Opryland 2021
So it has been a week since I lasted posted. We had Spring Break last week, and I have been getting back in to routines this week. So now I finally have time to tell you all about our Spring Break trip to Opryland. It was semi last minute. So Brad was supposed to be out of town that week. So Emily and I planned to go somewhere for a few days during Spring Break with the kids. Well Brad’s trip was cancelled so he and Emily’s husband, Justin, tagged along. We opted to go to Opryland to be an easier drive, and there was plenty of availability the couple of days before when I booked it.
As usual, we had to visit the American Girl store on the way in. We let Melody take in one doll, and she was allowed to buy one small thing. She picked a popcorn maker (popcorn is her favorite snack!).
We arrived at the hotel a bit before 2. We went inside, walked around, then when we still didn’t have a notification our room was ready, I decided to check with the front desk. They checked us in, so we headed out and grabbed our luggage. Melody had to bring her own suitcase and WellieWisher backpack. This is also why I have 130,000 photos and videos on my phone. I take several of the same picture!
Toy check! ALWAYS DO THIS!
Melody decided to take some pictures and selfies while we were waiting on Emily and Justin to arrive.
Here is the view from our balcony. We had another room in the Cascades Atrium. Not our favorite atrium, but probably my favorite view in this one. You can see a sneak of the guys heading to Sound Waves to get us passes for the afternoon in the last picture.
We headed to Sound Waves around 3:30. They will deny it, but they DO sell day passes when there is space available. They also sell tickets half price after 3 on the day of if tickets are available. We did the latter. We didn’t stay but maybe 30 minutes. It was way too crowded, and Brad felt entirely uncomfortable with COVID and the crowds. Honestly, as much as we paid, I would hate for this to be the usual crowds. They advertise it as a low crown location, yet finding a chair proved difficult, and there were long lines at all of the water features.
We had dinner at the marketplace. We decided to try the Spinach Dip Grilled Cheese. It was awful. Like it was super messy, and not appetizing at all. Don’t get it, ha. On the bright side, Melody was over the disappointment of leaving Sound Waves and could easily watch the fountain the entire trip and be satisfied.
We met back up with Emily and Justin for the fountain show. They do this on the hour for a total of 4 shows each night. Melody loves it.
The next morning, we had Lydia over to play until lunchtime. I mean the girls wanted to spend 24/7 together. Which I can’t blame them! They are kids and love to play with each other.
We had lunch at Paisano’s (the pizza place). The two groups decided to split one pizza. It is a much better deal than the combos, especially if you have multiple people.
We did some walking around, then we headed back to the room. I wore a tunic I got back in 2019 for the first time, and it turned my nail tips black. It was so weird. Luckily I brought my nail stuff, and I did a quick color change. By the end of the night it turned my nails gray.
While Dalton (Emily and Justin’s son) napped, I took the girls walking around the resort. Aside from the fountains, exploring is Melody’s next favorite thing to do. She can pretty much get you anywhere you need to go in this huge hotel, ha.
Then it was more playtime in the room.
We decided to go and get dinner around 4:45. All the schedules said the sit down restaurants were opening at 4. Well they were incorrect (very common FYI). They opened at 5. There was live music in the main area, so we opted to eat at Jack Daniel’s instead of The Fuse. I think The Fuse likely had more food the kids would eat, but the noise wasn’t worth it! I decided to try the catfish. It was pretty good. I really liked their fries and cole slaw. The seasoning on the fries is a little sweet, so beware. Emily and Justin ordered the honey rolls. I intentionally didn’t have one until the end of the meal (or I would have had them all, ha). They were really tasty, and I am certain they would have been next level yummy when fresh and hot. I would for sure eat here again, but I think I will try something else.
We did a bit more walking around, got dessert, and watched the fountain show one last time.
Melody really, really wanted to ride the boat ride, but the line was SO long. Emily used her magical powers, and convinced my child to ride the escalators instead and rewarded her with fruit snacks. So after many escalator rides, we snapped one last pic of all the kids before bed!
We got up the next morning, and I remembered we hadn’t taken a selfie outside as usual, so we did that real quick. Then Melody went and spent some time with Lydia while dad of the year loaded the car.
After packing up [and dealing with people not wearing masks in the elevators with us AND housekeeping trying to clean out our room while we still had things in it], we went and did the boat ride. We did have to wait a little bit, but it wasn’t actually that long.
I didn’t buy the picture…I didn’t buy the picture…that was Brad’s request. I am a sucker, but I didn’t. Instead, we took our own!
We finished up around 11, and we headed to grab lunch before leaving the hotel. Thankfully Stax opened this day, so we were sure to grab it.
And lots of selfies on the car ride home!
Aside from the Sound Waves issue, it was a really fun trip. It was more crowded than we are used to, but I think some of that was from the lack of things being fully opened within the hotel. So this caused more congestion and such. Aside from the elevator experience and Sound Waves, I never felt unsafe though. It was a good length for a quick and fairly cheap trip. I still prefer to stay 3 nights though. I think that is the perfect amount. I also love getting to travel with Emily’s group. I think the girls really love getting to be with each other so much. And Lydia is Melody’s closet thing to a sister, ha. {and Dalton a brother, but we are hoping her far far far in the future husband, ha.}
