Disney's America
Attraction Type: Theme Park Designed for: Haymarket, Virginia Years Designed: Early 1990s
Article written by Hugh Allison Disney’s America was a theme park based on American History which was set to be built in the 1990s. The first location considered for this enterprise was Colonial Williamsburg, but due to the area only reporting seasonal business (and the two hour driving distance from Washington D.C., where the parks major clientele were expected to travel from) this never materialized. The second location considered for Disney’s America was Haymarket, Virginia, only twenty miles from the Capital. From 1993, the project was overseen by Mark Pacala, better known for setting up the Disney Vacation Club, and designed by Bob Weis (currently the creative lead for the forthcoming Shanghai Disneyland). At the official announcement in Haymarket, Weis unveiled a scale model of the preliminary plans for the park. This featured seven themed areas: Presidents Square, recreations of a Native American Village, a Civil War fort, Ellis Island, a turn-of-the-century factory town, a state fair and a Midwestern family farm. Other areas, which were later added to the plans, included Cross Roads USA, which would be at the hub of the park, and Victory Field in which Guests would have experienced what American Soldiers faced during the World Wars. Park attractions would have included The Hall of Presidents (which would have been moved from Walt Disney World, rather than recreated), a film featuring the Muppets telling the story of Immigration and a rollercoaster ride called Industrial Revolution which would travel through a nineteenth century landscape, featuring inversions and near misses with blast furnaces. Construction of the park was called off for a variety of reasons, which were public, personal or financial. Public reasons included opposition by locals and historians. The reasons for the resistance was varied, including the park’s name implying that the Nation was owned by the Corporation and the fear of local historical sites (such as Manassas, the location of the two major battles of the American Civil War) being threatened or undermined by their proximity to Disney’s America. More generic worries included important events from history being forgotten, glossed over or not taken seriously enough. Personal reasons which Michael Eisner (then Disney’s CEO) cited for not going ahead with the project included the death of Frank Wells (then Disney’s Chief Operating Officer), the resignation of Jeffrey Katzenberg (formerly head of Disney’s motion picture divisions) and Eisner’s own emergency quadruple bypass surgery. These three events had occurred within a space of five months, and Eisner felt “it wasn’t fair to subject the company to more trauma”. Financial reasons for the park not going ahead included unanticipated large amounts being spent to silence the critics (including on attorneys and lobbyists), a delayed opening date deferring the date when money would be coming back into the company from the park and the realisation that the park would have to close for four months annually rather than the expected three. The strengthening of the vision for the park brought costs up an additional 40%, whilst projections for the parks revenues –based on a lower than usual attendance in the other Disney parks worldwide- were decreasing steadily. Several attractions proposed for the park have influences readily seen in other Disney parks. For example, a proposed Lewis and Clark themed water ride led the way for Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and later Grizzly River Run at Disney’s California Adventure (DCA). Likewise, the design for Victory Field inspired Condor Flats at DCA and the proposed Family Farm was practically identical to DCA’s former Bountiful Valley Farm. In 1995, Disney’s America was briefly mentioned at a three-day brainstorming retreat in Colorado as one of six proposed suggestions for a new park where DCA currently stands. The final location considered for Disney’s America was Buena Park, a neighbor to Disneyland. In 1997, the Knott’s Family announced they would be taking bids for their theme park Knott’s Berry Farm. If Disney’s plan had gone ahead, they would have transformed their entrance area into President’s Square (incorporating The Hall of Presidents) and would have adapted the iconic Bigfoot Rapids into the Lewis and Clark themed water ride. This plan did not go ahead due to Disney realizing they would be expected to transport the park’s Guests to Disneyland, and Knott’s Berry Farm’s concern that Disney would change the park so it would no longer fit in with the ideals of Walter Knott who had died 16 years previously. In the end, Knott’s Berry Farm was sold to Cedar’s Fair (owners of Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania and Worlds of Fun in Missouri) who altered the park far more than Disney had proposed. Hugh is an ex-Cast Member of Disneyland Paris. He lives in London, where he adapts The Jungle Book into ten minute radio plays for Wireless Theatre Kids and writes regular columns for DLDHistory.com. See www.hughallison.com
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