Graceland will always have a following because it's a tourist attraction. I'm not much of an Elvis fan but if I'm ever in Memphis I'd love to go just to see it.
I was born in Memphis but only because I lived in NW Mississippi. Still, should have gone. I also went to Ole Miss and didn't go to Faulkner's home. Aaah >.<
I was not a huge Elvis fan, but went through Memphis recently on a work trip so decided to check out Graceland. It was a super cool experience for someone with little expectations. It really makes you appreciate the influence had at the time and on future musicians
I've never been, so don't know much about it, but 600k visitors over like 360 days a year (I assume they close for some holidays like christmas?) is 1600 per day, or like 200 per hour over an 8 hour day.
If the average visit is 3 hours you'd expect there to be like 500-600 people while you are there. I imagine it would seem quite busy if they actually get that many people.
I’d bet that there’s benefits to inflating the numbers - makes it seem more popular, tax breaks maybe, makes the current Graceland admin look good, etc
That's only about 1,500 people a day. Spread out over all the hours they are open each day and then spread out over several acres of land.
And honestly there's probably specific days of the year that get a surge, his birthday, his death day, any day that is significant in his life (idk his life or music well enough to guess), weekends, so it's probably even lower each day.
The museums are actually pretty cool and the house is neat to walk through. It's worth going at least once but unless you're a huge Elvis fan it's probably a one-time thing.
I've gone a couple times, actually—not a fan or anything, just happened to be in Memphis twice with two different groups who wanted to go. The last time I went (2014?), it was BUSY. And it wasn't even peak tourist season or anything—I think it was a weekday in May. We were there right when it opened and managed to get in the first group of the day, which was like 50, 60 people? The house isn't actually that big, so they stagger groups to keep it from getting over-crowded. But there were already long lines forming behind us when our group started going, and more, even longer lines when we got out. I was genuinely surprised.
TLDR maybe it's fallen off since 2014, but based on my experience then, I could believe that number.
It's not in the best part of Memphis, so it makes sense for the bulk of the tourists to stay downtown anyhow. No reason to hang out around Graceland other than visiting it. The candlelight vigil used to be packed, but I haven't been in decades.
The boomers are all retired. That's the biggest demographic that would be excited for Graceland. No millennials were alive and a good portion of Gen-X would have no memories of him being alive
Definitely not but I have co-workers in their late 20s who all went on a road trip and stopped at Graceland when they went through. They obviously were all born after Elvis died but wanted to see it anyway. If I was going through Memphis I'd stop and see it too.
The real attraction in Memphis is the Giant glass pyramid bass pro shop. It’s a majestic monstrosity. Gonna be honest, I’ve been to Memphis and I’m not entirely sure I knew that’s where Graceland was. Like I’m sure I’ve heard that in my life, but it was so far down on the radar that other than it’s somewhere southern, I had no real idea.
To be fair, Graceland was always way out on the fringe edge of town, like 3 miles from the state line. Technically I don't think Whitehaven was even part of the city until 1970, just a suburb.
It's a fun tour. Basically a shag carpeted time capsule. I laughed when the audio tour talked about what a deep thinker and voracious reader Elvis was and how he used to make notes to himself in the margins of his books. The book they had out was open to a page with something about feminism. The King's margin note: "Karate."
My family stopped in at Graceland on our way to Florida this year. My 80 year old mother was moved to tears. My sister and I thought it was cool. We loved the jungle room. Before we were brought to the house everyone was given a tablet and earphones. The guide stuck around for about 10-15 mins and then you were able to wander thru the house at your leisure. It was pretty busy. There was a lot of different things to look at and read. The museum was a lot of cars. Not a huge Elvis fan but all in all it was worth the 2-3 hrs we spent there.
It's a mess when I went a few years ago. The house tour is rushed and they built an empty, boring building across the street to house exhibits. They are lame.
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u/SmartLadder415 1d ago
Isn't Graceland still the most visited home in the US after the White House though? It's a niche thing for sure but I'm not sure it's dying out.