Under Canvas Great Smoky Mountains — Hotel in Pigeon Forge

TLDR: Bring your own food and drinks, if it's cold, be prepared with your own fire starting materials, don't expect much from the staff.

The food was exorbitantly overpriced for the product received; the pan fish lacked seasoning to highlight the flavor and the pulled pork was just pulled pork and a bun - no pickles or slaw or anything to dress it up. For $20 and $15 respectively, a higher standard was expected. It's the little things that make or break the stay. Speaking of the little things, my biggest complaint is with the person who started our fire in our tent. He clearly lacked the experience and understanding of the proper operation of the wood stove. He used one of our two starters, and when we got to our tent, I had to use our last remaining starter and bit of kindling because the fire was out! It was out because he had overstuffed the stove with logs and didn't stack them properly to permit airflow. The first thing I did was remove a large log and restructured the fire so that it could 'breathe'. I had no trouble getting it going. I was staying with my wife, toddler, and baby. When I woke up at 2:15 AM, the fire was out and the temperature was below freezing. We needed to heat up a bottle for the baby and to do that we had to use the stove. Without a starter block it took me OVER AN HOUR in the cold to restart the fire WITHOUT the starter and kindling. I used a pocket knife on a big log and a full box of matches, including the box itself. This is unacceptable and speaks to the inexperience of the particular member of the staff and/or the lack of materials provided. I'm an Eagle Scout with extensive fire experience and basically had to Boy Scout that fire into existence in the freezing cold. How could a person with less experience accomplish that? When I filed my complaint with the front desk, they apologized on behalf of that staff member, but it was sort of a 'sorry, deal with it' sort of thing. They told me that the front desk was staffed over night, but that bit of knowledge did little good to me the following day. It seems from this experience that the staff was green in some of the areas that mattered a lot given the situation, lacked the wherewithal to ensure proper communication with guests (such as letting us know upon check-in that the front desk was staffed over night, and if any supplies were needed they could be provided), and adequate fire supplies provided to guests within the tent. To be clear, this complaint is about the poor job of the staff member getting the fire started and the lack of starting supplies and kindling provided to the tent.

My family and I chose Under Canvas to glamp together as a family. We were under the impression that we just needed to be prepared for the weather, to dress accordingly, and the rest would be taken care of so that we could focus on the experience as a family in nature. It is clear now that people need to be prepared for a lot more than just that. And again, if the front desk staff in the morning could have done something to turn our experience around - like a small discount on breakfast (spent $47 on two adults and a toddler on food ALONE) or SOMETHING, ANYTHING to show that they cared or were apologetic about their missteps - we may have come away from this feeling differently. Instead it seemed like they didn't care, and they weren't about own their role in contributing to a negative experience. "Glad you spent $380 in 14 hours, sorry we screwed up your fire and you had a rough night because of it. Better luck next time." Next time I'll save a ton of money and just set up...

Stayed here in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains this past weekend with my friend and our 9 and 12 year old daughters. Check-in was easy and the main tent where you eat was beautifully and comfortably decorated.

We had tent 40 with a children's hive next to it. The girls loved having their own space. I was happy we had a king sized bed in ours. I brought my own pillow but we had 5 on our bed. The bed was a little soft for my liking but better than sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag. Lol The linens were very nice and cozy at night. Tent 40 is situated right next to a little stream which you can hear babbling at night as you doze off.

Our tent had a wood stove in it but it was in the low 60s at night and we found we didn't need it. The girls tent did not have a stove but I imagine their breath would have kept them warm had it been a little cooler. The only downside I would say is their hive smelled mildewy to me and you could see the mildew as well. They did not complain about the smell but I'm glad we did not have that issue in ours. I have a sensitive nose...

We had two electric lanterns in our tent and a fan which we did not use. I unplugged the fan and plugged my usb charger in to charge my phone while I slept. Speaking of, there is no wifi there which I knew but also no cell service. I did not get to let my husband know we safely arrived. Every once in a while my texts would go through but I could not google things to do around me, look at directions for anything or find trails. The front desk is happy help with any of that however. They will print directions for you to help until your map app works when cell service kicks in.

We ate dinner and breakfast from the restaurant. I was not expecting anything great but it was actually very delicious. You can charge to your tent so no need to bring cash. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate are free any time of day/night as well as water to fill up your water bottles. Also, free smores kits were enjoyed by the girls every night and we all loved hanging out by the campfire chatting with others and each other until bedtime.

They provide towels for you and the bathrooms were actually quite nice. I saw them cleaning them more than once. The water was hot but it is on a pull chain to be used sparingly. Also provided shampoo and body wash. Bring your own conditioner if you need to condition your hair.

I wondered more than once if they sprayed for mosquitos because they usually suck the life out of me but I only had one bite and I don't even remember if I got it at the camp. Could be because the weather was cool already. Bring waterproof boots if it rains. My hiking boots got wet walking through the wet grass and my socks never dried. I wore crocs most of the time but it was definitely wet.

It's definitely a great place to spend a few days and as close to camping as I want to get. One thing to note, I only saw 3 small bugs in our tent (the kind attracted to light) and I'm usually not a fan of bugs (i.e. terrified) but I had no issues. None in my bed, none crawling on me...yes it's camping and I psyched myself up for he possibility of bug encounters but was happy to have none. Lol I would definitely recommend a visit and would love to visit another site myself...

We got married at Under Canvas Great Smoky Mountains November 2021 after having to postpone our event from October of 2020. Planning the event with Under Canvas was a breeze. Shannon was so helpful and responsive. The only hiccup along the way seemed to be some technical glitches with the online tent booking system BUT it resulted in no issues on our big day.

I want to give the BIGGEST props to the Under Canvas Smoky Mountains staff. They were hospitable, kind, accommodating, helpful, enthusiastic....you get the idea. I can't say enough about the staff. It was a chilly November weekend so they helped us and all our guests any time we struggled keeping fires going. They went above and beyond to help us with some of those last minute details. They even promptly mailed us a few items that were left behind.

The venue, of course, is stunning. It was a picturesque fall weekend....leaves bursting with colors and sunsets you have to see to believe. Having the entire place to yourself is worth every penny. It allows you to really connect with your guests (who probably traveled far and wide) the entire weekend so that you can truly enjoy the wedding itself...getting all those "hellos" and "thank you for being heres" out of the way on Friday is priceless.

Logistically, the location is more convenient than one might think. We had about half of our guests drive from Nashville which was maybe 3.5 hours. A few of my family members drove from PA and the rest flew into McGhee Tyson Airport (Knoxville) which is only 45-55 minutes to Under Canvas. Depending on which route you take, the last 20-30 minutes of the drive twist and turn and in the last 15 or so minutes you will lose cell service (but your GPS should still carry you there) all that said, I do suggest trying to get there before sundown just so there's ample day light...not 100% necessary but it helps. Your GPS will likely not work for the first 10-15 minutes when leaving the Under Canvas site, but it's really not hard to get back to the main roads! All of our guests made it home easily.

My parents and a few pregnant guests opted to stay in cabins which are literally right by the entrance of the Under Canvas driveway. The cabins have all the modern amenities like Wi-Fi, kitchens, hot tubs, beds, TVs, etc. These cabins are not affiliated with Under Canvas.

Ever since the wedding I (and all of our guests) have been wishing we could go back and do it all again. It was truly a dream come true. Do it. Get married at Under Canvas Great Smoky Mountains. You will be...