Gatlinburg's Anakeesta Partners With Alpine Media For Park Communication
Summer travelers are all familiar with quick-changing weather conditions at mountain resorts and adventure parks. Visitors can rest easy at parks like Anakeesta that have a new live-updating mobile application and digital signage to help communicate up-to-the-minute attraction opening times and status.
Nestled in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Anakeesta is an adventure park for all ages that celebrates the closeness of nature. Anakeesta’s park includes a range of relaxing activities including the Treetop Skywalk, a network of rope bridges 60 feet in the air that boasts 360 degree views of the Smoky Mountains, as well as high-speed activities like the Dueling Zipline or the Rail Runner, a single-rail mountain roller coaster that can hit speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. Of course, a trip to Anakeesta is not complete without a ride up the iconic Chondola. If that isn’t enough, Anakeesta is currently undergoing a $6.5M expansion project, and recently opened the Anavista Tower (an observatory with 360 views for those who do not want to trek the rope bridges) and the Treeventure Challenge course (a network of climbing and sliding routes that connect several treehouses).
This summer, Anakeesta partnered with Alpine Media to create a mobile app to help push live updates to guests to improve their experience. This app, along with five indoor and outdoor digital park displays powered by Alpine Media, will communicate useful information like local weather, a park map, other information about the park, and upcoming events/activities. The app will include push notifications so guests can be aware of attraction closures or delays so they can plan their day accordingly. As attractions pause operations throughout the day for safety reasons, the app will share information about how and where to catch the Ridge Rambler, a shuttle designed to transport people around the park when other attractions are closed.
“We feel the need to communicate with our guests about what is happening at the top of the mountain when they are standing at the bottom.” said Michele Canney, Director of Marketing for Anakeesta. Many passersby along Gatlinburg’s downtown strip are not aware of the 72-acre park that lies above the town, as the only hint to this well-kept secret is the Chondola’s entrance. Michele explained that there is “always a communication miss that happens here, but we’re excited to have the ability to communicate clearly with our guests about trails that are open or closed.”
Anakeesta is also eagerly awaiting the third phase of their current expansion project which will include a large summit lodge that will house a Smokehouse BBQ and Brewery restaurant as well as retail shops, a place to enjoy homemade flatbread pizzas, a frozen yogurt station, and a large stage for live music on weekends. Visitors can stay tuned both on and off the mountain to learn about which groups will be lighting up the stage each weekend once the new space opens in September, all thanks to the new mobile app designed by Alpine Media.
Over 100 years ago, even before the National Park was established, the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women identified the Appalachian region of Gatlinburg, Tennessee as the population most in need for access to literacy and healthcare. They traveled to what was then a remote mountain village and worked alongside the community to create a school, healthcare facility and a cottage industry of weaving textiles and creating crafts for sale throughout the United States.
With the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934, Gatlinburg flourished and the community of residents continued to welcome what is now an influx of over 11,000,000 guests per year to Gatlinburg.
In 2014, the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity chose to sell the 55+ pristine acres of mountain forested land to Bob and Karen Bentz and their family. They exhibited a vision towards environmental stewardship of the property encouraging a family oriented mountaintop experience in the Smokies with a promise to maintain the authenticity, heritage and natural beauty of the land.
Nestled in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Anakeesta is an adventure park for all ages that celebrates the closeness of nature. Anakeesta’s park includes a range of relaxing activities including the Treetop Skywalk, a network of rope bridges 60 feet in the air that boasts 360 degree views of the Smoky Mountains, as well as high-speed activities like the Dueling Zipline or the Rail Runner, a single-rail mountain roller coaster that can hit speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. Of course, a trip to Anakeesta is not complete without a ride up the iconic Chondola. If that isn’t enough, Anakeesta is currently undergoing a $6.5M expansion project, and recently opened the Anavista Tower (an observatory with 360 views for those who do not want to trek the rope bridges) and the Treeventure Challenge course (a network of climbing and sliding routes that connect several treehouses).
This summer, Anakeesta partnered with Alpine Media to create a mobile app to help push live updates to guests to improve their experience. This app, along with five indoor and outdoor digital park displays powered by Alpine Media, will communicate useful information like local weather, a park map, other information about the park, and upcoming events/activities. The app will include push notifications so guests can be aware of attraction closures or delays so they can plan their day accordingly. As attractions pause operations throughout the day for safety reasons, the app will share information about how and where to catch the Ridge Rambler, a shuttle designed to transport people around the park when other attractions are closed.
“We feel the need to communicate with our guests about what is happening at the top of the mountain when they are standing at the bottom.” said Michele Canney, Director of Marketing for Anakeesta. Many passersby along Gatlinburg’s downtown strip are not aware of the 72-acre park that lies above the town, as the only hint to this well-kept secret is the Chondola’s entrance. Michele explained that there is “always a communication miss that happens here, but we’re excited to have the ability to communicate clearly with our guests about trails that are open or closed.”
Anakeesta is also eagerly awaiting the third phase of their current expansion project which will include a large summit lodge that will house a Smokehouse BBQ and Brewery restaurant as well as retail shops, a place to enjoy homemade flatbread pizzas, a frozen yogurt station, and a large stage for live music on weekends. Visitors can stay tuned both on and off the mountain to learn about which groups will be lighting up the stage each weekend once the new space opens in September, all thanks to the new mobile app designed by Alpine Media.
Over 100 years ago, even before the National Park was established, the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women identified the Appalachian region of Gatlinburg, Tennessee as the population most in need for access to literacy and healthcare. They traveled to what was then a remote mountain village and worked alongside the community to create a school, healthcare facility and a cottage industry of weaving textiles and creating crafts for sale throughout the United States.
With the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934, Gatlinburg flourished and the community of residents continued to welcome what is now an influx of over 11,000,000 guests per year to Gatlinburg.
In 2014, the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity chose to sell the 55+ pristine acres of mountain forested land to Bob and Karen Bentz and their family. They exhibited a vision towards environmental stewardship of the property encouraging a family oriented mountaintop experience in the Smokies with a promise to maintain the authenticity, heritage and natural beauty of the land.
