So different now. There's a big welcome center where you can stand in line to buy your choice of ticket. (Several options available - the option we chose gave us entry into the house and grounds as well as the exhibits, but not the plane.
After buying your ticket you start out by lining up (again) to see a short five-minute film. When that's over, you are provided with an electronic tour guide and headphones then herded outside to stand in the cold rain for nearly 45 minutes (in our case) to wait for a shuttle bus to drive you across the street to the house.
Once there, you are instructed to exit the shuttle and line up on the sidewalk. Then you are summoned over to the front porch where an employee gives you a bit of information on the house before you enter. (A decade ago, you just wandered across the street and went in.) When you first go in, it's a bit crowded because everyone who just got off the bus is now crammed into the house and looking at the living room and dining room. The rooms are roped off. You can't go plop down on the couch, which is understandable. But it was interesting to learn that Lisa Marie's family still uses the house for holiday celebrations, such as Thanksgiving.
The house is much the same as it was on the previous visit except for the "trophy room". All of the gold records and awards have been removed and replaced by family photos, which was nice. (I'm one of those people who enjoys looking at other people's photos.) And there's no longer music playing because everyone has headphones.
Once you get to the offices and racquetball court, the crowds thin out a bit. The memory garden is the burial site for Elvis, his parents and his grandmother. There's also a memorial for his twin brother who was stillborn.
When you've completed the rounds you can board a shuttle to go back to the new complex. There are a number of buildings with different exhibits. One building contains all of his cars. Another houses movie memorabilia from his films. Another showcases all of the costumes he wore during live performances. There is an area dedicated to his military service. Another building had all the gold and platinum records on display. There was one exhibit I didn't quite get. I think it was intended to show how Elvis had influenced other artists. The display included a name and photo of the artist and either a guitar or an outfit that the particular artist wore. I'm not convinced that Elvis was much of an influence on Dolly Parton. I think she'd have worn sequins even if he hadn't. And I'm not seeing it with Ricky Nelson, either. And whoever put that exhibit together ought to figure out the difference between Ricky Nelson and Dave Nelson. They are not interchangeable.
They have also installed several restaurants. Home-style cooking, a diner, and barbecue. Can't speak for anything other than the barbecue. It was good, and as expected, overpriced. But being a Texas girl, I will probably always prefer Texas-style barbecue to Memphis-style.
There were also plenty of places to spend your money. Every building and room in those exhibit halls included a gift shop, except for the theater. You couldn't walk 100 feet with out coming across one.
This is all still new and I hope they improve it because as it is right now, I wouldn't actually recommend it because of the way they herd people around. It was cold and rainy when we were there. Standing outside waiting wasn't adding anything to the experience. I can't imagine it will be better when it's hot and humid. They probably need to send people off into the exhibits to explore a bit when there's a long wait for the shuttle. Hopefully they'll fine-tune their process, because even if you're not a die-hard Elvis fan he was (and is) such an iconic 20th century personality. And seriously, who can listen to Jailhouse Rock without a little toe-tapping?
No comments:
Post a Comment