AHC: Make an Iconic Theme Park Like Disneyland/Disney World Go Out of Business

redlightning

Banned
Find a way to make a famous theme/amusement park like Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom in Florida go out of business before the year 2000. It doesn't have to be a Disney park or American for that matter either, but one of iconic status such as Cedar Point, Six Flags Over Texas, Busch Gardens, etc.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Over-investment prior to a recession could cause a theme park to become insolvent. However, it would likely enter into a structured bankruptcy or be purchased by a new owner and reopened.

Perhaps Disneyland could have had an even worse opening day? There was a gas leak that forced the closure of part of the park. Perhaps the gas leak could cause an explosion on live national television, perhaps even killing or injuring Walt Disney and/or Ronald Reagan?
 

Apollo 20

redlightning said:
Find a way to make a famous theme/amusement park like Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom in Florida go out of business before the year 2000. It doesn't have to be a Disney park or American for that matter either, but one of iconic status such as Cedar Point, Six Flags Over Texas, Busch Gardens, etc.
Click to expand...

A Chernobyl type event at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant east of Toledo would probably do in Cedar Point (as well as the city of Cleveland), as it's about 40 miles due west of CP.

A massive Southern California earthquake could do in Disneyland.

A real spike in gas prices to, say, $5 a gallon circa 1978/79 would also do the trick, especially if combined with shortages and rationing.

There's also nuclear war, which would put a damper on demand for all amusement parks.
 

Orville_third

Banned
If one of the parent companies went under (Disney, Time Warner, Paramount (former owner of several parks), Marriott, Harcourt, Anheiser-Busch), the parks might go with them.
40 miles might be too far away for a major impact on Cedar Point, but Carowinds is within range of Catawba Nuclear Station and has sirens that will go off in the event of an accident there (or a tornado).
 

dean6294

Both Disney and Universal Studios were in very bad shape with the travel disruptions following 9/11. Extend your POD deadline to the end of 2001, and a bigger disruption and dearth of travel would get the result you're looking for.
 

Nick P

Donor
There could be a series of major sinkholes form under Walt Disney Resort in Florida, swallowing up parts of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Add in a few deaths, lots of bad publicity and nobody would want to go there.
Disney executives decide to pull the plug on a theme park that is literally going under...
 

wietze

Nick P said:
There could be a series of major sinkholes form under Walt Disney Resort in Florida, swallowing up parts of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Add in a few deaths, lots of bad publicity and nobody would want to go there.
Disney executives decide to pull the plug on a theme park that is literally going under...
Click to expand...

the'll just rename it to the magical middle earth kingdom :p

Hugo Strange said:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...ossmaking-euro-disney-theme-park-9777069.html

If business doesn't pick up for Eurodisney, Disney could easily decide to stop throwing money at its French themepark. In that case Eurodisney would probably have to close its doors and be forced out of business.
Click to expand...

i am surprised they didn't already, and to be honest even before the start a lot of analysts were asking what had gotten into disney in building it there.
 

Pellegrino

Zheng He said:
I grew up going to Geauga Lake which later became Six Flags Ohio. It was a pretty tiny park so I don't think it rates for this question.

It probably isn't too hard to come up with a POD that causes one of the foreign Disneyland's to flop.
Click to expand...

I went there a few times and it was small...at first.

But by the time it went under it was the country's largest theme park (due in part to it's "merger" with Sea World)
 

Zheng He

Pellegrino said:
I went there a few times and it was small...at first.

But by the time it went under it was the country's largest theme park (due in part to it's "merger" with Sea World)
Click to expand...

I did know that it merged with SW or that the merger made it the country's largest theme park. Bigger than EPCOT though?
 

Pellegrino

Zheng He said:
I did know that it merged with SW or that the merger made it the country's largest theme park. Bigger than EPCOT though?
Click to expand...


I might have misspoke. It was actually the world's largest Six Flsgs amusment park.

Do you have time for a tale? Sit back, relax, and dive into the interesting and timeless case of Geauga Lake, a tiny family park that started humbly enough, before rocketing overnight into international headlines by combining with a full-sized SeaWorld to create the world’s largest Six Flags.
Click to expand...
 

Orville_third

Banned
Zheng He said:
Are you considering WDW to be one theme park or four separate theme parks and a bunch of other things like hotels, two water parks, a shopping village, a sports complex, etc...
Click to expand...

One big theme park with a whole lot of support space. (I somewhere have a copy of a map of the park with a few details which most people do not get to see. The tree farm for the park is about the size of the Magic Kingdom, if the map is to scale. There are several day care centers for the cast members. While not on the map, there are over 5 libraries for cast members on the property, and one on a Disney-owned complex outside the park.)
 

The Ubbergeek

Would that Marineland place in Ontario count? It is pretty much known in Canada, ads coming on tv now and then. Not knowing much on it and it's history, so I can't point at a weak point for POD...
 
NHBL

NHBL

sad, but would do the trick...

A major terrorist attack on one would make rebuilding/reopening very questionable, as would a bad mass shooting.
 

British Republic

Banned
Disney during the 80s war near bankruptcy, basically the Bass family ended up saving it from corporate raiders and put ME in charge, what if none of that happened?

Hugo Strange said:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/walt-disney-in-1-billion-bailout-for-lossmaking-euro-disney-theme-park-9777069.html

If business doesn't pick up for Eurodisney, Disney could easily decide to stop throwing money at its French themepark. In that case Eurodisney would probably have to close its doors and be forced out of business.
Click to expand...

I have always wondered why Disney developed their first park in of all places France (historically the biggest critic of American Culture), personally I would have suggested either the UK or not anywhere in Europe at all, it is rather easy to visit WDW from the UK at least.

For the record I have been to both places.

Zheng He said:
Are you considering WDW to be one theme park or four separate theme parks and a bunch of other things like hotels, two water parks, a shopping village, a sports complex, etc...
Click to expand...

While I consider it to be more of a city than theme park, it still counts in my view.

Walt Disney make a very good choice buying up so much land.

Orville_third said:
One big theme park with a whole lot of support space. (I somewhere have a copy of a map of the park with a few details which most people do not get to see. The tree farm for the park is about the size of the Magic Kingdom, if the map is to scale. There are several day care centers for the cast members. While not on the map, there are over 5 libraries for cast members on the property, and one on a Disney-owned complex outside the park.)
Click to expand...

I went there recently and those that went with me where very surprised at how big it is, if you visit several in one day (well if you can, in practise you need to spend at least one day in each of them), you spend a lot of time traveling.

NHBL said:
A major terrorist attack on one would make rebuilding/reopening very questionable, as would a bad mass shooting.
Click to expand...

Based on what I have seen at WDW, you need someone like ISIS and a few pick-up trucks (and a lot of weaponry) to suceed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top