PARTON PULLS THE PLUG
DRAIN GAYLORD’S WATER FALL
me if I am wrong, but when Dolly pulled the plug on Gaylord’s Water &
Snow Park, she gave thanks to Gov. Haslam and Mayor Dean for all they have
done for the State of Tennessee and Nashville, but nothing was said
regarding any thank you to Gaylord. I wonder why??? They
have been a PITA to the Nashville Community since they arrived. For the
good things they have done in the past for the Nashville community, they have covered
them up with stupid things that come from not being able to manage their
corporation. They do what is best for themselves, but is not always good
for the citizens of our community. They brought Dolly into the mix
thinking (I guess) that this dumb blonde. who loves Nashville because she knows
Nashville better than they ever could, and she would be the catalyst for them
to bring this project to a fruition with her name and money.
Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, and Grand Ole Opry House, has been in a
disarray and nothing but trouble from this organization. If you read
between the lines of the latest escapades from the Water & Snow Park and
selling off the Gaylord
hotel brand name and management rights to Gaylord’s four resort hotels,
including the Opryland resort, to Marriott for $210 million, they have turned
this community against them, because they are not smart people when it comes to
the management of money, people, time, integrity. What would Marriott
know about the Grand Ole Opry or the Ryman Auditorium, let alone Little Jimmy
Dickens, Jean Shepard, or Stonewall Jackson? It might be good for
all, if their complete organization would pack up and leave the State of
Tennessee, taking with them their projects to another state, which I would not
wish on anyone. We have suffered enough from them and how they have used
people and hurt so many people in our state.
one question before you read the following article on Dolly pulling the stopper
out of the Gaylord Levee. Why would anyone want to build a
WATER AND SNOW PARK IN NASHVILLE, TN. The main demographics of people
(who are tourist), who come to Nashville are older, and how many months would
be available for the success of a water park, and who in their right mind is
going to come here to go skiing in the middle of Nashville, when all they have
to do is go to Ober Gatlinburg for the real deal. Their organization must
have thought they had pulled the wool over Dolly Parton’s eyes, or maybe
they thought she was gullible enough to believe their offer to have her as a
partner, because it did not take her long to get out of this project. I
really believe Dolly seen the writing on the wall probably shortly after the
original press conference when they gave her the bouquet of flowers which she
might return the favor when their organization leaves town, and then she can
put the flowers on their gravesite.
Remember
the song that was a 1967 hit for Dolly, “This Dumb Blonde Ain’t
Nobody’s Fool.” The words have come full circle and I hope
certain people get a copy of the song and listen closely. Is there
anyone out there who would like to invest in building a Water & Snow
Park!!!
Marty Martel
following article is from The Tennessean on September 29,
2012 written
by: Contact Jaquetta White at 615-259-8071 or jwhite3@tennessean.com,
or follow her on Twitter @jaquettawhite.
Parton has pulled the
plug on her involvement in the planned Water & Show Park
here in
Nashville. Remember the
grand plans we all
heard back in January for a new Water and Snow Park, a $50
Million joint
venture between Dolly’s Dollywood Company and Gaylord
across from
Opryland, a project that was supposed to add 450 jobs to
the local economy?
$50 million snow
and water park in Nashville, citing concerns about Gaylord Entertainment’s
move this week to sell management rights for its Opryland
Resort and Convention
Center to Marriott International.
are good for
their company and their stockholders, and I have to make
decisions based on
what is best for me and the Dollywood Company,” Parton said
Friday in a
statement. “I think everyone knows I love Nashville, and I
hope the work
we’ve already done will spark more family entertainment in
Nashville.”
The country legend’s announcement came three
days after
Gaylord shareholders voted to allow the Nashville hospitality
and entertainment
company to convert to a real estate investment trust. That plan calls
for selling the
Gaylord hotel brand name and management rights to Gaylord’s
four resort
hotels, including the Opryland resort, to Marriott for $210
million.
The snow and water park was a 50/50 joint venture between the
Pigeon Forge,
Tenn.-based Dollywood Company and Gaylord. Gaylord Chief
Executive Officer
Colin Reed said Friday that his company intends to find
another partner to
carry out the plan.
Gaylord’s conversion changed Dollywood’s agreement with the
company
to build the water park attraction, said Pete Owens, a
spokesman for Dollywood
Company. Owens said Dollywood negotiated the deal with Gaylord
and had expected
that the company would oversee its future operation.
“We looked at the change in the day-to-day operations of the
property and
that, in Dolly’s view, fundamentally changed the program we
were planning,”
Owens said.
Next week, Gaylord will become Ryman Hospitality Properties
Inc., and the
company’s focus will shift away from running large convention
hotels on a
day-to-day basis to acquiring smaller hotel properties with no
more than 700
rooms. The move is designed, in part, to improve the company’s
share
price.
“We are deeply disappointed in today’s news that Dollywood
will no
longer partner with us to build a family attraction,” Reed
said in a
statement. “We have enormous admiration for Dolly Parton and
her company,
and respect their decision.”
Tom Marder, a spokesman for Marriott, said the company had no
comment.
Parton had hinted at trouble in August while at a news conferencecelebrating
her latest gold album. She said the project was “kind of in a
holding
pattern right now,” WKRN News 2 reported at the time.
“Gaylord is actually involved at the moment with some changes
of their
own,” she said. “So we are just kind of waiting until they get
their things straightened out before we go forward with that.”
Gaylord was quick to dispel any notion that the development
plan was not moving
forward, saying then that it remained “100 percent” committed
to
the plan.
Dollywood executives started discussions with Gaylord
following the
announcement, Owens said, but did not move to end the
relationship with the
hospitality chain until the stockholder
vote confirmed the restructuring.
Owens said the company intends now to place its focus on
Dollywood properties
in eastern Tennessee, as well as on upcoming expansion plans
for Dollywood’s
existing sites.
The Nashville water and snow park had been set to break ground
early next year
and open by the summer of 2014 across Briley Parkway from the
Opryland Hotel.
The park was supposed to be the first phase in the development
of and serve as
an anchor for a “family entertainment complex.”
The attraction would have been the country’s first hybrid
water and snow
park, Gaylord and Dollywood executives said in announcing the
plan in January.
The development had been touted as a boon for the Nashville
area. Reed said in
February that the project would generate 2,000 construction
jobs. In April, the
Metro Council approved a 60 percent tax abatement, valued at
$5.8 million for
the project.
“I am disappointed with this news, but I am happy to hear that
Gaylord
still plans to pursue the possibility of a water park,” Mayor
Karl Dean
said. “I think the world of Dolly Parton, who has been
wonderful to both
Nashville and the entire state of Tennessee.”
The park plan was welcomed by the Nashville tourism community,
which has lost
out on some business since 1997, when Gaylord shuttered its
Opryland USA theme
park. The snow and water park was projected to draw 500,000
visitors in its
first year, 40 percent of them from outside the state,
officials said.
“We are obviously disappointed in this news. The concept and
the
partnership were perfect for Nashville,” Nashville Convention
&
Visitors Bureau President Butch Spyridon said in a statement.
“With a
little time and a little hard work, hopefully we can
regenerate this or a
similar development for this city.
“It’s apparent by the previous intent that the market demand
is
there for this type of concept, and Nashville certainly
deserves it.”