Disneyland-type park

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32966, 12 July 1972, Page 26

Disneyland-type park

(By

WALTER McCABE,

N.Z.P.A.-Reuter correspondent)

NEW YORK. After the success of Walt Disney’s Disneyland, several other family - entertainment parks have sprung up throughout the United States. The newest is Opryland, U.S.A. The park, situated in Tennessee woods and hills along the Cumberland River, is just east of Nashville, home of country and western music and the “Grand Ole Opry House,” which has become a national institution. The main theme of the five sections of Opryland is American music—jazz and blues, country, folk, western and contemporary. A new 4400-seat Opry House under construction at the park will open in the spring of 1974. When finished it will be the nation’s largest radio and television studio. The park opened in May. In the park’s Opry Plaza, there is z a show which consists mainly of highlights of America’s country music heritage, LIVE RADIO SHOW Other attractions in this section include a live radio show, where popular singers are interviewed, and a museum with an extensive collection of antique musical instruments.

Opryland’s folk-music section has a speciality restaurant that serves country jam, biscuits and molasses cake. Craftsmen can be seen working at a potter’s wheel, a woodworker’s bench and a loom. There is also a craftsman who makes musical instruments which visitors can buy. Also in the folk area is a log flume ride where visitors can take a bouncing, splashing dash through water. Hol-lowed-out logs are propelled by a 28,000-gallon-a-minute surge of water over a ravine and down a 90ft plunge into a lake. Another section of the park looks like the French quarter of New Orleans. It has a live Dixieland show, coffee mart,

flower mart, artists’ street, a glassblower and a magic store. Jazz and blues, for which New Orleans is famous, are the theme. An antique carousel (merry-go-round) said to be one of the oldest in the world, sits on an island in a simulated New Orleans bayou. Near it is a 1000-seat theatre with a new Broad-way-type musical review, “I Hear America Singing.” The 40-minute show gives visitors a brief resume of American popular music. TEXAS TOWN The music of the American West is captured in a Texas town of the 1880 s, complete with a Mexican bar, a blacksmith and a general store. A pageant on horseback, which depicts the part horses have played in the history of the United States, is presented in

a 1000-seat open theatre that overlooks a lake. Strolling bands and larger-than-life cartoon characters roam around the area giving impromptu musical shows. One musical character is Dear Old Aunty Mary—an ornate, antique, band organ which plays as if it were a 70-piece band. It is programmed to play more than 100 songs ranging from “The William Tell Overture” to “Aquarius.” CONTEMPORARY MUSIC The “Music of Today” area, devoted to showing America’s contemporary music scene, is situated in a stand of trees and contains a number of buildings of contemporary design. Other entertainment includes a puppet show, a musical review by trained barnyard animals, a boat ride and a shooting gallery.