to drown out our own music. It was very upsetting that we couldn't enjoy our wedding reception due to the neighbors music. On another night the neighbor turned on his sound system and actually left his property and kept the music playing. The music was played from 9pm-11:30pm. The music is played through a sound system, so it's very loud! Not only was it obnoxious, it was disruptive and inconsiderate.

It should be noted this is a private residence and not associated with the resort. When I voiced this concern to the resort, they explained they are dealing with the neighbor through other measures. I just simply want others to be aware of this issue, especially those getting married, because it's something the resort has knowledge of and are not going to disclose openly. (SEE PICTURE)

Aside from that issue, there were several nice aspects of the resort:

Great location! The resort is a less than 10 minute drive to everything Pigeon Forge. It's very convenient to be so close to town!

The views were perfect! We had a great view on the back deck of our cabin, but there were even better Mountain views if you went further up through the resort.

Beautiful cabin! The Smoky Mountain lodge was beautifully decorated throughout and had a very homey feeling. There was everything one may need in the kitchen, as well as for the grilling area.

Front desk and maintenance were very nice and professional. We made several calls throughout our stay for various reasons (tvs not working, theater assistance, glass cleaner for windows, clean hot tub, etc.). The front desk staff never got tired of our calls and the maintenance guys were patient with us.

We didn't get a chance to visit the other parts of the resort (pools, putt putt golf, restaurant, etc.) So I can't speak on those, but we were happy to know that they were available for us to enjoy if...