Tennessee

---

https://www.dollywood.com/ 

This was a fun experience with family. My parents were visiting from Hawaii in mid-November, the park was beautifully decorated for the holidays. Even though I was not able to ride any of the rides due to a medical condition at the time I still enjoyed the shows and the attractions. 

We arrived early and there were still plenty of scooters to rent for a fee. If you plan to use one, I recommend getting to the park close to opening time. My mom rented a scooter and I had my power chair. Hers had a little more oomph getting up some of the inclines, but I was having issues with the motor on my chair at the time. 

All of the restaurants and gift shops were accommodatable with lower counters and wide aisles for shopping. While browsing around and looking at the stuff available to purchase I never felt like I was going to bump into anything or there would be a problem of my fitting with my wheelchair. 

The website did give information on the availability for scooter rentals. The whole park was very accessible. The bathrooms were big enough to accommodate wheelchairs and were very clean. Parking was fine, lots of handicap spaces closer to the entrance. There was also a tram to get people closer. The entrance had a separate area for wheelchair/scooter entries. We definitely plan to go again!

Website      4

Parking       5

Pricing        5

Mobility aid/device        4

Entrance      5

Bathroom       5

Attractions       3

Accessibility       5

Helpfulness        5

Overall Experience        4

Total         46

https://www.gatlinburg.com/

This is a cute little tourist town in north eastern TN. The town itself is accessible, but most of the activities are not. The skyway ride does not accommodate wheelchairs. I also saw signs for scooter rentals but did not inquire as to the prices. 

I found that many of the shops along the main strip were accessible but the little “German Village” tucked behind near the candy store was not at all. I had heard about a donut shop there that I really wanted to try, I had to have my daughters go in and pick something out for me. There were either steps or the store was too small or narrow for me to maneuver inside. It really was a cute little area, but I was not able to do anything but sit outside the stores while my family members went inside. 

We went in early November when family was visiting. We do plan to return so we can explore more and maybe check out the museums next time. There are small parking lots with some handicap spots. There might be bigger parking lots at the end of town near the museums, but we didn’t get that far. The website above is just for the town itself, there are links to attractions and accommodations. Those links do give information on the ADA availability. 

There were public restrooms and the various attractions and restaurants have them for their customers but I was not in need of the facilities on this visit. 

Darn, guess we will have to go again!

Website      5

Parking       4

Pricing         5

Mobility aid/device       5

Entrance        5

Bathroom        5

Attractions        5

Accessibility        3

Helpfulness       4

Overall Experience       5

Total           46

https://www.visitmusiccity.com/things-to-do-in-nashville/attractions/honky-tonk-highway

Finding parking in a garage was easy enough. As we made our way down Broadway, I noticed that many of the bars and restaurants had steps making it impossible for me to enter. 

We did find a restaurant on a side street that I was able to enter and maneuver around inside. The bathrooms were not ADA. I actually had to go down a very narrow hall to the bar/dancehall in the back to get to the bathrooms. The door was too heavy to open on my own, the bathroom was too narrow and the handicap stall was barely big enough for my chair. 

Since this is a street with many businesses there isn’t really a website dedicated to it, the link I attached above does give information about various attractions, businesses and hotels in the area. For the most part the sidewalks were easy to maneuver, they get very crowded at night and trying to get around people who were drunk and partying was definitely interesting! 

Even though it is not very ADA friendly, we will be going back for some night life fun and excitement!

Website       3

Parking        4

Pricing         5

Mobility aid/device       0

Entrance       1

Bathroom       1

Attractions      3

Accessibility      3

Helpfulness      5

Overall Experience       4

Total          29

https://titanicpigeonforge.com/

I did not have my wheelchair when we went to the Titanic Exhibit, it was a last-minute surprise trip. Luckily, they had some there available to borrow at no cost! The website does state that it is ADA with elevators, but does not provide info that there are wheelchairs available to borrow.

I was able to experience most of the exhibits, though some were very narrow because they were historically accurate. Parking was fine, fairly good size lot. 

Website      5

Parking      5

Pricing        5

Mobility aid/device       5

Entrance         5

Bathroom       5

Attractions      5

Accessibility      4

Helpfulness       5

Overall Experience       5

Total            49