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Storyville Gardens theme park coming to Nashville, Tennessee

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Yesterday, a new theme park was announced as coming to Nashville, Tennessee, and its name is Storyville Gardens! Some of the basic info I can gather is:
  • 100 acres
  • Themed to the four corners of the world; Africa, America, Asia and Europe. The African area would function as the park entrance.
  • The park would contain roller coasters and other attractions as well as 220,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space.
  • The developers of the park want the park to encourage children and their families to read more by providing them with attractions themed to various stories from around the world.
  • As well as the theme park, the company will also contain a non-profit arm, consisting of a literacy centre that will help encourage children to read.
  • Being developed by Guerrier Development, a husband and wife duo consisting of Elde and DeLisa Guerrier.
  • Being designed by Storyland Studios, who have designed attractions such as the Hogwarts Express at Universal Studios Florida and the Legoland Hotel in California, amongst others.
  • The project is being developed in 3 phases. The first of these will cost around $300million, and could possibly open by spring 2025 (Coaster101 says mid-2022, but the park’s own website says 2025, so I think that might have been a typo). The $300m required for phase 1 has already been funded by private investors according to the developers.
  • The owners are currently looking for a specific location within the Nashville area to build upon.
  • An economic analysis found the park’s development would create 2,260 construction jobs and over 1,700 jobs once the park was operational.
Here’s the Coaster101 link I got much of this info from: https://www.coaster101.com/2021/06/29/new-theme-park-for-nashville-proposed/

Here’s the announcement video from the park’s developers:

And the park’s official website: https://storyvillegardens.com/#storyvillevideo

Well, isn’t this all very exciting? If the park happens, it could be huge for the Tennessee area and possibly the wider US theme park industry!

I’ve got to admit I’m loving the type of vibe the park looks to have in the promotional images; a world-themed park with rides was admittedly a bit of a fantasy of mine, so I love what they’re going for here! I also find it very interesting that this park doesn’t seem to feature (or at least, doesn’t lend itself to) any IPs; with many park operators’ insistence that “IPs are the future”, I’ll be very intrigued to see how this project goes down without any IPs! If it goes well, could this see a new rise in originally-themed entertainment at existing parks?

What do you guys think of this news?
 
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Sorry for double posting, but I have more info courtesy of this Theme Park Tourist article: https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202106/8321/
  • Construction is set to begin in mid-2022 if all goes well (I think that’s where Coaster101 got mid-2022 from)
  • The site will span 130 acres in total, and will eventually have 3 hotels and 220,000 square feet of entertainment and retail alongside the theme park.
It should be exciting if it comes to fruition! As I said above, the $300m budget for the first phase has reportedly already been funded, so I’m optimistic!
 
In fairness, the project has only just been announced; let’s give it a chance before dismissing it!

Or at least, I’m going to give it a chance before dismissing it, anyway; I guess we all win if it happens and we all lose if it doesn’t!
 
IF this happens, it has to be either Flight Deck (CGA) or the Kuwait Batman.

But ill take it, this just shot my excitement for the park up tenfold.
 
Or could it potentially be a new B&M Invert? The first phase alone is costing $300million; surely a cut of that could be put towards a brand new B&M rather than a relocation?
 
Matt N said:
Or could it potentially be a new B&M Invert? The first phase alone is costing $300million; surely a cut of that could be put towards a brand new B&M rather than a relocation?
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Good point. But a B&M coming to a new park is almost always a good thing.


Now im wondering what the theming is going to be like if the trains are that detailed.
 
Wazzupnerds said:
Good point. But a B&M coming to a new park is almost always a good thing.
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Oh, I’m not denying that. I think either of those rides would be a great addition!

But my point was more; if they have the budget to stretch to a brand new ride, surely they’d go for a brand new ride rather than a relocation?
 
CSLKennyNI said:
Apparently, the project doesn't even have land yet and the developer is registered to a body shop. So I very much doubt they've signed any contracts for a rollercoaster, let alone with B&M. This is just to gain attention and show 'look we could have a rollercoaster'.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1559766597203640320
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Taylor is acting like this development doesn't exist because they probably haven't treated him like royalty yet. It was announced around 2020 and they have made headway. Again it's not like they are saying they are opening next year, 2025 is still a bit away, and could be delayed.
 
Wazzupnerds said:
Taylor is acting like this development doesn't exist because they probably haven't treated him like royalty yet. It was announced around 2020 and they have made headway. Again it's not like they are saying they are opening next year, 2025 is still a bit away, and could be delayed.
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Taylor’s never really struck me as well-informed to begin with unless said subject was directly in his face, or he in theirs. In fact, he’s referenced debunked or incorrect information far too often to the point that it’s misinformation. But there’s nothing unique about being poorly informed in the world of theme park developments so I digress.

On the other hand, Andrew Hyde from Twitter was quick to trace its resemblance to this Batman The Ride photo. I’ll let you observe;
https://twitter.com/x/status/1559733762333839362
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
Taylor’s never really struck me as well-informed to begin with unless said subject was directly in his face, or he in theirs. In fact, he’s referenced debunked or incorrect information far too often to the point that it’s misinformation. But there’s nothing unique about being poorly informed in the world of theme park developments so I digress.

On the other hand, Andrew Hyde from Twitter was quick to trace its resemblance to this Batman The Ride photo. I’ll let you observe;
https://twitter.com/x/status/1559733762333839362
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oooooo thats a good find. More evidence of being the Kuwait Batman.
 
Literally nothing that Larson has said is incorrect. My house was under contract for a month before I had the keys and officially owned it. And regardless of whether they do ultimately end up owning this piece of land, it's one of MANY hurdles that'll need to be cleared (as Larson pointed out) before anybody actually has something of merit to report on this park.

We've been through this time and time again, and at this point, this is just another London Resort...which has been trying to secure funding for well over a decade at this point. Hell, even if they do secure the financial backing and take all the steps they need to actually start building, how many times have we seen situations like this end up simply being a money laundering front? Larson is waaaaaayyyyyyy more well versed in this sort of development stuff due to his line of work - he's great at sniffing out the bad eggs from the projects that actually have bearing so I'm much more willing to trust his insights over someone who just seems to be excited that their MIGHT be a chance that a new park could possibly get built in the somewhat near future.

Finally, regarding that rendering...IF this park even gets built, I'd hedge my bets on a Vekoma/S&S/Intamin SFC over B&M, and even if it IS a B&M, I'll put my money on it being a jr invert like the two they've built in China. If I recall the verbiage in the press release correctly, this is intended to be an educational children's park - not a thrill park. Thus, it'd be pretty out of character for them to suddenly build a high thrill coaster with a tall height requirement unless they're completely changing the project scope. As Andrew Hyde pointed out on Twitter, this was likely just a filtered stock image used to generate buzz and attract investors (which we've already pointed out don't exist yet) instead of what they actually plan to do with the park.
 
Wazzupnerds said:
Double posting, but Larson Loopers is straight up acting in bad faith when it comes to the park, when shown evidence of land under contract, he acts like its not something big.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1559755542779813889


Wonder if the park has scorned the youtubers in some way.
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Larson here...look into the people actually behind this park. They own a body shop and a "development" company that's built like 50 homes. Their offices and all their trademarks are registered to the address of the body shop. They haven't named any actual investors (code language for "we don't have nearly enough"). At BEST these people are young and ambitious...at WORST they're con artists burning away their seed money by flying around.
 
LooperOne said:
Larson here...look into the people actually behind this park. They own a body shop and a "development" company that's built like 50 homes. Their offices and all their trademarks are registered to the address of the body shop. They haven't named any actual investors (code language for "we don't have nearly enough"). At BEST these people are young and ambitious...at WORST they're con artists burning away their seed money by flying around.
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Have you ever been a part of a start-up? They often don't have their offices in nice buildings often. Sure being in a body shop is not the greatest, but I don't go around saying something will never happen because of where an office is located at the present time. You then acted like land under contract was not a big deal and treated it like nothing.

To be blunt, you need to be more reasonable when it comes to this park and maybe not act like everything new will fail. Thats a terrible mindset.
 
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