Theme Park coming to Williams (Parks: credit, transfer, purchasing)

[nitram]

Originally Posted by motormaker

Same old crap. Never gonna happen.

I agree, sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me. Wonder if they would like to invest in some great deals on some swamp land in Florida. Maybe build a theme park with a rollercoaster on it.

[HAVOC]

That's exactly what Disney did! He invested in some great deals on some swamp land in Florida, and today we have Disneyworld!
I wonder if people were like, "sniffle, sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me"?

Originally Posted by nitram

I agree, sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me. Wonder if they would like to invest in some great deals on some swamp land in Florida. Maybe build a theme park with a rollercoaster on it.

[nitram]

Walt Disney is dead and like this project it is a dead issue also. There's a big difference between the area of Orlando FL and Williams AZ. Disney would not have built there nor would any others in the same category. If it was such a great spot someone would have already proven everyone wrong.
Dreams like this pop up every 5-10 years in AZ then fade away. The person responsible for wanting to build this white elephant is also involved in questionable land deals and other projects all over the world that are not panning out. It's an investor on top of investor program.
It's already been proven that there is not the type nor amount of infra-structure to support such a project in Williams AZ. Water is one of the primary detriments. Others have already explained this in previous posts.

[KarmaPhx]

I wish I had the capicity or knowledge to start something like this, Phoenix really needs a good theme park. You could build it up north of phoenix, south of cordes junction, there are lots of wide open areas up there.

[Greatday]

Theme Parks have been tried here in Southern Arizona before - and failed. For one reason - the heat.

Anyone remember Legend City??

[nitram]

Theme park ideas have come and gone a dozen or so times. There is not the infrastructure or surrounding amenities to maintain a theme park like what CA or FL has. I cannot see people comming from long distances to spend 1 day in a theme park here then have very little to do afterwards. Outside of the Grand Canyon and a few smaller places of interest, what are they going to do the rest of their vacation. In CA you can go to several popular theme parks, the beach, down to San Diego and their nice weather Zoo etal. You can kill two weeks in CA or FL and still not do everything. Not so in AZ.
Plus the heat is a killer for too many people 4-5 months out of the year. Then there is the commercial water concern for many areas.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by nitram

Theme park ideas have come and gone a dozen or so times. There is not the infrastructure or surrounding amenities to maintain a theme park like what CA or FL has. I cannot see people comming from long distances to spend 1 day in a theme park here then have very little to do afterwards. Outside of the Grand Canyon and a few smaller places of interest, what are they going to do the rest of their vacation. In CA you can go to several popular theme parks, the beach, down to San Diego and their nice weather Zoo etal. You can kill two weeks in CA or FL and still not do everything. Not so in AZ.
Plus the heat is a killer for too many people 4-5 months out of the year. Then there is the commercial water concern for many areas.

Your statements are based on stereotypes. You mistakenly think that amusement parks are limited to Orlando, Los Angelas and San Diego or cities that must have some tourist element. The reality is many smaller cities have amusements parks that have been sustained for decades by its own population. Let's provide some examples: I lived in OKC briefly. They had an amazing amusement park called Frontier City. It's a legitimate amsument park that is much bigger than Castles and Coasters so don't think that. OKC has a much smaller population than us. They have no ocean. There are no tourist destinations there yet that park is full each summer and people use it. OKC is also very hot and humid. Dallas is less than 3 hours away and their residents could have cited the same excuse you did but that park remains busy. Let's examine another park: Six Flags in Arlignton (Dallas area). Again, Dallas has no ocean. It's not a tourist destination. Dallas has worse summers than OKC with temps between 95-102 WITH Humidity. I went to Six Flags over Texas and it is brutal in the summer and doesn't feel much better than being outside in Phoenix in the summer. Yes, it was hot there but you dress accordingly. Most kids where shirts and swimsuits knowing they will get wet on the water riders. There are misters in the lines. There are trees or other shaded areas while you walk. There are drink carts and waterfountains everywhere. And when it starts to get dark, it feels much better. And then there is the fun factor; when you are a kid and having fun, you don't really care if you are sweating a little or if its hot.

The problem with the amusement park idea is that none of them are set in Phoenix. Who the heII is going to go to BFE ie Williams, AZ to go to an amusement park. I would rather just drive to LA. Also, why am I going to drive somewhere halfway between Phoenix and Tucson to go an amusement park. If a developer proposed an amusement park to be built...i don't somewhere in the VALLEY ITSELF...I'm sure many people would go. The real reason no one is building an amusment park in Phoenix is that it's too expensive. The amusement parks I alluded to above were built at a time when it was much cheaper to build the; land values were not outrageous, insurance was cheaper (contrary to our now litigious society) etc. Building an amusement park in Phoenix would require hundreds of millions of dollars and with the economy the way it is, no one has the means to do that or if they do, they want to invest that money in a safer area like Orlando. The only way an amusement park could be built in Phoenix is if they could aquire a lot of land for cheap and that's impossible here hence the reason the Decades theme park is slated to be in BFE between Phoenix and Tucson. However, that doesn't mean an amusement park wouldn't do well here. It would do well. We have a population of 4.5 million in the Phoenix metro. That is the 12th largest metro in the country and the 5 largest city in the country. And the metro continue to grow despite these harsh economic times. You mean to tell me than a metro area approaching 5 million couldn't sustain an amusement park...RUBBISH

[LocoAZnative]

People alwayd bring up Legend City as a failure, but if I recall I was a kid then. There was and accident on one of the rides and a couple people died. Im sure that had an impact on attendence.

[DagoRanch]

Originally Posted by AZnative4Life

People alwayd bring up Legend City as a failure.

I'd hardly call Legend City a "Theme Park" in the first place. More like a small permanent carnival that had very old equipment that was never updated.

[nitram]

I can guarantee you folks it's not gonna happen in our lifetime. If someone does try it, it goes back to the old saying "a fool and his money is soon parted". There's been at least 1/2 dozen large investment corps who thought it would work and have pulled back, don't you think at least they know something. It's just not gonna happen, period.