I was down in that area a couple years back while taking my daughter back to florida. We stopped at a real estate company just north of Gatlinburg. It was located at a big golf course with a small lake in front. Stopped in and inquired about renting a property. Ended up getting a beautiful 500k house in the hills above the golf course for about 225 a day with only about a 10 minute ride to town. It was so nice we really didn't wanna leave. Go cart tracks around town are awesome, and for some reason everywhere we went sold air soft machine guns. We left with an arsenal. Dollywood and the smoky mtns provide plenty of entertainment. Small town near by called Cherokee was pretty cool, and you could get in some white water rafting/kayaking although a bit of a drive to a place called nantahalla outdoor center.
Ps. We were gonna reserve a cabin before we left, but there were so many places to rent from and we didn't wanna end up locked into something we didn't like. With so many rental properties we decided to risk it. Worked out because we got to look, haggle and decide in person. We also arrived in a Monday so keep that in mind.