You'll notice there are no home videos posted of "Vacations At The Mall", with post after post from generations of past shoppers, talking about their favorite store. It takes a special kind of stupid to close a park like this and replace it with a mall that no one has ever liked. Opryland had a special "something", that will never be duplicated and always be missed. So sad.
I can go to the Mall in my hometown, I can’t go to Opreyland Theme Park. It’s pathetic that they thought we needed MORE malls! Not everyone has the taste of champagne on a Beer Budget. I’m other words, not everyone has the luxury of going to the mall and buying whatever they want.
I worked at the Park, General Jackson & Opryland Hotel 7 years until it closed. Love it best job as a musician I've ever had. Terrible decision closing the park.
I was a performer in "Music, Music, Music" 1987 in the Roy Acuff Theater. One of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a joy to work there.
I forgot how aesthetically pleasing Opryland was. The architecture, the theming, the landscaping. As a kid, I didn’t notice it much, but seeing films of it now, it was a beautiful place. The sounds, and smells as well are all gone. Terry London, with nothing but lies, killed a world destination. A place a child could go every summer, then work every summer. 25 years later, it still hurts.
I remember looking through a knot hole on a rustic little building while a band played and someone was singing on the other side and i saw Willie Nelson about 5 feet away from where I was looking through the knot hole he wasn't that famous back then but i remember he had a red bandana around his head and the guitar strap was red white and blue Opryland hadn't been opened that long and it's hard to believe that i got that close to a soon too be super star like Willie Nelson.
I visited with my family in summer 1977 , when I was 10 years old and again in summer 1981 And there was nothing like it anywhere else! A BEAUTIFUL PARK WITH BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND BEAUTIFUL MUSIC and now just beautiful memories!
Went there in 1983 as a leg of our senior trip. I remember every line I went through the workers would always say "Have a good day David". I kept thinking. How the hell do you nice people know my name? Then I realized my name was on my jacket. Still, The fact they mentioned my name and were so friendly is what I remember most. Saw Roy Acuff and Jan Howard and Jean Shepard. Made my dad jealous when I told him I saw Roy. :-)
Easter present every year growing up was a Opryland season pass!! Mom could drop us off Saturday morning with 7 bucks each and pick is up after it closed. My step-dad was one who helped build the ride chaos!!!
I miss Opryland almost every weekend. Whenever I get down, I pretend that I and my family are going to Opryland and its 1978. Part of Nashville's soul died when Opryland was destroyed. It was and still is traumatic to thousands.
Opryland was special. It had good rides, good shows, good music, and good food. It was magical, clean and safe. I wonder what kind of tourism dollars the mall is bringing in these days? As Opryland Mills was being built the malls near me were losing stores rapidly. I can’t imagine that the Opryland mills mall isn’t in decline already. Sad, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
I worked at Opryland. Best times ever! Hurts my heart that is gone. There is no one with deep enough pockets to ever bring it back. Loved going to work EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Pure Joy! Thank you for sharing this glimpse of joy and history to others.
This place holds a special place in my ❤! Miss this iconic amusement park. And Julio’s Pizza and the fruit flavored juices were my fav. Grape especially!
I watch these clips over and over cause I don't ever want to forget Opryland. It makes me smile but makes me sad as well. I'm 52 now, that was a part of my life that was so simple and innocent. People weren't angry and spewing hate out of their mouths like they do now. I miss that part of what we called AMERICA back then. They were correct, the employees and visitors in the Opryland park were always helpful and had a pleasant attitude. So different than what we are witnessing today in 2023.
The Grizzly River Rampage was the best ride there! As a child seeing that bear in the cave light up as you sailed by was an amazing experience. Miss You Opryland!
I was born and raised in Nashville and Opryland was our hang out as kids. We had season passes and they definitely got their usage. I couldn't believe it when they closed it and built a mall there instead. Tourists don't come to visit malls. HUGE MISTAKE. Opryland was our Disnyworld.
I miss it so much my parents and I always went 3 or 4 times a year in 80s and 90s it was home and became friends with 2 musicians I still talk to one of the them
I have lots of fond memories of yearly visits to Opryland from when I was 6 in the early 70s through medical school in the late 80s and early 90s. I was so sad to hear it closed. They literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot…and another stupid mall.
Thank you for this video. I'm 54 now and lived in Alabama and visited Opryland in it's heyday many times with family and cousin. Wabash Cannonball, Runaway Mine Train, Log Flume..so many fun times. 😎👍
I went to Opryland in 1979 with my parents as a teenager! Fun times! I remember the roller coaster Wabash Cannonball and Doo Wah Ditty City too. I remember the shows too.
1983 was the first time I visited Opryland; I was 10. They had the Wabash Cannonball then. It was so scary the first time I rode it but then I was obsessed with it!!!
Me too😭 I have so many memories there. We were so mad when they tore it down to build another stupid mall! I grew up in Dickson county and we would go there on “vacation” every summer and stay in the Opryland Hotel. You could get a room overlooking the Cascades for 3 night with 2 day tickets to the park for like $400😂 It was so much fun! I’ve still never been to an amusement park that even compares to Opryland. It was always so clean and perfectly landscaped...ugh I miss it so much😩
I saw Brenda Lee there. And I remember that if you dropped something then they would be right there to pick it up for you. I was there in the early 80's. I miss Opryland
Years ago Opryland in Nashville TN I miss Opryland back in the 90s 1993 or 1994. Good old days it was a years ago we been up there Opryland in Nashville,TN with my family, shivers family, my Grand parents Junell And Booker T. Shivers Family Reunion, 15 Children, 30 Grandchildren, 15 great-grand children, 10 great-great- grandchildren and in-laws and friends. We had a good times.
Opryland was a really great theme park. I actually met Roy Acuff there, who would often sit on a park bench and greet visitors. I was very disappointed when they closed the park. The mall is a sad replacement.
I moved to TN in 2004 so I never got to experience opryland theme park. It's kinda mind blowing when I go to opry mills and they fit a whole theme park where the parking lots are.
I remember the last Christmas in the park. It was heartbreaking knowing it was the last time you would walk through it. Employees were crying. It was sad. I used to live in Nashville and when they re opened and made the mall....what they promised was not what they delivered. It was just a mall with the Grizzly river rampage ride left there behind it as a fountain for beauty. Once that broke it sat there dry for years until the flood came in 2010. I was praying that the mall would stay closed and was a member of Bring Back Opryland USA movement. What a joy this place used to be. ❤️
Yeah, it was a joy. The feeling it gave visitors will never be replicated. Closing it was a crime and based on a lot of lies and misinformation by one man. Board members admit to this day what a massive mistake it was to close. Sad.
They should bring Opryland amusement park back with everything they used to have especially next year because it will be the grand Opry 100th anniversary, so I really think that next year they should bring all of that back. I never got to go there when I was a kid, but I grew up here in the commercials, but I would like to go to that theme park, especially if they bring it back. 2025 will be 100 years since the grand old Opry went on the air in 1925, so it’s only fitting that they should bring the park back. Besides, nobody goes to malls much anymore so they can just tare down the mall that’s already there and rebuild the park like it used to be.
they new within 2 years of construction of the new mall they tore down Opryland to build, it was a huge mistake. I know it's long too late now, but I'd love to see that mall torn down and good ol Opryland rebuilt in it's place, but sadly, it can't be done, the trees are gone, the magic is gone, all we have is the times people had there from years past.
There's a spot off I40 that a new exit could be built just west of exit 172 that has enough space for a large park. 200+ acres is needed. Nashville doesn't have it anymore in a place that makes sense. It'd cost half a billion or more.
From Memphis, used to go alot as a kid. Currently in line at Hagrids Motorbike Adventure here at Universal in line watching this video.. Anyone remember the hand puppet monkeys they used to sell? Miss this place.
I went there in 1974 at age 19. “I Hear America Singing” and the Dixieland band made a lasting impression, but that’s about all. I think my mind was more on my gf than the park.
Why remember when? Country music is not dead... We don't need a story book land. Opryland USA should be rebuilt and run again. It would be bigger than Disney... Using the same formula as before.
When I was a kid, our family went to Opryland every summer for almost ten years in a row. We'd usually leave on a Wednesday and head back home to Georgia late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I wasn't really fond of country music, so of course they dragged me to every single one of the music shows (but we also saw all the magic and comedy shows too. Fair trade I'd say). We did the Opryland Express train ride, the Model T ride, Screaming Delta Demon, Wabash Cannonball, Old Mill Scream, Grizzly River Rampage, Chaos, and pretty much everything else several times a day. I tried Dippin Dots for the first time right outside the GRR, and we'd always go get burgers at the 50's diner in Do Wah Diddy City (spelling?). For the last couple of years we went, we'd also swing by Dollywood too. When we found out my dad had cancer, we stopped going to Tennessee, but went to Wild Adventures in Valdosta for a few years. In Opryland, I couldn't get my dad on the fucking bumper cars, but at WA I couldn't get him off the rides to save my life. We would go on the same roller coaster 4-5 times in a row, go see the animal or music shows, then ride something else 4-5 times in a row. It's amazing how more you love life when you know you're not going to have it much longer.
I have a vision on the theme park in Louisiana I will call it country jazz but if you give me over 10 million bucks I will make it happen okay? Louisiana?
In the early 1980s, before the cannonball roller coaster dove, I emptied my bowels and wet my pants and never rode it ANY coaster. Pure child trauma.💩💩🤮🥵🍆🥖🥓🌭🧈🚑
Развлечения
When Nashville was Holesome and Pure, Great Memories, it should have never closed
You'll notice there are no home videos posted of "Vacations At The Mall", with post after post from generations of past shoppers, talking about their favorite store. It takes a special kind of stupid to close a park like this and replace it with a mall that no one has ever liked. Opryland had a special "something", that will never be duplicated and always be missed. So sad.
At least the mall had a Gibson guitar store. Now that is gone too after the 2010 flood and recession.
I can go to the Mall in my hometown, I can’t go to Opreyland Theme Park. It’s pathetic that they thought we needed MORE malls! Not everyone has the taste of champagne on a Beer Budget. I’m other words, not everyone has the luxury of going to the mall and buying whatever they want.
I worked at the Park, General Jackson & Opryland Hotel 7 years until it closed.
Love it best job as a musician I've ever had.
Terrible decision closing the park.
I was a performer in "Music, Music, Music" 1987 in the Roy Acuff Theater. One of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a joy to work there.
I forgot how aesthetically pleasing Opryland was. The architecture, the theming, the landscaping. As a kid, I didn’t notice it much, but seeing films of it now, it was a beautiful place. The sounds, and smells as well are all gone. Terry London, with nothing but lies, killed a world destination. A place a child could go every summer, then work every summer. 25 years later, it still hurts.
I remember looking through a knot hole on a rustic little building while a band played and someone was singing on the other side and i saw Willie Nelson about 5 feet away from where I was looking through the knot hole he wasn't that famous back then but i remember he had a red bandana around his head and the guitar strap was red white and blue Opryland hadn't been opened that long and it's hard to believe that i got that close to a soon too be super star like Willie Nelson.
I visited with my family in summer 1977 , when I was 10 years old and again in summer 1981
And there was nothing like it anywhere else!
A BEAUTIFUL PARK WITH BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
and now just beautiful memories!
Thank you for this video I'm 50 now and spent most of my childhood there. Wish my kids could experience this magical place
The Wabash Cannonball was the first roller coaster I ever rode and started my obsession with them. I loved Opryland. It was a great park for families.
Went there in 1983 as a leg of our senior trip. I remember every line I went through the workers would always say "Have a good day David". I kept thinking. How the hell do you nice people know my name? Then I realized my name was on my jacket. Still, The fact they mentioned my name and were so friendly is what I remember most. Saw Roy Acuff and Jan Howard and Jean Shepard. Made my dad jealous when I told him I saw Roy. :-)
Nashville 3 biggest blunders #1. Closing Opryland USA. #2. Closing Starwood Amphitheatre #3. Promoting Pop & Bro Country Music.
100 correct !
Easter present every year growing up was a Opryland season pass!! Mom could drop us off Saturday morning with 7 bucks each and pick is up after it closed. My step-dad was one who helped build the ride chaos!!!
What is your step dads name? Last name Earnest, by chance?
I miss Opryland almost every weekend. Whenever I get down, I pretend that I and my family are going to Opryland and its 1978. Part of Nashville's soul died when Opryland was destroyed. It was and still is traumatic to thousands.
I hate Nashville now so bad I hope the next Tornado is worse than El Reno in 2013.
it will forever be in my heart, my how back then people were so different and happier. Families together, no smart phones
Well said. We were better off before the tech age for sure
I'm sorry my children won't get to experience the joy of Opryland.
I feel the same way
Worked there in 86 and 87. So much fun, meeting great coworkers, park parties
……damn, we had it GOOD!
Opryland was special. It had good rides, good shows, good music, and good food. It was magical, clean and safe. I wonder what kind of tourism dollars the mall is bringing in these days? As Opryland Mills was being built the malls near me were losing stores rapidly. I can’t imagine that the Opryland mills mall isn’t in decline already. Sad, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
I worked at Opryland. Best times ever! Hurts my heart that is gone. There is no one with deep enough pockets to ever bring it back. Loved going to work EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Pure Joy! Thank you for sharing this glimpse of joy and history to others.
That is what I said when Opryland Closed. Nashville will never be the same.
This place holds a special place in my ❤! Miss this iconic amusement park. And Julio’s Pizza and the fruit flavored juices were my fav. Grape especially!
I watch these clips over and over cause I don't ever want to forget Opryland. It makes me smile but makes me sad as well. I'm 52 now, that was a part of my life that was so simple and innocent. People weren't angry and spewing hate out of their mouths like they do now. I miss that part of what we called AMERICA back then. They were correct, the employees and visitors in the Opryland park were always helpful and had a pleasant attitude. So different than what we are witnessing today in 2023.
The Grizzly River Rampage was the best ride there! As a child seeing that bear in the cave light up as you sailed by was an amazing experience. Miss You Opryland!
I was born and raised in Nashville and Opryland was our hang out as kids. We had season passes and they definitely got their usage. I couldn't believe it when they closed it and built a mall there instead. Tourists don't come to visit malls. HUGE MISTAKE. Opryland was our Disnyworld.
They "paved paradise and put up a parking lot".... and shopping mall.
😢😩😭😭😭😠😬😬😬
I miss it so much my parents and I always went 3 or 4 times a year in 80s and 90s it was home and became friends with 2 musicians I still talk to one of the them
I have lots of fond memories of yearly visits to Opryland from when I was 6 in the early 70s through medical school in the late 80s and early 90s. I was so sad to hear it closed. They literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot…and another stupid mall.
Thank you for this video. I'm 54 now and lived in Alabama and visited Opryland in it's heyday many times with family and cousin. Wabash Cannonball, Runaway Mine Train, Log Flume..so many fun times. 😎👍
I went to Opryland in 1979 with my parents as a teenager! Fun times! I remember the roller coaster Wabash Cannonball and Doo Wah Ditty City too. I remember the shows too.
Runaway Mine Train?
1983 was the first time I visited Opryland; I was 10. They had the Wabash Cannonball then. It was so scary the first time I rode it but then I was obsessed with it!!!
I still miss Opryland so much
Me too😭 I have so many memories there. We were so mad when they tore it down to build another stupid mall! I grew up in Dickson county and we would go there on “vacation” every summer and stay in the Opryland Hotel. You could get a room overlooking the Cascades for 3 night with 2 day tickets to the park for like $400😂 It was so much fun! I’ve still never been to an amusement park that even compares to Opryland. It was always so clean and perfectly landscaped...ugh I miss it so much😩
Same. Miss it. Miss being young and getting into trouble.
Yes. Nashville of today is Garbage.
I have so many memories from there.
I saw Brenda Lee there. And I remember that if you dropped something then they would be right there to pick it up for you. I was there in the early 80's. I miss Opryland
Years ago Opryland in Nashville TN I miss Opryland back in the 90s 1993 or 1994. Good old days it was a years ago we been up there Opryland in Nashville,TN with my family, shivers family, my Grand parents Junell And Booker T. Shivers Family Reunion, 15 Children, 30 Grandchildren, 15 great-grand children, 10 great-great- grandchildren and in-laws and friends. We had a good times.
I loved those fruit shaped drinks!
My best memory is an autographed cookbook I still own that Jeanne Pruett signed at her Feedin Friends booth at Opry Land
Opryland was a really great theme park. I actually met Roy Acuff there, who would often sit on a park bench and greet visitors. I was very disappointed when they closed the park. The mall is a sad replacement.
Traded a diamond for a dog turd.
greed took it from us and it still sinks my heart such a shame
Loved it's atmosphere.
I moved to TN in 2004 so I never got to experience opryland theme park. It's kinda mind blowing when I go to opry mills and they fit a whole theme park where the parking lots are.
When I was a kid this place seemed more majical than santa clause
I remember the last Christmas in the park. It was heartbreaking knowing it was the last time you would walk through it. Employees were crying. It was sad. I used to live in Nashville and when they re opened and made the mall....what they promised was not what they delivered. It was just a mall with the Grizzly river rampage ride left there behind it as a fountain for beauty. Once that broke it sat there dry for years until the flood came in 2010. I was praying that the mall would stay closed and was a member of Bring Back Opryland USA movement. What a joy this place used to be. ❤️
Yeah, it was a joy. The feeling it gave visitors will never be replicated. Closing it was a crime and based on a lot of lies and misinformation by one man. Board members admit to this day what a massive mistake it was to close. Sad.
Multiple floods. 72, 75, 2010… as d yet it kept going. Such a shame
They should bring Opryland amusement park back with everything they used to have especially next year because it will be the grand Opry 100th anniversary, so I really think that next year they should bring all of that back. I never got to go there when I was a kid, but I grew up here in the commercials, but I would like to go to that theme park, especially if they bring it back. 2025 will be 100 years since the grand old Opry went on the air in 1925, so it’s only fitting that they should bring the park back. Besides, nobody goes to malls much anymore so they can just tare down the mall that’s already there and rebuild the park like it used to be.
Not a big fan of country but we went in may for my sons birthday. Always had a good time.
I worked at Julio's Pizza from '95 to early '97
Best pizza ever!
Worst thing that ever happened to Nashville was closing this wonderful place and even afterwards Gaylord admitted it was a huge mistake!
I am 56 I loved that place tons of cuties
they new within 2 years of construction of the new mall they tore down Opryland to build, it was a huge mistake. I know it's long too late now, but I'd love to see that mall torn down and good ol Opryland rebuilt in it's place, but sadly, it can't be done, the trees are gone, the magic is gone, all we have is the times people had there from years past.
There's a spot off I40 that a new exit could be built just west of exit 172 that has enough space for a large park. 200+ acres is needed. Nashville doesn't have it anymore in a place that makes sense. It'd cost half a billion or more.
We Nashville citizens knew immediately when it was announced that it was a huge mistake. Didn't take 2 years for us.
From Memphis, used to go alot as a kid. Currently in line at Hagrids Motorbike Adventure here at Universal in line watching this video.. Anyone remember the hand puppet monkeys they used to sell? Miss this place.
I do. It was in the little magic shop that was right near one of the train exits.
@@HHTW2022 Man do I miss those days..
I remember... I loved that place!
Yes! I remember the magic invisible dog harness and leash the kids would walk around with..I had to have one.
The SUITS who decided to shutter Opryland U.S.A. need kicked in their heads.
Reminds me of Carowinds from the 70's to the 90's. They're was a performance venue in every section.
Used to love to feed the fish and ducks there as a kid, sad their gone.
Bring it back.. I say.
I miss Opryland!! It was a great experience!! As and seeing the opryland theater and hotel and riding the rides. Why they close?
I went there in 1974 at age 19. “I Hear America Singing” and the Dixieland band made a lasting impression, but that’s about all. I think my mind was more on my gf than the park.
Why remember when? Country music is not dead...
We don't need a story book land.
Opryland USA should be rebuilt and run again. It would be bigger than Disney... Using the same formula as before.
When I was a kid, our family went to Opryland every summer for almost ten years in a row. We'd usually leave on a Wednesday and head back home to Georgia late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I wasn't really fond of country music, so of course they dragged me to every single one of the music shows (but we also saw all the magic and comedy shows too. Fair trade I'd say). We did the Opryland Express train ride, the Model T ride, Screaming Delta Demon, Wabash Cannonball, Old Mill Scream, Grizzly River Rampage, Chaos, and pretty much everything else several times a day. I tried Dippin Dots for the first time right outside the GRR, and we'd always go get burgers at the 50's diner in Do Wah Diddy City (spelling?).
For the last couple of years we went, we'd also swing by Dollywood too. When we found out my dad had cancer, we stopped going to Tennessee, but went to Wild Adventures in Valdosta for a few years. In Opryland, I couldn't get my dad on the fucking bumper cars, but at WA I couldn't get him off the rides to save my life. We would go on the same roller coaster 4-5 times in a row, go see the animal or music shows, then ride something else 4-5 times in a row.
It's amazing how more you love life when you know you're not going to have it much longer.
Was there 75-76 "Go Balls Tech". class '76!! now Lincoln Tech. 👈
People do dumb things like close something that makes money to something that loses money
Any witnesses of the AC/DC Concert at Opryland in `78?
Didn't catch that one but I did see Cheap Trick there... Great shows in that park!
If you liked opryland, you should visit Silver Dollar City in Branson Missouri. It's a great place.
Got to visit it once
Airways wanted to go back
Gaylord is simple proof, you can be rich and stupid at the same time.
it was so good but sadly i dont live in texas :(
Closing ruined Nashville in my opinion.
I want you to know I will revive country rock and Louisiana but if I have more than $10 million and I will do it?
I have a vision on the theme park in Louisiana I will call it country jazz but if you give me over 10 million bucks I will make it happen okay? Louisiana?
Opryland was great, I took the kids every summer.
In the early 1980s, before the cannonball roller coaster dove, I emptied my bowels and wet my pants and never rode it ANY coaster. Pure child trauma.💩💩🤮🥵🍆🥖🥓🌭🧈🚑