NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It was a reunion nearly 30 years in the making.
Since the closing of Opryland in 1997, nothing has been able to replace it. If you were lucky enough to go to Opryland before they closed, you know just how special it was.
In September 2024, the ride operators got together for a reunion and News 2 was there.
The ride operators’ jobs were to make sure everyone had fun at Opryland, they got everyone on board those thrilling rides and then watched the joy.
Goodlettsville man parts ways with pieces of Nashville history: Opryland iconography
Bobby Vaughn was a ride operator and he remembers it well. “The people you got to work with and meet. They’re all good people. It was challenging. But every every day was a new day. It wasn’t repetitious over and over. Always changes. So that was the most enjoyable part,” he sid.
The operators say they got just as much enjoyment from watching the park-goers.
“Seeing these people get married, have kids, have grandkids, and now their kids are having kids. So it’s kind of neat to watch everybody who’s evolved over the years, especially when you come to something like this, and when there’s somebody from our little tight knit family passes away, the funerals are just like this. You know, everybody comes together and celebrates that person’s life. So we’ve seen a lot of those two so and that’s sad, but the best part is probably the people absolutely anything,” said former ride operator Sheila Petty.