Avast!! There Be Bogeys Ahead! – Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay

Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay: An honest review

For years, the quality of mini-golf courses in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg – to a lesser extent, Sevierville – were on the decline. Other than the Ripley courses, most of your options were afterthoughts, mediocre destinations that existed only to give a little “added value” to the arcade ticket bunder. Others were poorly maintained, poorly designed, and just bad. And indoor mini-golf? That usually amounted to a couple of black lights and a neon-glowing alien figure salvaged from an 1987 arcade. 

But recently, we’ve seen some significant investment in the mini-golf space. There are a couple of nice new places on Teaster Lane. One of which is Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay. It’s an extravagant two-course affair that opened in December of 2023. At the time, it was said to be an Epic Golf Adventure that was designed to be the best of the area’s mini golf offerings. But did it succeed? 

What is Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay?

It’s a fairly high-concept mini-golf experience. On the roof, you play the Sky Pirates Course, which is themed with pirates in flying zeppelin-like ships. It’s a fun, unique, and interesting setup. The second course is on the first floor, inside, and is themed as if you are under water with the mermaids and massive aquatic sea life. 

The courses themselves look fairly easy – there are extra challenges on each hole to make things more difficult, but I don’t really go in for that. I’m a mini golf purist. Do I need to hit it through a windmill or past a laughing clown? Fine. But I will not be getting on the ground and slapping at the ball with the butt end of the putter. Excuse me, Black Beard and Ariel, I do have some dignity. 

However, the holes remain deceptive. While many mini golf courses only require a proper understanding of geometry and angles, the holes here – especially in the Mermaid Bay – have elevated shelves that require a deft touch. Too little and the ball rolls back, too hard and the ball rolls beyond, forcing another difficult shot. So, if you’re a fairly competitive player, the course will satisfy. That said, if you have younger players in your party, especially ones who may be tiring late in the evening, you may have to set a stroke limit.

The rest of the area is fine. There are picture spots – you can post in a giant shark mouth, an arcade, and a gift shop. But really, the golf’s the thing. 

What does the internet say?

The internet is very pro Sky Pirates with a Google rating of 4.5 with more than 750 reviews. For comparison, the new Scooby Doo course has a rating of 4.7 with 235 reviews. I will say, however, that the Scooby Doo course is right next to Teaster Lane and I felt exposed. To clarify, I don’t like it when attractions, mini golf, mountain coasters, go karts or whatever are located right on top of the road. I prefer to recreate with a modicum of privacy.

Is it worth it?

I’m old. In some ways, impossibly old. And there are many places where I have not recalibrated my mindset to the current economy. What! A Big Mac is how much?

So, in my head, mini-golf costs $10 like it did when I was a young man. I mean, I know that $20 for a round of mini golf is basically the going rate. It’s part of the service here at thesmokies.com. I know you might be able to find it cheaper, but the course won’t be very good.

Intellectually, I know that it’s $20 a head at least. However, when they said $150 – with tax – for our party of six, there was a part of me that kind of freaked out. We had just had a nice meal at a good restaurant and the bill was the same. On a whim, we decided to cap our evening with mini golf and I didn’t really give much thought to the cost. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the money. It was just I hadn’t mentally prepared myself to part with it.

Then when my youngest started to get tired and loose focus and the groups bogged down towards the end, I found myself questioning the purchase. In fairness, that’s, of course, on me not on the nice mermaids and sky pirates.

Is it worth it? In terms of the current price of mini golf? Yeah. It’s a fun and challenging course with nice diversions and all that. One of the best courses in the area, if not the best. So, if you’re going to play mini-golf in the Smokies, it might as well be here.

One final caveat

If the weather is nice, play the outdoor course. Mini-golf is naturally better outdoors. It doesn’t matter that the indoor course is exactly the same size as the outdoor course, somehow you feel the confinement.

We did have the opportunity to play the second course for a much more reasonable $6 extra per person, but the weather wasn’t conducive to playing outdoors.

Have you tried Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay? What did you think? Let us know in the comments and on the socials!