One of our favorite cities to visit is Nashville, and we love staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. This resort is absolutely gorgeous and has so many family friendly activities within the resort. Gaylord Opryland is huge, they have 9 acres of indoor gardens and their own waterpark, SoundWaves. It’s safe to say you will never be bored here!

Right now during their Summer of More they have fun pirate and princess activities along with fun seasonal events throughout the resort. We always visit Gaylord Opryland during the holidays for their A Country Christmas event and have so many magical memories. This was our first time visiting the resort during the summer and let me tell you it did not disappoint!! Let’s get into some of our favorite things.

SoundWaves

If you stay at Gaylord Opryland Resort SoundWaves is definitely a must do during your visit. This indoor/outdoor water park within the resort is 3 levels and filled with so many activities like waterslides, a lazy river, and has a FlowRider which is kind of like a surfing simulator! The giant wave pool was another of the kids favorite spots at SoundWaves. If you get hungry while you are there, they’ve got you covered at Decibels. We had some really yummy food there! Check out the menu now.

SoundWaves had a really amazing kiddie pool area on the second level perfect for our 1 year old daughter and a safe spot for our older kids to play with a waterslide and giant bucket of water that would drop down and splash them. We ended up grabbing some lounge chairs in this area. The majority of our time was spent on the main level and outdoors. The kids couldn’t get enough of the wave pool, lazy river, and the water slides. There was also a fun little obstacle course area where they had to cross the water on lily pads and a rock climbing wall over the water.

For a full list of attractions at SoundWaves, click here. https://www.soundwavesgo.com/attractions

Towels are provided at SoundWaves and so are life vests for the kids. We ended up bringing our own but were pleasantly surprised to see that they had plenty available for use. The park was not crowded during our visit which was nice, we were able to spread and social distancing was easy.

If you are looking for a break from the water activities while you’re at SoundWaves, check out The Basement. This spot has some really fun arcade games and an indoor climbing wall! It’s located right within SoundWaves, just take the elevator down.

Check out our TikTok video for SoundWaves Nashville! https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdYC2SkW/

Pirate & Princess Activities

The Pirate and Princess Academy - This show was really fun for the kids! It was very interactive and allowed them to become an honor pirate or princess for the day. At the end of the show the kids got to pick a sword or a wand and pose for pictures with the characters!

Coffer Crafts - Here you can pick out some fun crafts for the kids to make like pirate hats and tiaras. You’ll also find little boats to construct, treasure chests, and more. Plus, the kids got a little fairy dust necklace and were given lollipops. Of course, they were thrilled! They also had light up pirate swords, wands, and bandanas along with a few other items for purchase here.

Royal Processional - This free show was defintely a magical extra that the resort offered. A prince & princess arrive in a royal carriage with some of their friends and put on a short show singing and dancing. They had beautiful costumes, some even lit up! After the performance, we had the opportunity to take pictures with the prince and princess and could even purchase tickets to go on a royal carriage ride!

The Captain’s Hidden Treasure Escape Room - We all had so much fun trying to solve all of the puzzles and get out of the escape room without being cursed! The cast member in the escape room with us was great and helped give us little hints when we get stuck along the way. We got so close to escaping, don’t be fooled by the picture, but just couldn’t solve the final puzzle. It was fun pretending we escaped though, and we still got a fun pirate themed prize for trying!

These are just a few of our favorite pirate and princess themed activities that we experienced during our stay at Gaylord Opryland. Check out a full list of all the events this summer!

Favorite Spots to Eat at Gaylord Opryland

This resort has so many great dining options. We start off every visit at Jack Daniels. It’s family friendly and has some great Southern meals. The fried pickles are always on our to-do list, try them if you go! The portion size on this appetizer is huge and they come with a yummy dipping sauce.

For quick service dining definitely head to the Delta Atrium and visit Stax Burgers & Paisanos Pizzaria. If your family is divided on what to eat these spots are great because you can divide and conquer. Order from both and then meet up and grab a table overlooking the Delta Atrium. There is even a free fountain show that you can watch. At Paisanos you can even get an entire large pizza for only around $20, this is definitely a great option for larger families like ours.

Another favorite spot to eat at Gaylord Opryland is Old Hickory Steakhouse. This is a fine dining spot and the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion. The restaurant itself looks like a beautiful mansion and has some amazing views inside too. If you order steak, I definitely recommend topping it with the bone marrow butter, it was so good! Everything at this restaurant is a la carte and can get pricey but the food really is delicious. My kids loved the tiny little loafs of bread that were served at the beginning of our meal, it’s the little things in life, isn’t it?!

The dining spots in the Cascades area are great choices too! The scenery is so gorgeous here, especially the waterfalls. With views like this, you can’t really go wrong. There’s somethings so calming and relaxing about that water. Our baby girl must agree, she decided this was the perfect spot to nap in her stroller!

We made some amazing memories this summer at the Gaylord Opryland resort and can’t wait to head back here for our next trip. The views never get old here and neither does the live music and endless activities that they always have going on. If you can, book an atrium room view you won’t be disappointed. The views are so pretty and sometimes you can listen to the live music playing throughout the resort from your balcony.

You need to make sure to go on one of the Delta Riverboat tours. Yes, there’s a boat ride inside the hotel! Here you’ll learn some fun facts about the resort and it’s history along with Nashville. Right now you can even find some special Pirate & Princess themed boat rides.

We’ve been coming to the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville since before our 9 year old twins were born, that tells you something for sure! We are already ready for our next trip!