Opryland U.S.A.

[coasterfreaky]

Chaos has 40 cars train? Is there any photo of that train?

 

here's one of it in the station. It was a U-shaped station, so its impossible to capture the entire train in one photo. When it was going up the lift, the back of the train was directly under the front of the train (circular lift), that's how enormous it was. You sat tandem, so 80 passengers max.

 

I hope something happens in that space, it certainly needs a total re-do. Remember, when Dolly pulled out of the Water and Snow park, Gaylord-Marriott were pretty clear they were going to pursue ''plans'' on their own. The plans that were posted on Screamscape look a little dated to me because the "Pearl Building" in the plans was razed after the flood, so there would be no need for that in those plans, also there is a warehouse that is not accounted for in those plans, that's approximately where the "town square" is, so these could be old plans - pre Dolly, pre 2010. My other concern about it is, once again, here's a design that is land locked with little room for expansion. Pretty sure there is a property line along the southern part of this plan, in between the hotel and the parking lot for the mall, around Grizzly RR, complicating expansion in that direction. I wouldn't get too excited about it until they announce it AND construction begins!! But I like this idea a lot, shortcomings and all.

 

I think its obvious that Gaylor-Marriot should build an indoor waterpark to bridge the hotel to this entertainment complex...or whatever it will be. I guess we'll see in time.

Chaos - partial train

[DarienLaker]

I don't know why they decided to build the Hard Rock/Freestyle park in Myrtle Beach when it should have been built in Nashville as a replacement for Opryland!?

[bkwjjm]

Chaos has 40 cars train? Is there any photo of that train?

 

here's one of it in the station. It was a U-shaped station, so its impossible to capture the entire train in one photo. When it was going up the lift, the back of the train was directly under the front of the train (circular lift), that's how enormous it was. You sat tandem, so 80 passengers max.

 

I hope something happens in that space, it certainly needs a total re-do. Remember, when Dolly pulled out of the Water and Snow park, Gaylord-Marriott were pretty clear they were going to pursue ''plans'' on their own. The plans that were posted on Screamscape look a little dated to me because the "Pearl Building" in the plans was razed after the flood, so there would be no need for that in those plans, also there is a warehouse that is not accounted for in those plans, that's approximately where the "town square" is, so these could be old plans - pre Dolly, pre 2010. My other concern about it is, once again, here's a design that is land locked with little room for expansion. Pretty sure there is a property line along the southern part of this plan, in between the hotel and the parking lot for the mall, around Grizzly RR, complicating expansion in that direction. I wouldn't get too excited about it until they announce it AND construction begins!! But I like this idea a lot, shortcomings and all.

 

I think its obvious that Gaylor-Marriot should build an indoor waterpark to bridge the hotel to this entertainment complex...or whatever it will be. I guess we'll see in time.

 

Good point about the Pearl Building. I wish they would consider it for new development though. Opryland Hotel (now Gaylord Resort and Convention Center) used to cater to many families as well as conventions, but now they are practically all convention business. With the new Music City Center in downtown Nashville, it may be wise of them to consider reaching out to families again. Gaylord will always get convention business because of it's sheer size and space. But the family market is worthwhile too and a concept like the "Opry Walk" would go a long way toward recapturing that share of the audience. Just my opinion and only worth that much....lol.

[thrillerman1]

After searching TPR, this seemed to be the best thread to post this news article link from local rag, Nashville Scene, about the closing of Opryland 25 years ago. Yes, Nashville still needs a theme park 25 years later.

[grsupercity]

15 hours ago, thrillerman1 said:

After searching TPR, this seemed to be the best thread to post this news article link from local rag, Nashville Scene, about the closing of Opryland 25 years ago. Yes, Nashville still needs a theme park 25 years later.

Beech Bend isn't crazy far of a drive and is a neat little park 

[megan]

It's hard to believe we have come to the point that the park has now been gone longer than it existed. I think like a few others have said, it was a magical place for a moment in time, but probably would be NOTHING like it was had it made it past 1997. Gaylord (as has been mentioned) had NO long term business plan for the park, and that "coasting on nostalgia and what's always worked"... DIDN't when new leadership with no emotional ties came in and just didn't see the numbers making sense for the effort involved. Bud Wendel is held up as a bit of a legend in Opryland fan sites, but I actually fault him and his leadership for getting the park to where it was when Terry London took over and looked for the easy way to make more money. I think a lack of vision and radical reinvention from the mid 90's on put the park in a precarious position. There could've been parking decks between the hotel and park built, freeing up the parking lot for more development. There shouldve been a shift toward more "pay as you go" entertainment (like "the Island" in Pigeon Forge) with more 3rd party food, beverage and retail providing the year round income. There could've been investment in a water park and more "budget friendly" hotel to round out the Muti-day options. There just was a reliance on what had worked... which was still "profitable" but required a lot of overhead to realize that profit. Terry London may have had a VERY BAD radical business idea, but at least he had one. Its sad, but while closing the park was a mistake, I truly done think it would've existed like it DID for much longer anyway. I feel it is almost better that it went out with all this mystique surrounding it. 

[Twisterfan1995]

Part of me has wondered if Gaylord would consider building a smaller indoor park onsite as a compliment/extension of the Opry Mills mall complex to help drive traffic to it considering the challenging retail landscape. Call it "Opry Landing" or something like that as an homage to the original and help fill the gap in the Nashville metro area entertainment market.