Heading to Stone Mountain

[StaceySue]

My family leaves for Florida and Walt Disney World in five days, and I think my husband is finally convinced to stop at Stone Mountain on the way.  Honestly, I think it's the laser show that finally did it.  He says it will remind him of Celebration City.  Anyway, I haven't been this way in 20 years, so I know things have really changed since then, especially with the Herchends adding attractions.  I will report back!   

[Joy]

OMG, have fun! I'd love to visit Stone Mountain someday, and I'm already going through withdrawals from my January trip to WDW.

[mhguy77]

Sounds like a great pit stop to me!!  I have traveled to Dollywood twice and enjoyed that.  Please take some pictures and give us a Stone Mountain Report. I bet there are more folks than I that would really enjoy learning about Stone Mountain.

[StaceySue]

I will report back.  We went to Dollywood about five years ago.  It was before my youngest was born, and we hope to go back sometime when she is a little older so she can experience the area.  I really liked Dollywood and and the Smokies. 

[StaceySue]

We are on our way back from our Disney adventure, and yes, we did visit Stone Mountain.  While I enjoyed the mountain itself and the skyride to the top, I'm not sure I enjoyed the rest of the park very much.  

We arrived in the late afternoon, and we didn't try to do a lot of the attractions.  We walked around and then did the skyride, and by that time it was time to find a place for the laser show.  They had a special event that day--Soul Fest--and the place was packed.  People were all over that lawn, not like Celebration City at all.  The show itself was okay, but a lot of it was just little cartoons made with the lasers.  There wasn't too much emotion, not like I felt at Celebration City.  Maybe I shouldn't compare the shows, but I think Stone Mountain's would be better without so much laser and more pictures and footage of real people.

I'm glad we did it to say we have been there, but I am not sure I would ever go out of my way to return.

[mhguy77]

Was there not much in the park?  I had looked at the website a few years back and it seemed like it was mostly the train show and ride to the top. Was there anything else worth mentioning?

Wish you would have had a glowing report that made me feel I needed to go asap.....
I guess its detours like this that bring more appreciation of what we have here in SDC.

[StaceySue]

It was okay.  There are some little attractions to do, like a rope climbing attraction.  I will have to post pictures when I get home.  It wasn't a horrible experience or anything, but I wouldn't make it the destination of my trip.  If you were going to pass by anyway, I would stop by and make an afternoon or evening of it.  The views from the top of the mountain were quite beautiful. 

[StaceySue]

Here is my review I put on the Branson Board--

The next morning we packed up and had a pretty good breakfast at the hotel. Most of the day was for driving, but we did stop early near Atlanta to do Stone Mountain, or the Big Rock, as my youngest DD called it.

I had been there about 20 years before, so it is very different now that the Herschends run it. We made reservations for the top hotel in the Stone Mountain area the night before--it was a Country Inn and Suites. It was nearby and wasn't as expensive as the hotels recommended by the Stone Mountain website, although one of the recommended ones is in the actual park area. It was nice and it included breakfast as well, I believe.

The park is nice, but don't expect it to feel like SDC or Dollywood. It has a few attractions, but we didn't feel like doing any of them with the exception of the skyride to the top of the mountain. That was wonderful, and the views were beautiful. I'm glad we did that, and we have been up on high things many times, including Pikes Peak.

There are some shops and craft demonstrations, but again, it doesn't feel like SDC or Dollywood. It reminded me more of an eighth grade trip to Dogpatch for some reason. We walked through a few of them.

While we were there, an event called Soulfest was going on, and it was busy. We did go on a Saturday, though. People had staked out places on the main lawn all afternoon. There were people, shelters, and coolers everywhere. We also saw people bringing in fast food, so that was different.

Besides the $10 to park, there really isn't a gate or anything, so you could certainly go and not spend money on the attractions. You can buy the attractions separately, like we did for the skyride, or you can bundle them.

After we all went on the skyride, it was time to find a place to watch the laser show on the mountain. Again, the place was packed. We finally staked out some big rocks and put our blanket down near them. We played with glow bracelets until it was time to start. When it did start, my youngest DD promptly fell asleep.

The laser show was fine, but we like Celebration City's better. Maybe it was because we saw it first. The show had some neat effects, but it seemed to be lacking the emotion I used to feel watching it at CC. There was too much laser and not enough actual pictures, I thought. We actually left before it was completely over. Also, it was much longer. I was sitting there thinking about how much longer it was going to be--not a good sign.

After we left, we grabbed a late supper from Wendy's and brought it back to the rooms. We didn't make time to eat at Stone Mountain; we just ran out of time. We probably would have tried some BBQ.

I'm not sure we would go again. Maybe when my youngest is older someday, but not anytime soon. I'm glad to say that we've done it!

Here are some Stone Mountain pictures.

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DSCN0045 by sbillingsley, on Flickr[/img]

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DSCN0046 by sbillingsley, on Flickr[/url]
DSCN0057 by sbillingsley, on Flickr[/img]

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DSCN0097 by sbillingsley, on Flickr[/img]

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DSCN0052 by sbillingsley, on Flickr[/img]