Opryland Remnants

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

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Yep, that's it. :) I hate seeing those pics (dont take that the wrong way!). I think I first went in '73 at age 2, and it became my home park starting in '77 when I moved here.

I'd like to see someone come behind Gaylord(opryland's owners)and kick them out of Nashville and rebuild Opryland!Theyv'e done nothing but mess up Opryland's name since they bought it!First theu closed Opryland(And guess what?To build a SHOPPING MALL!I dont think Opryland's attendance dropped i think Gaylord went money hungry!)Then they came in and renamed the Opryland Hotel to GAYLORD Opryland Nashville(they renamed the other opryland hotels to:Opryland Florida-to-Gaylord Palms;opryland texas-to-Gaylord Opryland texas!)

I hope somebody buys out gaylord or buys Opryland!

So, since the mall was essentially erected in the parking lot, what has happened to the park "land" itself? Any footers remaining? Or is that where the hotels are built?

It's a vast a-ray of park spaces... reminds me of a Joni Mitchell lyric... "Pave Paradise to Put up a Parking Lot".

Curtman I agree... gaylord has done nothing by run Opryland into the ground. Attendnce was decreasing at the park, but not at a rate they made it out to be. The early/mid 80's was Opyland's (the park) golden years... the nineties saw decline of rides build, therefore a decline in attendence. The year Hangman was built attendence went up... not sky-high, but up... after that it went down an gaylord thought it best to close the park after the next year... sagging attendence is nothing that a new ride couldn't fix, but gaylord didn't want something that had to be maintained such as a park... they wanted a self-sufficient money machine... and thus OpryMills was born!

I wish someone from Gaylord would read this!

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I wish someone from Gaylord would read this!

I made a mistake sadly....OpryMills is built on the land around where CHAOS was in fact,the pathway from the hotel to Opry Mills passes over where CHAOS once stood

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RIP-Opryland

1971-1998

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Wait Curtman, yeah maybe, but chaos was on the edge of the park, by no means does opry mills go deep inside where the park rides were.

I couldn't agree more about removing gaylord...they don't know how to do anything. I.E. Opryland, TNN, you name it and they'll surely mess it up.

The parking lot to the mall goes all the way around the mall, but the parking lot on the north and south side of the mall are the largest, but the north side lot seems larger, because it serves a busy side of the mall (incl Regal Cinema 20, IMAX, Jillians, and Alabama Grill) and also the Opryhouse. This is the lot where the park was. Looking at the lot, it doesn't seem like the park could have fit in there, but it's hard to tell since the park was full of trees (and buildings) and the lot has nothing. Optical illusion I guess. But I seem to think the north end of the mall takes up a very small part of where the park was. It's a very strange feeling (for me) being in the lot or mall thinking this is where I used to have so much fun in the park as a kid. One day I'm gonna go there and take a bunch of pictures of that area so I can get it straight in my mind where things were. :)
See oprymills.com for a mall Store Directory.

BTW, did anyone hear about the people that got sick at the Rainforest cafe at Oprymills in April? I
You can probably find info on it at tennessean.com, wkrn.com, wsmv.com, or newschannel5.com but here's an article in my local paper about one person. I ate there a little over a week after these people ate there, without yet knowing it had happened, but they had turned off the mist system by then. OK, getting too far off topic.

Yep, it's pretty obvious if you don't build a few good thrill rides every now and then, including some GOOD coasters, attendance will fall. Maybe Hangman was a step in the right direction, but they needed to continue and build more, plus they needed a least one bigger coaster.

From what I heard, Six Flags wanted to buy out the park either before or during? the time when Opryland closed. $&*(#@ Gaylord. I'm sure a couple people on here would know more.

Actually, Opryland had a B&M invert on the planning boards but the Gaylord people decided that the seasonal dollars that the park brought in wasnt enough. So the opted for the mall that would pay them rent year round. Six Flags was interested in the park, but the Gaylord people didnt want to lose all the land that they owned. Six Flags even offered to let Gaylord keep the Grand ole Opry and the extra land so they could have done a scaled down version of Opry Mills, but Gaylord said no. I think the Gaylord people just wanted to get out of the theme park business and stick to the hotels and malls. It's a shame.. it was Tennessee's most visited theme park. If it was still standing today it and Dollywood would be in direct competition and more attractions would have been built in both locations. I think we would see more coasters at DW than what they have no definitely.

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

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Chris Godsey said:
"Actually, Opryland had a B&M invert on the planning boards but the Gaylord people decided that the seasonal dollars that the park brought in wasnt enough.

I'm sorry Chris, they wanted the b&m invert after having the vekoma hangman invert....they wanted 2 of them - why would that be? I mean nothing they have done ever made sense and that would fit right in to their way of thinking, imho.

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Right... SF did want Opryland, but that was before the sell out of the Opryland corp. to gaylord. The only reason the previous owners didn't sell was because they wanted to keep it a family/music park, and SF wanted to at the big rides that the park really needed to keep attendence thriving.

The path that connects Opryland Hotel to OpryMills, is acctually part of the path that led back to Chaos(in the same spot atleast). There use to be a second entrance by Chaos for Hotel guest, but that was taken out after a few years... Chaos was fairly close to the newest expansion (at the time) of the hotel. You could look out from the exit of Chaos and see the addition looming in the not so far distance.

Petree's right,Chaos and the park itself was really close.You can see it in a picture on a Chaos Tribute site www.access2control.com/index2.htm click on pictures then eith inside or outside?Don't know it will Say opryland Hotel.But,Petree the hotel entrance was added after Chaos was built a few years after,they never closed it.Anyway the hotel addition in the pic is The Convention center.

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RIP

Opryland

1971-1998

I have a question.

When they were dismantling Opryland did they move the opryland USA Plaza north next to the hotel or did they build new buidlings?

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RIP

Opryland

1971-1998

This is how Opryland was conceived: In the Sixties, Mr. RoyAcuff used to go to a little grocery store just a couple ofblocks from my childhood home. We kids would hope to be therebecause he would give a little tip to whichever kid helped himcarry his grocery bags. One day he told us he'd been thinkingabout opening an amusement park like no other... one that wouldfeature country music and the Opry (this was long beforeDollywood). We gave him our ideas on what rides, foods, music,etc. we would like to see in this imaginary park, if it ever cameto be. My idea was to have a place where we could eat icecream. (Mr. Acuff kept his word. My idea eventually becamethe State Fair Ice Cream Parlor at Opryland.)

In highschool chorus class, we had this cool guy from New York namedLeon Summers, Jr. Leon was well-liked and had a greatpersonality, but he also was overweight.When he announced he wasplanning to sing and dance at Opryland after graduating, hewasn't taken seriously by many. But much to his credit heexercised, slimmed way down, took dance and voice lessons, and behold! he auditioned and was accepted in the Opryland Showboat show! His specialty was singing "Ole Man River", almost invariably getting a standing ovation for his moving rendition. Oneday we heard he had been hired by a cruise line. Then we heard hewas working on- and off-Broadway. He even did TV work! Youcan read Leon's grateful letter to local politician Bill Boner at http://momandpopcultureshop.typepad.com/bloggedyblogblog/2005/03/bill_boner.html

Of course, most everybody's favorite Opryland show was the biggestand glitziest, "I Hear America Singing." One of its most famousalumni was Cynthia Rhodes, who went on to be the blonde dancer in"Dirty Dancing". She was featured on the "I Hear AmericaSinging" album cover standing on the left side under the mountainlion (http://nashlinks.com/ihearamerica.jpg).Another famous alumni is blonde comedienne Chonda Pierce (whoenjoyed imitating Barbara Mandrell, Reba McIntyre and MinniePearl at Opryland). Chonda earlier this year recorded alive DVD of her latest hilarity, "This Ain't Prettyville" at theRyman Auditorium, the church-like original homeof Opry music. I guarantee, if you watch it you will wetyour bloomers! (that's how we say it in the South). Also,on Opryland Freeform Radio Station at http://www.live365.com/stations/timpowell you can hear various music and audio performances that were recordedat Opryland, including "I Hear America Singing". Sometimes you'lljust hear the music that was blasting over the speakers as youwalked from one part of the park to the other, but you canremember back to the time you were actually there. Well,hopefully you were there.

Sadly today, we have the new"Gaylord" Opry House, a very small portion of what used to be thewelcoming center at Opryland, a big mall with tenants that keepmoving out because the rent is too high, and a big parking lotinstead of our beloved Opryland. The phrase they paved Paradise and put in a parking lot is actually true. The "Gaylord"Opry Mills Mall does have theatres including a 3-D large-screenIMAX, a carousel, and a pricey aquarium. There's also a"Jillian's" where you can play video and virtual games, eatregular cuisine, or eat Japanesec and have little rice ballsthrown at your mouth. There's the Gibson Guitar store whereyou can actually watch musical instruments being made. Ilove "Blacklion" which is like a little antique mall or fleamarket within the mall. There's a thing, I don't know what you call it, that you sit in and it shows you a virtual coaster rideon ascreen - there are several to choose from. The box you're in willgo up and down and at angles to make you feel like you're reallyon the ride. I love this thing! It is only $5 a ride,or was the last time I went. It's probably the best deal at"Gaylord" Opry Mills. And "Gaylord" Opryland Hotel is still there.

Butnothing will replace a quiet warm 70's afternoon, the breeze blowing through the trees, the sound of the train whistle, the screaming as people ride the coasters, the smell of pizza in theNew Orleans area where gospel and Dixieland groups came to play,the splashing of water at the Flume Zoom across from where theJeffers played bluegrass, and most of all, nothing will replacethe smiles of people having a good time at the very first country music theme park.

Since someone brought this topic back, I figure this would be as good a place as any to ask this question. Are there still abandoned rides and buildings at the Old Indiana site? I went to Bing Maps and the image is clean, but the one on Google still shows some ride remnants. If I should ever go down to Indiana Beach in the future I would like to stop and take a look if stuff is still there.

I remember hearing somewhere that the owner of the land had scrapped everything that remained: Delta Demon, Wabash Cannonball, Log Flume, Chaos, and a couple of Other rides, one notably being the Black Widow from Riverside and a kiddie coaster. You'd have to look it up on RCDB.

Was there ever anything truthful to the rumor that Dolly Parton was trying to rebuild a country music park in Nashville?

What ever happened to those plans?

I think that's when dollywood came along.

Nashvillelifer said:

There's also a"Jillian's" where you can play video and virtual games, eatregular cuisine, or eat Japanesec and have little rice ballsthrown at your mouth.

Butnothing will replace a quiet warm 70's afternoon, the breeze blowing through the trees, the sound of the train whistle, the screaming as people ride the coasters, the smell of pizza in theNew Orleans area where gospel and Dixieland groups came to play,the splashing of water at the Flume Zoom across from where theJeffers played bluegrass, and most of all, nothing will replacethe smiles of people having a good time at the very first country music theme park.

Jillian's is now Dave and Buster's and the Japanese restaurant is gone.

The pizza you mention was some of the best I've ever had. Loved it.

CH, I was actually talking about something that had come up within the last decade...