Elvis Week 2017 has officially kicked off! August 16th marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley and fans have started rolling into Memphis in his memory. As guests of the Memphis Visitor Bureau, we spent most of Friday exploring Graceland – home of Elvis Presley.
#ElvisWeek is a phenomenon that takes place each year, but every fifth year the crowd grows, with this year expecting to be the largest thus far. After all, Elvis is still The King.
With family in Knoxville, Tennessee we venture through Memphis from Texas annually. However, this trip was our first time to stop and explore for four days. We have had ‘tour Graceland‘ on our travel bucket list for a while. Beyond loving his music, we wanted to see what the hype was all about.
Tour Graceland: Home of Elvis Presley
It is recommended that you allow two hours to tour Graceland. I believe you could see the highlights in that amount of time, but if you are a true Elvis fan, you’ll want at least half a day to do it all. We spent five hours touring the mansion and the museums during one of the busiest times of the year. We also did not read every sign, photograph every display or watch the short films offered.
There are numerous gift shops with exclusive merchandise that will make Elvis fans feel like a child in a candy store.
The self-guided tour of Graceland is done via iPad featuring the voice of John Stamos. Each guest is provided with their own iPad and headphones to wear while touring the house. This tour took us about 45 minutes from the time we started, not counting the wait time in lines. You go at your own pace.
Fun Fact: Did you know that Jesse from Full House, played by John Stamos, was named in memory of Elvis Presley’s twin brother? Did you know that Elvis was born a twin? Unfortunately, his brother Jesse was stillborn.
You can tell the home was decorated in the 60-70s era. The dining room and front living room were my favorite. They were so elegantly decorated.
Elvis grew up in a family with not much money. He always told his parents that one day he would give them a life where they didn’t need to worry. He made good on his promise after purchasing Graceland. His parents and grandmother had their own bedrooms beautifully setup. You get a chance to see this room during your tour.
The upstairs is off-limits. This was the private area for Elvis and he did not entertain guests upstairs. They said you could hear him walking down the stairs with all his jewelry clinging.
One of the most unique rooms in Graceland is the Jungle Room. Elvis said this room reminded him of his time spent in Hawaii, which he loved. He spent a lot of time entertaining in this room and even recorded a song here. Throughout the house you can find areas where carpet lined the ceilings and walls, this is said to help with acoustics.
The pool table room was pretty awesome. The walls and ceiling were covered with fabric. I can only imagine how much work went into the room. It appeared flawlessly done. There were old-fashioned chandeliers that looked just like something you would expect to see hanging above a pool table today.
His TV and music room was bright yellow and blue. I sort of love Elvis’s retro yellow bar – it’s a must-see. He had three TVs setup so he could watch two different news stations and one comedy at all times. Beyond this room, you could see his racquet ball court and pinball machine. Just being able to visualize Elvis playing games was pretty cool.
After you tour Graceland, you head outdoors to the pasture. Elvis loved his horses. He had multiple horses for the family to all ride together.
Horses were not the only thing you could catch Elvis riding back in his days. He also owned multiple golf carts that he would race around his property. Priscilla Presley said he would often lead everyone out on the street and you could see him riding his golf cart down the main road, yet he never got pulled over.
A visit to Graceland is not truly complete without taking the time to explore the museums. You can see all the vehicles and motorcycles that Elvis owned, like his famous pink Cadillac.
You can also see all his Gold Records, Grammy Awards, stage outfits, and so much more. There is hours worth of Elvis memorabilia to see.
Learn more about Elvis Week and the activities planned. There are several ticket options for Graceland, find out what works best for you.
Have you visited Graceland?
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Thanks for sharing! My husband and I went to Memphis this past spring, but didn’t get around to Graceland so we’ve been meaning to go back!
I would love to tour this home. The pictures are awesome. We just moved to Tennessee so maybe we can take a weekend and go. Thank you so much for sharing this. God Bless
As someone local in Tennessee, I think it would be the perfect weekend getaway. What town are you in?
Thanks for the tour. That is one place that I really want to visit. Great tour you gave us.
Seeing the museums is worth the visit alone! I highly recommend checking it all out, not just the mansion.
Really fancy place with taste! His music lives forever
He truly is the King of Rock ‘n Roll!
Nice to get a glimpse inside.
Loved these photos – thanks for sharing them. I’d love, love, love to visit Graceland one day!
It is well worth the visit. We highly encourage the trip.
Amazing. Thanks for sharing.
One of the places that’s on my bucket list to visit. Loved seeing it here, makes me even more determined to go see it.
There is so much more to see that we didn’t feature here. Endless numbers of rooms, facts to learn and cool items on exhibit. Truly fascinating.
Thank you so much for this post. I have lived just outside Nashville for 39 years and go through Memphis on our way to visit family and friends in Texas, but have never been to Graceland!! I see you to follow that route also. If you ever need an overnight place to stay look into Captain Henderson House in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. I found it by accent years also and love staying there. It is a B&B with lovely rooms, a great breakfast, and reasonable rates in a quite little college town. It helps us to break up our long trip to Texas from Tennessee!
What part of Texas do you visit? We go to Knoxville often. We will have to check into Arkadelphis, we’ve never stayed in that area before.
We visited Graceland this summer and loved it! Enjoyed your pictures!
Which part of the summer did you visit? Was it crowded? We had such a good time and hope to visit again during the winter months.
We went in June, and it wasn’t too crowded at all. We hope to go back again someday as well.
Thank you for sharing, it was really interesting to see his home. Elvis is one of those personalities everyone knows and we still hear about him all the time. This post was really fun,
I’ve been to Graceland once. Seeing your photos though, I wonder if I saw it at all. Of course, it’s always so crowded. I didn’t know this was Elvis week! The thing I most remember about it was seeing the museums & all his gold records. Enjoyed the photo tour!
Maybe you missed his home? The Graceland property is actually across the street from the museums and room where the gold records are stored. You have to ride the shuttle bus over to see the mansion and grounds.
So cool! Thank you for the tour! Love the stained glass in his living room! It’s great to be able to see these places when I don’t get to travel very much. Thanks so much:) Glad I found your site through the pin junkie party!
wow this is so nice
I have been to Graceland four times and loved every one of them. The first time he was at home so we only got to the gate, the second time his Grandmother was living in the house so we only got to see part of it. The last two times we got to tour the whole house and grounds. Would like to make it five.