Leland Wykoff Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Following the Shareholder vote converting Gaylord Entertainment to a REIT and finalizing the sale of the Gaylord Hotel Brands to Marriott, Friday it was announced the Dolly Parton partnership with Gaylord to build and develop a snow park and water park in Nashville has been cancelled. The announcement follows the news released last week transferring the General Jackson show boat and other entertainment properties to Marriott, presumably to sweeten the hotel deal previously struck. For an article rich in details concerning the cancellation of the Snow/Water Park project please see: http://www.knoxnews....ter-park-plans/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Go figure its cancelled, dolly should have went on her own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 I don't think you realize how expensive this business is. Dolly should have stayed with her long time, highly supportive business partner, Herschend Entertainment. If they were not interested in this project, that should have told her something. Hopefully, this frustrated foray has not seriously damaged that relationship. (See also the Koch family relationships and Bluegrass Boardwalk...these aborted efforts can cause serious longterm damage). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malem Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 According to the Gaylord CEO, who will remain at the much smaller company, the project may not be entirely dead: (http://www.wsmv.com/story/19668111/dolly-parton-ends-partnership-with-nashville-water-park) In a statement released Friday afternoon, Gaylord Chairman and CEO Colin Reed said: "We are deeply disappointed in today's news that Dollywood will no longer partner with us to build a family attraction. We have enormous admiration for Dolly Parton and her company, and respect their decision. We continue to believe that a water park attraction on the property adjacent to Gaylord Opryland would be a valuable contributor to both our hotel and Nashville tourism. We will endeavor to find another quality partner so that this important tourism project can become a reality." That statement must be taken with a rather large grain of salt, as the new Gaylord will no longer be investing in the development of new properties. They have a real estate interest in someone going ahead with this project, however unlikely it may be. (We can be pretty sure that Marriott isn't going back into the amusement park business.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stashua123 Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 you know what that did^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron88stang Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 This is sad news for Nashville. It sounded like a cool project. Hopefully someone else will see this as an opportunity and go forward with an amusement park for the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leland Wykoff Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 More details trickle out concerning the aborted Nashville Water Park. The news is a flurry with details concerning the melting Snow Park concept: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121002/NEWS/310020020/Herschend-not-interested-Nashville-water-park-without-Dolly-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE Interest in this project is severely stunted. Other industry players, such as Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet, are on record saying the regional amusement park industry is fully built out in America with no room, economically, for another large capital investment park. Given Marriott's dismal past experience managing regional parks no one seriously considers them returning to the domestic industry. Six Flags has been burned often enough by over-reaching to know better. A SeaWorld would not seem to fit or make economic sense. Dito Busch Gardens. Is it likely the much smaller, enjoying significantly less revenues, lacking a deep bench management operations team, stillborn Ryman Hospitality Properties/Gaylord Entertainment will pull off such a major development? Particularly not likely given no industry partner seems willing to mid-wife such a birth. Recall, the now Ryman Hospitality Properties had to abandon the Denver Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center, a project already underway, to effect the Marriott deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Building a park of any decent "regional attraction" size, I think, is just not feasible. Just the cost of obtaining and preparing dozens (or hundreds) of acres of land; creating miles of plumbing, kitchens, bathrooms, infrastructure, pathways, employees... You've crossed millions of dollars before you've purchased a ride. And one might argue that you won't find a regional-draw amusement park that doesn't have at least one larger roller coaster, which can run $8 - $25 million dollars alone. Who's marching around these days with the hundreds of millions of dollars that it would likely take to bring a full-sized, regional amusement park to life, even in phases? And if they could, where would they build it? Even Six Flags and Cedar Fair, whose main business is park operation, haven't built a park in decades. Acquisition was the name of the game, and that is over. There's nothing left to acquire, for the most part. The last attempt to build a park from scratch, as far as I can recall, was Hard Rock Park... Another part of the equation, I think, is the expected scale of these projects. If Kings Island of 1972 opened in 2012... Suffice it to say, these are different expectations for a park in 2012 than there were 40 years earlier, for better or worse. Kings Island 1972 would cost millions and millions of 2012 dollars, but would even then would not meet the "requirements" that many have come to have. That being said, I think that there is room for small, local parks like the one proposed here. It would be nice if Geauga Lake could be the family picnic grove with a few coasters, free from the expectation that it should have record-breaking rides. The problem is, who's willing to operate it? But I don't know. That's all just my opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Compare and contrast Kentucky Kingdom... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD-120-420 Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Why wasn't Hard Rock Park successful? (Besides the obvious answer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 What's the obvious answer? For one thing, it was located miles outside of the tourist-friendly areas of Myrtle Beach and more or less off the beaten path. Secondly, it had a rigid and overpriced admission price without few discounts, few specials, and (as I recall) no child pricing. The second owner tried to implement tiered admission schemes, free kids' tickets, and multi-day options just to try to get people in the door. And that apparently didn't work, either... EDIT: Later, of course, manufacturers, licensers, vendors, and investors came out of the woodwork suing the park for this and that... Keep in mind this was all circa 2008's financial crisis, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD-120-420 Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 I assumed the obvious answer was they weren't making a profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 But are some big park and water park operators getting to be pricy, and out pricing themselves from the general public, that supports the park. Plus kids bring in crowds contrary to belief its not the Thrill Seekers, its the families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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