Absolutely...
Absolutely, the first moment you can...maybe the first evening, visit the Opryland Hotel. If you don't immediately change your reservations to that hotel on the spot , after seeing it, I will be shocked. I may even drop to my knees in horror.....
That is exactly the experience we had....checked into the downtown swanky Loew's Vanderbilt Hotel...it was beautiful...probably the most exclusive hotel in town, BUT....after we visited the Opryland Hotel that same evening (on a suggestion by a local, to dine at one of their restaurants) we canceled our Loew's reservations and checked into the Opryland Hotel...even the lobby will blow you away...(if not, the service sure will)...
It's like a huge "city under glass", and you'll NEVER see anything like it....Yes, I understand the Fairfield and it's nice rooms at a good price, and maybe the rewards points stay (maybe you're doing that), but you cannot miss the Opryland Hotel experience....
And believe me, it's NOT full of "big-haired country bumpkins" who are there for the Grande Ole Opry, as the name of the hotel might suggest, but it's full of business people, normal families on vacation, dignitaries, those attending a convention, or STARS (who have a private concierge and room location)---just to name a few----but it's just beyond imagination...
Besides the Las Vegas casino hotels, Opryland is widely known in the industry as THE LARGEST hotel in the world....it's spread out over acres, with botanical gardens INSIDE with walking trails, a real river with a riverboat ride going thru it, and all covered by glass-domed roofs in each atrium....& there are more than one...Cascades and Delta. The "water show" in the Cascades section is great...and ongoing....
Just walking around you will get lost, and around every corner is another great sight.....several nice restaurants, too. You won't believe the Thanksgiving feast they have all afternoon in the ballrooms!!! Live stringed instrument band and tables a hundred feet long....gorgeous! and the Christmas decorations will blow your mind....it should be a national treasure....They even have family sing-along Christmas carols each night in one section in the middle of the gardens, in a little open-air amphitheatre.
We have gone there for Thanksgiving for 5 straight years...used to go to Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC (similar great experience), but wanted a change, and the kids (21 & 18) love it...they love both, I should say........we'll probably change again in a couple of years, but we love the big hotel thing at holiday time...
We combine our timeshare weeks with hotel stays to make an exciting year of family fun....Summer and Spring weeks at t/s's , Fall (Oct) in mtns to see foliage (huge 5-BR cabin with kids' friends) in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, Thanksgiving somewhere, and maybe a surprise trip or three , on a lark, scattered in ......jme