Making Music City our home for the weekend - a quick trip to Nashville with the family
The Willard family took on Nashville and boy did we have a blast. A whirlwind of a weekend had us leaving Raleigh via Southwest on a Friday afternoon and not slowing down until we made it back the following Sunday evening. Our family of four plus my immediate family in Greensboro were all traveling to the Music City to visit my sister and celebrate my grandmother’s 78th birthday. We were unsure of what to expect with the kids. After all, they only talk about Disney World every time we talk about going on a vacation. By Saturday afternoon, they were already asking when we would be returning to Nashville.
Taking it all in
Airports are a busy place for anyone, let alone two toddlers. They are full of questions and curiosity!
Is Southwest a good airline for kids?
Typically, we’ve only flown Southwest sans kids. Whether we were traveling solo or with friends, we never ventured onto a Southwest Airlines flight with the kids in tow. Our trip to Nashville was our initial experience flying Southwest with the kids. They were surprised on Thursday night when we started to charge our iPads (we only break these things out for car trips over 2 hours) and told them they were for the flights. The only airline these kids have known to date has been Delta. And Delta now features entertainment screens in every headrest. Imagine the surprise, almost shock, when the toddlers found out we wouldn’t have such an amenity on this flight. And can you believe they did just fine?!?
Our biggest concern was over the open seating featured on Southwest. I opted for the Early Bird Check-in, which automatically checks you in when that 24-hour pre-flight mark hits. This typically means you’ll be in the “A” boarding group, ensuring that you’ll be within the first 60 people on the flight. Southwest does allow families with children ages 6 & under to board after the “A” group has been called, and before the “B” and “C” boarding groups are called. Knowing there were plenty of seats after the “A” group, I likely would have dropped the Early Bird option to save about $120 on the whole trip. Once our youngest turns 7, I’ll gladly spend that extra little bit to guarantee seating together via the “A” boarding group. Overall, our experience on Southwest at both RDU & BNA was quite pleasant and smooth. We checked one bag, each kid carried on a backpack, as did Taylor & I, plus we had one carry-on stowed safely overhead.
Where is the best place to stay with kids when visiting Nashville?
Trips to the Music City will never be short of options for hotels, resorts, or rental homes. The city is always buzzing, whether with music festivals, business conventions, or concerts. We started planning our trip without the knowledge that CMA Fest was falling over the same weekend. Fortunately, the only impact we saw from this major event overlap was to the availability of larger SUV rentals. Having visited Nashville a few times myself, I only had one place in mind for our trip - Gaylord Opryland Resort. This place is even larger than I recalled, granted the last time I stayed here was over 20 years ago when I was a teenager. Saying that the resort is large doesn’t come close to doing it justice. You will do plenty of walking to get from amenity to amenity, and trust me, there are a lot of amenities within the resort.
Unfortunately, you will also pay resort level prices for almost everything from coffee to ice cream to meals to souvenirs. You’ll also pay a daily resort fee + a daily parking fee, either for self-parking or valet parking. The costs and fees are the only downside in our books for this resort. Everything else was top notch. The rooms were quite spacious for two queen beds. Not to mention, this was our first vacation with all four of us sharing the same hotel room (and the anxiety was quite high). We never felt cramped or too tightly packed once throughout our trip. The beds and in-room features were befitting of the nightly price. There is a resort pool available to all guests staying on property that can get a little crowded at peak times. The main water feature on the sprawling resort campus is SoundWaves - a massive, 4 acre indoor/outdoor water park (more to come on this experience in a later post!). Opryland Resort also features a free fireworks show with a live band on select Friday nights throughout the summer. Opryland is also walking distance to, you guessed it, the Grand Ole Opry. Many guests not in town for a conference or sporting event will take advantage of the proximity to the historic concert venue.
Where should you eat when in Nashville?
Traveling with toddlers will certainly limit the flexibility when it comes to meals. Even the most adventurous tiny tots will likely turn up their nose when presented with some of Nashville’s famous Hot Chicken. For our meals on this trip, we stayed close to Opryland Resort & Opry Mills as we didn’t want to fight the aforementioned CMA Fest crowds that overtook Broadway.
Looking for something to appease all on our trip from ages 3.5 to 78, we settled on Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen. This is a restaurant known for southern cooking and family-style servings that are large enough to keep everyone stuffed. Surprisingly it was not busy when we arrived just after 5PM on Friday. The restaurant itself is quite massive, and they do not take reservations unless you’re coming with a tour group (think large travel bus-sized group). For the food, it was impressively delicious for a family style restaurant. The kids tried fried okra for the first time, and we’re not entirely sure if they actually enjoyed it or were trying to make everyone laugh. There are a few different options that include at least two main meats + four veggies (remember, this is a southern restaurant so yes Mac n’ Cheese is a veggie). We all left quite full and happy, especially after cutting into the cake from a local Nashville bakery to celebrate my grandmother’s 78th birthday.
The other restaurant we visited was Saltgrass Steakhouse in Opry Mills. This is a Texas-based chain featuring lots and lots of red meat, plus a good selection of chicken & seafood offerings. Unfortunately, part of our party had to leave early due to too much time in the sun and feeling unwell before dinner ever arrived. We were able to snag a reservation for 5:30PM and were seated right away. Those of us ordering steaks were pleasantly surprised with the quality of cut & how well they were cooked to order. Very rarely do I get lucky with a perfectly cooked medium rare steak at a chain steakhouse. This trip did not disappoint one bit. Our son demolished his Texas-sized kid’s corn dogs, and our daughter made quick work of her grilled cheese once she was feeling better.
Should you take your kids to Nashville?
The million dollar question…would we take our kids back to Nashville? That answer is a resounding yes. While every trip with toddlers is bound to experience a bump or hiccup, this was a vacation that will be looked upon fondly for many many years. I feel that everyone on the trip truly enjoyed themselves. That is a great accomplishment when on a multi-generational trip which includes two toddlers under six, for everyone to walk away feeling as if the trip went incredibly well. Overall, Opryland Resort was a great place for our weekend family getaway to Nashville. It was made even better thanks to the amount of time spent together with family that we do not see every week. We highly recommend putting Nashville on your trip list for a family vacation.
