Outdoor Gravity Park

Why go: Zorbing means climbing inside an eleven foot inflatable orb holding ten gallons of water and rolling a thousand feet down a hillside, and this is the only place in the United States you can do it.

About Outdoor Gravity Park

Outdoor Gravity Park has been sending guests down its hillside since April 2015, and it is still the only zorbing park in the United States. The family that owns and runs it came home from a trip to New Zealand determined to bring the sport back with them, and by their own account it took years to turn that idea into a working hill.

The setup is simple and unlike anything else in town. Three tracks run down a 1,000 foot hill. You climb through a hatch into an eleven foot orb carrying roughly ten gallons of water, and gravity handles the rest. There is no tumbling involved. You slide across the water inside the inner sphere while the outer sphere does the rolling, which is why riders come out laughing instead of dizzy.

The orbs are made by hand in New Zealand and shipped over, each one taking well over a hundred hours to build. Water temperature is managed by season, cool through the summer and warmed for the colder months, which is how a water attraction in the Smokies stays open in January.

Two of the three tracks take up to three riders in one orb, so a family can go down together rather than one at a time. The park also runs the Fishpipe, a separately ticketed attraction that spins a water filled drum with riders inside at a speed the riders control themselves.

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Getting to Outdoor Gravity Park

Outdoor Gravity Park sits on Sugar Hollow Road, a short turn off the Parkway toward the north end of Pigeon Forge. It is close enough to the main strip to reach in a few minutes and far enough off it that plenty of visitors drive past without ever knowing the hill is there. Set your navigation to the street address rather than the business name, since the tracks sit back from the road and are easy to overshoot. Once you turn in, follow the road up and the orange and purple lanes come into view on the hillside above you.

Why Choose Outdoor Gravity Park

Pigeon Forge is not short of ways to get your heart rate up, but nearly all of them strap you into a seat and send you along a fixed track. Zorbing is the opposite of that, and the park has leaned hard into the things that make it different from everything else on the Parkway.

• Nowhere else in the country. This is the only zorbing park in the United States, so the real comparison is not with a rival operation but with flying to New Zealand.
• No height minimum and no weight minimum. Almost every thrill attraction in town has a measuring stick at the door. Here there is not one, and the only hard limit is a maximum of 275 pounds per person.
• It runs in every season. The water is kept cool through summer and warmed through winter, so this is not the warm months only proposition that most water based attractions in the Smokies turn out to be.
• Riders share an orb. Two of the three tracks take up to three people, so a parent can ride alongside a nervous child instead of waving from the bottom of the hill.
• Free extras that are not upsells. The orb massage and the OGP Challenge both cost nothing, and staff will set either one up if you ask.
• Still run by the family that started it. The park has been family owned and operated since it opened, not folded into a chain.

Must Do

Three tracks and one spinning drum, and they are not interchangeable. Taken in the right order, each one raises the stakes on the one before it.

• The Red Track. The park’s newest and most popular run, pairing the speed of the fast lane with the direction changes of the zig zag. Takes up to three riders.
• The Purple Track. The straight fast line down the hill. The park’s own promise is that you will feel a little out of control, and it keeps that promise.
• The Orange Track. The zig zag, and the only one you must ride solo. Staff will not send you down it until you have ridden one of the others first.
• The Fishpipe. A separate ticket and an entirely different sensation. A water filled drum rotates with you inside it, and you decide how fast it turns.
• The OGP Challenge. Run inside the orb the full length of the track and you earn a shirt and another roll. The park says fewer than three people a year finish it.
• The Orb Massage. Lie down at the bottom of the hill and let staff roll an orb straight over you. Free, thoroughly odd, and worth doing once.

What to Expect

This is a wet attraction with a short list of firm rules, and knowing them before you set off saves a wasted drive across town.

• Ages five and up. Five year olds must ride with an adult, and children six and older may ride alone. There is no height requirement whatsoever, and the weight limit is 275 pounds per person.
• Health restrictions apply. The park asks that riders be in good health with full mobility, and rules out participation with high blood pressure, pregnancy, epilepsy, heart conditions, and back or neck injuries.
• You will get soaked. Not damp, soaked. Bring a swimsuit or quick drying clothes, a towel, and a full change of clothes. Goggles help far more than you would expect.
• Leave valuables behind. Shoes and belongings go into cubbies at check in, and a phone is a poor companion inside an orb full of water.
• Changing rooms and restrooms are on site. You can arrive dry and leave dry, which matters if the rest of your day is already planned.
• Waivers are signed at check in. Build a few minutes into your arrival for the paperwork.
• Budget thirty minutes per track. Riding all three during a busy session works out at roughly an hour and a half.
• Booking ahead costs less. Advance tickets carry a discount that the walk up counter does not match, sessions sell out in the warmer months, and arriving late counts as a no show.
• Staff run the cameras. GoPros are handed out free at the top of the hill and operated by staff, and you decide afterwards whether to buy the footage.
• Food is on site. The Downhill Grill is the park’s own food truck, and anyone not riding is welcome to sit and watch from the bottom.
• Open rain or shine. Severe weather can move a session, but ordinary rain changes nothing. You were going to be wet anyway.
• Refund terms depend on where you book. Tickets bought through GetYourGuide can be cancelled up to twenty four hours ahead for a refund, while a direct booking cancelled in that same window is issued a credit rather than money back.

Nearby in Pigeon Forge

• Rowdy Bear’s Smoky Mountain Funpark. A mountain glider, a snow tubing hill that runs without snow, and a coaster on the same Parkway property.
• Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. A gravity fed alpine coaster on Wears Valley Road where riders control their own braking down the mountainside.
• Goats on the Roof. Goats graze on a grass roof above a general store, with a coaster and gem mining alongside it.
• Titanic Museum. A half scale ship housing artifacts and passenger stories, and a dry indoor option for the rest of the afternoon.

Explore More

My Smoky Mountain Guide Pigeon Forge is a great resource for finding things to do and places to eat.

• Pigeon Forge Food & Beverage Guide. Restaurants, dinner shows, breweries, distilleries, and eateries throughout Pigeon Forge, from sit-down meals to grab-and-go stops.
• Pigeon Forge Outdoor Adventure. Mountain coasters, UTV rentals, rafting, helicopter tours, and other ways to experience the Smokies from outdoors.
• Pigeon Forge Attractions. Museums, escape rooms, mini-golf, arcades, and other family-friendly stops across the city.
• Pigeon Forge Entertainment. Dinner shows, live music, comedy, magic, and theater experiences throughout Pigeon Forge.