Theme & Amusement Parks in Johnson City

Ripley’s has enthralled audiences for more than nine decades with its dedication to revealing odd and unexplainable rarities from around the globe. But it all began with one man: Robert Ripley, a wildly successful and eccentric character who rose to fame during the first half of the 20th century. After selling his first cartoon to Life magazine at age 14, he set out on a quick-paced career of drawing sports cartoons for the New York Globe. During a slow day at the office, he sketched nine unusual sporting events and finished his work with a title: “Believe It or Not!” It became immensely popular, allowing Ripley to travel the world in search of more bizarre stories to put into his comic strips. While visiting relatively unknown areas in locales such as India, China, and the inside of his neighbor’s chimney, he picked up a slew of unbelievable souvenirs that later became fixtures in several of Ripley’s museums, or as they’re affectionately called today, Odditoriums. Ripley’s now encompasses publications, attractions, a television show, and a blog, all of which carry Ripley’s tradition of reporting on the world’s curiosities.

The days of dragons, princesses, and magic wands are revived at MagiQuest, an interactive medieval quest experience for all ages. The course takes visitors through a live-action game that creeps through dungeons, a village, and a fairy forest as players encounter myriad characters, sneak through secret doors, defeat a goblin king, and return jewels to the princess. The fun doesn’t stop when the game ends, as MagiQuest also has an on-site black light mini golf course, a laser spy challenge, and a mirror maze.

With guidance from the friendly staff at Lazer Port Fun Center, spontaneous family adventures can begin with laps around the three-story go-kart track. Visiting racers and thrill-seeking spools of twine wind around corners, maneuver along helixes, and plunge down a 40-foot hill, before seeking out indoor adventures. 14,000 square feet of laser-tag landscape invite photon-fighting visitors to participate in 30-minute skirmishes, speeding across black-lit terrain and taking refuge behind alien figures while cosmic landscapes flicker in the background. After an engaging battle, visitors can settle into a 30-minute groove through the outer-space-themed mini-golf course. Cratered asteroids throw neon-yellow light on green fairways as they navigate between crashed spacecrafts, maintaining focus despite the heckling of gravity. The mesmerizing haze of LEDs and bells beckons visitors onward toward the arcade for ticket-churning rounds of prize games.

Sixty-five feet above The Track Family Recreation Center, participants bungee toward the earth below, while one to three airborne attendees sample the buzz of skydiving at once by leaping into an oversize safety cushions on the SkyFlyer ride. Down on the ground, drivers in single- and double-seated go-karts hug the turns of a three-story, spiraling wooden track. Bumper cars smash into each other on land and water cannon–equipped bumper boats soak other vessels at sea. On the miniature fairways, putters aim to sink holes in one while avoiding waterfalls, tunnels, and mock jungle animals. Finally, thumbs test their reflexes in the arcade with video games, and youngsters can mosey over to Kids Country to pilot kiddie and rookie go-karts or make pet ponies jealous by riding the carousel.

Tropical Gardens Miniature Golf strips away the cartoonish aspects of the game found on many courses, instead situating its 18 putting greens amid a diverse landscape of ponds and blooming floras. As a waterfall trickles nearby, a flamboyance of fake flamingos perches under the shade of a tree, silently observing golfers' mannerisms to use in their upcoming novel. Aside from navigating the miniature fairways, players can swing at baseballs in the batting cages or reunite quarters with their captive brethren in the video arcade.

Tucked away in the Smoky Mountains, RainForest Adventures Discovery Zoo nurtures a diverse family of more than 600 tropical and temperate species, many born in captivity. Brilliantly hued macaws and finches share space with eccentric guests such as two-headed turtles, hissing cockroaches, and reclusive business mogul Howard Hughes. Elsewhere, guests get up close with a cuddly collective of mammals such as kangaroos, African servals, and coatimundi, as well as cold-blooded crocodiles, lizards, and snakes. Regular visitors can witness the growth of Mason, a baby lemur born January 7, or come back in 2033 to celebrate his first legal bite of fermented berries.