Americana 1900- The Complete Presentation

[James G.]

The east side of the lobby is the location of another ground floor hallway and elevator lobby serving the east wing of the hotel, but also is the location of three uniquely-themed guest amenities- the Atchison Grill, the Topeka Saloon and the Santa Fe General Store. The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroad was the first railroad to work with the Fred Harvey Company and his dream of establishing a series of railroad station restaurants and hotels to serve the growing passenger service needs of the mid-to-late 1800s in America.​

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The Atchison Grill is a family-oriented restaurant, similar in concept to the Harvey House restaurants inside the park. It is not, however, another Harvey House. Its servers don’t wear the traditional Harvey Girl uniforms, the menu is not based on original Harvey House menus, and the decor is instead inspired by the railroad theme that is so much a part of the Harvey House Hotel. ​

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A breakfast buffet is featured every morning, which is replaced by a salad buffet at lunch and dinner, and an extensive ala carte menu is offered for every meal. Full room service is available from the Atchison Grill’s ala carte menu during regular hours, and a limited room-service menu is offered twenty-four hours a day for guests staying in the Harvey House Hotel.

The Topeka Saloon takes guests back to the days of the “Wild West,” featuring an original long bar with elaborately-carved woodwork, etched glass mirror, round tables and a balcony around three sides of the room. A small stage provides performance space where live performers recreate the traditional- if stereotyped- saloon girl shows accompanied by a piano player. There is also a basic bar menu available, featuring wings, sliders and other favorite bar foods. A dozen brews on tap are available, along with traditional bar drinks and plenty of non-alcoholic beverages for guests who want to enjoy the atmosphere but not the high-octane drinks of the era.​

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The Santa Fe General Store features all the normal sundry items that a hotel gift shop needs to have available to its guests, along with a wide variety of specialty items, souvenirs of Americana 1900 and the Harvey House Hotel, and a wide variety of snacks and beverages.​

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The feature of the Harvey House Hotel that makes it one of the most popular hotels in the resort complex, one that is often visited by Americana 1900 guests that aren’t even staying at the hotel, is a spectacular model train display that fills much of the main lobby. Over a thousand feet of HO-gauge track weaves through a breathtakingly-beautiful landscape of hills, fields, small towns, and even a scale model of Americana 1900. This computer-controlled train layout, designed and crafted by experienced judges and competitors from the National Model Railroad Association, recreates railroads and landscapes appropriate to the era of Americana 1900. Information placards describe the types of model trains operating on the display, and explain the history of model trains in America. Every evening, at the quarter-hour, the lights in the lobby are dimmed and the lights on the moving locomotives, passenger cars and the hundreds of houses and other buildings on the model glow, showing the remarkable attention to detail that makes the Harvey House Railroad one of the most impressive sights in all of Americana 1900.​

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Accommodations in the Harvey House Hotel are available in one, two and three-bedroom suites. Many of the rooms overlook the Gulf Coast and Sante Fe Railroad, located just to the north of the hotel, as it travels on its rail line passing between the hotel and the park. Spectacular views of such beautiful sights as Green Springs and its water rides, the world-famous Vulture coaster, the Americana Wonder Wheel and the dome and clock tower of the Americana County Courthouse can be enjoyed by guests relaxing on their balconies after a busy day at the park. If they have any energy left, the hotel also offers a railroad-themed outdoor water play area, with pool, water slides, hot tubs and children’s water play pads, and an expansive sun deck. ​

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A tree-shaded walking path leads from several locations in the Harvey House Hotel complex to the South Gate of Americana 1900, providing easy access for guests. As at all Americana Resort Hotels, guests have a wide variety of admission ticket packages available to them, and automatically have Dawn of History and History Repeats benefits for early and late ride time. The hotel concierge can make reservations at all Americana 1900 dining facilities that take reservations (based on availability). Pony Express delivery service is also available to all guests.​

 

[James G.]

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The period in American history between the Civil War and the early 1900s is often referred to as the “Gilded Age,” and the epitome of this Age of elegance, ostentatious design and extravagant living is the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel, a four-star rated, three-story, three hundred room hotel and resort that occupies the entire southern third of Courthouse Square. Most guests arrive at the hotel via its main, or south entrance, a three-story porte-ochre with soaring Corinthian columns supporting a pedimented gable. A curved driveway leads from the Americana Resort Parkway, accessed from the main Americana Parkway, and directs guests to the main entrance and the directly adjacent private parking lot. Here bell service greets guests, handles their luggage and provides valet parking services.​

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Guests enter the breathtaking three-story entrance hall, with soaring fluted columns painted in cream and green that support two encircling balconies with elegant bronze railings. From the ceiling of expertly-crafted and hand-painted tin panels hang a series of Louis XVI-style gilt bronze chandeliers with hand-etched frosted glass shades. Carefully-placed round settees upholstered in a rich hunter green-and-cream patterned velvet and decorative fringe, matching sitting and conversation groupings of love seats, high-backed chairs and coffee tables, and a central fountain of marble with streaks of greenish-bronze running through the stone fill the center of this magnificent-yet-inviting space. Standing at the top of this fountain is a bronze statue of Jonathan Edwards, a small bear that was actually a family pet of the Roosevelt family.​

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In a whimsical tribute to the namesake of the hotel, bronze statues of many more Roosevelt family pets stand on pedestals and tables throughout the lobby. Guests entering from the south portico are greeted by a statue of Algonquin, a pony that was a favorite of the Roosevelt children. Also found scattered through the lobby are memorials to Bill the lizard, Maude the pig, Josiah the badger, Eli Yan the Blue Macaw, Baron Spreckle the hen, and the family’s guinea pigs Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans and Father O’Grady.​

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Throughout the hotel are other statues of some of the dozens of family pets, such as Peter the rabbit, Emily Spinach the garter snake (so named by the President's daughter Alice, “because it was as green as spinach and as thin as my Aunt Emily”), and many of the family dogs, such as Sailor Boy (a Chesapeake retriever), Jack the terrier, Skip (described by the President as a mongrel), and Pete the bull terrier. Greeting guests to the main dining room (to be discussed later) is a porcelain recreation of Manchu, a Pekinese gifted to Alice by the last Empress of China.​

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The perimeter walls of the lobby are lined with the usual guest services provided by a hotel of this high of quality. The check-in counters along the west wall, crafted of hand-crafted walnut with frosted glass accents and privacy dividers, are flanked by a bank of elevators to their left and a grand staircase to their right leading up to the balconies and down to the lower level (basement) special guest services- business center, fitness center, indoor pool, and the Elk Horn Spa, a full-service day spa and salon named after President Roosevelt’s ranch in North Dakota.​

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The east wall of the lobby is the location of Bell Services, a full-service Concierge, another bank of elevators for the east side of the hotel, and a smaller lobby providing restroom facilities and access to the McKinley Conference Center*, a series of conference rooms of flexible configuration that can be divided into four separate rooms or combined into one large ballroom.
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*William McKinley was President of the United States in 1900. He was assassinated in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him as President.​

Also on this side of the lobby is Alices’ Restaurant, named not after the Arlo Guthrie song but after the two Alices who were so important in Theodore Roosevelt’s life, his first wife Alice Hathaway (Lee) Roosevelt and their daughter, Alice Roosevelt (Longworth). Alices’ is the hotel’s more relaxed, family restaurant, featuring what would be considered “coffee shop” meals, with a breakfast buffet, salad bar offered at lunch and dinner, hot and cold sandwiches, soups and simple entrees such as fried chicken and meatloaf. Their pizzas are renowned for their size, quality and varieties.​

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The Bull Moose Store, the hotel’s gift shop, is named after the progressive third political party that nominated Roosevelt as their Presidential candidate in the election of 1912 (he lost to Woodrow Wilson). It carries a wide selection of sundry items, souvenir goods and clothing, and unique items hand-crafted by native Americans from throughout the nation. President Roosevelt was instrumental in the expansion of the National Park Service, and his life-long interest in the life and culture of the American West is commemorated here.​

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[James G.]

The principal dining room, and one of the most elegant restaurants in all of Americana 1900, is Sagamore Hill, named after President Roosevelt’s home in Cove Neck, New York. The design is inspired by the rustic elegance of his estate; the menu features classic American ingredients, focusing on native fish and game such as salmon, venison, rabbit and buffalo, along with more traditional menu options. The freshest ingredients, expert preparation and the finest service make a luncheon or dinner at Sagamore Hill a memorable experience.​

A private dining room, the Roosevelt Room, is inspired by the original dining room in the Roosevelt family home, and is reserved for special events and special guests of the resort.

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Adjacent to Sagamore Hill is the Rough Riders Lounge, themed as a gentlemen’s club of 1900, with dark woods, leather upholstery, plenty of brass and a selection of artisan beverages that recreate the taste of pre-Prohibition beers and ciders. More modern drinks are also available, and a wide choice of “bar foods” such as wings, sliders and other non-period but still delicious treats complete the menu of this relaxed but still classy tavern.​

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Hotel guests at the Theodore Roosevelt have a private entrance into Americana 1900. While they still have to purchase admission, they have a variety of discount packages available, and all guests receive the benefits of the Heritage Pass, including Dawn of History and History Repeats ride times. The Hotel Gate is only for registered guests and visitors that a hotel guest has registered in advance. However, park guests who entered from one of the other park entrances who wish to visit one of the hotel’s restaurants or other services can be stamped for readmission through this gate. The Hotel Gate opens onto a pleasantly-landscaped and shaded courtyard formed by the projecting wings of the hotel, and leads guests directly onto Main Street and into the heart of Courthouse Square.

The Main Street facade of the Theodore Roosevelt doesn’t look like a hotel at all, but like a series of three-storied commercial structures that complement the rest of the downtown buildings of Courthouse Square. The ground floor of these storefronts, opening onto Main Street, contains commercial and retail stores providing visitors with a wide variety of goods and services, while in most cases the second and third floors are hotel guest rooms prized for their view, overlooking the Americana County Courthouse and Courthouse Square.​

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The elegant decor of the public spaces, the spacious and well-appointed guest rooms, the luxurious amenities and special benefits offered to guests, the friendly, professional and attentive staff and the prime location inside the park with a private entrance make the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel THE place to stay when visiting Americana 1900.​

 

[Knight2000]

As we reach the end of this great American pilgrimage, I'd just like to get a little gushy - the level of intricate detail in literally EVERYTHING here has been incredible. This is refined storytelling. Every attraction, restaurant, shop, and even the buildings all have their own interconnected backstories and personalities. The amount of research put into maintaining the park's authenticity and theming must've been quite the feat. To me, if I can compare, is what Disney's America should have been - something that was more focused and grounded in its scope, yet spectacular in its efforts and ideas. The idea to create a theme park with no established franchises or IPs to rely on, with an original concept that not only sticks to the overarching themes and nails it so superbly, is something rather rare on this forums, but definitely something that has been worth the wait and worth the read.

Having been here for the entire thing I can assure you Jim fussed over even the most minute details. there have been many many rewrites until it was to his satisfaction. in his mind this park exists, and he has the unique ability to flesh out with words and pictures every detail so that we too can see this park. I have often said to him that I wish Americana 1900 really existed... its the kind of park that someone like me, who is terrified of hypercoasters, would spend days exploring. and eating... it has been a lot of work, but I'll admit to a bit of personal pride and satisfaction with my small contribution to the overall project.

 

[James G.]

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Americana 1900 is just the first phase in a massive, multi-year plan to create a major multi-facility destination resort in Northern Alabama- The Americana Resort. A new Township will appear in Americana 1900. Four new theme parks, a major regional shopping and entertainment center, a thirty-six hole golf resort, casino and an indoor-outdoor summer music pavilion capable of welcoming over eighteen-thousand visitors will be joining Americana 1900 over the next twenty years as The Americana Resort becomes the nation’s newest and fastest-growing vacation destination.​

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The history of America is the heart and soul of the Americana experience, and this is not forgotten in the four new theme parks that will be joining Americana 1900 in the Americana Resort family. These parks, in order of opening, are:​

RetroAmericana 1950- Mid-Century America was a time of technological marvels, social unrest and a continual attack by little green men from Mars.​

WildAmericana- The incredible diversity of North American wildlife and the sometimes devastating effects that Man has had on it is explored in the largest animal rehabilitation center in the nation.​

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Gold Rush Gulch 1849- The nation’s largest water park finds its theme in the California Gold Rush. Instead of gold, visitors will now discover endless family fun and adventure.​

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Riverside Park- A boutique theme park that takes the best of Americana 1900 and creates a park dedicated to families with young children- and children of all ages.​

While not really a theme park, Tin Pan Alley is the physical center of the Americana Resort.

A destination shopping, entertainment and lifestyle complex, Tin Pan Alley not only physically connects all five Theme Parks but also celebrates five different American cities and their historic contributions to America.

 

[James G.]

Schematic Map of the Americana Resort- Central Facilities
(map is oriented with south at the top of the map)

Note: This map is strictly schematic, and not to scale

Accommodations
(Please see map for locations)

A1. Theodore Roosevelt Hotel
A2. Harvey House Hotel
A3. Howard Taft Auto Camp
A4. Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center
A5. Howard Johnson Motor Lodge
A6. Bay View Inn
A7. Riverside Inn
A8. Great Plains Hotel
A9. Puebla Fiesta Inn

Parking at the Americana Resort​

The main parking area for Tin Pan Alley and the Theme Parks is underneath Tin Pan Alley in a four-story underground parking garage which extends further underneath the Inner Ring Road. Elevators, escalators, stairs and ramps lead from all levels to Tin Pan Alley, where each park can be reached via pedestrian causeways over the Inner Ring Road and by NARTA (Northern Alabama Regional Transit Authority) elevated trains. Each hotel has a dedicated surface parking facility directly adjacent to it or connected to it by a pedestrian subway. Overflow surface parking is also available if needed. See map for locations.
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P1. Theodore Roosevelt/Green Springs/South Gate surface parking
P2. Harvey House Hotel Parking/ Americana 1900 overflow surface parking
P3. Bay View Inn surface parking
P4. Great Plains Hotel surface parking/ Gold Rush Gulch 1849 and Riverside Park overflow surface parking
P5. Puebla Fiesta Inn surface parking/ WildAmericana overflow surface parking
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Note: Underground parking facilities are beneath RetroAmericana 1950 for the Eisenhower and Howard Johnson Hotels, with reserved overflow in the Tin Pan Alley parking garages.

Highways and Byways​

The main entrance to the Americana Resort is from Interstate 65, where it meets the Americana Parkway. Visitors will pass the entrances to the Cotton Blossom Music Center and the Yellowhammer Casino on their right and the Camellia Hills Golf Resort and the site of the proposed adventure park on their left. The Cotton Blossom Music Center, Camellia Hills Golf Resort and Yellowhammer Casino all have dedicated parking lots, and each provides shuttle bus service to Tin Pan Alley. Each is accessed from the Americana Parkway north of the main theme park complex. An extension of the NARTA line is planned for future development.

Proceeding south on the Americana Parkway, visitors will first come to the Outer Ring Road, which will lead them to several of the resort hotels and their parking areas (Theodore Roosevelt Hotel, Harvey House Hotel and the Howard Taft Auto Camp in the Americana 1900 complex, the Bayview Inn at Gold Rush Gulch 1849, and the Great Plains Inn and Puebla Fiesta Inn at WildAmericana). Overflow parking for the theme parks is also located off of the Outer Ring Road.

Continuing south on the Americana Parkway will lead visitors to the Inner Ring Road, where they will find extensive parking facilities directly ahead underneath Tin Pan Alley. They will also find hotel parking for the Eisenhower Hotel, the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge and the Riverside Inn. Three other roads, the Northeast, Southeast and Southwest Connector Roads, along with the Americana Parkway, connect the Inner and Outer Ring Roads.​

 

[James G.]

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The middle of the Twentieth Century, a time of cultural upheavals, creative experimentation and technological advances, is celebrated in RetroAmericana 1950. Urban development, small-town idealization and a country finding its place in the world while evolving through scientific breakthroughs are explored in this moderne theme park. America in the 1950s and ‘60s was a nation struggling in a world turned upside-down by the Space Race, the automobile and attacks by little green men in flying saucers.
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Eight “Neighborhoods” can be explored and enjoyed in RetroAmericana 1950:

MidCentury Mall

A bustling downtown of a mid-sized American city welcomes visitors to RetroAmericana, with dining options, unusual shopping opportunities and monuments to a time of social upheaval and awakening.

Cloverleaf Plaza

America was on the move, and the new Interstate Highway system made this movement possible for millions of American families.

Oceanview Park

Every beachfront community seemed to breed new amusement parks, and Oceanview Park celebrates those collections of rides, attractions and slightly-seedy sideshows and carnival games that everyone from that era remembers fondly.

Expo ‘56

World’s Fairs, like everything else in that era, turned their backs on the past and looked to the future. Expo ‘56 celebrates the discoveries and promises that the future predicted for America and the world of 1956.

 

[James G.]

Cape Armstrong

Man would walk on the moon someday soon, and Cape Armstrong pays tribute to the scientific achievements that the American space program developed, achievements that would influence American society in profound ways.

Everytown U.S.A.

American small-town living was never as idealized, sanitized and perfect as the television shows of the era presented it to the nation- except in Everytown U.S.A!

National Wilderness

It seemed that if the average American family wasn’t going to the beach for vacation, they were going to one of the National Parks, and National Wilderness brings just a sampling of these parks to RetroAmericana 1950.

Atomic Estates

If America wasn’t struggling to win the Cold War and the War on Poverty, it was battling aliens from another planet- or so many of the black & white films of the era being shown in every drive-in movie theater of the era would have you believe. In Atomic Estates, aliens are everywhere, monsters are in every lagoon, nuclear power promises both unlimited energy and total annihilation, and color has not yet been invented. Not only are the movies in black & white, but so is the entire Neighborhood!

 

[James G.]

Two new hotels, the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center

and the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge

will provide convenient accommodations directly adjacent to RetroAmericana 1950.

 

[MickeyWaffleCo.]

Four more parks in the resort! Was not expecting that, but I’m already loving it!

 

[Chaos Cat]

It's official; James has won the site. Everyone go home, we're not topping this.

 

[Disney Warrior]

​

Americana 1900 is just the first phase in a massive, multi-year plan to create a major multi-facility destination resort in Northern Alabama- The Americana Resort. A new Township will appear in Americana 1900. Four new theme parks, a major regional shopping and entertainment center, a thirty-six hole golf resort, casino and an indoor-outdoor summer music pavilion capable of welcoming over eighteen-thousand visitors will be joining Americana 1900 over the next twenty years as The Americana Resort becomes the nation’s newest and fastest-growing vacation destination.​

​

The history of America is the heart and soul of the Americana experience, and this is not forgotten in the four new theme parks that will be joining Americana 1900 in the Americana Resort family. These parks, in order of opening, are:​

RetroAmericana 1950- Mid-Century America was a time of technological marvels, social unrest and a continual attack by little green men from Mars.​

WildAmericana- The incredible diversity of North American wildlife and the sometimes devastating effects that Man has had on it is explored in the largest animal rehabilitation center in the nation.​

​

Gold Rush Gulch 1849- The nation’s largest water park finds its theme in the California Gold Rush. Instead of gold, visitors will now discover endless family fun and adventure.​

​

Riverside Park- A boutique theme park that takes the best of Americana 1900 and creates a park dedicated to families with young children- and children of all ages.​

While not really a theme park, Tin Pan Alley is the physical center of the Americana Resort.

A destination shopping, entertainment and lifestyle complex, Tin Pan Alley not only physically connects all five Theme Parks but also celebrates five different American cities and their historic contributions to America.

Congratulations, @James G. , you have officially blown my mind! This makes an amazing presentation way more amazing!

 

[spacemt354]

Next time please give us a warning before posting content of this caliber.

I merely glanced at this today in public and my jaw dropped. Now reading it in full ...my brain dropped.

 

[spacemt354]

No joke this is absolutely incredible and a genius 2nd gate option I never even thought of was possible

 

[Disney Warrior]

No joke this is absolutely incredible and a genius 2nd gate option I never even thought of was possible

The “G” in @James G. really stands for “genius” lol

 

[James G.]

I am quite overwhelmed with the praise that this presentation has received! As I present the rest of The Americana Resort over the next few days, please be aware that it is still a work in progress. I don't have the maps created yet such as I was able to share with you with RetroAmericana 1950. I hope that the descriptions and photos that I do have prepared will give you a sense of what the rest of the Resort will offer to guests. Perhaps someday I will be able to continue with this project. I hope so.​

 

[James G.]

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While Americans for centuries have fought to defend and protect this nation from foreign enemies, they have unwittingly attacked the wild creatures that called this land home for eons before humans arrived. Urban sprawl has destroyed habitat, highways now cross wildlife trails that have been used by animals for centuries, and reckless and underregulated hunting and pollution have led to thousands of species of wildlife being endangered or succumbing to extinction. WildAmericana, the third theme park in the Americana Resort complex, provides massive natural habitats to aid in the restoration of endangered wildlife populations, and to provide a home for creatures that have been rendered unable to survive in the wild. The largest animal sanctuary of its kind in the nation, WildAmericana also offers visitors unique theme park attractions, educational and entertainment offerings, and in its four-hundred-foot high central structure, the Phoenix Tower, the tallest theme park icon in the world.​

WildAmericana is divided into eight “Biodomes”:

Gateway to the Wild

This breathtakingly beautiful entrance to WildAmericana pays tribute to the PreColumbian Native Americans that lived with the natural bounty of North America for generations. Winding paths ornamented with towering Native American totem poles lead visitors through a thick grove of tall pine, cedar and redwood trees, and past recreations of mounds created by the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian Cultures, among others.

North American Desert

Far from being lifeless and desolate, the deserts of North America team with life- human, flora and fauna. The rich culture of the Native American tribes that have called these deserts “home” for eons is celebrated here, and the architecturally magnificent Desert Conservatory provides indoor and outdoor protection and habitats for endangered wildlife and plant species from these misunderstood and underappreciated regions.

North American Forest

The ever-shrinking North American Forest and the loss of its ability to protect the wildlife that relies on it is explored in this beautiful Biodome.

The Wetlands

Few people consider the devastating effect that human encroachment on North American wetlands has had on the wildlife that lives there- and on our own lives. This Biodome educates visitors about this potential loss of so many species and how this loss can harm our own way of life and the rich biodiversity that we need for a healthy ecosystem.

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[James G.]

The Aviary

The Avian Biodome, completely enclosed to ensure protection for the inhabitants, provides rehabilitation and shelter for dozens of birds, bats and other flying species native to North America. Its architecturally-spectacular design provides abundant space for injured creatures to regain their health and hopefully be able to be released back into the wild, and if not, to live the remainder of their lives in a thriving, emotionally nourishing environment.

The Central Plaza, Transportation Center and the Phoenix Tower

These three integrated Biodomes form the central spine of WildAmericana, and lead from the main entrance- the Gateway to the Wild- to the most important Biodome- the Habitats.

The Central Plaza

This magnificent open-air gathering place surrounds the River of Life, a flowing cascade of life-giving water populated with magnificent bronze statues of bears fishing for salmon as they migrate upstream to spawn, industrious beavers constructing their homes, deer drinking from the cool mountain stream, and other North American wildlife.

The waters that form the River of Life burst forth from the largest statue in the Americana complex, the Continent of Animals, a two-hundred-foot tall massive facsimile of North America composed of dozens of bronze images of native animals, representing the interdependence that all life has to the rich vitality of our continent.

The Transportation Center

Located in the base of the Phoenix Tower, the Transportation Center is the main access to the Walk in the Wild Skyways, the Habitat Monorail and the Rio de Vida, the River of Life waterway cruise through the Biodomes of WildAmericana.

The Phoenix Tower

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This four-hundred-foot tall cantilevered tower gracefully arches over the Habitats, providing a spectacular vantage point to observe the herds of rare and endangered North American wildlife that have found refuge and a second chance at life in WildAmericana. Painted to resemble the legendary Phoenix, reborn from its own ashes, it stands as a powerful emblem of the mission and responsibility that WildAmericana has to protect our North American wildlife. The top house contains a breathtaking 360-degree observation deck and a revolving restaurant-​

The Eye of the Phoenix.

 

[James G.]

The Habitats

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The heart, soul and driving mission of WildAmericana, the Habitats are vast spaces where wildlife from across North America, endangered or abused by human actions or inactions, can heal, be rehabilitated and returned to the wild, or when in situations where they can no longer be released, can live the rest of their natural lives in an environment as close to normal as possible. The legendary Wild Animal Sanctuary in Denver, Colorado discovered that most wild animals do not consider humans above them to be a threat, so they created the first Walk in the Wild Skyways, allowing human visitors to observe wild creatures without intruding into their natural spaces.​

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This concept has been recreated in WildAmericana, where several miles of pedestrian Skyways line a variety of Habitats, standing at least thirty feet above the carefully recreated natural homes of such endangered animals as American bison, Key deer, Columbian white-tailed deer, wild horses, wolves, black-footed ferrets and bighorn sheep. Other, less-endangered animals such as black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, cougars and foxes that were rescued from illegal or abusive situations have found a permanent home here in the WildAmericana Habitats. Visitors can spend as much time as desired watching these animals living in what is as close to their natural environment as possible.​

The Habitat Monorail travels on a several-mile-long route above the Skyways, providing a comfortable, narrated experience, and giving visitors the opportunity to see some rescued animals in more secluded habitats that are not accessible by the Walk in the Wild Skyways.

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It is important to emphasize that WildAmericana is NOT a zoo, even though it is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In WildAmericana, the health and well-being of the animals is the primary focus, not “putting them on display” for visitors to see. While every effort is made to provide as much visibility as possible so that visitors can both understand the needs of the animals and the situations that brought them to need the protection of WildAmericana, the welfare of the animal is always paramount.​

Perhaps the Mission Statement for WildAmericana explains this unique park better than anything:

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There are amusement rides and attractions in several of the Biodomes in WildAmericana. Air Time, found in the Avian Biodome, is a steel coaster that holds the world record for zero-G periods in a coaster. Coyote, a heavily-themed RMC hybrid wood and steel coaster, races through the Desert Biodome. Also found in this Biodome is Condor, a three-hundred-foot-high terrifying hybrid of a swing ride using flying coaster restraints to give riders the feeling of flying like a condor hundreds of feet above the desert floor. Indoor theaters offer a Soarin’-style film, recreating a hot air balloon flight above the Grand Canyon, and a Mystery Lodge/Spirit Lodge style of experience brings the spiritual culture of the Native American tribes that still live in the American Southwest to life. Several other rides and attractions contribute to the complete experience of WildAmericana.

All rides and attractions in WildAmericana have been designed to cause a minimum amount of impact on the habitats of the resident wildlife.​

 

[James G.]

Two hotels, the Great Plains Resort

and the Puebla Fiesta Inn

will overlook the Habitats, giving guests an unparalleled viewing experience from their own rooms.