BLOG Disney is dealing. In Oklahoma.by Ted Streuli
The Journal Record July 30, 2007

Straight from Tomorrowland, here's the press release:

Oklahoma City – Gov. Brad Henry will be joined by officials of Walt Disney World Resorts on Tuesday, July 31, to announce an exciting project that will help put an international spotlight on Oklahoma. It goes on to say that Henry, Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley, and Epcot Vice President Jim MacPhee will announce a partnership of some sort.

Best case scenario: Disney Universe, the logical third step after Disneyland and Disney World, will be built in Oklahoma. That would truly be an "exciting project." Back in the 1980s, there were many rumblings about Disney contemplating a park in Oklahoma, with its moderate weather, available land and central location. It's a swell idea, and it's been a while since Disney built a new one – even the one near Paris is 15 years old now and the one near Tokyo has been going since 1983.

Worst case scenario: State employees will now get a 10 percent discount when they visit a Disney resort or book a Disney Cruise Lines vacation. That would only be an "exciting project" in the mind of someone writing a press release about it.

Most likely scenario: They're dredging up some extra publicity for the exhibition of Oklahoma heritage and history that will be at Epcot Sept. 28-Nov. 11. It's on the Centennial Web site, which mentions Oklahoma will be the first state to have an "experience" dedicated to it at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. It's hard to imagine that's a big announcement, since it was first reported more than seven months ago and the Centennial's had it on the Web site for ages. Still the best bet, though.

Keep fingers crossed,

Disney Universe - and that it is built near or in Oklahoma City.

Now that surely would put OKC on the map for GOOD!!!

haha... Maybe that is why McClendon was buying up land in Arcadia... to sell to Disney folks for a theme park at a nice markup.

I would be stunned if they put a disney park here. This would be HUGE.

I would like to get hold of some of whatever the person is drinking/smoking that first had the thought that a Disney park might be built in Oklahoma. That must be some mind blowing stuff.

If Oklahoma City lands a Disney Park, this city will become the next Orlando. Plus, the airport WILL grow rapidly!! Since DFW has a major Six Flags park, then it only makes sense for Disney to build in Oklahoma. The last rumor I heard years ago was that Disney was looking at land around the Shawnee area. That would be a perfect place for it since there are so many trees and some hills around there. Plus, it's still in the OKC CMSA. I really hope like many of you on here that this is for real.

If Oklahoma City lands a Disney Park, this city will become the next Orlando. Plus, the airport WILL grow rapidly!! Since DFW has a major Six Flags park, then it only makes sense for Disney to build in Oklahoma. The last rumor I heard years ago was that Disney was looking at land around the Shawnee area. That would be a perfect place for it since there are so many trees and some hills around there. Plus, it's still in the OKC CMSA. I really hope like many of you on here that this is for real.

While I think it would be absolutely great for us to get a Disney park, I think it would be 10 times more likely that we would get the Sonics here for this season.

So yeah, I don't think it would happen.

That definately would put Oklahoma City on the map though. How many people does one of those parks employ?

From what I heard on the news last night (and they're not always reliable) but they mentioned it was just announcing the "exhibition" at Epcot Center featuring the Oklahoma Centennial. As someone mentioned, Oklahoma will be the first state they've ever done a feature on. Hello, both the article above, the news, the Centennial Commission have mentioned Epcot in everything. Hence the feature being shown at Epcot in Orlando. If they were building a park in Oklahoma, they would have no need to mention Epcot.

Yeah, a park in Oklahoma wouldn't really make sense. Disney parks are set up for a great deal of international tourism. Why would you build a park in a city where there are only around one or two international flights?

That said, Disney knows about Oklahoma, no doubt. Former VP of Parks and Hotels Entertainment, Rich Taylor is now the dean of the Oklahoma University school of music theater.

Moderate weather in Oklahoma? Just like Anaheim and Orlando. Not!

The last rumor I heard years ago was that Disney was looking at land around the Shawnee area.

That's no rumor. They really were. I haven't heard anything about this recently, but considering how difficult it can be for people not on the coasts to get to Orlando or Anaheim, putting a park in the OKC area would make perfect sense.

I think Disney is wanting to build again, but that's just my gut feel on this. But they were really looking at land between Shawnee and MWC in the past, and the state would probably just give it to them, since there's not a lot out there anyway.

I don't expect this to happen, but it would guarantee OKC's ascent to becoming a major, major city. And fast.

That's no rumor. They really were. I haven't heard anything about this recently, but considering how difficult it can be for people not on the coasts to get to Orlando or Anaheim, putting a park in the OKC area would make perfect sense.

I think Disney is wanting to build again, but that's just my gut feel on this. But they were really looking at land between Shawnee and MWC in the past, and the state would probably just give it to them, since there's not a lot out there anyway.

I don't expect this to happen, but it would guarantee OKC's ascent to becoming a major, major city. And fast.

The state can't just give it to them.

The state can't just give it to them.

For something like they they can.

The impact that something like this would have for the entire state would be immense.

16 million visitors a year? Can you imagine what that would do for the state image and economy? It could fundamentally change Oklahoma forever.

The only single event that I could think of that would imact Oklahoma more would be if Microsoft relocated to Edmond or something.

For something like they they can.

The impact that something like this would have for the entire state would be immense.

16 million visitors a year? Can you imagine what that would do for the state image and economy? It could fundamentally change Oklahoma forever.

The only single event that I could think of that would imact Oklahoma more would be if Microsoft relocated to Edmond or something.

No. The state cannot legally take land they don't own and sell it (or give it) to a private corporation. To do so would require a change in the Constitution, or at least a Supreme Court Opinion overruling a Supreme Court Opinion from last year (ain't gonna happen).

The law would also have to be a general law, not a special one.. so it couldn't be the 'Disney Land Seizure Act of 2009" or whatever.

I'm certain that if a company such as Disney were to wish to purchase land in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma, Disney would probably in fairly short order be able to purchase the land needed for their new park.

This just seems all ridiculously unlikely to me though. Our airport infrastructure would require BILLIONS in upgrades, not to mention our highways. Where is all of that money going to come from?

No. The state cannot legally take land they don't own and sell it (or give it) to a private corporation.

I agree with that statement. I was working on the assumtion that it was already public land.

And yeah, where would the rest of the money come from on upgrades? We would have to build a whole new airport in essence.

The state can't just give it to them.

...And this is where sarcastic/jokey type comments don't do so well online.

I realize that. I was just implying that things would easily come together for them if they really wanted to do that here.

Has the announcement been made yet?

Has the announcement been made yet?

You just wanted to have a post at 4:20 didn't you? :D

Seriously though, I am curious as well. Has anyone heard anything?

its on newsok.com now

betts most likely scenario is it

it ain't crap

NewsOK: State to be featured at famous festival (http://newsok.com/article/3096012)

Regarding the announcement...no shock, anything bigger than this was a pipe dream.

About another park. Remember when Disney was ready to break ground on Disney's America in Virginia. It was going to be the Disney experience with the back drop of America's history. Fell on its face.

New theme parks are massive undertakings and require billions of investment capital. A project the size of Disney's typical projects also require a lot of room. Personally, I would probably put it somewhere along Highway 9 between I-35 and I-44. This would give two routes to the park from the North and South. It is the shortest trip from the airport as well...and offers plenty of room out there for expansion. The other big thing, Disney parks need water...so expect a ton of man made lakes.

The only negative...snow and ice. :) Could it work here? Probably. With the feed from Texas and surrounding states, it would likely sustain it. Also develop the parks around things that would really fit in with the area.

- Frontier-style town with the classic water rides, theme rides, wooden coasters.
- Science and heritage area - a mini Epcot focusing on our state's technology industries (medical, meteorology, etc) and also give a glipmse into the American Indian and frontier families. Maybe also develop a refuge similar to Wichita Mtns focusing on Oklahoma's native species.
- Fantasyland - Your typical Disney experience - not sure whose castle is left to be built.

Okay enough pointless rambling.

My money would be on a Chinese or Indian (the country) park before one in Oklahoma.

Last year, my wife and I went to Disney World. They had an exhibit on the opening of their newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland.

Hong Kong Disneyland (http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name=HOMEPage)

Seems their expansion focus has been international rather than USA. I'm sure they'll add another park somewhere in the USA eventually though.

Last year, my wife and I went to Disney World. They had an exhibit on the opening of their newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland.

Hong Kong Disneyland (http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name=HOMEPage)

Seems their expansion focus has been international rather than USA. I'm sure they'll add another park somewhere in the USA eventually though.

I hadn't heard that, but their strategy makes a lot of sense.

Yeah Disney China would make alot of sense, especially with their mind-blowing expansion and their huge 1.3 billion population.

Yeah, I don't really see it happening, but it would make geographical sense...right smack dab between FL and CA. But really, I don't see a park coming here....although it would be incredible awesome....as long as it's not a Jr. version like we have with craptastic Frontier City.

Disney will never build here until we stop insisting on having a 14' tall buffalo in front of the park.

No. The state cannot legally take land they don't own and sell it (or give it) to a private corporation. To do so would require a change in the Constitution, or at least a Supreme Court Opinion overruling a Supreme Court Opinion from last year (ain't gonna happen).

The law would also have to be a general law, not a special one.. so it couldn't be the 'Disney Land Seizure Act of 2009" or whatever.

I'm certain that if a company such as Disney were to wish to purchase land in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma, Disney would probably in fairly short order be able to purchase the land needed for their new park.

This just seems all ridiculously unlikely to me though. Our airport infrastructure would require BILLIONS in upgrades, not to mention our highways. Where is all of that money going to come from?

it would be very possible even with the current airport... of course they'd have to build a new terminal or two (WRWA does have plenty of land for this) but if u look back at orlando when the original disney world was built it was nothing more than a small city with lots of land and if they could do it so could we... i often feel this "we probably couldn't do it anyway" attitude we get often around here is why oklahoma has progressed so little when compared to other cities or states. imho.

What about the world’s largest indoor theme park. It could be open all year long and maybe have a retractable roof. The ceiling could be glass or be painted to look like the Milky Way. Thoughts?

Just returned from Cedar Point, Ohio..... (what a blast! My favorite? The Dragster... 0-120 in 4 seconds! 420 feet high, corkscrew up and then down.. shaped like a huge paperclip ).

It was crazy busy though (long lines - tons of visitors) and I couldn't help but think about all the tourism and business we are missing out here in OKC due to the fact that we don't have anything like a huge amusement park.

Anyway, we stayed at Castaway Bay and thankfully we did. The weather was more sporadic than Oklahoma's and when it rained, we just headed to the Indoor Water Park at the hotel .. kids loved in and we did as well. The 90 person Hot Tub didn't hurt either! So, I think an indoor park is a great idea especially with the weather.

I don't want to even fathom the expense of building the worlds largest indoor theme park. The cost for building a "dome" especially if it is a retractable roof would be in the billions.

Um…did you forget that we’re talking about Disney? I’m sure they would be more than happy to just ponder that idea. Like stated before, over 16 million people visited Animal Kingdom alone last year. I’m willing to bet it would be a worth while investment, and I’d also be willing to bet that most of the people would drive to Disney Universe, incase you thought our airport was too small.

Karried...glad you enjoyed CP - definitely the place to go for coaster nuts. However you did bring up one point, the indoor park thing. There are so many going up there, its crazy. Even your typical hotel chains are opening up new hotels with water rides inside.

As far as an Oklahoma park...i think we can easily function with a mix. Look at Disney World - a good number of their rides are inside already. Instead of one single structure though...it would be various buildings. Could take it a step further and offer the "people mover" ride between each building. This would be enclosed and can offer additional exhibits and such along the way.

As far as indoor waterparks go, I think something like this would work great in OKC: Great Wolf Lodge - Welcome to America's Largest Family of Indoor Waterparks (http://www.greatwolf.com/)

Especially in the downtown entertainment district - maybe East of Bricktown.

How is BassPro doing? If they move then ^^^they^^^ could move in.

I'm going in a couple weeks. I'll make sure to take pictures. :)

Jbrown, Where are you going?

We almost stayed at Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky but wanted a Cedar Point Resort Park for the disocounts and perks ..like early admission.

But, hotels with Indoor water parks are so expensive! All the ones we checked into were $300 plus a night.... and the rooms weren't fancy at all!

We ended up at Castaway Bay and even though it was super expensive, being able to go to that Indoor Water Park with slides and wave pools was worth it.

At Cedar Point, ONE drop of rain, only one I swear ( I asked) closes all the rides.

It happened to us over and over. And after waiting forever in the rain for it to stop, they have to check/test the ride for at least 30-45 min. I'm not joking. That part was horrible.

But the Dragster was worth all the inconvenience.. what a ride that was! Loved the Millenium and the Maverick too... they were all great, the lines were so long though.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I'm going to EPCOT in a couple weeks, so I'll be sure to take pics of the Oklahoma Centennial exhibition.

Oh cool! I have roller coasters on the brain apparently! Yes, pics would be wonderful.. I wanted to go to Disneyworld over the holidays.. can you imagine? It was about 4K for the week! With Flights, Hotels, Tickets, Food, and Misc for 4 people! Yikes!

We're not going..ha.ha

It ain't cheap. We took the kids to DIsney Land and World consecutive years, and it was expensive as heck.

Now we just rent a ski in-out condo at a ski resort for a week, cheaper and more fun.

Jbrown, Where are you going?

We almost stayed at Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky but wanted a Cedar Point Resort Park for the disocounts and perks ..like early admission.

But, hotels with Indoor water parks are so expensive! All the ones we checked into were $300 plus a night.... and the rooms weren't fancy at all!

I think we stayed at Great Wolf for $200 a night this summer (our second trip there in the last few years) if memory serves. My wife thought it was expensive too, but I reminded her that it included access to the park as well and the rooms do have themes for the kiddos. So instead of spending $70-100/night and also buying tickets for entrance into a park we just put it all in Great Wolf. It comes out about the same. The area around the one in KC is a pretty good area with lots of restaurants and a lifestyle mall just down the street. The area is a little like Memorial & May/Penn or Ed Noble Pkwy as far as restaurants.

We had fun and the kids loved it. I just think something like that in Bricktown or downtown would give the area that killer app (to borrow a software term) it needs.

Great Wolf parks are great for the fact that they paid attention to classic Disney values.

I was at Epcot last Thursday and here are some pics of the really great Oklahoma exhibit they had there. It was staffed by Oklahomans who were doing a lot of good at dispelling the stereotypes. I have a few more pictures I will add later. They had Centennial merchandise and M.I.O. products like Frankoma pottery in a kiosk shaped like Price Tower.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/martymcflyjb/n79800335_30472937_2831.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/martymcflyjb/n79800335_30472936_2541.jpg

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Disney is having way too many problems with the US parks to even consider another location. They just recently announced that their second park in Anaheim, California Adventure, was a failure and released details about the unprecedented 1.1 billion dollar fix for it. They're also hard at work for the third Anaheim park which should be announced sometime around 2015 or 2016 when the California Adventure re-build phase two is complete. Disney World over in Florida is having its own problems and Disney is looking to sell to an outside company who will license the parks back to Disney if oil rises above $160 a barrel in which the resort would then start losing money. I know the theme park industry better than anything and a full fledged Disney park in Oklahoma is as close to impossible as it can be. What's more likely is land developers spreading rumors to increase land value. Instances of this rumor have been happening all over the mid and southwest for the very same reason.

What is more likely in Oklahoma is Disney's new plan of "Location Based Entertainment." In this plan, they're going to build stand-alone themed hotels in tourist areas which will include a small, indoor water park and one or two rides exclusive to patrons of the hotel. The first LBE hotel was announced for Hawaii a few weeks ago.

I just heard that Disney had bought a substantial amount of land in the Edmond area. This was from a pretty good source of mine, but I was wondering if anyone else had heard about this to confirm it.

In my 41 years I've heard that Disney is buying "huge" amounts of land in and around the Chandler, Shawnee and Stroud areas and surprisingly enough never a Disney park.

thas funny about 5 years ago, rumor was they bought land from I-240 and eastern all the way to sunnylane and 88th street, then all around he sooner road area from 89th street to 149th street..to many rumors, i believe there is as disney rumor of large amount of land bought in every state in this country lol joplin mo is a big rumor, katy texas was another, sanger texas another, it goes on and on lol

Cool Epcot pics- will that exhibit be there this summer or was it a one time thing? We will be there in August.

I heard Disney will be moving all its operations into the old GM plant.............

In my 41 years I've heard that Disney is buying "huge" amounts of land in and around the Chandler, Shawnee and Stroud areas and surprisingly enough never a Disney park.


Chuckling at this. The same thought came to me when reading this thread. I remember in the late 70's all the talk about a Disney park in Stroud. Later, it was eastern Oklahoma County, toward Shawnee. Such a park would be spectacular, but until I see the bulldozers cutting and shaping our red land behind some big 'Coming Soon' billboard, I'll keep chuckling.

the old GM plant makes sense like anything else, I hear they will have
a monerrail go over interstate 240 to the connected parks, you the Oklahoma Prairie Adventure, and Disneyland mid-america. 3rd park I believe will be built off eastern between I-240 and 89th street, also the dumps in that area will turn into a resort of some type that will overlook all the parks, crossroads will also be bought to turn it into a year round water park by disney, now this is all just rumors

Rumors of mid-America Disney parks have made the rounds for years.

I don't know about the "problems" Disney is having with its parks, although it seems a 2nd grader could have told you the California Adventure concept was a loser from the word go.

I'm not sure where a previous poster was coming from in terms of problems at Disney parks, because Disney theme park revenues/sales were up 7% for 2007, just after a 4% increase in 2006, which was just a bit below the growth levels the previous year. Three straight years of growth and profitability hardly sounds like trouble to me. What Disney is finding, however, is that per-capita in-park spending is going down, eg trinkets, souvenirs, things like that.

Now, if you want to argue that any one or two parks aren't setting the world on fire, that's a different story. California Adventure is undergoing an overhaul so extensive that they may rename it. So long as it doesn't have anything "Disneyesque" to make it a destination attraction a la Disneyland or DisneyWorld, I think it will continue to fail for being "just another amusement park" in the heavily tourist-oriented area around Anaheim...

I ook my kids to disneyland 3 weeks ago, we went one day to the disney california adventure, the toy story mania construction walls where still up but the park has improved a whole lot from 4 years ago. they have the ariel grotto which is a restaurant you eat with the disney princesses, it is really something to do if you havea little girl, also the bugs life play area is fun, and in the hollywood area they have the talk to crush and the muppet show that was fun, I can not wait until 2012 because they are adding a cars themed land to it, this isnt rumor it is fact disney announced it, plus they are making and moving the entrance into the park.. I think when it is all done it will be really something, also most of the characters not all but a large part will be pixar movies like toy story, bugs life, cars, etc

OK, no BS, no Rumors, this is very true, I didn't believe it, and I questioned it.

But before I tell you, i'll let you know this, "Do I think Disney would build a park here?", the Answer, probably not.

But this is what I was told, a friend of mine, named Jessica, her grandparents who own tons of land NE of Jones sold a huge amount of their land to Disney. I didn't believe it until I got to see the paper work. But it's only a land investment. It doesn't have anything to do with building a park, just sound investment. Now, why the jones area.. I don't know.

OK, no BS, no Rumors, this is very true, I didn't believe it, and I questioned it.

But before I tell you, i'll let you know this, "Do I think Disney would build a park here?", the Answer, probably not.

But this is what I was told, a friend of mine, named Jessica, her grandparents who own tons of land NE of Jones sold a huge amount of their land to Disney. I didn't believe it until I got to see the paper work. But it's only a land investment. It doesn't have anything to do with building a park, just sound investment. Now, why the jones area.. I don't know.

When Walt Disney built Disneyland, he became frustrated at how the commercial area immediately east of the park became a really trashy area full of cheap motels and such. He didn't have much control over that development, because he didn't own it. He decided he wasn't going to make the same mistake with his next big park.

When Disney greenlit the Florida project, it was top secret, and dozens of "shell" companies were created to buy up chunks of swampland in virtual anonymity. The majority of the land Disney needed for Disney World was already purchased by the time a Florida newspaper started noticing these oddball, largely inexplicable acqusitions of swamp land, started doing the research, and found that all those companies led right back to Disney. The story broke in time for the prices on those final few parcels of land to jump, and a few owners made a small fortune for land they knew Disney had to have.

It wouldn't be at all surprising for me to see Disney buy land in various areas of the country for no ostensible purpose, but if at some point they chose to build some new presence somewhere, they'd probably be within a certain radius of at least some property they had already purchased. I, frankly, don't see Disney building a mid-America park anytime soon, if for no other reason than it takes away potential customers from either of their "coastal" parks...

When Walt Disney built Disneyland, he became frustrated at how the commercial area immediately east of the park became a really trashy area full of cheap motels and such. He didn't have much control over that development, because he didn't own it. He decided he wasn't going to make the same mistake with his next big park.

When Disney greenlit the Florida project, it was top secret, and dozens of "shell" companies were created to buy up chunks of swampland in virtual anonymity. The majority of the land Disney needed for Disney World was already purchased by the time a Florida newspaper started noticing these oddball, largely inexplicable acqusitions of swamp land, started doing the research, and found that all those companies led right back to Disney. The story broke in time for the prices on those final few parcels of land to jump, and a few owners made a small fortune for land they knew Disney had to have.

It wouldn't be at all surprising for me to see Disney buy land in various areas of the country for no ostensible purpose, but if at some point they chose to build some new presence somewhere, they'd probably be within a certain radius of at least some property they had already purchased. I, frankly, don't see Disney building a mid-America park anytime soon, if for no other reason than it takes away potential customers from either of their "coastal" parks...
On the other hand, if cost to travel becomes a big issue, I can see them wanting to have a park easy to get to from both coasts. Close down the coast parks and just have one in the middle of the country. Oklahoma is about as middle as you can get.:bow:

Cool Epcot pics- will that exhibit be there this summer or was it a one time thing? We will be there in August.

I don't know for sure, Karrie, but I doubt it will still be there.

That display was only during the Epcot Food and Wine festival in fall of 2007. It will not be there this year.


As for Disney in Oklahoma -

I work for Disney, in the department that would be designing this. And no, there is no way Disney will ever build another US venture like WDW. They can't even afford to expand the current monorail system in place in Florida. When oil increases, you'll see major cutbacks at the current US parks. And plus, Disney is more focused on big expansions to Disneyland and a huge new addition to WDW as well as expanding in foreign markets that are Disney-starved.

The closest Disney would ever come to Oklahoma would be a theme hotel in Dallas if they decide to put on there, but that's a looong way away.

That display was only during the Epcot Food and Wine festival in fall of 2007. It will not be there this year.


As for Disney in Oklahoma -

I work for Disney, in the department that would be designing this. And no, there is no way Disney will ever build another US venture like WDW. They can't even afford to expand the current monorail system in place in Florida. When oil increases, you'll see major cutbacks at the current US parks. And plus, Disney is more focused on big expansions to Disneyland and a huge new addition to WDW as well as expanding in foreign markets that are Disney-starved.

The closest Disney would ever come to Oklahoma would be a theme hotel in Dallas if they decide to put on there, but that's a looong way away.

So, just out of curiosity, what would be the purpose of Disney buying land by Jones, OK? I'm not questioning you're authority on the matter, I really am just curious. Or are you calling BS on what mmonroe said above.

@mmonroe - how much, exactly, is tons of land and how much of those tons did Disney buy?

maybe they want to do something like Celebration, Florida????