montezooma Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 ^OMG, I totally forgot about the one at World's of Fun. Thanks for correcting that omission. I am not to sure of that fatal accident tho, that may be one of those GP urban legends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC Ridesalot Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 ^No, it really happened. I was much younger but I remember it and actually saw the crashed planes after they were being taken down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptorcrew2002 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Thank's for sharing those. I always kicked myself for never making the trip it did look like a cute park. Minus the fact I really hate country music. Well on the bright side of it, if the park still was around the naacp would have marched the park in protest of the hangman. So at the least they avoided that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 ^^^ OL featured more than country music...it even had a rock n roll section of the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 What happened to the Chaos roller coaster? It was fairly new when the park closed....... Probably the scrap heap. That was quite simply the worst excuse for a "coaster" I've ever been on. Wow, thinking about it even now makes me want those few minutes of my life back. What a waste. Nice trip down memory lane though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holtskee Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I always thought Chaos was quite overrated myself, and I rode it when all the 3D special effects were working. Not quite sure why that ride seems to have built up such a large fan following. I remember reading that in 1989 a lot of rival park officials laughed at the Opryland guys during the IAAPA Expo for spending $8 million to build the Chaos dud, because in comparison Cedar Point spent exactly that much on Magnum XL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Genral Mills used the have their mascots walking around in the kids area. When I get better I go look and see if I still have some pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrachPhotography Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 That's quite a collection of photos. Thanks for posting those. I remember going on vacation with my family every summer to visit my Dad's side of the family for one week. Once we got there, we'd watch the weather to pick a day that would be best to visit Opryland. I grew up visiting the park once every summer. My cousin, Stephen was one of the ride-ops on Screamin Delta Demon in the summer of '94. I happen to have three defunct parks listed in my Defunct Parks section on my site. Opryland USA, Old Indiana Fun Park and Williams Grove. If you visit my site, there are several photos of the Opryland coasters in storage at the Old Indiana Fun Park. http://www.houstonthrills.com/brachphotography/series/defunct/ (I did not take any of those photos, they were taken specially for me by Robert Burtz and Scott & Carol Holmes (theacers)) That's Screamin Delta Demon rusting away. The following photos were taken by either my Dad or my Grandfather. Me enjoying the mist/wave of water coming off of Old Mill Scream when I was 14. General Mills cereal photo! It's a shame the park never made it to 27. Yes, I was crying in this photo. June 1998, less than a week after I graduated from High School, my grandfather (RIP) took me and my dad out to see what was left of Opryland. (The sign says: AREA CLOSED) If anyone played RCT/RCT2, I recreated Opryland for those games. I'm trying to find the files since I haven't played in eons. If you are interested in the file, please send me an email using the email feature of the forums. -William Brach BrachPhotography Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holtskee Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Don't forget those other strange mascots Opryland had back in the 70s: Left to right: Yancy Banjo, Johnny Guitar, Delilah Dulcimer, Barney Bass, Frankie Fiddle, and Jose Mandolin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 My cousin, Stephen was one of the ride-ops on Screamin Delta Demon in the summer of '94. There's a decent chance I saw him because that was the one and only visit to the park for my family, girlfriend, and I. I too was splash victim of the Old Mill Scream, but it kicked me in the groin. Embarassing, but funny. If you do a search on Opryland Remnants, I've got a photo tr up that shows what's left as of March 2007. Hope to get up there in the next couple weeks or after the first of the year for an update. Do you remember the cheese logs that they sold near the Old Mill Scream? It was a sub bun with several cheeses melted on it with some really great seasoning. Haven't found anything like that since. So so glad to see all of these pictures and info. Thanks everybody for sharing! Edit: One of the 3 old guys in the Opry Mills / Demolition pictures is Porter Wagoner (center with hat and glasses) who died recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texcoaster Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 What happened to the Chaos roller coaster? It was fairly new when the park closed....... Probably the scrap heap. That was quite simply the worst excuse for a "coaster" I've ever been on. Wow, thinking about it even now makes me want those few minutes of my life back. What a waste. That's why coasters come in all different styles and 'flavors'. Everyone likes different things. I loved Chaos. True, it wasn't a huge thrill, but it was unique, fast, and fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrillhunter Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Absolutely awesome! Thanks for all the great media that you posted. It's always good to others remembering Opryland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Best park mascots ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Salamander Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 It's such a shame that Opryland is gone. Gathering from the research I've done, and the people I've talked to, is seems a lot like Dollywood. Also, the shopping mall that replaced Opryland is officially ghetto. The Alabama Grill was replaced by..........furniture consignment. *shudders* If Nashville wasn't already regretting the removal of the park, then they certainly were after the shootings that occurred in the mall food court around a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imdrunk Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Thanks for the walk back in time. My first job was at Opryland USA when I was 15. I worked the games in the State Fair section of the park back in about 1995. One day I was working the electronic 'hit the silver stump to send the light to the top of the tower' thing (forgive me for not knowing what the heck this thing was called). This large man reminiscent of 'Bald Bull' from the PunchOut video game hit the stump thing and the hammer bounced back and busted his head open. I flagged down my supervisor and the bloody guy was rushed away. A crew of people came to spray bleach water on everything and I was up and operating an hour later. Crazy! I think most Nashvillians did not want to see the park dismantled - especially knowing a mall was going to take its place. By the way, the sign with the Hangman logo that sat above the Hangman entrance is now sitting over the door of a bar along US Hwy 41 around the Smyrna / LaVergne, TN area. Next time I'm down there, I'll take a picture and post it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Psyclone Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 The Opry Hall is a great example of 1970s architecture that looks very dated today, anyone else agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaparri Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 It's such a shame that Opryland is gone. Gathering from the research I've done, and the people I've talked to, is seems a lot like Dollywood. Eh, definitely not. It was a nice place and all, but it was fairly generic. Nothing really set itself apart from any other typical park. It didn't even have 25% of the theming and atmosphere that Dollywood has. It's still a shame it's gone. I really hate it. But I'll definitely say that it was no Dollywood. The Opry Hall is a great example of 1970s architecture that looks very dated today, anyone else agree? Yes, but it is still awesome and impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Going thru my old movies I came across this little bit from Opryland, I wish I would have filmed more of this park but never in a million years did I think that it would not be around today. Kind of makes you wonder what parks will not be around 10 years from now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Was the recorded on film or VHS? Also was that the year the water ride opened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montezooma Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 This was taken on super 8 film and then transfered to digital. Grizzly River Rampage was the second of the Intamin Rapids Rides to open. Thunder River at AstroWorld opened in 1980 which means that the ride at Opryland opened in 1981. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 That's some wonderful footage! Any way to get a copy of it? Sooo good to see the rides running, even Grizzly. Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadwayboy2007 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Wow...all this stuff is so amazing. I really miss Opryland. Although I went at such a young age I only remember the Hangman and Grizzly River Rampage being there lol. One interesting tid-bit...my mom auditioned once to be a performer at Opryland, but the reason she didn't make it escapes me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Great stuff man, this really hits home for me. I remember Demon was the first ride I saw as we parked (1996/1997), I remember I could only see the peak of the lift hill and I kept thinking "where did it go???". I could only hear the screams after that point. Good times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 That is such an amazing video of Opryland, Shane! I wish I had gotten to go to this park when it was open. I have a few old flyers from it here somewhere in the house, that I got by mail a couple or few decades ago, lol. You've really put together some nice retro-vids of the parks you've shown us, so far with videos. The music works great with this one, I must say. But - it was too short, tooooooo short! And more, more MORE! Thanks for putting it all together. AND what is the mountain in your avatar? It looks familiar and yet....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETapley0687 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Wow that was the best! I loved the sound of Screamin Delta Demon when I was younger lol. Glad you found it, I really enjoyed watching that! Dang I miss Opryland... now I have to travel a couple hours down the way to get to a good park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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