While we aren't big Elvis fans, we both wanted to see Graceland, Elvis' legendary home that is now a museum. We had stayed at the RV Park right next door and could see Graceland already from where we were staying! When we looked at the prices to visit though, it gave us pause: there are various ticket options, ranging from $51 to $250 per person! The cheapest option only gives access to a couple of exhibits, but not his actual home, which is what we wanted to see, so we ended up paying for the $84 per person ticket, that included the exhibits as well as his mansion. It was more than what we had hoped to pay, but we rationalized that we had no plans to return. Luckily, since we stayed at the RV park, we didn't have to pay the additional $10 for parking.
A Tour of the Graceland Mansion
After walking up to the entrance and getting our tickets, we were ushered into a small theatre to watch a short documentary about Elvis and Graceland, then waited outside for a shuttle bus to take a group of us across the road to the mansion. The shuttle had to cross a public road, and wow, roads everywhere around the country can have major dips and potholes in them! We have been through so many in our RV.
The Graceland home is a Colonial Revival–style mansion, with tall white columns at the front. Elvis purchased Graceland in March 1957, when he was 22 years old, for $102,500 (a big sum at the time). The house was originally built in 1939, and Elvis bought it for himself and his family to have more space and privacy.
Groups are let in one at a time to walk through the home, and are also given a tablet and headphones ahead of entering to listen to audio commentary of each room. We crammed into the hallway first, which has a staircase leading upstairs to Elvis' bedroom and bathroom. It's apparently been left exactly as it was before he died, at the request of his daughter, but this area is cordoned off and off-limits to the public. However, we saw the living room, his parents' bedroom, the dining room and the kitchen all on this first floor. The kitchen had the most 1970s decor, with a dim and colorful lampshade, lots and lots of dark brown thanks to the kitchen cabinets, and carpet (eek!) for the kitchen floor!
Heading downstairs to the entertainment areas, the rooms here were so fun and would have definitely been awesome to hang out in for the decor alone! There was a very yellow (yay--Lisette's fave color) TV room, that had 3 TVs playing different programs simultaneously; apparently Elvis loved to watch multiple shows at once. Next door was Elvis' billiard room, which he decorated in 1974 with more than 300 yards of fabric pleated to cover all the walls and ceiling! The fabric, cushions on the sofa, and lampshade were all very colorful, making the billiards room a very trippy sight to behold.
Weaving back upstairs, we saw the famed "Jungle Room", which was originally Elvis' den at the back of Graceland, with green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling. There are statues of animals, exotic lamps and tropical plants, and this room was used as a makeshift recording studio at the end of his life. While the so-called Jungle Room is apparently the most iconic and famous, we were more partial to the wild aesthetic of the Billiards Room.
Other areas we visited included his trophy building that displayed all his awards, records and personal memorabilia, his racquetball building, and a field that had some horses. The last place we visited in the mansion was the outside garden area, which has Elvis’s final resting place, alongside his parents, grandmother, and stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon.
The Exhibits at Graceland
We got back onto the shuttle bus to see the exhibits, and overheard the bus driver tell the guests sitting at the front that it's been a quiet summer, with today being the first day that they've hit over 1,000 visitors. Usually it would be much busier. We couldn't help but wonder whether it was because international tourism was down this year, if the prices of tickets deterred some people, if Elvis' appeal was waning as it'll soon be 50 years since he died, or if it's a combination of all of these things. While there were plenty of kids there and people spanning all age groups, it'll be interesting to see how Graceland continues to stay relevant and compelling for tourists in the future.
We next visited exhibits that would have been part of the cheapest ticket option: the Elvis Presley’s Memphis (EPM) Entertainment Complex, and his custom jets. Once we did this, we were happy that we'd gotten the next tier of ticket, because the mansion was what we'd really wanted to see. At the EPM, we saw a lot of Elvis' cars and motorcycles, memorabilia from his film and music career (including movie posters, costumes, props and clips from his movies--which were super cheesy but hilarious to watch), artifacts from his time in the military, and other personal items.
Probably the highlight out of this though were his incredibly flashy jumpsuits that he wore when he was performing in the 1970s. There were rhinestone-studded belts and jumpsuits, and sparkling capes, stacked behind glass from floor to ceiling in one area. Similarly, there was a room where the walls were filled with awards and accolades he'd received for his songs and albums. Clearly, there's a reason why he's still known as "The King."
The last area we checked out were two of his private planes--a larger one that had its own gold, flashy bathroom, seats, conference room and bedroom, as well as a much smaller one named after his daughter. There are also restaurants in the complex, so it's definitely aimed at continuing to attract tourists to visit and stay for the day, and we definitely left recognizing Elvis' talent and legacy to this day.
... continued at Day 161: Part 2 - Memphis, Tennessee
[…] ... continued from Day 161: Part 1 - Graceland […]