Opryland theme park nashville tn Continue Stephen W. Phillips explores the rise of his new book, Opryland USA: Images of Modern America, and the decline of his beloved Nashville, Tennessee theme park. Opryland USA ed from May 27, 1972 to December 31, 1997, attracting millions of visitors each year and the first taste of show business for many celebrities. The park consisted of nine themed spaces, dozens of rides and Broadway-caliber shows with live bands and orchestras. As the Home of American Music, Opryland USA still lives in the hearts and minds of those who visit woodland trails, lazy streams, exciting attractions and tone-touching performances. Order Now! Nashville's old amusement park, Tennessee Opryland USAOpryland Shows Home of American MusicAmerica's Musical ShowparkGreat, which used the U.S. logo with the slogan of the late 1990s to the 1990s! Great Rides! Great Times! LocationNashville, Tennessee, United StatesCoordinates36°12′30N 86°41′43W / 36.20833°N 86.69528°W / 36.20833; -86.69528Coordinates: 36°12′30°N 86°41′43°W / 36.20833°N 86.69528°W / 36.20833; -86.69528OwnerGaylord Entertainment CompanyOpenedMay May 27, 1972 Closed December 31, 1997Area120 acres (0.49 km2)AttractionsTotal27Roller coasters6Water rides3 Opryland USA (later called Opryland Themepark and colloly referred to only as Opryland) was an amusement park in suburban Ashville, Tennessee. He works seasonally from 1972 to 1997 (usually March-October) and for a special Christmas-themed engagement every December from 1993 to 1997. In the late 1980s, about 2.5 million people visited the park per year. Opryland USA, described as Home of American Music, has put on numerous musical shows, along with typical amusement park trips such as roller coasters and other amusement park trips. Origin of History was the desire for a new, permanent, larger and more modern home for genesis's long-running Grand Ole Opry radio show for a theme park in Nashville. The Ryman Auditorium, home since 1943, had begun to suffer from disrepedness as the surrounding city neighborhood was the victim of increasing urban decay. Despite these shortcomings, the show was growing in popularity and its weekly crowds were growing more than the 3,000-seat venue. Organisers were trying to build a new air-conditioned venue with a larger capacity and a large parking space in the city's then-rural area, offering visitors a safer and more enjoyable experience. [1] During a visit to Astrodomain in Houston, Texas, in 1969, WSM, Inc. President Irving Waugh was inspired by AstroWorld's existence. The theme park managed to attract visitors to the property on days when the Astrodome and related facilities were asleep. Waugh decided that an amusement park adjacent to the new Grand Ole Opry House, which will operate only two days a week, would be a lucrative venture. As As a result, WSM, Inc. (a subsidiary of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, later NLT Corporation and the operator of WSM-AM-FM-TV and Opry) bought a large road of riverside land (Rudy's Farm) owned by a local sausage manufacturer adjacent to the newly built Briley Parkway in the Pennington Bend area of Nashville. Plans for the Opryland complex were announced on October 13, 1969. [2] Richard Nixon, president of the 1970s, played the piano at the Grand Ole Opry House's dedication ceremony in 1974, and the theme park opened to the public on May 27, 1972[3] and is well ahead of the Grand Ole Opry House, which debuted nearly two years later on March 16, 1974. [4] Park was named a nod to the stars of the Grand Ole Opry after WSM disc jockey Grant Turner's early morning show Opryland USA. However, despite the obvious link to country music, the park's overall theme was American music in general; There were shows in addition to jazz, gospel, bluegrass, pop and rock and roll themed attractions and country. Opryland's focus was on musical productions, more than rides and other attractions. Therefore, it was billed as a showpark, not an amusement park or theme park in its early days. Among the biggest thrill rides at the park's opening were the Timber Topper (later re-changed to Rock 'n Roller Coaster) roller coaster and Flume Zoom (later re-replaced as Dulcimer Splash) daily flume. In its fourth season in 1975, Opryland expanded for the first time. The State Fair area was built on land formerly occupied by the park's buffalo exhibition. The new expansion featured a huge selection of carnival games, as well as swings from the Wabash Cannonball roller coaster, Country Bumpkin Bump Cars, and Waltz in Tennessee. However, shortly before the opening for the season, the park was covered by most of the park and in some places as deep as sixteen feet from the Cumberland River the victim of a major flood. The park's opening was postponed for a month, and several animals at the zoo died from floodwaters. [5] The Opryland USA logo was from 1972 to the late 1980s. Opryland was extremely successful in the mid-1970s and during the 1977 season the park became the most popular Nashville tourist attraction, drawing nearly two million guests a year, which were hakimtennessee and adjacent states. [6] Park also drew on the constant appeal of the Opry show to South and Midwestern country music fans, who often bring their families for a few days' vacation in Nashville. Compared to Opryland, the nearest theme parks were four to six hours away in places like Cincinnati (Kings Island), St. Louis (Six Flags in Central America) and Atlanta (Six Flags Over Georgia). Turnout continued to increase until the 1980s. Initial plans called for the construction of a commercial corridor called Oprytown. The land was also changed, but due to the overwhelming popularity of the complex in its early years, the master plan was changed to include a large hotel and convention center, which could house visitors to the Opry and Opryland on weekends, and also draw congressional business during the week. [7] Thus, in 1977, the Opryland Hotel (now called the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center), a large resort-style hotel, opened at the end of the park and expanded several times to become the world's largest hotel, not connected to a casino. [8] [9] [10] On March 31, 1979, Opryland opened the Roy Acuff Theatre, named after the beloved traditional country singer and Opry column adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry House in the plaza area. [11] It was primarily used for the theme park's leading musical production. Because the theater was placed outside the park gates, tickets to the theme park were not required to participate in acuff shows. However, shows at this venue often required a separate purchase ticket. This also allowed the general public to participate in shows at Acuff without having to pay for the entrance to the park, like the Opry itself. The property change occurred in 1980, when Houston-based insurer American General bought blocks of NLT shares and eventually became NLT's largest shareholder, laying the groundwork for an outright takeover. However, American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance businesses and chose to sell the WSM division, which included WSM-AM-FM-TV, Nashville Network (then the National Network, Spike TV and now Paramount Network), the Grand Ole Opry, the then-demolished Ryman Auditorium, opryland hotel and Opryland USA. Unable to obtain television and radio assets due to FCC ownership restrictions at the time, the American General influenced NLT to sell WSM-TV to Gillett Broadcasting, which bought the station on November 3, 1981 and changed the station's call sign to WSMV (re-replaced as WSMV-TV on July 15, 1982). By 1982, the takeover was complete and American General began working with companies such as MCA, Marriott Corporation and Anheuser-Busch on the possible sale of the rest of WSM, Inc. While many of the companies showed an interest in one of the assets, such as a stand-alone theme park or radio station, none were willing to buy the entire complex. American General is starting to feel that the only way to sell WSM, Inc. is to divide it into separate assets. Suddenly, the Oklahoma City Gaylord Broadcasting Company stepped in and bought the entire package in September 1983 for $250 million (equivalent to $641,747,411 in 2019). [13] After the acquisition, the company was re-named Gaylord Entertainment Company. Ed Gaylord, the then controlling figure at Gaylord Entertainment, was a big fan of the Opry and weighed in on the decision to buy Opryland. [14] Also Gaylord's acquisition of opryland assets was wsm's new cable network, the Nashville Network (TNN), and its production arm, Opryland Productions. TNN has become a television channel dedicated entirely to country music. For years, offices and production facilities have been located at opryland's site, and a nightly variety show (originally Nashville Now, then Music City Tonight and Prime Time Country) has aired live from the Gaslight Theater within the park itself. The theme park was often located on the network as a concert venue for country music stars. 1980s - In the 1990s, Opryland expanded its footprint for the second and final time. The new area, titled Grizzly Country, was built at the extreme northern end of the park to house the Grizzly River Rampage, a river rafting trip. The trip was originally promoted by the grizzly River Boys, then known as the Tennessee River Boys, originally once designed to promote the park through a television special, but it became popular enough that it was a permanent attraction in the park for several years.