$4B Disneyworld style Theme Park coming soon (Phoenix, Tucson: RV park, extended stay)

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3

There is already so much to do in this corner of the country, they should build something like this in Texas.

Texas already has theme parks, including two Six Flags locations. They have plenty of major amusement attractions that Arizona seriously lacks.

Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer

Disney type park is not the same as the higher quality "true Disney" parks.

Also, if there should be another "real" Disney Park, perhaps it should be closer to the center of the U.S.

If Arizona needs another child-friendly park, I would rather it be something that has the quality and cleanliness of Disney Parks and shows off Arizona's special flora and fauna and architecture, more outdoor-nature oriented, educational and not roller-coaster, noisy parks.

Arizona already has plenty of natural things to see and do. Aside from that, what else is there to attract tourists? Many of them use Arizona as a pit stop or pass through on the way to California or Vegas, and we end up losing a lot of tourism dollars as a result. A lot of people enjoy fun, thrilling rides which theme parks offer, and Arizona needs more places like that ... not more nature stuff, which quite frankly has become overkill.

[Prickly Pear]

Many children also get bored and end up doing crime. Now I'm not saying we need to build theme parks everywhere, but we should think about what Arizona offers to 17 and under kids. Especially since many of them can't drive and have the autonomy of adults, they are heavily localized to using the amenities in the nearby area. They cannot drive up to Flagstaff every weekend like many people claim we can do (unless they live in Flagstaff lol), it's just not realistic for a lot of people. Only few Arizonans can do that regularly, I'd argue once a month is more realistic for the majority of Arizonans. Casa Grande is an incredibly easy drive for most of Phoenix and Tucson, especially if you're in Chandler or Marana.

The sake of driving time to Arizona's fantastic nature amenities is a deterrent (just because you don't think so doesn't mean others agree with you) and that means it'll prevent working families from visiting on the weekends, especially for beautiful but hard to reach areas like Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly.

A theme park would provide more things for parents to do with their kids in the area where things like camping in the desert or a forest, or hiking big mountains, may not be the best thing to do with young kids. Or if the kids or parents have disabilities, it may not be best for them. We only need one theme park to do a significant amount in improving amenities for young families. And create more business as a result.

As far as using the theme park in the summer, many people don't realize that Castles n Coasters does its best in the summer. And the weather rarely holds people back, I would know after working there. But the theme park developers should be smart, include lots of water stations, and lots of shaded sitting areas in the common grounds.

[autism360]

Theme parks are for kids so it is logical to assume if kids are in school they are not at theme parks. That being said every school vacation or holiday is when you will see the biggest demand for Theme parks. So that is when Theme parks make the big money. The exception is Disney because it attracts people from all over the world.

[sh9730]

If anyone has interest - the developers of this project will be making a presentation to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors
on Wednesday April 12 at 9:30 AM. It is streamed live online and available for viewing later online also.

This will be the first public presentation by the developers themselves. The recent meetings at the City of CG have mostly been handled by City Staff as technically they were related to the zone changes required to move this forward.

This is strictly a dog and pony show - so will be interested to see if their "marketing" presentation reveals anything new.

NovusAGENDA

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by sh9730

This is strictly a dog and pony show - so will be interested to see if their "marketing" presentation reveals anything new.

Maybe who is loaning them the $4 billion!

[sh9730]

So - here is the link to the presentation I mentioned above:

April 12, 2017 BOS Special Session - Pinal County, AZ

When you get to the meeting - just click on item #3 and you will not need to hear all the other items (it is nice this way - the city of CG has the same system).

Anyway -

As far as I know this is the first time the developers themselves have provided a presentation - though some of the slides were the same ones used at the Planning meeting early in March.

But there is some new slides added, and the representative answered a few questions from the Board Members.

Highlights:

Phase I -

Hoped for initial opening in 3 years and completed in 5 years. Phase one will also include most of the major infrastructure work required for the project. This phase would include the indoor waterpark, wakeboarding attraction, zip line and other items as well as 700 room hotel and conference center.

1.3 Billion in investments by the developers to complete Phase I

8 million annual visitors expected with 400 million in gross revenues for Phase I

Phase II -

5+ years for completion

4 Billion expected total investment

26 million annual visitors and 1.5 Billion (might be a bit off on this number from memory) annual gross revenue

Phase II includes most of the stuff closest to CG mountain.

Subsidies were discussed - and it does sound like some government development agreements may be in the works. But they were described as "recaptures" - meaning the developers will pay up front for all the infrastructure - but then get some tax credits etc. later to recoup some of those costs.

This makes sense, since these improvements would serve more than the resort visitors ONLY (they are not private roads or freeway interchanges) and the developer should not be required to pay for "general" infrastructure. But they understand (and you can hear as much in the video link) that they will need to pay up front.

If there are other incentives being discussed, they were no mentioned in the presentation.

They did discuss the "summer heat" issue, as well as water usage - gave the answers you would expect and have been discussed here and in the other thread on this topic already - they have thought about it and still are confident it will work!

[Valley Native]

I'm in the "believe it when I see it" phase ... however, I still say something like this could be a successful attraction, and possibly even help Casa Grande develop into a decent sized city. When Disneyland was built in the 1950s, Anaheim was little more than a dot on the map. When Magic Mountain was built in the 1970s, it was on unincorporated land in the middle of nowhere, but Santa Clarita developed around it, and that city now has a population of over 200,000 ... making it one of the larger suburbs of L.A.

The summer heat factor hasn't stopped Magic Mountain (which is very much inland and can be hot in the summer months) from being successful. Summer heat hasn't stopped theme parks in Florida, Texas and elsewhere from being successful. Yes, the heat is bad in southern AZ, but using this as a reason to not have theme parks is nothing but a cop out. I guess the NIMBYs and naysayers don't mind all the tourist revenue skipping over AZ for CA.

[kttam186290]

That $4 billion number seems off.

If you add in inflation, it's going to take waaaaaay more than $4 billion to build something the equivalent of Walt Disney World.

It would take more than that just to build Sea World (In San Antonio, or Orlando....even more in San Diego!)

The cost to build Disneyland in Anaheim -- as it sits currently -- would be closer to $10 billion! And Disneyland is tiny compared to DisneyWorld.

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

When Magic Mountain was built in the 1970s, it was on unincorporated land in the middle of nowhere, but Santa Clarita developed around it, and that city now has a population of over 200,000 ... making it one of the larger suburbs of L.A.

Don't know if you're aware of it or not, but...."The Powers That Be" in the city of Santa Clarita have been fighting to shut Magic Mountain down and pave over it with condos, tract homes, office buildings and shopping centers. This has been a battle for the past 20 years. They want the land to be developed as it is very, very pricey.

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The summer heat factor hasn't stopped Magic Mountain (which is very much inland and can be hot in the summer months) from being successful. Summer heat hasn't stopped theme parks in Florida, Texas and elsewhere from being successful. Yes, the heat is bad in southern AZ, but using this as a reason to not have theme parks is nothing but a cop out. I guess the NIMBYs and naysayers don't mind all the tourist revenue skipping over AZ for CA.

You're forgetting, though, that Valencia gets a cool afternoon sea breeze that channels its way into the canyons from Ventura every afternoon. That makes a huge difference! Valencia is 45 minutes from the Pacific Ocean compared to 6 hours in Phoenix. That makes a big difference! Trust me!

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

Don't know if you're aware of it or not, but...."The Powers That Be" in the city of Santa Clarita have been fighting to shut Magic Mountain down and pave over it with condos, tract homes, office buildings and shopping centers. This has been a battle for the past 20 years. They want the land to be developed as it is very, very pricey.



You're forgetting, though, that Valencia gets a cool afternoon sea breeze that channels its way into the canyons from Ventura every afternoon. That makes a huge difference! Valencia is 45 minutes from the Pacific Ocean compared to 6 hours in Phoenix. That makes a big difference! Trust me!

Kids literally don't care about the heat as much as you do. Remember theme parks are generally geared for minors. I worked at an amusement park in Phoenix, I would know. We had certain rides have 1+ hour plus waits when it was 111 out. People do not care as much as you think.

There's a good chance that the amusement park is not being geared and marketed to you so it doesn't really matter. It's geared towards tourists and young families. And young adults like myself who still do this sort of thing. Occasionally other demographics visit, sure, but it's not the target market.