new park "Disney's America"

[Jon_in_NC]

.... I think Walt got it right, one on the West Coast & one on the East Coast....

If you think about it, Walt probably ony wanted one park/resort. His basic feeling of do few things, but do them better than anyone. His visions were far grander for what he envisioned with Disneyland, but he didn't have the room to do it; his own admitted lack of foresight. But with WDW he had the room to isolate and control growth. So I doubt that we would have more than WDW and DL with Walt.

 

[prberk]

If as you say, "One more should be built in New England", What's next? One in the Central Plains? One in the Mid South? One in the North? Where would it end? I think Walt got it right, one on the West Coast & one on the East Coast. I myself have to travel from Louisiana. Besides, I feel like the trip there only serves to heighten the anticipation & make the trip more worthwhile.

Actually, as BenSz mentioned, Walt did in fact want to try something completely new and in a seasonal location -- Mineral King Ski Resort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Mineral_King_Ski_Resort#Walt_Disney_ski_resort and http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf467n99s4&doc.view=entire_text&brand=oac ).

It actually got undone by the same kind of reactionary opposition that brought down the Disney's America proposal.

But as for Mecha Figment's suggestion that the proposed ideas for the park show up elsewhere, that has already happened. For the most part, it is called Disney's California Adventure. One of the major sections of the Disney's America park proposal was to have been a stylized "County Fair" area (see "Paradise Pier" at DCA) and an agricultural area (like the Wine Country area of DCA), in addition to the historical/patriotic stuff. Other things may have been incorporated into parts of DAK and other parks. I wouldn't be surprised if Soarin' wasn't originally under development for the America park... (Soarin' over fields of amber and from sea to shining sea would be obvious attraction material.)

Paul

 

[hokielutz]

This was supposed to be in the Virginia area. How ever, locals nixed the idea. What a shame. It would have been great.

I lived in this area when it was proposed, back when I was in high school. Let me tell you I got so excited when it was talked about.... but like most things in DC... once little action groups get together along with area lawyers... all bets are off. And Disney didn't stand a chance to get through the negative PR machine that the media helped foster then. Same was true for the Redskins proposal to build their stadium in Alexandria.

Now today the Redskins are in the worst location in Maryland where traffic is horrible getting in and out.

And where the 'Disney's America' park would have been... now stands more home developments than there are penguins in Antartica. The local governments and activists have allowed suburban sprawl to occur in place of the park. I think its worse up here than it would've been with a park. At least Disney would not have allowed traffic to get out of hand as it currently is today.

 

[DrewDAK5150]

I think it's a good idea to contain Disney parks in the US to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Any more and it will start to become like Six Flags...too many to maintain so the overall quality of the park drops...and some get more attention than the others do. So unless Disney is planning a new park in the future for WDW or DL in the US, I'm dead against it.

I'm sure people in North Dakota would love to have a Disney Park nearby. Hell, I figured they have the farthest commute to any American Disney Park (except for the Eskimos in Barrow, AK.)

As for Disney's America, there are now condos on the site that was originally set aside for it. Way to preserve our history . . .

 

[celticdog]

And where the 'Disney's America' park would have been... now stands more home developments than there are penguins in Antartica. The local governments and activists have allowed suburban sprawl to occur in place of the park. I think its worse up here than it would've been with a park. At least Disney would not have allowed traffic to get out of hand as it currently is today.

The environmental groups (like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation) cause the most problems. They were extremely vocal against the park. I dropped my support of the CBF shortly thereafter. They were just so short sighted and it was a knee-jerk reaction. They couldn't see the forest for all the trees. It's a shame what's become of that area. The plan was beautiful and would have fit nicely in the rolling terrain outside of Manassas.

 

[devoy1701]

I'm sure people in North Dakota would love to have a Disney Park nearby. Hell, I figured they have the farthest commute to any American Disney Park (except for the Eskimos in Barrow, AK.)

As for Disney's America, there are now condos on the site that was originally set aside for it. Way to preserve our history . . .

peopole in north dakota probably don't think about Disney much....all that's there is dirt and rocks...and some buffulo.

 

[prberk]

Of course, I thought at the time that the Virginia governor's office (which was behind the proposal also -- Gov. George Allen at the time) should have offered to counter the "don't mess with Manassas" problem by offering to help put them in another Civil-War-friendly site like the Richmond area, by offering to sell them Pocahontas State Park ( http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/poc.shtml#parkmap , which is located in central Chesterfield County and has a large limited-access highway -- Rte. 288 -- running through it, connecting it to Interstate 95), in exchange, say, for Disney buying and developing another, more rural area (say in Danville, VA), to donate back as a state park. Another local area would have been Mechanicsville, also with easy access to the Interstate system, but without the argument that the Washington suburbs of Manassas had for traffic concestion.

As it was, Disney was fighting an uphill battle on the PR front, just like they did with the Mineral King ski resort proposal, which was ultimately co-opted by the park services.

Paul

 

[comics101]

Hmmm.... so 1993!

One of Eisners pet projects that never made it.

It really isi ashame. This park could've been awesome! A great way to have edutainment...

 

[rob45]

This park was in the planning about 10 years ago and was to be in Texas.:shrug:

 

[MickeyJman06]

3 words: IT IS CANCELLED!!!

 

[prberk]

3 words: IT IS CANCELLED!!!

I think everyone understands that. They are just discussing the park... and the merits of the arguments that went around it.

Paul

 

[polarboi]

We already have "time travelling adventures." One of world history...SSE...and two of American history, Hall of Presidents and the American Adventure. Anything else would be kind of redundant....

Shhhhhh... don't say that too loud around here. Some people never forgave Disney for closing down Timekeeper... :lookaroun

-p.b.

 

[MrBug]

So "Walt Disney World Resort: Behind the Scenes" was just on TV, toward the end when they had a couple folks talking about how much land was still available in FL, and the narrator was saying it was almost a certainty that Disney will add another park in FL, and then this big image of the Statue of Liberty's head appears on screen, I got thinking about this thread... (then I got thinking about the fact that I'm a n00b here and this very subject may have come up 6 times so far this year...)

 

[RSoxNo1]

Isn't Disney's America going to be part of the new theming for California Adventure? Isn't this makeover supposed to be like the California that Walt remembered?