Opryland Remnants

Has anyone ever visited Opry Mills Mall(Shopryland)where Opryland used to be and look into the open land where the park used to be?I did while i was there but it was hard to see.has anyone saw anything significant in the way of stuff that used to be in the park?

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Well, I can tell you where some of the coasters are located. If I jumped in my car and started driving north on US65 for 25 miles or so, I would see 4 coasters sitting in a field.

Chaos, Rock N Roller Coaster, Wabash Cannonball, and Screamin' Delta Demon are all just lying on the ground at Old Indiana Fun Park, which in located about 5 miles north of Lebanon.

It's sorta sad seeing coasters lying on the ground, rotting away......
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So many coasters, so little vacation time....

*** This post was edited by RollerFreak on 5/19/2002. ***

The only thing that remains at the old Opryland site are the giant rocks and canal from Grizzly River Rampage. It's at the very edge of the parking lot... quite bizarre to see.

RCDB has some photos of the roller coasters at the Old Indiana Fun Park location. It's a sad site.

Not sure what you mean by 'open land'. There is no open land left, just the mall, parking lot, drive, and hotel buildings. I've seen the rocks that were from the Grizzly, which are more behind the Opry House. But this doesn't make sense to me since the Grizzly was further up north, in the NE corner of the the park.

There's a website that has more pictures than rcdb of those rides sitting in the field at OIFP, but I don't have the URL with me right now.
*Edit - fixed typo.

*** This post was edited by Raptor Pilot on 5/30/2002. ***

I believe the field in question is the one at OIFP. Not at Opryland...or whatever there is of it.

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I've just seen the future...what was I saying?

Yes, MI Trooper1, you are correct. Looks like Raptor Pilot needs to read the ENTIRE post, not just parts of it.

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So many coasters, so little vacation time....

BTW.... Hangman, the Vekoma SLC is now Kong at SFMW... RIP old friend... we all miss you CHAOS!!!

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WCUSA-The World's largest theme park is coming!
Theme parks will NEVER be the same!

RollerFreak wrote:

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Looks like Raptor Pilot needs to read the ENTIRE post, not just parts of it.

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No, looks like the original poster, curtman, needs to re-write his post if that is in fact what he meant.

He said:

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Has anyone ever visited Opry Mills Mall(Shopryland)where Opryland used to be and look into the open land where the park used to be?

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Note, he states (three times) "Opry Mills", "where Opryland use to be" and "where the park used to be" as the place where the open land is.

Unless you didn't know I was referring to curtman's post, then just forget what I said.

There are also still road signs left around Nashville that say Opryland.

I got to see the loading station for The Penguin's Blizzard River at SFKK last week, which used to be The Grizzly River Rampage at Opryland. Though, I didn't get to see any of the actual ride since it was closed, and the ride itself seems to be hidden pretty well.

*** This post was edited by Raptor Pilot on 5/21/2002. ***

Raptor Pilot... I thought that to the first time I saw the rocks after the park ahd been closed... But that is exactly where the ride was... funny to think that where the path leading to the hotel now is where Chaos once stood.

Does anyone know of any sites out there showing the park's layout or that have pics of the park while in operation?

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"When I was growing up, we were taught something called manners. You'd understand that if you weren't such an idiot." - Jack Handey

Here's a link to an '89 map. It doesn't have The Hangman on it.

http://www.themeparkbrochures.com/maps/1989/opry1989.html

The hangman is where the tin lizzies are on that map. The mall is not over the park, it's actually in what was the parking lot for opryland. I wonder what has been done to the actual park since its closure?

*** This post was edited by coasterfreaky on 5/20/2002. ***

I think a small portion (movie theather) of the mall is where the front of the park was.

I never realized Chaos's trains carried 80 people. Too bad I didn't ride Chaos more. I, and everyone I knew, were pretty let down when it first opened so were never really crazy about it from then on. This is the other Chaos type ride Vekoma built in '89 (in Belgium).

There are some pictures of Opryland here. Notice the 1996 picture shows a blue roof building. This was in Do Wah Diddy City next to the Little Deuce Coupe and for a long time this was a roofless theater. Did they build a new one or just add a roof? I only went once in the last few years before the park closed, so I dont remember it. I can't remember the name of it either. I also worked in that area one summer and knew all the songs from that dang show by heart, but that was 15 years ago. The building behind that may have been the employee dressing rooms.
Also check out the 1994 pic. Lots of huge trees.

I've got a couple maps from around '82-'83, when the Grizzly was new, and one from the 70's.

So I know where 6 of the old rides are (Grizzly at SFKK; Hangman at SFMM; and Chaos, Wabash, RnRC, and SD Demon in the field at Old Indiana. Where are the rest?

And slightly off topic, but if the generic name for the Flume Zoom is a log flume, what is the generic name the Old Mill Scream type?

I've have a map from '84 and '95(the parks first year w/ Hangman) on my wall.

I also have several pictures from around the internet, if I get a chance today or tomorrow I'll put them on my SF site an post a link for you.

In the mean time here is the terra server link to Opryland in 96. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=11&T=1&X=1319&Y=10016&Z=16&W=0

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Raptor Pilot said:
"Notice the 1996 picture shows a blue roof building. This was in Do Wah Diddy City next to the Little Deuce Coupe and for a long time this was a roofless theater. Did they build a new one or just add a roof?"

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They built a new one. I believe it was called the Cheverolet Ampitheater, but I'm not sure. The ampitheater was much larger than the theater that was there before, in fact they had concerts there from time to time. I saw Ronnie Milsap there one year, I can't recall the exact year but I do know it was there before Hangman was installed.

The show that was there before was my favorite show in the park. I remember when I was a kid being so excited when I got called on stage to dance with the performers once.

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SyntaxError

Ah, RollerFreak...a fellow Hoosier. I too have been by the Old Indiana Fun Park Cemetary and have even wrote Six Flags at the head office in Oklahoma asking what is going to become of the land and rides. They couldn't tell me! (Go figure)

timmyk

Timmtk, Yeah I would like to know if Six Flags plans on doing anything at that site. You know it's strange that they left all of the buildings and even all of the parking lot sheds.

I was bored this past February, so I drove out there to check it out. It only took me 25 minutes to get there from my home! Man, I wish they would do something with this site. I would be one of their first season pass holders!

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So many coasters, so little vacation time....

*** This post was edited by RollerFreak on 5/23/2002. ***

I was referring to(original post)the land where the park used to be.Anyway I never visited Opryland while it was in operation.What surprises me is that there arent more pics of Opryland on the internet(since it didnt close to long ago).If im thinking straight Opry Mills does take up the original Opryland parking lot(a little piece at that)what was the use of closing a theme park to build a mall that could have been built in it's parking lot?Its a question that has confused me for years.Anyway,does anyone know of pics,information of Opryland( i know of Alex's Place and Chaos tribute site)?It would be greatly appreciated.

I still don't understand why they didn't leave up Chaos and let's Hangman, build the mall... and then charge $5 a ride. It would probably make more money then that god forsaken mall is.

Raptor Pilot suggested:
There's a website that has more pictures than rcdb of those rides sitting in the field at OIFP, but I don't have the URL with my right now.

Might you be referring to my trip report from June 30, 2001 located within my website?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I have a 1997 park map, but I cant find it.

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New coasters in 02 so far: SE,GW(SWSA) SKC Rattler, RoadExp,Boomerang:CtC(SFFT)