When we told Giggly Adventure Grace that we were going to take a visit to Graceland, she got so excited! I don’t think she really knew what Graceland was, but she knew she was a Grace and this was bound to be her land. Haha! But seriously, what is a visit to Memphis without Graceland? It’s the second most famous house in the US, beat only by the White House. You’re going to want to jailhouse rock yourself on over and love it tender!
The day of our visit happened to be on one of the coldest rainiest days of the year. I was disappointed that I couldn’t really get any nice pics out front. I wanted to recreate a photo of Elvis out in the front yard. I also really wanted to take some time to read all the writing on the brick wall outside. It looked so cool! As far as being affected by the weather, that was pretty much it. The rest of the day fared just fine! One thing that was exceedingly helpful was the umbrellas they kept in between the office and the main house for us use while on our tour. They thought of everything.
I’m not sure how I feel about the interactive Ipad narration as your guide through the property. It’s supposed to create a “fully immersive visitor experience”. It has exclusive interactive digital content. Visitors can view home movies and never-before-seen interviews on them and can also capture their own tour photos directly on the iPad and send them in an e-mail. While I do love me some John Stamos, and as cool as all of that is, having to carry around these big honkin’ Ipads as well as your little kiddos and diaper bag, camera, and umbrellas… yeah, it got overwhelming. I hope we can come back sans kiddos one day and really take our time there. In my honest opinion a good old fashioned human tour guide would have been superior.
Speaking of kiddos! If you’re like us and don’t do much “adult stuff” never fear. They have an amazing exhibits going on right now in the exhibition hall! We used that as a way to kind of, sort of, yeah I’m saying it, bribe the kiddos to let us enjoy the tour. Reminding them that if they are patient then we’re going to go check out the space and dinos was such a bonus.
Some things we loved at the exhibits were the full scale rotating lab modeled after an International Space Station. The Fun Adventure Fam loved it, but it made this momma nauseous. The “drop towers” that teach how objects behave differently in weightless environments. An exhibit that explores the physics of a rocket launch. Huge robotic dinosaurs with realistic movements and sound effects. The sound was a little much for Giggly Adventure Grace, but the boys were in dino heaven! The interactive robotic dinosaur egg incubator was very cool! It felt like we were in Jurassic Park.
Overall I was surprised how big the whole Graceland experience was! There was the main house, the office, the trophy room, the indoor court, the stable, the garden, the pool. That’s just the Graceland house! Then you had all the Cars, military memorabilia, shops, and diners, the airplane, as well as the exhibition hall! Holy Cow! You’ll definitely want to devote your whole day to the Graceland experience.
I hope that this info helps your Fun Adventure Family plan a day of awesome Graceland fun! All in all, Graceland is Fun Adventure Family approved. The grown ups enjoyed the tour. The kiddos loved the exhibition hall. It was a win-win for us. So skip the Heartbreak Hotel and visit Graceland instead. Haha! When you visit be sure to share on Instagram with #FunAdventureFamily and #Graceland. We can’t wait to see your family’s fun adventures!