Opryland, USA was the brainchild of Irving Waugh, President of WSM, Inc. This was the Nashville radio station best known for the Grand Ole Opry, one of the most popular radio shows in the country. Irving pushed the company to build a theme park in order to help finance construction of a brand new Opry hall, since the old Ryman was on its last legs (and beyond). Long story short, they defied a pessimistic feasibility study and plunged ahead with a resort complex modeled after the AstroDomain in Houston. The theme park would soon be followed up with a hotel, conference center, and a new state-of-the-art auditorium.

The complex changed hands in 1983 when Gaylord Broadcasting bought the place, eventually going public in 1991 as the Gaylord Entertainment Company. The organization was on a roll as a media force to be reckoned with, and part of their growth involved an unlikely decision all the way down in Texas. Nearly all of their acquisitions and expansion involved television at the time, but with the success of Opryland, the park, they decided to partner with the USAA insurance company to build a sister park in San Antonio.

This time the feasibility study was positive, and so FORREC International was contracted for concept design and master planning for the new park. Construction began in 1990 and, $100 million later, Fiesta Texas opened for business in 1992.

To distinguish the park from the surrounding competition, such as Astroworld, Six Flags Over Texas, and Seaworld, emphasis would be placed on live entertainment. This was familiar territory for them, of course, as Opryland was well-known for their shows. The overall theme was Southwest music traditions, and the park was instantly popular with over two million in attendance that first season.

Many other theme parks struggled early on, often because the owners really had no idea what they were doing (looking at you, Great Adventure). But for Fiesta Texas, their parent company did in fact know a thing or two about building and running a successful park, and that experience paid dividends.

But trouble was looming for both sister parks as Gaylord, under new management, decided they wanted to focus on other things. In San Antonio this meant handing total ownership of the park to USAA in 1996. The beautiful park in Nashville was bulldozed in favor of a mega-mall. USAA, being an insurance company, brought in Six Flags (under Warner at the time) to re-brand and run the place, eventually selling it to them completely by 1998.

Subscribe to The Duell Loop and get regional park history stories delivered to your in-box every couple of weeks or so.