WOMAN OF HOPE AND PRAYER: RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT ODDITORIUM review

Discover the Museum that inspired the hit TV show! Gallery after gallery of the most amazing exhibits…the strange, shocking and unexpected.

Now I am a huge Nerd and love to read about oddities as some call it. I get so intrigued by what some people can accomplish or just what nature has created itself. So I was so excited and interested to get to visit Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditoium. When you first walk into the lobby you are faced with a 6-legged bison.

The bison freaked my daughter out simply because she could not figure out why it had legs on its back. After several minutes of explaining we finally got her to understand...I think. Either that or she got tired of us explaining it to her. Across from it was something that mesmerized my fiancee...

I could literally see the excitement in his eyes as he pictured the largest tires on his truck. He looked like my kids in the Candy Store. He immediately rushed over to take a picture and to read the plaque inside the rim of the tire. Finally I pried him away from the tire (I thought I was going to have to come back for him) and we entered.

Now when you enter it there is so much to see and it is broken up into different sections. Now I will warn there were a few sections my youngest daughter was a little scared in and the first was one that was set up with a cemetery feel to it and I did not get any photos of it cause we had to rush through it . It is really not scary it just kind of scared her since I think she was expecting something to jump out at her (which does not happen by the way). I did like seeing the Vampire Hunter's kit in that section though. Well, what little I saw of it!

Now one of my kids favorite sections was one that featured animals like the flying lizard (shown below).

My daughter laughed so loud at it. She thought it was the silliest thing she had seen. Another big hit with my son was the Dinosaur part of the museum.

Now this is the other section that scared my youngest daughter, simply because there was a "roaring" dinosaur amidst the waterfall and displays. It was really cool looking since there was a huge shadow that popped up of a T-Rex. So needless to say, we did not stay in this area very long either. In fact I tried to take a picture of the kids with the waterfall only to have my daughter run off in the middle of it.

All in all my fiancee and I loved it and wished the kids had let us read the plaques more. My kids loved it as well aside from the few moments my youngest was fleeing certain parts of it. I think they would enjoy it again when the youngest grows up a little more. Now for one of my favorite displays of the museum...

It is a horse made completely out of clothes hangers. The time it must have taken to complete such a work of art. I loved this piece the most and it is the one I talked about the most. It simply amazed me.

Now the museum is opened 365 days a year and they open at 10 am each day. Tickets can be purchased online here or at the museum itself. Prices vary depending on age ( $14.99 for adults and $6.99 for ages 6-11) and there is a discount to purchase online (you save a dollar). They also offer a dollar off groups of 6 or more. Also children age 6-11 must have a parent with them.

The Ripley's Museum is definitely an attraction to check out if you are going to be in Gatlinburg or near one of their other locations especially if you love tidbits of knowledge. Just make sure you do not rush through it or you could miss something amazing.