At $170/nt, vacationers with deeper pockets usually stay at my place.When I used airbnb I found more users are looking for deals which mine vacation rental doesn't offer any.I figured since VRBO brought me enough business I'd just stick with their service.

Would be interesting to learn if that area is as “recession proof” as some claim ..There is no such thing as recession proof, and vacation destinations are often the first, and most impacted, by a recession.To answer your question, let's look first at why things are so hot right now in places like Gatlinburg, for vacationers and investors:1.  

The neighbors will always be other vacationers (who may also be annoyed by unruly behavior, but the problem guests will move on.) 

OC seems like a good place to invest in because there are a lot of good deals you can get but the taxes are high and vacationers have so many options down there!

Undecided on what to do with the land, develop it or keep it for family trips and lease out for vacationers, fishers, hunters and timber.

It will happen, this is a invitation to ruin a lot of vacationers vacation and desire nothing to do with such risk.Likely even the transition to this is what has caused current issues of not being paid so do not need to wait to see the effect.

Leavenworth is a vacationers VRBO haven.

Right now I have mostly long-term infrastructure but since I can't fill the pads and now I'm trying to decide when I should consider finding the money to put in enough stuff (pool, better pads, clubhouse, etc.) to get vacationers. 

They rent their unit out during the summer, and the big problem they run into is most vacationers only stay the weekend, rather than more lucrative weekly rentals.  

I assume your rental is more long term and not rented to vacationers?