Rendition of planned American Heartland theme park in Oklahoma. (Credit: American Heartland)
Posted on 07/21/2023 8:49:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rendition of planned American Heartland theme park in Oklahoma. (Credit: American Heartland)
As we’ve reported, the Walt Disney Company has dug itself into a hole with its woke offerings, declining theme-park experience, and altogether avoidable feud with the state of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis.
Read: Disney Collapses Under Its Own Woke Weight and Iger Is Looking to Sell
The company’s stock has dropped almost 20 percent in the last six months, and in May, its market value plummeted by a cool $16 billion. But theme parks are the second most profitable part of their income—trailing only media and entertainment—so they should be fine, right?
But now they may have a rival on their hands. Something new is in the works:
A new, $2 billion theme park and resort is being planned for northeast Oklahoma,which is expected to be comparable in size with Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom Theme Park.
Dubbed the American Heartland Theme Park and Resort,the 1,000-acre development just west of Grand Lake on Route 66 will include a 125-acre theme park that the company says will offer a unique experience that rivals the world’s top resort destinations.
VIDEO: A 1,000 acre resort and theme park is coming to northeast Oklahoma. American Heartland will feature rides, live shows and an RV park. Goal is to create a park where a family doesn’t have to “spend their life savings to come spend a week with us.” https://t.co/Nlf7oaFuU1 pic.twitter.com/Wi2XpJ6cAG
— Marcus Leshock (@marcusleshock) July 19, 2023
It’s always surprised me that Disney didn’t build a third U.S. park despite the successes of the California-based and Orlando operations. The idea had been considered many times—at one point, they were looking at a Virginia location—but it never happened. Somehow there’s a Disneyland in Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, yet there’s not one in middle America. A serious misjudgment, in my view.
But now they may be too late to the party:
“We are thrilled to make Oklahoma the home of American Heartland Theme Park and Resort,” American Heartland CEO Larry Wilhite said in a press release on Wednesday. “At the crossroads of the heartland, Oklahoma is an attractive location for a family entertainment destination. The state’s business-friendly approach and innovative partnership efforts have helped make this possible. We look forward to bringing unforgettable generational experiences to Oklahoma.”
The family-friendly theme park will include six American lands that provide guests with a walk through American history—something Disney used to excel at.
More than 20 former Disney Parks builders and Walt Disney Imagineers will join the effort to create the attraction, which according to their website, is expected to fully open in the fall of 2026 (although portions will open sooner).
I used to love Disney World (even though it debuted first, SoCal’s Disneyland is a distant second, in my opinion). I was lucky enough to visit Orlando as a child, and it was magical, and for two of my kids’ milestone graduations, we went with another family and had amazing experiences.
But the Disney magic has worn off on me, as sky-high prices and woke ideology keep me away. I’m not the only one, as attendance is way down.
The mouse is too expensive.https://t.co/wNAsLTTlXZ
— drlearnalot, RL voodoo doll (@DrLearnALot) July 12, 2023
The American Heartland Park has a steep hill to climb in attempting to reach the heights of the House of Mouse, but it has a chance to draw Americans who want to celebrate our history with their families without breaking the bank, which this effort promises to focus on. If Disney had kept their eye on the ball, maybe they’d be in a position to be expanding instead of conducting mass layoffs and selling assets.
My kids have reached the age that—if and when they want to visit a theme park—they’d rather go with their friends than their parents. But if someday I’m blessed with a slew of grandchildren, hopefully this venture will work out and we’ll be taking them to the American Heartland Park.
See also—>
Disney Can’t Stop: Series Features a Robot Getting Tampon Advice From a Trans Man
“Thumbs up! I like it.”
Thank you. Your turn: what should Okie and Dokie look like?
>And during the cold Winter months in Oklahoma, do they close?<
The kids will be in school.
EC
Where I live, over the last 20 years, it was very publicly announced that some people were going to build a NASCAR track, and another announcement that some people were going to build a billion dollar sports complex. There were artist’s renderings of the facilities, etc. As far as I know not one acre of land was ever purchased for either project. I’m wondering if this is a real thing or some kind of grift.
No need to build such a ride. Oklahoma provides the real thing nearly every day for five consecutive spring and summer months.
The final scene from the 7 Ups was filmed on part of the old Freedomland site. Co-op City is there now. High rise apt buildings built on a swampland and amazingly 50yrs later are still standing
Here in Brooksville,FL we had Leadfoot City. A place for car shows and swap meets. Also an enclosed drift pad so the kids with thier rice rockets can have at it off of the streets and plans are supposedly in the works for a 1/8 mile dragstrip. The place closed suddenly and we’re all thinking WTF??!? Apparently the site is up for sale
That’s what I meant. Didn’t clearly get that across, sorry.
It does bring up the question of where thousands of park visitors would find shelter during any of OK's daily twister alerts. Locals take it all in stride. Visitors from outside Tornado Alley might not be so blasé.
Lived in Oklahoma for 28 years. It snows maybe 2 days a year. Cold weather, (40s, 50s), starts in November, stops in March. That's not Summer vacation time, anyhow. Never saw a white Christmas. By May, it's in the 80s.
You've watched too many movies.
Rush uses William Bradford's own words from his journal. At first, they established a commune, and not everyone worked as hard as they could.
From Bradford's Journal: “For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense,'” without any payment, “‘that was thought injustice.’ Why should you work for other people when you can’t work for yourself? What’s the point? … The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive."
Then Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family. The production soared, and people could sell/trade whatever they did not use themselves.
Heck, there could be an entire building/area for Rush, with the Rush Revere books; get permission to animate Rush Revere into video; show Rush's first foray into radio, that gadget his mom bought so he could 'broadcast' in the house; his Jeff Christie years, and a room for Bo Snerdley.
Not movies. Visiting friends in Oklahoma City and watching the daily weather forecasts with doppler radar maps. Alerts seemed to be a daily occurrence. We have tornadoes here in Ohio, sometimes quite bad ones (Google Xenia). Have seen a couple here, and one really major one in eastern Texas. But in Oklahoma I was struck with how they seemed to be a normal part of summer weather. Hence the comment.
New parks always get me thinking of this one in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Discovery Channel’s show “Moedrn Marvels” did an episode on it’s creation. By the time the the show aired and the park opened, the Hard Rock name was gone. Four months after it opened under the new name it closed forever. Was the quickest park to fold I’ve ever seen not due to accidents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park
Over half of the rides ended up in Vietnam.
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