When it comes to holiday festivities on the homefront, Gaylord Opryland Resort has you covered with it’s annual “A Country Christmas” celebration.
Taking place Nov. 10 – Jan. 1, Opryland offers a mind-blowing array of fun activities for all ages. The ICE! exhibit is a continual kid-favorite each year, and for 2017 it features A Charlie Brown Christmas. There’s more Peanuts fun to be had, too. This year, you can treat your children to Breakfast with Charlie Brown and Friends. Feast on a Peanuts-themed buffet while the characters visit your table for meet-and-greet photo ops.
More highlights include outdoor ice skating and snow tubing, the Build-A-Bear Workshop Scavenger Hunt, Cookies with Mrs. Claus, photos with Santa, gingerbread decorating, the Opryland Express Kids Train, horse-drawn carriage rides, 3 million lights, Diamond Rio’s Holiday & Hits Dinner Show and lots more.
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS BRINGS CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE
This year’s featured “A Country Christmas” attraction at the Grand Ole Opry House is Cirque Dreams Holidaze (CDH), running Nov. 18 – Dec. 27. Now in its 10th year, CDH makes its Nashville debut with larger staging than ever.
“This show is a kaleidoscope of visuals,” says Neil Goldberg, owner of the Cirque Dreams brand and creator/director of CDH.
The Vegas-style family show features a cadre of cirque artists performing dazzling feats. The production features never-before-seen performances with 35 artists and more than 500 costumes.
The inspiration behind CDH goes all the way back to Goldberg’s childhood when he started collecting ornaments. “Coming home from school, I used to take the tinsel and ornaments off of people’s trees they discarded after the holiday season,” says Goldberg. “As a Jewish child, I never saw Christmas as a religious holiday, I saw it as something more of a national holiday filled with color and lights and festivity,” he adds.
Goldberg’s childhood fascination became a lifelong hobby. He now owns more than 10,000 ornaments, and that’s the catalyst for CDH. At the opening of the show, you’ll see a 25-foot tree with acrobats dangling as ornaments that will one by one come to life on stage. “This show delivers amazing acts that fly over the audience and dangle from their feet and do things that defy gravity along with traditional holiday theatrics,” Goldberg says, noting there’s even an Elvis ornament in the show.
The Tuesday, Dec. 5 performance at 7 p.m. will feature the winner of our exclusive Cirque Dreams Holidaze Costume Contest. You’ll see the winning design come to life on stage along with the child who created it!
For more info and to buy tickets for all “A Country Christmas” festivities, call 615-889-1000 or visit christmasatgaylordopryland.com.
