What I discovered at Adventure Mountain can make me a rich woman. If I had known what this ropes course could do for my children and I, we would have been going all season long. Have other families experienced this high inducing thrill from Adventure Mountain and not shared it with me. Am I the last to know?
Let me begin by saying I am on week one of winter break. Yes, I am home with two children for a total of two weeks. I have two boys who love each other, but bicker constantly. I have learned to keep them busy. The busier they are the less they argue. So we grabbed our season passes and went to Dollywood. This time for the sole purpose of taking on Adventure Mountain. Adventure Mountain is a massive 2 acre ropes course that you can make as simple or as challenging as you want. My oldest son is eight years old and an adventurer. He loves a challenge. My 5 year old is more laid back. Let’s just say he had to be bribed to even go on the course.
The challenge for us begins in line. I have one child that is dying to go on the course but is not tall enough to go by himself and the other one doesn’t want to go. Single mothers how do you do it? I am sure my husband’s ears are burning at this point since he had to work. So I did what any good mother would do, I bribed my little one with the promise of letting him spend money on games next. We wait in line for an hour. Did I mention we chose to go to Dollywood on the next to last day of the season. What were we thinking? Luckily, all three of us are people watchers so the time seemed to pass quickly.
As we got to the head of the line, we were harnessed in our rock climbing type gear and sent on our adventure. What is great about this course is you really can make it as easy or as hard as you want. There are always four ways to go to the next section. One is always a simple walkway. The other three offer bridges of varying levels of difficulty. My youngest and I started on the simple walkways and eventually tried the others. My oldest was walking on two ropes, swaying steps, and swinging beams.
Now to me what made this ropes course such a great experience is seeing the interaction between my two boys during the course. They cheered each other on, helped each other, and encouraged one another. It was enough to make this Momma beam with pride.
There are three courses you can choose from. We finished the first and the boys wanted to go again. I thought we would have to stand in line again, but Dollywood is amazing in the way they set things up. If you want to continue on to another course, you can, WITHOUT having to stand in line again. You can repeat the courses as many times as you want.
We stayed in Adventure Mountain for two hours. It was the best two hours of winter break so far. We left with such a great feeling of accomplishment. My boys have told me repeatedly thanks for taking them. And my oldest told me “I had the best time with you today Mom”. Thank you Dollywood and Adventure Mountain. You have turned my boys into best friends on an adventure!