4-5-07 Thursday We are now in Nashville toured the Gaylord Hotel and Conference center today. This is quite the place with four separate complexes joined in the middle. Along with boasting over 14,000 rooms, many overlook an atrium incorporating acres of indoor gardens, cafés and restaurants, and various waterfalls and water works. The whole complex is covered with a glass roof topped with the American flag flying, of course at the very top. Behind the scenes, they have a full nursery with multiple greenhouses to grow all their plants that will be moved inside. For example, because it is Easter is this weekend, they had a large area incorporating Easter lilies in the ever changing landscape. They grow orchids everywhere due to the greenhouse conditions that exist in major areas of this huge outstanding atrium.
If you are visiting, go around to the back and park in the mall parking lot. This will save you a $12 parking charge and the walk is the same as having parked in front. This will bring you by the ‘Gaylord University’, likely where they do training of employees. This is also beside the water ride that has been abandoned but not removed, a throw back to the amusement park that preceded the Gaylord Hotel.
We have learned Gaylord, this is the person who owns the complex, wanted boats to go from inside the hotel to down, town. To accomplish this, he proposed diverting the Cumberland River through a passageway and into. The river is a little less than a half-mile away but the engineers could not find a way to keep the snakes out. The hotel was already running water taxies from a dock on the river to downtown for guests. As for the snake issue, they got them in anyway because about 2 months later they hosted a lawyer’s convention. As for the water ride inside, they did incorporate a powered gondola like ride that follows a submerged track and filled this water ride with water from rivers throughout the world. There are signs that tell where all the water came from. Of course there are large, very happy fish swimming around for your viewing enjoyment.
When Gaylord bought the property, the old Opry Land amusement park was taken down and replaced with a mall. As result, the locals know Gaylord Resort Center as the Opry Land Hotel. Gaylord has just bought 2+ miles of property across the freeway, from one exit to the next, to erect what he says will be the largest convention center in the world.
The pictures really tell much of the story of this place.
If you are visiting, go around to the back and park in the mall parking lot. This will save you a $12 parking charge and the walk is the same as having parked in front. This will bring you by the ‘Gaylord University’, likely where they do training of employees. This is also beside the water ride that has been abandoned but not removed, a throw back to the amusement park that preceded the Gaylord Hotel.
We have learned Gaylord, this is the person who owns the complex, wanted boats to go from inside the hotel to down, town. To accomplish this, he proposed diverting the Cumberland River through a passageway and into. The river is a little less than a half-mile away but the engineers could not find a way to keep the snakes out. The hotel was already running water taxies from a dock on the river to downtown for guests. As for the snake issue, they got them in anyway because about 2 months later they hosted a lawyer’s convention. As for the water ride inside, they did incorporate a powered gondola like ride that follows a submerged track and filled this water ride with water from rivers throughout the world. There are signs that tell where all the water came from. Of course there are large, very happy fish swimming around for your viewing enjoyment.
When Gaylord bought the property, the old Opry Land amusement park was taken down and replaced with a mall. As result, the locals know Gaylord Resort Center as the Opry Land Hotel. Gaylord has just bought 2+ miles of property across the freeway, from one exit to the next, to erect what he says will be the largest convention center in the world.
The pictures really tell much of the story of this place.
