Disney's America - Cancelled park

I was just thinking about Disney's America, the park that was announced 10 years ago (has it really been that long?), but was eventually shot down.

The depressing thought is, it would have been a major park just miles from where I live...

Does anyone know what types of rides were planned for this park? Were there any coasters on the drawing board for it?

And why the heck didn't Disney look at other possible sites around this area?

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

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~ Blast Coaster | BlastCoaster@coaster-net.com | www.COASTER-net.com

I certainly wanted the park to be built because it would've been within 15 to 20 minutes from where I live,back then however I was living in fairfax county & not prince william.

It was not made clear about exactly what rides were planned but I doubt that any major coasters would've been added along the lines of say PKD or SFA.

I sometimes wonder if SF borrowed the naming idea for SFA from disney's failed attempt to build disney's america or not,does anyone think there may be a connection?

The park was actually originally billed as a more educational experience ala Epcot than an "amusement" park. I lived in VA at the time and remember the big bru-ha-ha about it. It failed because residents feared that the undeveloped part of the state would turn into an Anaheim of sorts.... and we all know what has happened to Anaheim since Disneyland opened.

The focus was to be American History with tons of walk through exhibits and tributes to all the nationalities and cultures that form the US culture. It was designed to play off of the interest garnered by tourists that flock to nearby DC and Arlington. As well as focus on the Civil and Revolutionary wars played out on nearby battle grounds.

I have a good friend that spent years as a supervisor at DisneyWorld during that time. He said when the park was being "developed" for proposal to the county, Imagineers developed an idea for a "Runaway Mine Train" type indoor coaster that was slated to be themed to the Industrial Revolution. Basically you were to ride through various vignettes such as a steel mill, coal mine etc.

According to him, the idea is still on file as a possible future attraction at another Disney park.

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Shaggy

Proud A-lister!
*** This post was edited by Shaggy 5/16/2003 10:39:09 PM ***

Both Disney and Six Flags have looked at sites in Maryland for an amusement park. Before Premier Parks bought the SF chain and aquired what is now SFA, the SF chain had eyed up two sites in Baltimore County (one the site of a former amusement park) and the old Bainbridge Naval Base in Cecil Co. Disney also had it's eyes on the Navy Base. In Maryland, people suffer, for the most part, from the NIMBY syndrome. Ideas and proposals for amusement parks constantly get shot down. I'm Actually surprised that SFA has expanded the way it has.

Yes, there were two coasters planned for Disney's America. The first, as Shaggy said, was going to be a heavily themed ride through the industrial revolution, including big vats of molten steel you'd ride past.

The other coaster was to be in a 'County Fair' area, and was going to be themed as ... dum dum dum ... a wooden roller coaster. With a loop. Eisner was so enfatuated with the idea of building a steel looping coaster that looked like wood it finally made it off the drawing board and into DCA.

The Pitch stuff stuff for DA was amazing and if it had been built as planned it would've been a beautiful, wonderful, fun park. Sigh. Many of its ideas have found their way into other parks, though, so it's not a total loss. Al Lutz (www.miceage.com) once claimed there was a movement within Imagineering to completely re-theme DCA as Disney's America. The things that work about DCA could be kept (Soarin over California becomes Soarin over America, Grizzly River Run becomes the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Paradise Pier becomes the county fair, and Hollywood stays Hollywood) and the things that don't work (the lame California theme that keeps locals away by the millions) could be scrapped. Wishful thinking, but it would be cool.

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Maihama, Maihama Desu
*** This post was edited by ThemeDesigner 5/16/2003 11:18:23 PM ***

Mystery lodge at knotts berry farm was originally planned for Disney's America until the project was dropped.

Uh, I don't follow you, speedy. Knott's is not owned by Disney, so unless I'm missing some bit of information, I don't see why their choice of attractions would be based on what Disney does on the other side of the country.

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Six Flags Worlds of Adventure Online

Plus, Mystery lodge originated at Expo '86 (World's Fair) in Canada. Way before Disney announced DA.

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Maihama, Maihama Desu

Thanks for the information, it's good to know a little more about what might have been...

I did do a little searching around and found the original press release, and it did mention Industrial Revolution as a 'high-speed thrillride'.

Well, hopefully Northern VA will get its own park one day, even if it's not Disney...

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~ Blast Coaster | BlastCoaster@coaster-net.com | www.COASTER-net.com

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PhantomTails said:
Uh, I don't follow you, speedy. Knott's is not owned by Disney, so unless I'm missing some bit of information, I don't see why their choice of attractions would be based on what Disney does on the other side of the country.

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Oops, I fudged it. I said DA instead of westcot. See here http://members.tripod.com/~savehorizons/westcot1.htm

One of the primary objections I remember was that residents were very worried about the traffic this creation would create. If I remember correctly, people had bumperstickers on their cars that said Disney would turn Rt. 66 into a parking lot. All one needs to do is to travel to Nissan Pavillion amplitheatre during rush hour to find out that could have been a very realistic possibility.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

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Intamin Fan said:
One of the primary objections I remember was that residents were very worried about the traffic this creation would create. If I remember correctly, people had bumperstickers on their cars that said Disney would turn Rt. 66 into a parking lot. All one needs to do is to travel to Nissan Pavillion amplitheatre during rush hour to find out that could have been a very realistic possibility.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

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Traffic and the fact that it was so close to the Manassas Battlefield. Any project that comes close to the Battlefields in this area is pretty much d.o.a.

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Blast Coaster said:

Well, hopefully Northern VA will get its own park one day, even if it's not Disney...

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Actually Northern VA, has been looked at a couple of times as a site for a park. Disney, Lego looked at N. VA. as a possibility for Legoland and if I am not mistaking, N. VA. was considered as a possible site for Seaseme Place.

Yeah, but Lego was actually smart enough to have been looking at an area that wasn't near battlefields, plus they were going to be part of a very large development, of which they were only a small part (it was to include residential, entertainment and commercial uses), so it wasn't just a theme park being built in someone's backyard.

As I recall, the development Lego was going to be in didn't meet much opposition, but Carlsbad ended up winning out b/c of the chance for year-round operation.

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Maihama, Maihama Desu

This topic jogged my memory back to a parody I wrote in College about Disney's America. I had posted it on usenet, and even though it was almost 10 years ago was able to find it on google's archive. I love the internet!

Sorry for some of the cheesy rhymes. I was just a kid, cut me some slack.

"Disney's America" to the tune of "The Great Outdoors" from the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown.

If you just been reading 'bout American freedom,
and you're still on page four,
Grab some dollar bills (a couple of 'mil)
We got a whole lotta fun in store.
It's time for our great nation,
to get some education. So forget what's right,
And join the Mice for "Disneys America"
Aint nothin like the Disney way to make things trite,
Aint nothin like the Disney way- to make what is wrong seem right.
So if your memory's hazy, and you're feeling crazy
and you're a real big Disney buff,
Forget what's right, and join the Mice,
for "Disneys America"
Mickey Mouse: Welcome to the biggest Anachronism you'll ever lay eyes on... Got out my old Politically correct T-shirt (still fits)
I'm up, and I'm rearing to go... How bout you boys?
-Just lead the way, Mickey!
Aww, Clinton... Bill, wake up!. With as much as you've got you're
head on the sand, you must be part Disney!
Bill Clinton:Awww, shucks- I'm only part American as it is!
All:Us mice, we do love history, but we wont tell it like it is.
Us mice, we love our country. It's better than EuroDis!
Us mice we love to make things, seem better than they aa-re
So just so you'll come visit, we'll even show you War!
(but don't worry- nobody'll die- this is DISNEY, for gosh sakes!)

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Maihama, Maihama Desu