What if Disney's America was built as planned in Virginia? How could this be accomplished? What would the consequences be? Would it succeed?
WI: Disney's America Is Built In Virginia
- Thread starter Calcaterra
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well @starwarsfan will be happy he could go there rather florida and would be nice if they do the educational push...richer virginia? NOTHING ELSE CHANGES.
Funny you link that, that's one of the inspirations for this thread.
For the divergence,I'm going to say Ken Burns civil war series is never made. (Maybe PBS doesn't want to fund it thinking it would too expensive or maybe another documentry channel at the time makes a similar but less ambitious documentry series). Thus intrest in the civil war less in the early 90s and voice of the academic community more null to the general public. Of course their is local NIMBYism & the initial struggles of Eurodisney. But that can be butterflied off if Disney made more money on let's say some of their movies at the time and allows the company more money to buy off the land owners and Eurodisney is more of a wash than a flop and easies off Esiners nerves for a 5th park.
So how well this park would do. Initially very well on opening in 1998. While some tourists do visit because of the proximity to D.C,Richmond,Virgnia beach and of course actual Civil War sites. But most of the tourists are day trippers. Primarily families and school trips. With a strong polarity from the Mid-Atlantic states. Despite some stunts like hosting one of 3 2000 presidential debates and a elaborate 100th brithday celebration for Walt Disney. The park initial 1998 attendance of 12+ million is already going not break 11 million estimated capacity in projected for 2001. Even before 9/11. Which takes an even worse hit than either Disneyland and Disneyworld. Due to the proximity of the capital and the Pentagon. Not to mention effects of the dot com bubble crash.
By 2007 and the great recession. The park is already starting to suffer theming slipping. With more attractions relating to Pixar and Disney Channel/ABC properties like Kim Possible and a elaborate NCAA college basketball experience sponsored by the university of Virginia. The controversial attractions involving Slavery and Native Americans were closed down and the remaining stuff either had a habit of semi-regular break downs or in the case of the VR/Screen stuff. Outdated. The recession further hurt the parks attendance. Going from 10 million in 2006. To 7.5 Million in 2009.
This lead to the renovations of the 2010s. Mostly cloneing/recasting traditional Disney rides like Spash mountain and Autopia into the park. But with a more "Patriotic" flair. There was even a Indiana Jones/Dinosaur ride clone with a theme based around the Vietnam war and recusing POWs. The first time the park dealed with post-1950s history and the most controversial since the underground rail road attraction.Along with upgrades to HD screen projections. A badly needed new fireworks show. About the siege of Ft.McHenry this time and VR attractions getting taken out in favor of Startours. It helped attendance overall and was up to 11 million by 2015. It was good enough to see a whole 2nd gate dedicated to Marvel properties. Largely to act as a loophole on Universal's marvel contacts for Orlando.
So how well this park would do. Initially very well on opening in 1998. While some tourists do visit because of the proximity to D.C,Richmond,Virgnia beach and of course actual Civil War sites. But most of the tourists are day trippers. Primarily families and school trips. With a strong polarity from the Mid-Atlantic states. Despite some stunts like hosting one of 3 2000 presidential debates and a elaborate 100th brithday celebration for Walt Disney. The park initial 1998 attendance of 12+ million is already going not break 11 million estimated capacity in projected for 2001. Even before 9/11. Which takes an even worse hit than either Disneyland and Disneyworld. Due to the proximity of the capital and the Pentagon. Not to mention effects of the dot com bubble crash.
By 2007 and the great recession. The park is already starting to suffer theming slipping. With more attractions relating to Pixar and Disney Channel/ABC properties like Kim Possible and a elaborate NCAA college basketball experience sponsored by the university of Virginia. The controversial attractions involving Slavery and Native Americans were closed down and the remaining stuff either had a habit of semi-regular break downs or in the case of the VR/Screen stuff. Outdated. The recession further hurt the parks attendance. Going from 10 million in 2006. To 7.5 Million in 2009.
This lead to the renovations of the 2010s. Mostly cloneing/recasting traditional Disney rides like Spash mountain and Autopia into the park. But with a more "Patriotic" flair. There was even a Indiana Jones/Dinosaur ride clone with a theme based around the Vietnam war and recusing POWs. The first time the park dealed with post-1950s history and the most controversial since the underground rail road attraction.Along with upgrades to HD screen projections. A badly needed new fireworks show. About the siege of Ft.McHenry this time and VR attractions getting taken out in favor of Startours. It helped attendance overall and was up to 11 million by 2015. It was good enough to see a whole 2nd gate dedicated to Marvel properties. Largely to act as a loophole on Universal's marvel contacts for Orlando.
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i first read about it a long time ago, myself, but the Defunctland video above is a great explanation. one concept for this park that i've always liked is the idea that it could be an entirely indoor park--i just find the whole idea of that fascinating, wondering how it would work.
It would have been interesting to see everything that eventually got build to include hotels, a Downtown Disney type district and maybe a second park. They had up to 3000 acres and Disneyland in California is only 571 acres and that includes two parks, three hotels, and a Downtown Disney.
Then there was also this project, this would have given me a Disney Resort that probably would include Disney Vacation Club properties less than an hour from where I live. It sure would be nice to be able to get in my car on a Saturday and go get my Disney fix for a day in between trips to Orlando.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7f376412f95b
Then there was also this project, this would have given me a Disney Resort that probably would include Disney Vacation Club properties less than an hour from where I live. It sure would be nice to be able to get in my car on a Saturday and go get my Disney fix for a day in between trips to Orlando.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7f376412f95b
It would be fairly easy to actually put building the park into action. A major reason it failed was that Michael Eisner made a few major missteps in describing what the park would be like (infamously saying guests would be able to "feel what it's like to be a slave"). If Disney put more effort into marketing and convincing the area of Haymarket, VA that the park would be a good boost to the location (or just moving the park away from major historical sites, even if that takes away some of its charm).
That being said, the park could still very easily flop. A Disney Park where your main event is the Hall of Presidents is sure to have some pitfalls, especially with the fact that many (if not most) people don't care about history and would rather go to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg just a few hours away instead.
That being said, the park could still very easily flop. A Disney Park where your main event is the Hall of Presidents is sure to have some pitfalls, especially with the fact that many (if not most) people don't care about history and would rather go to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg just a few hours away instead.