Another "Disney" in Branson Story (but this one has some juice)

Found this posted on Channel 5 news out of St. Louis.

Disney in Branson seems to be an annual rumor, and nothing ever materializes out of these rumors...but this story has a little more detail than others.

Interesting to think about.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/hot_topics_article.aspx?storyid=117482 *** Edited 4/22/2007 3:55:18 PM UTC by ArmsUp***

Just was about to make this same topic.

Yeah, it's interesting but it still makes me wonder if this isn't another case of "If we say Disney is coming enough times eventually it will come true" kinda thing.

Still interesting.

As much as I love Disney, I think they're over extending themselves. There is such a thing as saturating the market when it comes to "destinations" like Disney. If they built too many of them, there's less of a reason to travel and visit the others. I wish they'd just keep the two in the US.

Agreed with above. As much as I'd love to see another Disney Park, I don't see it happening.

Besides...this "six hotels, 95 shops, 27 rides, 12 stages and 18 restaurants." doesn't sound like a Disney park to me. Especially at the price tag quoted.

If it were Yet Another Castle Park, then I'd be right there with you guys. Something with a completely new theme, though, well that would be interesting.

I'm not sure I see Disney spending that kind of capital on something that isn't a year-round revenue generator. Branson's pretty quiet a good three months each year.

Something else that's strange: Newton County is 30-40 miles away from Branson and the two spots aren't directly connected by a major road (interstate quality).

Here's Newton County and here's Taney County, which is where Branson is located. Of note, Silver Dollar City is actually located in Stone County, to the west.

One of the reasons for Sea World selling out in Ohio might have been because the park was cannibalizing the bigger (and more expensive) Florida park. Many visitors to Florida from Ohio, Michigan, and Western PA and NY would bypass Sea World in Florida in favor of other Florids parks and attractions beacuse of the presence of the closer park.

This is in addition to the other reason why Busch got out in Ohio, the contract with GL that made use of the lake by Sea World conditional on the park not having rides. The other three Sea Worlds were originally all shows and exhibits but started to add rides later on. The Ohio park could not do this.

Again, too many parks of a certain kind can water down a parks appeal as a destination for travelers. Four Sea Worlds were probably one too many. In comparison, the Busch Gardens park in Virginia does not have such an impact on the Florida park because the theming in the two parks is different and much of the appeal of BGE and BGA comes from the theming.

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ArmsUp said:
Something else that's strange: Newton County is 30-40 miles away from Branson and the two spots aren't directly connected by a major road (interstate quality).

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Actually the 30-40 miles away from Branson is the part that sounds right, it's the lack of major highway there that throws it. *** Edited 4/22/2007 10:54:17 PM UTC by matt.***

Sounds more like a Mall of America on a smaller scale. With the Shops, Restaurants, and Rides ratio.

If not Disney, I wonder if Dolly is involved. 12 stages brings Dollywood to mind. I'm not sure if they have the financial strength to build a brand new park...but they are doing well in Pigeon Forge.

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Peabody said:

Besides...this "six hotels, 95 shops, 27 rides, 12 stages and 18 restaurants." doesn't sound like a Disney park to me.

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Actually, it does sound like the modern-day Disney, or at least the Disney that Eisner left to Iger. Look at Hong Kong Disneyland- not too many rides but lots of shops. And even consider Disneyland Paris- a wildly disproportionate number of hotel rooms to actual parks. Less to ride, more places to spend money.

I'm a big Disney fan but I don't want to see another U.S. park. Building them all over the place is going to dillute the brand and give people less reasons to travel to CA and FL. Besides, I'd rather see Disney put more money into their current parks- Animal Kingdom, MGM and DCA could all use some more rides and it's been years since Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom saw a new E-ticket.

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If not Disney, I wonder if Dolly is involved. 12 stages brings Dollywood to mind. I'm not sure if they have the financial strength to build a brand new park...but they are doing well in Pigeon Forge.

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I think we know Dolly is not involved since SDC and Dollywood are owned and operated by the same family.

Sounds like another Hard Rock Park....

Just kidding.

Still, I would be very, very surprised if anything like the proposed park is actually built. I can't see Missouri getting two new parks (read: LegoLand) in the same couple of years. *** Edited 4/23/2007 2:33:20 PM UTC by ArmsUp***

If anything 27 rides at a brand new Disney park sounds incredibly high to me. Unless that number is a more generic "rides and attractions" count.

Yeah, but let's not forget that Disney would probably includes shows and parades in their ride count ;)

In addition to Legoland there's also a Schlitterbahn in the development stages in the Kansas City area. Throw in Wild West World 3 hours southeast of KC and a "possible" Disney park just 2.5 hours South of KC and you've got yourself a hotbed of development.

I'm smack in the middle of all of this and I don't see where the demand is coming from. There's got to be some research out there somewhere that we just don't know about yet that's leading all of these developers here.

Maybe Disney is seeing a decrease in traffic from Midwesterners and is taking the experience to them. Maybe long term fuel cost projections are driving it. Maybe they see the amount of visitors that SDC pulls in and wants to siphon off of them.

Sorry, but I can't see Disney finding justification for a park in the Kansas City area, or any other part of the country for that matter. Aside from southern CA and central Florida, the only other place with the kind of tourist traffic that a Disney park would need is Las Vegas, and I don't see a Disneyland Vegas happening.

As it was said before, every part of the country has been rumored to be getting a Disney part at one point or another. Probably more wishful thinking and nothing else.

Disneyland Vegas would be a good spot for the thrillride-oriented park people have rumored about for the past 10 years or so (at least). You know, Villain Mountain and all that.

Never going to happen but it would be cool. They could put it right next to that 50 foot tall laser beam-shooting Michael Jackson robot.

Was Sea World Ohio FORCED to sign that pact? I remember them signing it but I don't remember them being forced to sign it.

IN disneys annual report they showed a concept for qa new theme park .Also a concept for something in a big city (there a re rumours that disney bought a whole bunch of property in manhattan.).

This could be true but It sounds like somebody who wants to sell their land and is using the disney name to generate interest

Well if it is Disney or not, it sounds like someone is trying to build a big park. And to me, the idea of a company buying up that much land for surrounding stuff along with the park is exactly what I would expect Disney to do.