The Roller Coaster of Tomorrow has arrived.
Only at Opryland '89
MOVIES, THRILL RIDE INDUSTRY UNITE FOR CHAOS AT OPRYLAND
NASHVILLE, TENN. --
The scenes indeed are chaotic; shattering glass, grinding gears, roaring flames, weird man-in-the-moon images, a clock gone haywire... and a train that roars along seemingly out of control.
All of those elements--and more--make up Chaos, a first-of-its-kind-in-the-world thrill ride that just opened at Opryland theme park. Chaos joined almost two dozen other rides and attractions that compliment Opryland's trademark musical stage shows.
Chaos has been described as a "coaster-hybrid" because it combines traditional roller coaster thrills with modern audio-visual technology, and all of its action takes place indoors.
"The roller coaster of tomorrow has arrived, and it's only at Opryland," said Julio Pierpaoli, the park's general manager.
Chaos was designed by Vekoma, a Dutch thrill ride manufacturer, and Opryland was Vekoma's first customer for the innovative ride. Vekoma is building a similar ride in Belgium, but there will not be another Chaos in North America for at least a year.
For Opryland to take a chance on Chaos was not an easy decision, primarily because of the $7 million price tag on the ride.
"From the moment of the first ride, however, we knew we had a winner," Pierpaoli declared.
The price isn't the only aspect of Chaos that's big. The Chaos building looms ominously more than 80 feet above the park's Grizzly River Rampage, a white-water rafting adventure. The building would cover almost half of a football field, and it contains more than 2.1 million cubic feet of space.
"That's a lot of space, and we can put it to very good use," Pierpaoli said.
Two giants in the motion picture industry joined with Vekoma and Opryland to produce Chaos. They are R/Greenberg Associates and Elias Associates, both of New York.
R/Greenberg is recognized as one of the leaders in high-tech, gee-whiz film and video images, while Elias is a sound company that has become well-known for bonding music with visual images. Both firms were involved in "Aliens" and "Ghostbusters," and individually, they have worked on hundreds of other movies and commercials.
R/Greenberg was nominated for an Academy Award for "Predator," a science-fiction thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and among it also worked on movies ranging from "Jaws 3-D" and "Superman" to "Tootsie" and "The Big Chill."
Elias has produced soundtracks for "Jagged Edge" and "Parents" and records for Grace Jones, Duran Duran and John White. Elias also produced the sound for MTV's top-of-the-hour station ID.
For Chaos, the two companies collaborated on a tightly edited 70-millimeter film and companion 35-millimeter segments that compound the motion of the coaster train.
Passengers on Chaos are transported on a 240-foot-long coaster train that carries 80 people at a time. It is believed to be the longest coaster train in the world.
Chaos is the largest project in Opryland's 17-year history, and it is one of the largest in the U.S. theme park industry for 1989. It eclipses the Grizzly River Rampage, built in 1982 for $4.8 million, and the most recent addition, a water ride called the Old Mill Scream, built in 1987 for $2.6 million.
The ride can accommodate 1,600 people per hour. For comparison, the Grizzly River Rampage can carry 1,700 per hour and the Flume Zoom, a log flume ride, can carry 1,200.
In 1988, when the park had 2.2 million guests, more than 13 million rides were taken on the park's numerous rides.
"We fully expect the 1989 figures to be substantially higher than that," Pierpaoli predicted.
While Chaos and other rides are delivering thrills and chills, more than 400 entertainers are continuing Opryland's primary emphasis on live entertainment.
The entertainers--garnered in a coast-to-coast audition tour--perform in a dozen stage shows featuring a variety of musical styles.
"We do country music very well," Pierpaoli noted, "but we constantly surprise guests by offering many other musical styles."
Guests can find rock 'n' roll, gospel, bluegrass, pop, Broadway and western music in theaters throughout the 120-acre park.
The park's newest show is "And the winner Is," a production that salutes America's award-winning songs. More than 50 tunes that have won Emmys, Oscars, Tonys, CMA awards and Dove awards are featured.
Another popular production is "Way Out West," a 45-minute show filled with songs of the American west taken from Broadway, movies, television and popular recordings.
Separate from the park is a show called, "Music! Music! Music!" The show's star for the 1989 season is Brenda Lee, the pop and country superstar who has sold millions of records around the world.
Also new at Opryland in 1989 is the Minnie Pearl Museum, a tribute to the long-time Grand Ole Opry member known as the "Queen of Country Comedy." Minnie's museum is located in the Opry Plaza area next to the Roy Acuff Museum.
Opryland's season is on weekends in spring and fall and daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The 1989 season continues through Oct. 29.
Only at Opryland '89
MOVIES, THRILL RIDE INDUSTRY UNITE FOR CHAOS AT OPRYLAND
NASHVILLE, TENN. --
The scenes indeed are chaotic; shattering glass, grinding gears, roaring flames, weird man-in-the-moon images, a clock gone haywire... and a train that roars along seemingly out of control.
All of those elements--and more--make up Chaos, a first-of-its-kind-in-the-world thrill ride that just opened at Opryland theme park. Chaos joined almost two dozen other rides and attractions that compliment Opryland's trademark musical stage shows.
Chaos has been described as a "coaster-hybrid" because it combines traditional roller coaster thrills with modern audio-visual technology, and all of its action takes place indoors.
"The roller coaster of tomorrow has arrived, and it's only at Opryland," said Julio Pierpaoli, the park's general manager.
Chaos was designed by Vekoma, a Dutch thrill ride manufacturer, and Opryland was Vekoma's first customer for the innovative ride. Vekoma is building a similar ride in Belgium, but there will not be another Chaos in North America for at least a year.
For Opryland to take a chance on Chaos was not an easy decision, primarily because of the $7 million price tag on the ride.
"From the moment of the first ride, however, we knew we had a winner," Pierpaoli declared.
The price isn't the only aspect of Chaos that's big. The Chaos building looms ominously more than 80 feet above the park's Grizzly River Rampage, a white-water rafting adventure. The building would cover almost half of a football field, and it contains more than 2.1 million cubic feet of space.
"That's a lot of space, and we can put it to very good use," Pierpaoli said.
Two giants in the motion picture industry joined with Vekoma and Opryland to produce Chaos. They are R/Greenberg Associates and Elias Associates, both of New York.
R/Greenberg is recognized as one of the leaders in high-tech, gee-whiz film and video images, while Elias is a sound company that has become well-known for bonding music with visual images. Both firms were involved in "Aliens" and "Ghostbusters," and individually, they have worked on hundreds of other movies and commercials.
R/Greenberg was nominated for an Academy Award for "Predator," a science-fiction thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and among it also worked on movies ranging from "Jaws 3-D" and "Superman" to "Tootsie" and "The Big Chill."
Elias has produced soundtracks for "Jagged Edge" and "Parents" and records for Grace Jones, Duran Duran and John White. Elias also produced the sound for MTV's top-of-the-hour station ID.
For Chaos, the two companies collaborated on a tightly edited 70-millimeter film and companion 35-millimeter segments that compound the motion of the coaster train.
Passengers on Chaos are transported on a 240-foot-long coaster train that carries 80 people at a time. It is believed to be the longest coaster train in the world.
Chaos is the largest project in Opryland's 17-year history, and it is one of the largest in the U.S. theme park industry for 1989. It eclipses the Grizzly River Rampage, built in 1982 for $4.8 million, and the most recent addition, a water ride called the Old Mill Scream, built in 1987 for $2.6 million.
The ride can accommodate 1,600 people per hour. For comparison, the Grizzly River Rampage can carry 1,700 per hour and the Flume Zoom, a log flume ride, can carry 1,200.
In 1988, when the park had 2.2 million guests, more than 13 million rides were taken on the park's numerous rides.
"We fully expect the 1989 figures to be substantially higher than that," Pierpaoli predicted.
While Chaos and other rides are delivering thrills and chills, more than 400 entertainers are continuing Opryland's primary emphasis on live entertainment.
The entertainers--garnered in a coast-to-coast audition tour--perform in a dozen stage shows featuring a variety of musical styles.
"We do country music very well," Pierpaoli noted, "but we constantly surprise guests by offering many other musical styles."
Guests can find rock 'n' roll, gospel, bluegrass, pop, Broadway and western music in theaters throughout the 120-acre park.
The park's newest show is "And the winner Is," a production that salutes America's award-winning songs. More than 50 tunes that have won Emmys, Oscars, Tonys, CMA awards and Dove awards are featured.
Another popular production is "Way Out West," a 45-minute show filled with songs of the American west taken from Broadway, movies, television and popular recordings.
Separate from the park is a show called, "Music! Music! Music!" The show's star for the 1989 season is Brenda Lee, the pop and country superstar who has sold millions of records around the world.
Also new at Opryland in 1989 is the Minnie Pearl Museum, a tribute to the long-time Grand Ole Opry member known as the "Queen of Country Comedy." Minnie's museum is located in the Opry Plaza area next to the Roy Acuff Museum.
Opryland's season is on weekends in spring and fall and daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The 1989 season continues through Oct. 29.