When the forecast turns, this is where we send people. It is about 30 minutes from Sevierville, right at the bottom of the Parkway in Gatlinburg, and it is entirely indoors.
The centerpiece is the Shark Lagoon — a glass tunnel with a moving walkway that carries you under sand tiger sharks, sawfish and rays. Kids stand on it and go round twice. There are penguins, a touch tank with horseshoe crabs and rays, and a stingray bay where you can get your hands in the water.
Allow two to three hours. Buy tickets online before you leave the cabin, because the line at the door on a wet day is the worst part of the whole visit. Go first thing or after 4pm — the middle of the day is when the school groups and every other rained-off family arrive at once.
Parking in Gatlinburg is easier said than done. Use one of the paid lots off River Road rather than circling the Parkway. It works just as well on a hot August afternoon as it does in the rain.
