Thoughts on Opryland USA?

[BST]

I remember in the early and mid-90's the park offered free admission after 7:00pm for locals. All you had to do was show your driver's license at the gate. I would rush home after work and take my toddler for a few hours of free play in the Kiddie Zone several nights a week.

Also had a friend who worked the Tin Lizzie ride. She jumped the track and took it for a ride through the park after closing time. Good times.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

Although, I always thought the Hotel's Delta outdoor staircase was very odd...it was a staircase to nowhere when they built it and the park was open. Now it serves as an entrance to the hotel from the mall. Suspicious. Either way, I don't trust Gaylord and don't like them because of closing Opryland.

I worked on the design of the Delta (for almost a year). I don't really remember the "staircase to nowhere", but I don't remember anything at the time about a "secret future plan", and we usually do know about such things.

I had enough trouble at the time trying to figure out out to dimension a free-form indoor "river".

[Bottom liner]

All nice thoughts about the park but closing it was a pure business decision. I worked at the hotel at the time and will ask you all the same question I used to ask everyone in 1999, "when was the last time you paid to go to the park?". Nashville cried about the park closing but never supported it when it was open, nobody runs a business to lose money so that a community can fondly remember their youth.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Bottom liner

All nice thoughts about the park but closing it was a pure business decision. I worked at the hotel at the time and will ask you all the same question I used to ask everyone in 1999, "when was the last time you paid to go to the park?". Nashville cried about the park closing but never supported it when it was open, nobody runs a business to lose money so that a community can fondly remember their youth.

But Opryland was not losing money. It just wasn't making as much money as Gaylord wanted, certainly not as much as they figured a mall could make. I spent a small fortune at Opryland through the years, and many other people I know did, too. I think what hurt so much is that Middle Tennesseans were very loyal to Opryland, but Opryland apparently wasn't very loyal to Middle Tennessee. They didn't even let us have a chance to go one last time; they waited until the end of a season to announce they were never coming back. That just left a really, really bad taste in our mouths.

[scarletneon]

I almost feel like having opry mills flooded and not reopened was a bit of poetic justice for those of us that miss the theme park haha.

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by Bottom liner

All nice thoughts about the park but closing it was a pure business decision. I worked at the hotel at the time and will ask you all the same question I used to ask everyone in 1999, "when was the last time you paid to go to the park?". Nashville cried about the park closing but never supported it when it was open, nobody runs a business to lose money so that a community can fondly remember their youth.

Originally Posted by JMT

But Opryland was not losing money. It just wasn't making as much money as Gaylord wanted, certainly not as much as they figured a mall could make. I spent a small fortune at Opryland through the years, and many other people I know did, too. I think what hurt so much is that Middle Tennesseans were very loyal to Opryland, but Opryland apparently wasn't very loyal to Middle Tennessee. They didn't even let us have a chance to go one last time; they waited until the end of a season to announce they were never coming back. That just left a really, really bad taste in our mouths.

Agreed with JMT. I don't know the figures for season ticket sales, but it remained very popular for families (especially) to buy season tickets to the park for the summer. As an employee, we would definitely see a large number of "regulars".