We went for Thanksgiving 2017. Me, wife, and 3 kids ages 5 to 10.
We drove from Houston. Stayed the first night in Vicksburg, MS. Visited the Battle Park the next morning then drove to Chattanooga, TN for 2 nights. Did lookout mountain, ruby falls, rock city, and just hung around. We then drove to Gatlinburg for 4 nights. We used VRBO to stay at a "cabin" in the place linked below. The cabin was great with awesome views and very convenient.
https://www.cabinsofthesmokymountains.com/We woke up at 6AM on the last day and were ready to get home so we drove straight through back to Houston.
I would stay in in Gatlinburg over Pigeon Forge.
We did Dollywood and we thought it was awesome.
We did Dixie Stampede and it was a big meh for me but my wife went a bunch as a kid and wanted to go.
Pigeon forge reminds me of international drive in Orlando if you have ever seen that.
There are several zip lines around Gatlinburg. The aquarium is supposed to awesome.
We did snow tubing at ober gatlinburg but they have a bunch of summer stuff as well.
We are not big hikers but we did the porters creek hike.
https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/kid-friendly-hikes.htmThe river is absolutely beautiful along the trail
The Aggie number specified has already been linked with another TexAgs account.