The Closed History of Opryland USA - A Theme Park Replaced By A Mall | Expedition Extinct
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- Join us on Expedition Extinct as we look at The Closed History of Opryland USA. A Theme Park in Nashville, Tennessee that based on The Grand Ole Opry and American Country Music that was sadly closed and replaced by a mall for no real reason.
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Credits
TopCameraMan - • GRAND OLE OPRY THE FAM...
wesley lyell - • Grand Ole Opry 1967
David Hoffman - • Dolly Parton 1969 Gran...
devroshart - • Astrodome Memories 1965
Danny Proctor - • Opryland 1975
Nashville Public Television - • Opryland Amusement Par...
Derek Fuguate - • A look back at Oprylan...
Aerial Hiking Opryland Theme Park 1 to 5 - • Opryland Theme Park (2...
Last Rat Standing Productions - • Opryland USA 1996 footage
Alan Nelson - • Opryland USA 10th Anni...
Duke Marsh - • Opryland Trip 1981
mlephoto - • Opryland USA
DashHoudini - • Opryland USA
Brent Smith - • General Jackson Ferry ...
Alan Nelson - • Opryland USA raw footage
VeXis - • Opryland1984
Brad Staggs - • Opryland Food Feature ...
Alan Nelson - • Opryland USA, Nashvill...
Susan Benhamin - • Video
War Memorial Auditorium - • Nashville's War Memori...
Albert Gore Research Center - • Roy Acuff talks about ...
Thomas Rogers - • Six Flags Over Texas (...
Dallas Moore - • Found Footage: A Day a...
quicksilver57 • Freedomland Bronx, Ne...
Jason The Cat - • Opryland USA Carousel
KraftChris - • I Hear America Singing...
Loren Reynolds - • Opryland August 1978 #1
Bruce A. McGuire - • Video
Timothy C Platt - • Original Opryland Timb...
TMarvinIII - • Opryland - Wabash Cann...
Jack Gronchmal - • Video
shanehuish - • Screamin Delta Demon
oprylandusa - • Opryland USA Theme Par...
Gigidag77 - • Video
shanehuish - • Fiesta Texas opening year
dahliacorona - • Patty Loveless - "Blam...
BrentusMomentus - • opryland ride the hang...
nashvillemagician - • Christmas at Opryland ...
ThemeParkAds - • Presentation Premier P...
Zombieface Coasters - • Kong at Six Flags Disc...
The Great Escape - • Canyon Blaster at The ...
piktrains - • LumberJack Falls ride ...
gregg alan - • Opryland hotel & water...
Moore Approved - • Gaylord Opryland Resor...
Stan Tehee - • The Grand Ole Opry
Gregg Alan - • Opryland Hotel Nashvil...
Sami Cone
Thank you to the original video creators, please support them and take a look at the individual videos below. Used under Fair Use and intended for education purposes.
I apologise for any names pronounced wrong and hope you enjoy this look back at a unique park that was sadly closed too early. Let me know where you want covered in the future.
You should cover the Lagoon Theme park in Farminton Utah. I love your content and would love to see you cover Lagoon and all its history.
Expedition Theme Park anything in Ohio! Coney Island Cincinnati Ohio would be awesome! It’s transformed so much over the years!
Could you cover Action Park from Vernon New Jersey?
Question, how much did this cost and what was it projected? I feel like it says it was projected at 60 but ballooned to 28. Probably mishearing the first figure though.
Cover Heritage USA!
I worked at Opryland during the summer. Everyone in Tennessee knew closing it was a mistake. Gaylord screwed up big time.
Summer of '78 and '79 for me. Good times. You are so right, Gaylord screwed up.
Have to agree completely... The mall's failure could have been avoided by keeping the park in place and never building it.
Opryland was an awesome park! It was very clean & the attractions were totally different from six flags....
@@Billblom, That mall is such a huge waste of space and time.
"gaylord screwed up big time" will forever be the best combination of words ever uttered by human
“They paved paradise and put up a shopping mall”
This is brilliant on so many levels. Bravo.
@matt Its song lyrics from a Counting Crows song - Big Yellow Taxi I believe
thats the mills effect
LOL!!!
@@fbueller Why are you making comments about something you know NOTHING ABOUT!, Only shows how ignorant you ARE,Go back to playing your video game on mommies couch.
I was born and raised in Tennessee.
My Grand Mother lived just on the other side of the hill. My Family was there in opening day. I was so excited. My eldest sister took me in the flume. I was terrified, but loved it.
We would always stand in line to I Hear America Singing. It was a show that covered 59 decades of popular music and entertainment starting with roaring twenties. In junior high we took a class trip from Memphis to the park. I had my first kiss on the sky ride.
Closing the park was a colossal mistake.
Its sad that someone's ego got in the way and ruined something a community cherished. It just sucks because nothing like this will ever be built again.
Kind of like what happened to Six Flags Astroworld.
Kind of like replacing Trump with Biden.
At least Firsta Texas still exists in alot of its original glory. My father moved to Texas when Opryland built Fiesta Texas and I remember witnessing it being built. Knowing the same love from the Opry group built it makes me nostalgic.
There go the Americans again! Inserting politics where it’s unwarranted and unnecessary. Apparently, some of you are unable to talk about _anything_ without bringing your politics into it, including a goddamn theme park that closed almost 25 years ago! It’s insane.
No one has ever done a video on Opryland USA, I'm glad you did it!
How you enjoy
There has been other videos, I watched one not too long ago.
Look up Nashville Public Television. They did a memories of Opryland I believe
Orange Laowai I do agree because this park was amazing.
@@ExpeditionThemePark Thank you this video brought so many good memories.
My Dad was the Director of Maintenance and Construction for 27 years, and thankfully had retired before the dismantling of the park. He started working there from the very beginning. This was a great video to watch and I actually had forgotten about many of the rides till seeing this. Great memories. Sad that it is not still here to enjoy! Very proud of my Dad for what he did.
Huh. He probably worked with my dad, who was a painter there.
That’s awesome! You should be proud. Rides were always in great condition! Tell Dad his work was appreciated.
I loved going there as a child. I live in KY and our church would take a trip there every summer. I was so stunned when I heard they closed it. I travel to Chattanooga often and go by that awful mall on the way. I can’t fathom the traffic to get in there and shop but they’re always lined up the interstate to get off there. Crazy. Loved seeing all the old rides in the video. Thank you!
Prove it or you're just commenting to gain useless likes lol.
See Canyon Blaster at SF - Great Escape, near Lake George, NY .
15:24 - I think CHAOS was moved there too, but has not been operated.
The world did not need another "shopping mall" and "event center", what a shameful end to a great park. The world does however need bobsled coasters to make a comeback!
Make a road trip Knoebels in Pennsylvania and ride the Flying Turns. It's the only old school style wood bobs coaster in the world and they designed and built it themselves.
Clay3613 In this world it’s fuck memories it’s called money
Many of the “Mills” mega malls have closed, are closing or are in trouble.
@@njmaxrocks We lost our last one in Ohio, "Diaster Transport" a few years ago. The only other one I rode was at Carowinds.
@@Clay3613 try to get to Knoebels. I've ridden the steel Intamin bobs, they are fun. But the wood one goes to a completely different level. Look for a POV of Flying Turns... you will see what I mean.
I do not shop at Opry Mills because of the fiasco of closing this park. What a huge mistake Gaylord made with this "idea." A major metropolitan area like Nashville didn't need another shopping mall.
The one and only time we ever went to Opry Mills is just because our daughter chose to eat there after her college graduation, so we of course honored her wishes. As we were coming home, our son got food poisoning from there so bad we had to get off the interstate at Dickson and take him to the hospital where they gave him IVs all night. Another reason why we miss Opryland!
I've been a few times, but I felt like a little part of me died every time I did. I'll admit that it was an impressive mall when it first opened. The last time I was there, sometime in the 00s, it seemed like just another big, shabby mall.
They can say what they want to but the real reason they closed was those ppl that got stuck upside down filed lawsuits. So I guess you could say it wasn't making money because a few ppl seen a good chance to get a lot of money out of them. A mall was a safe way to make money without risking another lawsuit. I hope the money was worth it for those that sued.
Only reason I go is because its nearby the hotel where we can kill two birds with one Stone and finish Christmas shopping and look at the light at the hotel. If it weren't for the hotel's Christmas lights I wouldn't go at all as there's a mall closer to me that has all I need. Also on very rare occasions it has a movie playing that the closer towns don't even get. I'd much rather have the theme park though. I feel left out being one of only two people that never got to go. At least there's Holiday world, well for me at least.
@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 Even God himself couldn't stand GAY lord so he flooded the place twice!
This was truly a tragic ending for a park that wasn’t going of business but was greatly mishandled. I can only imagine families in 1998 thinking the park was gonna reopen for the season only to be told a mall was going to replace it.
It's worse than that, they announced its closure in 1997 after the summer season, giving people only a couple of months to say goodbye. I'll always be sad that I didn't manage to go that one last time, as I was working weekends at the time and couldn't get away.
@@DangerKennyB yep me too
we were one of those families. we had planned a trip around opryland and found out it was gone. not long after they had up in a new rollercoaster. we promptly cancelled our trip and have never returned to Nashville.
You'll notice there are no home videos of "vacations to the mall", with post after post from generations of shoppers, talking about their favorite store.
I agree. But maybe for The Mall of America? Maybe foreign tourists would record their visit? 🤷♂️
So true.
As a Nashvillian myself, it's OUTRAGEOUS that this happened and quite sad. Many tourist traps and hotels in the area are barely operating today as the mall (obviously) draws FAR less tourists. Even today, crime and the clientel in the area has started to go bad and the last time I saw a movie at the mall's cinema, a huge fight broke out as the movie was playing. Disgusting that these corporate heads didn't once think of the consequences of removing such a beloved park. Especially when attendance was steady and Nashville started to grow so rapidly in population. Many of the old figureheads of Gaylord have even apalogized since, saying the mall was a terrible mistake.
It is such a sad story :(
As a fellow Nashville guy, the mall is packed on every weekend, and probably generates more income than the theme park ever did due to the seasonal operation, and the mall gets more locals over tourists. Still sucks tho.
The mall itself may make more money than the park, but it’s just not a draw for tourists who would come from out of town or for companies who would schedule conventions at the hotel and convention center. The economic impact caused by all of that lost revenue for the hotel and surrounding business has been devastating.
@@richardburchett All of the business I have seen in the area are doing well.
I ride by it nearly every day on my truck route. Its always packed with cars. It just killed other malls in the area. I dont know why. Its not like it has all these shops that are not already at the other malls. People just want to go their and mostly hang out.
Thank you , for actually making good content . I can spend 25 mins watching and after be able to say it wasn't a waste of time. History lesson on something I'd probably never hear about out here.✌
Thank you for watching !
So this park was, essentially, Murdered by the idiots who took over Gaylord...I’m actually kind of glad the company went down in flames!
I said back when it was announced that a mall was coming that is never do business there. I went out of curiosity and it was even worse than i figured.! Every one in the nashville area was angry!! Stupid gaylord people. We felt like they could have cared leaa about what those of us who frequented Portland, felt. they put some of the strip mall w mom and pop shops out of business by opening similar things in mall(only to raise prices later) its food court was a joke. Theres nothing redeeming about it Lately it's been home of shootings and gangs hanging out. BIG MISTAKE. I work nearby and when I pass that exit, I'm still saddened that it no longer leads to that road where "Portland " was spelled on the side of the road in flowers. That the smell in the air down that road around those tree no longer associated with turning that curve to Opryland. Whefe you'd park and ride the parking lot tram to the entrance , already hearing the sounds of excitement in the park. Sigh. If I had my way, id have been there with my grandkids every weekend this summer. Is have gone on dates there with my husband. Heck, is go by myself. Now its just an over hyped big ole ugly mall that no one cares about.
edvaira6891 oh yes because they have concerts almost daily and it’s just a huge tourist destination now.
Not now.
@@Megan0124 can you explain? The Opry was there with the park, so it always had the concerts. The hotel as well. The only change was the park into the mall. Which we all hated the switch.
You gotta scratch your head over the management decision to close the park for a mall that was destined to fail, when you had a theme park that made a profit every single year of operation. Keep up the awesome content mate.
No one knew the internet would take over so much retail business back then...This is why Mills Corporation failed
I grew up just east of Nashville, 25 minutes from Opryland. This was a HUGE part of growing up in the 80s in Tennessee. We had "Good Time Passes" that you could enter every day at 5:00 til closing. We teenagers flocked there, and had great concerts, clean fun, and a safe place with wonderful memories. After we got older, lots of us worked there. It was no picnic then. It had been bought out, changes being made. It was a strict, unhappy work environment with the bottom pay on all the jobs. That was when we all began to move away from it. We had all grown up, but it was being destroyed from the corporate overseers. Watching this was just like seeing a video of your best friend that died 20 years ago. Or maybe going back to your childhood home and it being gone with a gas station where your swing set was. This just hurt. We never were told exactly why, I remember everybody talking and nobody had an answer. Should have guessed, it was the same old enemy of everything good. GREED!
Lived in Hermitage
@@pieluvr7362 Mt. Juliet.
@@sophroniamason2730
Me Too !!
I’m from Nashville. Clicked so quickly.
This was a small yet great park. They had the best pizza ever.
EDIT: dude mentioned the pizza 🍕 🤣 A huge slice for only $1
I was kind of surprised when the host mentioned that the restaurants/hospitality was part of the highlights of the park. That's not something you usually hear about theme park food!
So basically, there was no justification for shutting down the park even from a business perspective! These people in charge really had no idea what they were doing, huh?
Sounds like they either just didn't want to deal with it or thought the mall was a get rich scheme(I can see that from the late 90's)
J. Westmoreland I remember the late 90s. Most businesspeople were insane!
It is so hard to imagine how such a beautiful park with a such atmosphere was just erased for a Shopping Centre. It was a painful watch but a great video. Short term gains but Gaylord should hold their heads in shame
And shopping centers are now dying. Very stupid shortsighted thing to do.....................
eric zerkle The Mills Corporation went out of business too
Absolutely
They are still trying to pay for the expensive Waterpark in Opryland Gaylord hotel. I heard they are up to their neck in debt and haven't even covered the cost of Soundwave yet.
The video never mentioned the mall has a Dave n Busters...
I live two hours away from Nashville and grew up going to Opryland every summer, and those are some of my best childhood memories! Luckily I went back again in the summer of 1997, not knowing it would be this beloved park’s last year in operation. I can’t thank you enough for this video because it’s allowing me to see all those rides I grew up riding - like the Wabash Cannonball which was my first big rollercoaster!! Great video!! ❤️
What souvenirs do u still have
I have some socks and Elvis ashtrays, and an Opryland polar bear plush with a red Opryland t-shirt! Not too many souvenirs... I wish I had more, and had I known it was closing when I went that last time, I would have bought way more!
@@suzannehunt2986 thanks for replying i have my season pass some coasters for drinks n the penny souvenirs of rides yes what a loss
Same here Suzanne. From NW Alabama and it was my home between visits to WDW. I wish I still had anything left of my Opryland stuff. It was lost when someone burned down our apartment complex in 2002
Hi Pie Luver,
I still have a season pass from 89, and an Opryland patch from a straw hat. I live in Jacksonville, FL. and recently found a drink stein from Opryland in a thrift store. I like to think fate sent it to me knowing I d be a good caretaker for it.
Thanks for covering this. Like so many Tennessee natives, this was my first park. Hearing about the Cannonball rusting in some field still hits me in the feels.
Yes. I totally agree. There is a picture circulating of part of the track in an empty field with rust and weeds all over it. It just breaks my heart.
I live in north Alabama, and Opryland was our family vacation usually twice a year from 82-97. There will never be another Opryland and that picture of the Wabash Cannonball sitting in that field turns my stomach. It's the first coaster I rode that flipped, so itll always hold a special place in my heart.
Ugh, my heart. I grew up in Southern Middle Tennessee, in the 80s-90s, and we spent COUNTLESS days at Opryland. The Cannonball was my first upside down coaster, too!!
Same 😢
I know how you feel, I have fond memories of that Coaster.....first big one that i ever rode on, Dad talked me into it when i was like 8 i think.....loved it.
Yep...JUST ANOTHER MALL. SAD. Nashville needs this place back where it should be...Music City USA!!! Nice footage.
Yes and retrieve Kong from SFDK and rename it to it’s original name and pull a Morey’s Piers and smooth it out
I used to go to Opryland all the time as a kid. My mom had previously worked there as a teen. I wish I hadn't been scared of roller coasters at the time. I still think it's a shame it's gone.
Kyle Pierce The Wabash Canonball !!
Haha true. I was scared of Wabash Cannonball & Hangman when I was a kid but finally did them with the adults
"The Mills Effect: More fun than you can ever imagine". Well, if you call walking around for 3 hrs looking at over priced junk fun, I guess that's true
I can tell that the commercial became annoying.
@@jimmymelendez1836 I'm sure at least half that annoyance came from the annoying Kathy Griffin, Mills weird choice for a spokesperson!
I hated those commercials so much when they came out. They were the worst. And they played them over and over and over and
I went to that Mall soon after it opened, walked around, bought virtually nothing, then went home. More fun than I could ever imagine.
@@jehobden yeah, I wonder if she only got that gig because of 'Seinfeld'? She was annoying on it too
If you want to ride a piece of opryland history, the antique cars at kentucky kingdom are from opryland
I knew the Ten Lizzie’s sounded familiar.
No way!?! They're in my home Kentucky now? And they even kept the name? That's so cool! I wish that they could've relocated more attractions to Kentucky Kingdom! I'm sure that we Kentuckians would've loved it!!
Along with the tin lizzies part of the Ragin Rapids river ride are from Opery land
The trains from the Opryland railroad are at Six Flags America, although it seems like that railroad might go away anytime...
YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN RIDE MY BELOVED TIN LIZZIES AGAIN?!?!? Is the water one from the Grizzly River Rampage??
One of my favorite vacation memories ever!😢 I remember in about 1993-94 we drove from PA to TN lol I rode in the bed of my dads truck the whole way...there is no way you’d ever be able to do that now😂! We went to the park, the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville Now and ate at Cracker Barrel for the first time...then we headed to Dollywood! Thank you for the video!
Wow... This has to be the saddest theme-park-demise story I've ever heard. It's even worse than the tale of Astroworld or Six Flags New Orleans.
I think Six Flags New Orleans is the saddest one for me. Six Flags New Orleans was still essentially a brand new park when it was shuttered. A new waterpark was even planned for 2006. Plus Six Flags promised everybody it would reopen, but then they started removing stuff. Now the city refuses any developers plans to reopen the park because they would need some tax payer funding, but now they are planning on using tax payer funding to just tear down the park and build an unneeded "transportation hub." The city sent out a survey to citizens asking what they wanted to see done with the land. Only 20% of people thought it should be anything but a theme park with 80% saying they want the park to reopen. Now they are just letting the site rot to the point that the ONLY developer still interested is saying that in two years, it really wouldn't be financially feasible to even try to reopen the park.
Opryland got a mall,but astroworld only got a parking lot and the only Togo pipeline in America was damaged.
I loved Opryland! Every summer we’d headed to Nashville from Indiana, I knew a day at the park was part of the trip. I never did understand why it was closed, now I do...ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Opryland’s gone Gaylord be cussed.
Jacob Coburn Another sad closure was Six Gun Territory in Florida.
Elias Mertens At least that one was justifiably destroyed by Mother Nature. This was destroyed by an idiot!
Even though we lived two states away, my family went there countless times during this parks history. I'm glad somebody finally got around to do this video. Thanks for rekindling fond memories from my childhood.
"Okay everyone, I know that the park is doing great and bringing in money." "But you know what would be even better?!" "A mall!!" "Yep, lets tear everything down, put in a giant parking lot, and build a mall!" "Everyone will love it and not miss the entertainment or the rides at all, trust me!"
'They paved paradise And put up a parking lot'. Joni Mitchell's big yellow taxi lyrics are spot on .
I lived in Nashville when this happened, and the entire city was saying "What are they thinking"???"
Also remember that a lot of people went to malls every weekend in the 90s before the internet, so it seemed like a good idea at the time!!
I so miss this place. Grew up in Tennessee near Nashville and this was a BIG portion of my childhood. Thank you for doing this video!
And now the US is littered with dead and dying malls that communities are struggling to keep alive while e-commerce actively destroys the concept of brick-and-mortar shops. The Internet can't kill a theme park though. I hope for the sake of Nashville's community that the Opry Mills mall is doing well today because it must hurt to not only have a beloved park destroyed but also it's replacement dying and being reduced to empty space.
It does pretty well with the influx of Western Kentuckians who come by to Christmas shop. It's got the advantage of being next door to the Opryland hotel. It's almost a thing around here to visit the mall on tax free shopping day and then check out the lights that evening. Although it's a nice tradition I'd much rather have the theme park.
I remember when growing up Talk of the Town news channel 5 midday show used to film in Opryland every year and I used to watch it, I looked forward to that, Man I miss that park, used to go my teenage years.
Wow this hit me in the feels.....I grew up in the 80s three hours away in East Tennessee and have family in Nashville we would visit every year......Opryland was always a stop on the calendar.....Miss that place.....Still will stop in at the Hotel during Christmas time to drink a whiskey and look at the christmas lights
So much of my youth was spent at Opryland. I have tears in my eyes and there will always be a special place in my heart remembering the fun times I had there.
Sad how they tossed it out for no go reason and replaced it with a overpriced shopping mall. Starwood Ampitheater in Nashville suffered the same fate (only they destroyed that property for housing developments that were never built) As a neighboring Nashvillian, the area has really become the no fun zone. Now we travel out of state for things that I wish my kids had the ability to experience like I did at home. Maybe someday something will come back, the local people would like that. Great video.
titanhusker I couldn’t agree more about the no fun zone. How is it that we have so many Tourists with virtually 0 Tourism. Do we even have a Department of Tourism anymore? Or maybe they tossed that out along with Opryland. If we do have one, it’s truly got to be the world’s most boring and uneventful job.
Ahhh Starwood...we used to go there in the early 90's! One For The Sun festival (103 KDF rock radio sponsered), Jethro Tull, Van Hagar in the pouring down rain, B52's opening for Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, soooo many more great shows!!! Opryland and Starwood...a trip down memory lane today. Thanks!
Now this makes me feel old, Opryland USA came and went in my lifetime. It sure was a nice park too....it is rather sad that such a nice park is gone and a shopping mall is its replacement.
A text book case of why CFOs make poor CEOs - bean counters should stick to counting the beans because they usually lack the vision to lead a company. The reason for the closure was made succinctly @18:30, " the Opryland theme park would no longer make a rate of return desired for the company's properties". That way of thinking is fine if you're investing in office buildings, but is flawed thinking for an integrated leisure-media-hospitality business.
LtCol Pulaski this May be one of the best comments I’ve ever read on just about any topic.
Kind of like what is happening to Disney right now. Got a bean counter in charge.
Ironically, now the shopping malls are dying because the online shopping
And theme parks are actually thriving! Lol
Rafael Gomar Not really ironic, they were already beginning to fail when he made this idiotic move🤦♀️
As a Nashville local, I can assure you that Opry Mills is one of the ONLY malls not dying.
Shopping malls are also dying because of social media. Folks would go to the mall specifically to meet up with friends and hang out.
@@amymbartell Totally agree. I loved OpryLand, but OpryMills is ALWAYS packed.
One point I must make, as a native Tennesseean. It’s not O-pree, it’s OP-ree! Other than that, great job! I grew up going to Opryland (also Libertyland in Memphis). It was a great park, and lots of fun.
I’d like to see something on Lakeland Park near Memphis. It was a fun little park with a train, sky ride and lots of kiddy rides. It was active from the late 50s to the mid 70s. But it’s main claim to fame is was that it actually became a city! The only vestige of the once amusement park is the Lakeland Speedway.
Jaynie Nowell-Snoke and that’s all been bulldozed and that mall cleared to the Lakeland District that’s being developed. Life long Bartlett resident here!
Oh my goodness we used to go toLibertyland too, usually when we went to the Mid-South Fair (remember that awesome fair?) too. Now it’s all a distant memory. And I remember Lakeland, mostly the cable cars over the park. I haven’t been to that mall-like thing they put up in its place, but in the 90s if you look real carefully, you can see old tires and things like that just off the parking lot where the speedway used to be.
@@mikecooley3361 • I just read your comment after I made mine - so I reckon all that is private property now. Booo
I am really looking forward to watching this entire video. I worked at the park from 1977-79 as a performer. I started in I Hear America Singing. The next year they had written a new, very ambitious show called "Broadway!" that was housed in the Opry House. It only ran the summer so by fall I was moved to For Me and My Gal. In 1979 another new show was written to open the brand new Roy Acuff Theater, which was right next to the Opry House. That show was called "On With the Show" and like its predecessor ran only the summer. So, again, I was cast right back where I started in IHASinging. I took that as my cue to move on. But as to the demise of Opryland, it was the worst mistake Gaylord made. Though it had its flaws, Opryland was a well known and great training ground for performers. Such a total, total shame.
iHAS was a great show, thanks to Paul Crabtree. I knew every word and have the album they sold in the gift shop. I worked at O'land from 73 to 76 and it was a blast. Good summer job and a safe work environment.
I’m glad you made a video on Opryland. I have been researching to do my own since there aren’t many on TH-cam. I think you did an awesome job. I moved to Nashville in 2016 and for people who are from here, the loss of Opryland is very much still a sore spot.
Learning of this park blew my mind. I love in the shadows of Dollywood and I had no idea my neighbors in Nashville once had a great theme park! So sad it’s gone now!!
This video brought up some of the best vacations of my youth. We went as a family of twenty every summer from 1979-1992. I remember every expansion and we would get so excited about the new ride. The paddle wheel boat had a great theater in the inside. And we watched so many of the live shows and actually was there for so many different TV shows. They Opry was always our Saturday night activity. Believe it or not I still have many of my souvenirs from the time. Thanks
Great episode! I came into this thinking "why should I care", and left profoundly sad that a unique and relatively ambitious theme park had been lost to time (and to really strange corporate moves). Thank you!!
Thanks for this wonderful trip down memory lane! My parents and I would go to Opryland from Mid-Michigan every summer from 1972 to 1997. After 1985, when I got married, my husband joined us yearly. Our daughter was born in 1987 and she went from the time she was an infant. My family continued our annual tradition until the park closed in 1997, going every single year throughout Opryland’s history. I remember crying my eyes out for three days upon learning it was closing. We have not gone back to Nashville once since it closed; there is just no incentive to go back there. Before my husband passed away suddenly in 2008, we would take our vacations in Pigeon Forge, TN, the home of Dollywood. Thanks again for bringing back some of the most wonderful memories I ever made!
Your experience sounds alot like my memories. We live in north Alabama and my family went every year to Opryland from its opening in 72 until it closed in 97. I was born in 80 and I remember going usually twice a year, and how incredibly sad I was when it closed. That park holds some of the best memories from my childhood, and I hate that other generations have been robbed from experiencing the magic this park held. I wouldn't take any amount of money for all the good times we had in Opryland. There will never be another park like it.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! MY Mom grew up going there almost all the time as a kid with my Grandparents to the point that they had season tickets!!! She told my sister and I how much fun it was and that the highlight of her childhood was going to Opryland. Heck, she almost auditioned for "I Hear America Singing"! I wish that it could've stayed alive long enough so that I could've gone!😫
I like how after this was gone and even while it was still around Disney just used the names of some of the park's attractions for their attractions. America Singing and America Sings, Rock n Roller Coaster, The Barnstormer, and even better, Grizzly River Rampage and Grizzly River Run.
Great documentary - as always :)
"Chaos" was a Vekoma Illusion - only one other type of this model has been built. It is "Revolution" at Bobbejaanland in Belgium, one of the quirkiest rollercoasters ever. I rode it last summer and due to its uniqueness, it was a great and psychedelic experience!
Notice Kathy Griffin dubbed over herself in that "Mills effect" ad. She didn't say Opry. They made this ad so they could dub in the names of all the Mills Group malls for regional ads.
I spent many summers at Opryland. The Wabash Cannonball was my looping coaster. I miss this park so much.
🙂
It truly WAS a unique & charming park. Lots of attention to details. The music was terrific! It suffered the same fate as AstroWorld in Houston, Texas. Though AstroWorld would occasionally flood, so does Six Flags Over Texas( w/ Johnson's Creek ) & Six Flags Over Georgia (Chattahoochee river) next to it. It is sorely missed and did not deserve to be erased. Excellent video. Don't apologize for how you pronounce words. I love you vids and your accent. Your channel makes my day!!! BTW I had a guide book much like the Steve Birnbuam guide to Disneyland & Walt Disney World on Opryland. That's how popular the park was. I also have several (press kits as well as maps in my archives)
I grew up in Tullahoma, TN, in the 80's and 90's. Opryland was an institution in my life, from field trips, family vacations, staying at the hotel during Christmas, seeing the poinsettias everywhere, watching the shows, loving the food, etc. Nothing beat when you saw the signs pointing you to Opryland as a kid after the super long (😆) 1 hour drive or so, lol.
I wish my kids could understand why I squealed like a kid when I saw the park map, and the words, "Screaming Delta Demon"... or Chaos, even. *sigh*
Crazy, shutting a park that was still making money. And loved by many people.
People in Nashville are still bitter about it, with good reason!
Can confirm. Am Nashvillian. Still bitter.
Oh my goodness, my aching heart! When I was young, I was an Opryland bum. I lived 1.5 hours away, however, if ANYONE mentioned going, I was all in, every trip. Babysitting didn’t pay that great but it was still enough to go have a LARGE TIME.
Thank you for warming my heart ❤️!
My family went her in 93 or 94. It was such a fun park! The Wabash Cannonball was my first looping coaster.
I live not quite two hours from there and frequent Nashville at least a few times a year. Each and every time I look at the state sign for Briley Memorial Parkway that still says Opryland. It's all we have left. :'(
Yep....exit 11 I believe it was. I live in north Alabama, and I always knew we were getting close when I'd see that Briley parkway sign. Such great memories of this park with my family. I miss it terribly even 23 years after it closed
"Opryland, the only park with country music"
Country Bear Jamboree: Am I a joke to you?
And silver dollar city. Which opened 12 years earlier...
Not at all a joke. I LOVED your movie THE. COUNTRY BEARS!
Silver dollar city was my childhood theme park. I would go there for my birthday each year.
I'm also from Nashville. Thank you so much for doing a video of Opryland. I remember having season passes here for 4 years in a row... Such fond memories. Everyone in Nashville even today knows it was a big mistake to close the park.
My mother still mentions the show I Hear America Singing to this day. Granted she was a little girl when she visited but she says there hasn’t been a theme park show she’s seen better.
Asheton Tanahey I just watched I Hear America Singing in 6 parts on TH-cam with my daughter the other day. I was so glad to be able to share it with her after telling her about it for so long. It’s a big part of my Opryland memories too, since my grandmother loved it so much and rides were always put on hold until after we had seen it. I know your mother would love to watch it with you.
@@melissaw704 and Asheton - I was in "I Hear America Singing" in 1984, and the year before that in "Sing, Tennessee". While my heart is broken that Opryland is "gone with the wind", it warms my heart that you remember "my" show so fondly. I saw the show for the first time very shortly after Opryland opened, and I Fell. In. Love. With.That. Show!!! I was so "head over heels" with it, I was DETERMINED to be IN it one day!! I literally had DREAMS about being it it.....LITERALLY! It took nearly 10 years, but I did it!!! Ah, such wonderful memories! At least my memories can't be paved over for a shopping mall!
Yes, my mom even labelled this show in her photo album "Top Show", and I thought it was the best show in the park. I remember the gang members from "West Side Story" flipping on the stage and Edith Bunker hitting the wrong note as the Bunkers' piano rolled onstage for a bit of the ALL IN THE FAMILY theme song.
Ok can we tear down the mall and rebuild the park?
It is called the Grand Ole Opry because the first show on WSM radio in 1925 followed a show called “Grand Opera”, and the announcer, George D Hay, said something like “you have been listening to Grand Opera, and now we will be presenting our own Grand Ole Opry”.
I can't believe they closed it. I was stationed at Ft Campbell in the 90's and visited this park many times. It seemed like it was doing great every time I went and every local I knew in the region just loved it. I've visited quite a few amusement parks around the US that were well past their prime, or in their last years, but Opryland sure didn't seem like one of those. Opryland appeared to me to be one of the best and most vibrant amusement parks I had ever visited, and this as late as 1995. What a loss for Nashville!
I would add that when my family, or the families of many of my Army buddies, would visit us - the one thing they always wanted to do in Nashville was go to Opryland. It had appeal well outside of Tennessee. I doubt the mall they replaced it with can make that claim.
I miss this park. Thanks for the video on it sad it was torn down for a mall.
Went there for a choir trip my senior year in high school in 1995. Really liked the atmosphere of the park. Rode Wabash Cannonball, Rock and Roller Coaster, Chaos, Screamin' Delta Demon. Terrible ending to a nice park.
I live in north Alabama, about two hours from Nashville, and my family would take a trip to Opryland about every year when I was a kid. It was a great day trip, and a fun park with lots of rides, shows and good food. Chaos is still my favorite ride I’ve ever been on, regardless of theme park. It was just so unique. I’ve got three daughters now, and it’s sad I don’t have the opportunity to take them to that wonderful park.
I recently stay at the Opryland Hotel and visited Opry Mills. I had no idea that Opryland USA was formally located on that site. This was a great video. So sad to see they tore down the theme park for another Mall.
*stayed
I as well, this is my local mall and had no idea about a theme park being built there before
I went there one time as a child and will always remember the Wabash Cannonball roller coaster as my favorite attraction.
This brought back so many memories. We would go to Portland every other year. The Screamin' Delta Demon is one of my all time favorite rides. Still to this day when in Nashville we stay at the opryland hotel. Closing that park was a dumb decision based on greed. They thought a mall would make them double the profits of the park and they were wrong. Even to this day locals will tell you they never wanted the park to close, never wanted the mall, and want a park back. They don't care who does it, but they want a theme park back.
This is a well made documentary. Opryland was unique in many ways. It provided wholesome entertainment for families, as well as jobs for many Tennessee residents.
I live in Nashville and I was at Opry Mills two days ago
I never knew there was a theme park there
Well the more you know
Now you do! :)
I envy y'all. I spent every summer at Opryland growing up. To this day I can't go to Opry Mills without getting angry at the loss of that awesome theme park.
Yep. We lost what only Nashville had and got what everywhere else has. Dumbest decision of the last 30 years.
@@TopHatJackStudios same here, wow here used to be a great theme park, now its a gamestop and a dave n busters ... oh and I drove past 3 imax theaters to get here ugh
Is Opry Mills still busy??
This video brought tears to my eyes. It was such a huge part of my childhood and I miss it so much - to this day. I can’t bear to even go to Opry Mills or near Briley PKWY without thinking of all the good times my family had there. This is literally the reason why Your channel is my favorite.
Thank you SO MUCH for doing this video, I required it last year and didn't expect you to cover it. This was a big memory for myself and so many only to watch it get replaced for a mall. You've done an excellent job bringing it to life and I hope others will remember what it brought to them as well.
I was there the last night they were open to the public. I was one of the last visitors to leave the park. My family and I leisurely walked the park and I'll never forget it. My dad always bought season passes so it was our home away from home on the weekends. I live an 45 minutes from the site. But we basically got kicked out, that last night, to take it all in before we left. I was 9 years old and cherish the pictures we took that night. Parts of the Grizzly River Rampage where still tucked away in the overgrown wooded areas around Opry Mills for a while after the closing. I've heard they've since removed all of it but that's all I wanted to see when we would go visit the mall. Since the closing, I've been to the Opryland Hotel many times but I can count on two hands how many times I've visited the mall. Thank you for taking your time to honor one of my fondest childhood memories!!
I worked in the Park, hotel and the General Jackson Showboat in 1987-1991
I’ve been on Canyon Blaster at Great Escape. That was the only thing I knew about Opryland until now. Interesting park history
Avery The Cuban-American hey I’ve seen you comment on a bunch of his videos
Hi!
Chaos was actually the best ride there until someone broke the holographic mirror. That and the Screamin Delta Demon was the only good rides there. The Cannonball was really lacking. It was the first coaster I ever road though. I thought Opreyland was decent until I went to Six Flags over Georgia. Lol
I live in the area and I think you did a great job on this. One thing you didn’t mention, though: Nashville had a huge flood in 2010 that heavily damaged the mall. It was late 2012 before it reopened! It sat abandoned for years.
I remember that. My middle school choir was due to perform and tour the Rhyman auditorium just days after that happened. Our poor teacher was so devastated that she was in denial about it until the day we were supposed to leave. It was so sad.
I've been living in western kentucky for over ten years now and if this video doesn't prove that this entire region hates children I don't know what else does, if your kid isn't into hunting or fishing then their shit out of luck because you've got nothing else to do around here, Nashville is a hop, skip, and a jump away from where I live so it's a real shame that Opryland isn't around anymore to give kids who live around here something to go do during the summer months, thank god for Holiday Day World or we really be in a hum when it comes to theme parks in this area.
buck342443 I was born, raised and currently living in Western Kentucky and I can totally vouch that what he's saying is 100% true!! Only one person in my family hunted and he died when I was a toddler so I never got the chance to learn and the closest major city is either Evansville ( where you mostly shop shop shop!) Or Nashville! It really is a shame that Opryland closed!! My mom who also lived here most of her life and would go to Opryland with my grandparents ALL THE TIME!!! To the point that she had season passes!! She told me that the best years of her life were going to Opryland and I seriously hope that some miracle would happen and they would Re-open Opryland in another location. It doesn't even have to be in Nashville, they could open it right outside of Nashville!!
buck342443 Sad but true.
The Coasters at Opryland were the first Coasters I ever rode. While I been on many since then, I still wish that they were still there and that I could have taken my kids on them. Also, Opry Land had more shaded areas and more places to sit and rest then any other park I ever been in. In the 70 and 80 at night, the Grand Old Opry building use to do Laser Shows with Rock Music. It was fun and I was upset that those shows ended in the mid 80's.
Did anyone else notice how a couple of the ride names were similar to those of Disney rides? Like Grizzly River Rampage being Grizzly River Rapids and Rock’n’Roll Coaster being the Rock’n’ Rollercoaster ft. Aerosmith
Both the Disney rides came after Opryland was already closed so Disney took the names from Opryland, not the other way around!
Sapphire Rain yeah I figured
Dollywood has a river rampage ride
And barnstormer lol, yep strange that Disney took "inspiration" from other parks
@jess besides dollywood grizzly river rampage is like a lazy river ride. The real grizzly river rampage was great. I guess you had to be there.
Really enjoyed this video! I have such fond memories of this park as a child, and was so sad when it closed suddenly. It makes me even more sad to know there was no real reason for it.
omg thank you so much, I grew up in Nashville and its like nearly everyone forgets about OpryLand, but I loved it. Chaos was a baffling and amazing coaster and so little info on it exists (it would make such a neat episode). I distinctly remember that Opryland commercial with the three country music guys... what a freaking trip down memory lane!!
You mentioned the space issue, and it really did have a lot to do with why it shut down; because it wasn't able to expand, adding rides required removing one that was already loved by fans, and caused a lot of anger. But then again, this is somewhat common for parks, so its not the biggest reason. The mall has been a mess for years, and after the big floods a few years ago, its just been even more so. Such a shame.
No one I know who is old enough to have gone there has forgotten about it. Too mad (still) to talk about it, maybe. I know I feel resentment boiling up every time I have to go by that stupid mall. It was my first job in 1985 and it was hard work but sooo much fun. What a great place for young people to work and make new friends, as well as meeting people from all over the world. Now, my kids will never get that around here.
Those three “instruments” of Opryland are iconic in commercials as well as them walking around the park occasionally. I still miss Opryland..I guess the question is, who doesn’t?
I really miss this place... spent many childhood summer days here... was heartbroken when it closed.
I went to Nashville in April for show choir and performed at the Grand Ole Opry. We stayed at the hotel and went to the mall, but I had no idea that I was standing where an entire theme park once stood. Amazing.
Great video. I always would see the commercials for Opryland on TNN when my parents would watch the Grand Ol Opry. I always wanted to go but TN is a long way from CA. I moved into the area in the early 2000s but by then it was too late and I heard it had been replaced by a mall. I didn't visit the mall and Convention center until around 2015 while attending a convention for work. I enjoyed my time there but I bet I would have had a better time if there had been a theme park.
I moved there a few years after it closed. Gaylord did a good job covering it up. People asked me about Opryland for years. Most didn’t even know it was gone!
I got the chance to go to this park in 1995 on a family trip. . . Didn't quite realize how lucky I was to go until watching this video. Thanks for posting!
I can’t believe I’m just seeing this now.
I visited Opryland when I was a kid around 1990. I absolutely loved the place. I grew up with Great America in Illinois and Opryland just had a whole other vibe. I remember Chaos and how it was terrifying to me as a 9 year old kid. The hotel was massively impressive on top of everything else. I never got to go back and didn’t find out until the mid 2000’s that it had been turned into a mall.
My family were also avid viewers of TNN, which was a great cable channel. It’s demise was also pretty sad.
There was a smaller theme park in White Oak PA named Rainbow Gardens with a wooden coaster, wildmouse, and many flat rides, it was a nice place. They closed down for a new highway but then they discovered the land was bad and not enough space so they had to cancel the planes. It was the mini Kennywood and mini Idlewild.
Having grown up going to Opryland, and having many vacations there with my family, I will NEVER forget or forgive those who took Opryland away! They are now missing out on what would have been at least the fifth or sixth generation to enjoy a beautiful park.
My family went in the summer of 96, we went every couple of years rotating between opryland six flags over Georgia and an orlando trip, we had no idea 96 was going to be our last trip there, we loved the park was my dads favorite, it was jam packed, we never understood why it closed.
Neat video, sad it was replaced by a mall of which today the mall is becoming extinct.
What a shame. To be replaced like that is such a dumb decision. An example that businessmen know virtually nothing. It seemed like more of a power move than one of 'long term business'.
When I went on a school choir-band trip to Nashville in 2016, we got to tour the Grand Ole Opry (the day/night after we toured the Gaylord Opryland Hotel) and we were told by our tour guide that the land the mall was on was once the land of the mall, and hotel I think; and pointed at some landmarks there were left of the original theme park..which wasn't much from the rides (which i'm sad now that the Grizzly Rampage ones are gone since I wanted to explore those so bad if I ever went back to Nashville), yet it always made me so interested in the park and I never could find any, so I'm so glad you made a video on this park. All your videos are so informative and good and makes me love theme parks, still in operation, abandoned, extinct, or revived even more. I can't wait to see the next video when it comes out
Thank you so much for watching!
This was a great video. When I was a boy in the 80's my parents took me to a theme park that had a room that had a warped floor and it was called the "angle inn". Was this at opry land? I barely remember it
Jason Harden yes it was!
Yep... Some referred to it as the "Tiltin' Hilton"...
It broke my heart to hear about the rides that sat abandoned for years, the got scrapped...especially the incredible bob sled ride...What a waste..to replace a historic magical park with yet another runnof the mill shopping areazz.
If it was only run of the mill it would be a gaint improvement over what it is currently.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this park, but now that I know what happened, it just utterly broke my heart 💔
I visited Opryland the last year of operation with my family. My kids, ages 2 and 4 at the time had a blast! I visited it as a kid when I was younger and decided to take my own kids for a visit. I couldn't believe it when I heard about them shutting it down because it was still rolling along very well on the day we visited as a family.
At bobbejaanland in belgium is a clone of chaos called revolution. It's truly a special ride.
There really wasn't any other place like this. I am not a fan of country music, but my father was, and he took our family to opryland every 2 years, or so, when I was growing up. It encompassed a lot of country music history.
This is a case of paving paradise to put up a parking lot. It's sad.
This was a great documentary! I was always intrigued by Opryland, but unfortunately never got to go and experience what it had to offer.
As always a great Video. Thank you for making such quality informative video content.