Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Center

Bust a move with Beyonce. Rub elbows with The Rock. Joke around with Jack Black. The Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Center in Pigeon Forge offers the chance to get up close and personal with life-sized sculptures of your favorite movie stars and musicians. They’re so eerily authentic, you’ll find yourself expecting them to talk and move. 

Operating in Tennessee since 2012 (and with sister locations in Los Angeles; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Branson, Missouri) the Hollywood Wax Museum is the longest-running attraction of its kind in the United States. The entrance is hard to miss. Just look for the giant Great Ape of Pigeon Forge scaling an Empire State Building replica 102 feet above the main drag of Parkway Boulevard. 

Visitors never know who they might find just around the next corner, be it John Wayne, Bela Lugosi, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and other beloved legends to contemporary personalities such as George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks and Snoop Dogg. Visitors come away with photos so realistic, they might just be able to convince family and friends they were mixing and mingling with the stars themselves.

The museum adds a dash of Hollywood glamour to the natural rustic beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains region. Round out a wander through the Hollywood Wax Museum by tagging on a trip through Hannah’s Maze of Mirrors (a competitive 5D adventure in the Castle of Chaos) or endure Outbreak — Dread the Undead, which are part of the larger complex. No matter when you go, the stars are sure to be out. Pigeon Forge’s Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Center is open 365 days a year. 106 Parkway Blvd., Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 37863, 865/428-5228, pigeonforgewaxfun.com