Originally posted by Quentin Disney
I don't know about you guys, but every single solitary time I see a "Disney is coming to [INSERT NAME OF TOWN HERE]" I have to roll my eyes. Remember folks, no matter how prestigous the news source is, it will still be a rumor until Disney comes out with a press release. I've been looking on another Disney message board and this is all they are talking about...and acting like its going to happen because the NEW YORK POST said so (It's so laughable for them to even bring this up in their excuse of a paper).
On the other hand, Disney's theme park operations have matured domestically. Perhaps they are looking to elsewhere in the form of regional entertainment. Personally, for a company like Disney to build something next to Coney Island will bring out the intellectual farts in full force like with the ill-fated Disney's America, protesting it to the death.
ya heres that article and pic
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=2930&Y=22459&Z=18&W=2
SHORE SOUNDS GREAT: DISNEY EYES CONEY IS.
By DAN MANGAN
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The elephant in Astroland Park may soon have a neighborly friend in Dumbo if Disney's scouting trip pans out.
- Stephen Hirsch
July 22, 2002 -- Coney Island was named after a rabbit - but it may be taken over by a mouse.
Walt Disney Co. has been studying Coney Island land parcels to determine if enough acreage could be assembled for some kind of major project in the famed south Brooklyn seaside neighborhood, according to Crain's New York Business today.
The entertainment-industry behemoth is renowned both for its megasized theme parks and its role in the wildly successful renewal of Times Square, which has drawn hordes of tourists from around the world.
Like Times Square, Coney Island's glory days as a favorite destination of New Yorkers were followed by a steady decline into seediness, crime and broken dreams.
By then, the urban decay resembled nothing of the dune-covered land the Dutch settlers dubbed Konijn Eiland, or rabbit island.
Disney's involvement in Coney Island "would be great. Disney did a beautiful job on 42nd Street. Coney Island could use a facelift. I know they would do a good job of cleaning up the area," said Gerald Menditto, 59, who has worked on the neighborhood's landmark Cyclone roller coaster for 28 years.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, "I think Coney Island is hot as a pistol for a major development . . . It's open for great, great things."
He pointed to recent positive developments there, including last year's opening of KeySpan Park - home to the Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball team - and expansion of the New York Aquarium as evidence that the neighborhood is headed in the right direction.
And Coney Island's honky-tonk amusement parks and food stands, coupled with a spacious boardwalk and beach, are drawing bigger crowds.
Markowitz said that Disney representatives looked at Coney Island several years ago.
"Maybe they put it back on the front burner," he said, while noting that he has not heard that Disney is looking again.
The company denies any current interest.
Big plans for revitalizing Coney Island are nothing new.
"Coney Island's day came in 1989, when we had full Board of Estimate approvals to build this major project," said Horace Bullard, the owner of seven acres of land along Surf Avenue, who planned a $450 million entertainment complex on his and city property.
But, "we ran into a bad financial market. And in '93, we came back with financing, but then we ran into [Rudy] Giuliani," said Bullard, who blames the former mayor for thwarting his vision.
Giuliani pushed for construction of KeySpan Park, which sits smack between Bullard's two land parcels, and which Bullard says would be difficult to incorporate into a Disney complex.
Still, Bullard predicted that "anything you do out there will be successful," and wants a crack at being part of any development.
"We have a new day. We have a new mayor who understands business," Bullard said. "Coney Island's day will come."
Additional reporting by Angelina Cappiello
