Storyville Gardens

[Rockatansky]

On 6/8/2021 at 9:14 PM, titanhog said:

Really hoping Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson start working closely together to come up with a 50 year growth plan that enables these 4 counties to almost look past the “county lines” and come up with transportation solutions…HQ relocation areas in each county (maybe like a tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, tier 4)…and like you suggest, a synergy that allows a “loss” in one area to be a gain in another.

The problem with this is that Metro (rightfully) wants to invest in transit while the suburban counties want nothing to do with it and will only support new roads and widenings.

[MLBrumby]

2 hours ago, TheRaglander said:

I would add, EPCOT's popularity has increased over the years because they realized no one wants to go to a theme park, stand in a 45 minute line just to ride a slow ride to learn how red blood cells work.  Since it's opening, they've added Soaring, Mission: Space, Test Track, a new Guardians of the Galaxy Ride (2022?)... and re-purposed areas to match up with newer Pixar movies.  (Frozen, Ratatoullie, Nemo)  

Anyways, I am confused on the theming.  I would have thought Storyville was built around kid's books and stories.  It looks like EPCOT and Lake Winnepesaukah had a baby.   I don't see any significant rides.  Just buildings and gardens.  I think all of us could have done better with the Roller Coaster Tycoon video game.

 

When I was a pre-teen/teenager my dad enjoyed taking us all to Disney World so that he could go ONLY to Epcot and drink beer in "Germany" at the biergarten. He'd spend all afternoon there and then meet us back at the hotel. To this day, I'm not sure he's ever stepped foot in the Magic Kingdom. Definitely not a ride guy. 

I'd expect the licensing fees alone for "Stories" would be up in the millions of dollars. 

[smeagolsfree]

Theme Parks are expensive. Three day pass to Disney for a family of 4 is 1285 bucks. These passes are way too high IMO.

[UTgrad09]

Bring back Chaos, or forget about it.

Edited June 29, 2021 by UTgrad09

[Flatrock]

3 hours ago, bnacincy said:

Cornelia Fort Airpark property

That's part of the Metro Parks system (Shelby Bottoms Park), so no, that won't be sold to a private developer.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Flatrock
Spelling

[East Side Urbanite]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

They sent a Press release. They do have some serious legal representation and a good PR person so WW had to show respect to that person. This may in fact turn out to be something, but I am still a skeptic. 

This may be pretty far out in the boondocks too.

Ron is correct on this info. He and I discussed the merits of using and my editor and I discussed too and decided to report. I talked to a very legitimate and connected source about this and the Post team decided to run the article.

As to my thoughts regarding if I think it has much of a chance, I have to decline to note (trying to be the impartial journalist).

[satalac]

This would be smaller than the Fairgrounds. And does that include parking as well? I mean, I'd love to have a theme park nearby (just got back from Disney, which I love, just not the 10-12 hour drive through such lovely boondoggles as Chattanooga and Atlanta), but I don't know how much they'll be able to do with this. Dollywood is 150 acres, so it can be done, but at least Dollywood realized that they need rides to stay relevant. I'm not really seeing much of that, at least with what little info they've released so far. One thing I fear is that those brilliant folks in Murfreesboro are chomping at the bit to get them to put this off Veterans and 840 where that park was supposed to be before they pulled the carpet out from everyone and decided it needs to be a business park now. If I was a betting man, I'd put money that if this happens, it will be somewhere along 840. 

[markhollin]

Website for Storyville Gardens:

https://storyvillegardens.com/

[titanhog]

13 hours ago, markhollin said:

Website for Storyville Gardens:

https://storyvillegardens.com/

Interesting interview...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTRAv1iwf8o

[titanhog]

More information: https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/06/29/guerrier-development-announces-storyville-gardens.html

I wish the family luck.  If they really do have the $300 Million for the first phase…and Storyland Studio really will be designing this…at least it seems to be a bit more than just “pie in the sky.”  

As some have mentioned, though, without it being tied to some major park or studio to help bring in a more well-known themed attraction (like Harry Potter or other Disney-type movies)…I’m not sure it will be “interesting” enough to pull in the numbers they need to make their money back.  You either have to have killer rides or an attraction based on a famous movie to make it these days.

[PruneTracy]

17 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

When I was a pre-teen/teenager my dad enjoyed taking us all to Disney World so that he could go ONLY to Epcot and drink beer in "Germany" at the biergarten. He'd spend all afternoon there and then meet us back at the hotel. To this day, I'm not sure he's ever stepped foot in the Magic Kingdom. Definitely not a ride guy. 

Is the whole point of Epcot not to ditch your family on the last day and use up all the snacks left on your meal plan circumnavigating the world during the Food and Wine Festival? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?

[Mr_Bond]

How quickly Storyville Gardens has turned into Disney memories.  That says it all right there.

[Baronakim]

23 hours ago, ZestyEd said:

 

I posted  my opinion of this on another website where folks were drooling over this monstrous boondoggle.  "Looks ridiculously small (just twice the size of my farm) with no obvious working parking concept and looks like some story themes might be ripped off from authors apparently without legal permission (for instance I see "hobbit or hafling" houses in sketches). You can't design and build something like this without a site and just plop it down anywhere without several years of infrastructure co-ordination like utilities and vehicular access studies before beginning construction. The landscaping concepts alone are absurd unless trees I see in sketches trees are made of plastic. How would baobab trees and palms grow in Middle Tennessee? Even if they could, landscaping alone would be many millions of dollars and how can such diverse climate "Gardens" work here in our climate? What relevance does any of this have with Nashville? This concept is similar in size to the Tennessee Renaissance Faire which has taken almost 50 years to develop to the state it is or the Nashville Zoo which likewise has taken decades to mature. Gardens don't just pop up into existance in such a short time. Don't hold your breath on this one folks unless some big buck backers with tons of theme park experience like Disney are involved IMO."   I think we can file this in the "Dead Projects" files already.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Baronakim

[MLBrumby]

Right... licensing fees alone would pretty much stop this one before it got out of the ground.  Disney could come in and build a music themed mini-WDW next door and put them out of business overnight. Then they could buy up the land cheap.  Does anyone here recall the rumor about 15-20 years ago that WD/Capital Cities were on the hunt for land to put in a music themed small park with lots of unique rides?  IIRC it would have been "Disney Light" but then they were afraid it would dilute the brand. Probably right! That was before Dollywood became such a raging success. She's now working on her second massive resort there. 

[samsonh]

36 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Right... licensing fees alone would pretty much stop this one before it got out of the ground.  Disney could come in and build a music themed mini-WDW next door and put them out of business overnight. Then they could buy up the land cheap.  Does anyone here recall the rumor about 15-20 years ago that WD/Capital Cities were on the hunt for land to put in a music themed small park with lots of unique rides?  IIRC it would have been "Disney Light" but then they were afraid it would dilute the brand. Probably right! That was before Dollywood became such a raging success. She's now working on her second massive resort there. 

Yep, plus no parking and road studies have been done yet and no land under contract and they want to break ground next year? Not happening.

[glamdring269]

14 hours ago, satalac said:

One thing I fear is that those brilliant folks in Murfreesboro are chomping at the bit to get them to put this off Veterans and 840 where that park was supposed to be before they pulled the carpet out from everyone and decided it needs to be a business park now. If I was a betting man, I'd put money that if this happens, it will be somewhere along 840. 

I'll have to drive over there again but I really don't see how they could make it fit in that space. There are a lot of things they could put there that I would oppose but this one would probably top any list I can imagine.

Edited June 30, 2021 by glamdring269

[Bos2Nash]

22 hours ago, grilled_cheese said:

If you want to see one of the most epic neighborhoods vs developer fights, then yeah, try to build a bridge that connects Opry Mills and East Nashville and take away a park.

[ruraljuror]

1 hour ago, Baronakim said:

...looks like some story themes might be ripped off from authors apparently without legal permission (for instance I see "hobbit or hafling" houses in sketches). 

The plan is to reference specific authors/stories that are native to each corresponding region of the park, so the German garden will be all about Grimm's fairy tales, while the English Garden will feature the stories and characters of C.S. Lewis, and Lewis Carroll, and Tolkein apparently.  It's worth noting that Alice in Wonderland is already in the public domain, and the Hobbit only has about 10 years left on its copyright protections, and I don't imagine this park could possibly open much sooner than that. Based on what they're saying, it seems to me that they're going to lean heavily into old stories and folk tales in order to avoid getting sunk under the weight of licensing fees.

I do agree with you about the foreign plants issue and that the site will be so crucial to so many aspects of the park that not having a site is pretty revealing about how early in the process they still are. That said, Storyville is the real deal and they seem to believe that the necessary financing is already in place to move this thing forward. I'd love to see them make something like this work. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by ruraljuror

[Mr_Bond]

Should the Storyville Gardens posts move other to this thread?

[Sean blackdog]

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Sean blackdog

[smeagolsfree]

I do think the Tolkien family still controls everything and it may not go into public domain. That would be like Disney going into PD. Dont think it will happen. Rights would cost two arms and a dwarfs beard.

[ruraljuror]

47 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

I do think the Tolkien family still controls everything and it may not go into public domain. That would be like Disney going into PD. Dont think it will happen. Rights would cost two arms and a dwarfs beard.

I think that great mouse himself will be protected by trademark, but not copyright. The Tolkein clan could try to make a similar argument as well, but I don't think it's going to be a very strong case since they haven't been emblazoning Bilbo's head on every piece of merchandise and additional content they've been producing for the last 80 years. 

And even with that trademark protection, Steamboat Willy will still be entering the public domain in a couple years. Snow white will follow a decade after that, then Cinderella and so on. Disney may try to bully the producers of Snow White II: Revenge of the Dwarves with lawsuits, but the law will be on the producers' side so long as  they don't borrow any character traits or design elements from later Disney-produced iterations of the Snow White story that were released after the original version and therefore would not yet then be in the public domain. 

[Mr_Bond]

15 minutes ago, ruraljuror said:

I think that great mouse himself will be protected by trademark, but not copyright. The Tolkein clan could try to make a similar argument as well, but I don't think it's going to be a very strong case since they haven't been emblazoning Bilbo's head on every piece of merchandise and additional content they've been producing for the last 80 years. 

And even with that trademark protection, Steamboat Willy will still be entering the public domain in a couple years. Snow white will follow a decade after that, then Cinderella and so on. Disney may try to bully the producers of Snow White II: Revenge of the Dwarves with lawsuits, but the law will be on the producers' side so long as  they don't borrow any character traits or design elements from later Disney-produced iterations of the Snow White story that were released after the original version and therefore would not yet then be in the public domain. 

As these stories and characters come out of protection, Storyville Gardens can expand!

[PruneTracy]

2 minutes ago, ruraljuror said:

And even with that trademark protection, Steamboat Willy will still be entering the public domain in a couple years. Snow white will follow a decade after that, then Cinderella and so on. Disney may try to bully the producers of Snow White II: Revenge of the Dwarves with lawsuits, but the law will be on the producers' side so long as  they don't borrow any character traits or design elements from later Disney-produced iterations of the Snow White story that were released after the original version and therefore would not yet then be in the public domain. 

Just now, Mr_Bond said:

As these stories and characters come out of protection, Storyville Gardens can expand!

It should probably be mentioned here that the devil mouse does not actually own the copyright to Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc., just the specific story elements and cartoon likenesses they included in their films. They're folk tales, they're in the public domain. It's why they're in Shrek.

Of course the folk tale versions are a lot less Disney-fied so not sure the Storybook guys would want to use them directly. Like the part where Cinderella gets revenge on her ugly stepsisters by summoning birds (the ones she's friends with in the Disney version!) to peck out their eyes.

 

[MLBrumby]

20 minutes ago, ruraljuror said:

I think that great mouse himself will be protected by trademark, but not copyright. The Tolkein clan could try to make a similar argument as well, but I don't think it's going to be a very strong case since they haven't been emblazoning Bilbo's head on every piece of merchandise and additional content they've been producing for the last 80 years. 

And even with that trademark protection, Steamboat Willy will still be entering the public domain in a couple years. Snow white will follow a decade after that, then Cinderella and so on. Disney may try to bully the producers of Snow White II: Revenge of the Dwarves with lawsuits, but the law will be on the producers' side so long as  they don't borrow any character traits or design elements from later Disney-produced iterations of the Snow White story that were released after the original version and therefore would not yet then be in the public domain. 

But but but.... they're in the DISNEY VAULT!