Holiday Inn Express Gatlinburg Downtown is a 113-room, four-floor hotel built as a Smokies basecamp, and its headline feature is Splash Hollow: an all-weather water park tucked indoors, with slides, a heated pool and an interactive children’s splash zone that runs 10 AM to 10 PM no matter what the mountain weather decides to do. Standard rooms span 335 to 520 square feet with a king or two queens, while suites run 490 square feet and several, the King Suite among them, add a pullout sofa, and every one is triple-sheeted and stocked with a microwave, mini fridge and Keurig. A guest lounge wraps a stone fireplace, and the gym opens 8 AM to 11 PM.

Mornings start downstairs, where the signature cinnamon rolls come out warm beside omelets, bacon and a make-your-own pancake press, and the Log Cabin Pancake House waits across the street when the family wants a sit-down. The Gatlinburg Convention Center is the next building over, the Parkway shops and neon sit two blocks away, and the hotel keeps its own trolley stop at the curb, so the complimentary lot can stay full all weekend. McGhee Tyson is the nearest airport, and the national park gateway is minutes from the porte-cochere.