http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120119/NEWS/301190061/Dolly-Parton-Gaylord-Opryland-announce-new-Nashville-amusement-park?odyssey=nav|head
Sounds like a sure-hit for the chain. This will turn into a major operation I'm sure, maybe even the largest water park in the chain. It also sounds like the could potentially add on a dry park of some sort. We'll be watching for more details. Expect this park to be themed out the wazoo and top-notch in every way.
"Gaylord chairman and CEO Colin Reed said closing the original Opryland theme park was a bad idea. He said he spent his first year as CEO fielding letters of complaint."
That's how I felt about it. I used to love visiting Opryland and riding the Screamin Delta Demon bobsled and their cool Chaos indoor coaster. It's where my affection for coasters began on the Rock 'n Roller Coaster. That site looks big enough for a fair sized park. This should be fun to follow.
Here's a easy link to a good tribute site to the old Opryland for any interested:
http://www.thrillhunter.com/Opryland.html
They had some good theming there (their big boat splash ride, The Old Mill Scream was a real beaut) and I enjoyed the place quite a bit. I wish HFE the best of wishes in resurrecting some good memories.
I dont know if this is a hfe project because it only mentions Dolly partons company which is separate from hfe.
I always thought it was too bad Opryland was torn out...I've got fond memories of the place. The shopping mall put in there never did live up to expectations, and that did surprise me...a Mall of America right in Nashville? I thought it would be great. Guess not. So, the new park sound exciting. I would not be surprised if we didn't see another theme park of some sort developed there.
Quote from: SDC#1fan on January 19, 2012, 04:46:05 PM
I dont know if this is a hfe project because it only mentions Dolly partons company which is separate from hfe.
On the second page of the article it goes in depth about HFE. However it does say, it's unclear whether HFE will have a role in the new park.
I've been looking for an excuse to take a Nashville vacation ever since we drove through it (actually around it on Briley Parkway coincidentally enough) on our way to Gatlinburg. This looks like a pretty good one.
I haven't been able to find out much info myself. It specifically states in the press release from Dollywood that The Dollywood Company would be the operating partner, not HFEC. TDC is based out of Pigeon Forge, and it's always puzzled me whether it's a subsidy of HFEC or a separate company owned by Dolly. The HFEC site says nothing about it so far, but sometimes they are a few weeks late getting press releases on there.
It does say clearly that it's not clear who is the partner. I read that line and than promptly forgot it amidst all the HFE history. I just hope they bring back Chaos. That ride was very fun. It was kind of like a smooth Space Mountain.
I watched a pov of chaos and it definitely looks intersting!
Received an E-Mail from Dollywood today that states this:
"Two of the biggest names in Tennessee tourism are teaming up to bring family entertainment back to Nashville. Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET) and Dolly Parton's Dollywood Company have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a 50/50 joint venture to develop a 105-acre family entertainment zone adjacent to the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. The Dollywood Company will serve as the operating partner. Phase one of the project is a yet unnamed $50 million water and snow park, the first of its kind in the U.S. A fall 2012 groundbreaking date is expected with the park opening slated for summer of 2014.
The water and snow park will anchor the project which offers room for future expansion. The park will provide a mix of high energy water activities for the summer season and designated snow activities for winter play. Once open, first year attendance is projected at 500,000, a large portion of which will come from out of state, bringing in substantial tourism revenue to Tennessee and Nashville. Dollywood expects to employ 450 full- and part- time employees, including the construction phase and once the facility is operational.
This proposed attraction furthers Gaylord's focus on growing the leisure side of its business and continuing to drive revenue through its top-notch entertainment attractions throughout the year. The Dollywood Company is responsible for managing Dolly Parton's Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, as well as her dinner theatre attraction, Dixie Stampede. Annually, these attractions attract approximately four million visitors and have won some of the industry's most coveted awards including "world's best theme park" and "America's most beautiful water park."
"I'm so excited about this opportunity," Dolly Parton said. "I am confident that partnering my Dollywood Company with a great company like Gaylord will create something truly special. We're all working on new types of entertainment to do in the daytime and nighttime for the whole family so we bring new folks to the area year round."
"We are thrilled by the prospect of bringing to Nashville a family focused entertainment center with one of the preeminent theme park owners and operators in the country," said Colin V. Reed, chairman and chief executive officer, Gaylord Entertainment. "I am confident this proposed attraction, which will be a destination not only for our hotel guests but for the entire Nashville community, will meaningfully enhance our transient and leisure strategy by introducing a fun, family environment to the region. With Dolly Parton's country music legacy and strong ties to Nashville, we can think of no better partner for this venture than Dolly's Dollywood Company."
"We hope that some other developers with great ideas will join us in creating this new area. We're saying the water and snow park are the first phase, but who knows, if we see some great ideas we could be developing the entire zone by the time the snow and waterpark open. Wouldn't that be great for Nashville and the state," Parton said.
We are in the early stages of planning and will make certain that any project we pursue is done so under the appropriate economic conditions and provides the appropriate returns for our shareholders," said Reed. "We are looking forward to working on the next steps of this project and to it becoming a valuable part of the Nashville community."
Does Nashville get that much snow?
^ The snow is produced by machines in the same manner that the chain makes a 'snow park' at Stone Mountain in Georgia every year.
The snow park is what makes me think HFEC is in fact involved in this, unless TDC is merely copying them. It would be weird for a partnered company of HFEC to be doing all this if HFEC wasn't involved. A huge part of the reason DW has their name slapped all over this is because they would be in direct competition otherwise.
There is another article in the Tennessean that indicates HFE is involved.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120120/BUSINESS01/301200067/Nashville-amusement-park-expected-do-well-not-match-Opryland-s-economic-splash
I have always heard that HFE ran the show...Dolly has always just been an investor. Dolly, however, is the "face" of Dollywood, Splash Country, and Dixie Stampede, and there is a general belief by the public (probably due to the public relations machine) that Dolly owns everything. One of the current insiders will have to chime in here, though.
Not an uncommon arrangement. For instance, Disney owns Tokyo Disneyland but it is managed by the Oriental Land Company. As companies grow large and partner with other ventures to produce a more quality product (and sometimes to get around red tape), you see lots of this.
Watch any film now-a-days. It used to be you knew exactly who to cheer or blame for a film, but more and more film companies partner to produce, distribute, etc. I just watched "The Help" and although it is billed as a Dreamworks film, Touchstone (Disney) is the Distributor. Odd! Same with Harry Potter films. You only see Harry Potter at Universal Studios, but Disney owns all the Distribution rights to the films....therefore you can catch them on ABC Family after-market during the holidays.
I think it makes a lot of business sense, and am glad to see the flexibility of Theme Parks doing the same thing.
Snowpark in the future for Old CC site? ;D
I think dolly is more than a face... reason for that statement is as season pass holders we get 50% discount if we want to ride the Showboat, we get about 25% disount fo rriding the duck, BUT if you go to Dixie stampede you only get 5.00 off the tickets ( about 50-55.00)..
I have always wondered why we dont get 50% there. There admittance is about the same price as the Boat. ::) ::)
I assume Dolly gets a piece of the action and PTB cant justify the steep discount.???
oh well.
I've wondered about that too. $5 off isn't much of a discount considering the price of their tickets. Does anyone know off hand what the discount is for Dollywood?
Larson, I am pretty sure that SDC pass holders get 1/2 off at DW.....
Which really makes me wonder about DS..???
QuoteLarson, I am pretty sure that SDC pass holders get 1/2 off at DW.....
I have been to DW and Splash Country and they both offer 50% off for SDC pass holders.
Its a great discount. I dont think that the DOllywood passholders recieve 50% off at SDC though.
I can go to both parks for 2.5 days in Pigeon Forge for $50, thats a great deal.
Sandune, I would think you would get out there to Dollywood, its very nice. You would enjoy it.
Its a "Chip off the old SDC block!!"
Quote from: sanddunerider on January 28, 2012, 12:48:51 PM
Larson, I am pretty sure that SDC pass holders get 1/2 off at DW.....
Which really makes me wonder about DS..???
That's what I thought. That's more than we get at WW.
MH- maybe I will sometime, but as a rule with my schedule, SDC & Branson work out rule well.. LOL>
Larson, WW?
if you go once to WW, isnt it cheaper to buy a combo season ticket? I know it would be if you wenst 2 days..
I would imagine thats why we dont get discounts...
Even at 50% off, 2 days entry would be more money than the extended season pass.
I can remember a time back in the early 90's when you could get into Dollywood for FREE with SDC Season Passes.
Up until four years ago or so, a Dollywood Gold pass would get you in for free at Silver Dollar City and Whitewater and get you half price admission into Celebration City. Those truly were the good old days! I believe now the Gold pass gets you in SDC and WW for half price. Still not a terrible deal.
That sounds about right. Honestly we've never been to WW
We used to go to WW 3 or 4 times a summer when the Goldpass got you in for free. It was worth it to us to show up at opening time, spend 3 or 4 hours and ride all the slides and then get out and do something else for the rest of the day, usually CC after a bite of lunch. It was a great way to spend a day..two parks with minimal expense. Since they did away with the free admission with the Goldpass we have not been back to WW. We just don't feel the park is worth the admission price for what it offers.
I thought this article detailing HFEC in relation to this project was interesting:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120205/BUSINESS01/302050032/Meet-Herschend-Dolly-Parton-s-silent-partner-family-fun-parks
If you can find 'em, ask the former owners of Dogpatch how their Ski resort next to Dogpatch fared! Even the snow making machines of the day could not do the job of keeping up with demand...the mild Ozarks winters let the stuff melt off pretty quick. After a year or two, the Ski resort was changed to a slope for "grass skiing" and, well, that didn't last long, either. HA! ;)
I'm thinking it will be a little more advanced than that. I imagine the half pipe and suck will even have chillers underneath anlong with a skating rink. I don't think they'll have slopes.
I skied plenty in Newton Co. Arkansas last year using Polaris as a ski lift.
I don't know if anyone else remembers it but just north of springfield on 13 there used to be a place called snow bluff. We went there a few times but like was mentioned by junior about mid way through the day the snow would start to melt and the mud would come through. With today's technology they should do better but they probably wont have ski slopes. At the winter Olympic games in Canada they had such a hard time with snow they had to use dumptrucks to haul it in at times and they had hundreds of snow machines.
Here's the latest short article from the Tennessean:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120215/BUSINESS/302150082/Gaylord-snow-water-park-will-draw-40-its-visitors-from-outside-TN
Expected opening is within 2 1/2 years with 40% of the visitors coming from outside Tennessee.
Quote from: SDC#1fan on February 14, 2012, 12:37:05 PM
I don't know if anyone else remembers it but just north of springfield on 13 there used to be a place called snow bluff. We went there a few times but like was mentioned by junior about mid way through the day the snow would start to melt and the mud would come through. With today's technology they should do better but they probably wont have ski slopes. At the winter Olympic games in Canada they had such a hard time with snow they had to use dumptrucks to haul it in at times and they had hundreds of snow machines.
I remember that very well, i never went.. But if you know where to look yopu can easily spot the old slopes;;
I wonder if this will include Snowflex technogy. Neat stuff, google Liberty and snowflex.
read in the Branson Daily Independent last week that Dollywood has pulled out of this deal due to Gaylord Entertaninment restructuring themselves and making it impossible for Dolly to remain invovled.
Could this be a power play to kill the project?
Quote from: Junior on October 04, 2012, 04:09:21 PM
Could this be a power play to kill the project?
Opryland hotel is being managed by Marriot now. I was there this past summer, went to the Chesney Mcgraw concert there. Being I'm just a overgrown kid, I couldn't help but wonder it one of the atriums couldn't be turned into an indoor waterpark.
Ski Lodge at Dogpatch? Hmmmm...did not work out. Redevelop CC to a snowpark, please...no! :)
Dolly recently stated she still wants to do something in Nashvegas.