Disney('s) America in Haymarket/PW Co. (dead project) (Williamsburg: real estate, hotel)

[Alicia Bradley]

Did any of you hear about this? Apparently, in the early '90s, Disney CEO Michael Eisner wanted to build a third Disney theme park in the U.S. near Haymarket, in PW County. Don't worry - the project is dead (though some claim not *completely*).. I'm curious, though... what did you guys think about this when/if you heard about it? And, if you didn't, what do you think about it now?

I don't have a firm opinion - I loved WDW as a kid but can totally understand objections to putting a Disney park in VA.

BTW, I searched the NoVA forum for old threads about this, and didn't find any dedicated to the topic.. probably because it predates CD.

A site dedicated to Disney's America:

Disney's America

There's also a Wikipedia article:

Disney's America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[springfieldva]

I remember when there was talk about Disney putting a theme park in Haymarket a while ago. But the deal fell through and it didn't happen.

I have heard that Disney is putting some sort of themed hotel in over at the National Harbour - I think the plan is to do some sort of packaged tours of local attractions. But I don't have any real details on it.

[themommy]

Much as I love Disney, I thought it was just somehow not right. I can't see Disney treating American history in a way that I'd find reverent enough, or something like that.

What really turned me off was that Disney went around buying up individual tracts of land adjacent to or near each other, without disclosing to the sellers or anybody else what their plans were. So nobody really knew until well into the conceptualization that Disney had all that land out there. IMO, they shouldn't have been all sneaky about it like that. I'd have had a lot more respect for the project if they'd made their plans clear at the outset. The real outset. Like before they started buying up land.

[Unknown Memory]

When I learned that Disney did this, it didn't sit well with me either. I'm fine with their American Adventure area in EPCOT, but as an actual park of its own? Ehhhh... I think Williamsburg is good enough as it is.

Since it was a project headed by (evil) Eisner, I'm glad it was shut down. That guy just lost all sense of magic by the late 90s (-early 2000s). Walt Disney would roll fifty times over his grave on this guy.

[Fleur~de~lis]

The "Disney" rumor has been floating around the Dallas area for years. When we first moved to Big D, we "heard" Disney purchased land north of Plano & was building "Disneland part deux". Then several years later my sister moved to the Ft. Worth area & couldn't wait to tell me that a Disney theme park was going in west of Ft. Worth. Still another friend from Austin heard the basically the same thing. Don't know how this rumor got started, but it certainly has longevity, lol!

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by themommy

Much as I love Disney, I thought it was just somehow not right. I can't see Disney treating American history in a way that I'd find reverent enough, or something like that.

What really turned me off was that Disney went around buying up individual tracts of land adjacent to or near each other, without disclosing to the sellers or anybody else what their plans were. So nobody really knew until well into the conceptualization that Disney had all that land out there. IMO, they shouldn't have been all sneaky about it like that. I'd have had a lot more respect for the project if they'd made their plans clear at the outset. The real outset. Like before they started buying up land.

According to Wikipedia that is how they bought the land for Disney World, they made 4 dummy corporations that bought the land and then merged them, in order to prevent RE speculators from driving up the price of the land and buying lots that would block their plans.

Walt Disney World Resort - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"To avoid a burst of land speculation, Disney used various dummy corporations and cooperative individuals to acquire 27,400 acres (110 km², 43 mi²) of land. The first five-acre (20,000 m², 217400 ft²) lot was bought on October 23, 1964, by the Ayefour Corporation[citation needed] (a pun on Interstate 4). Others were also used with a second or secret meanings which add to the lore of the Florida Project, including M.T. Lott Real Estate Investments ("empty lot").[2]
In May 1965, major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. Two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotic-sounding companies such as the Latin-American Development and Management Corporation and the Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation. In addition to three huge parcels of land were many smaller parcels, referred to as "outs."."

[car54]

I remember the Disney America fight very well. There were almost daily newspaper stories about it.

I certainly don't blame Disney, or anyone in their position, to withhold their identity in land purchase negotiations....it's just good business. If you knew a mega-corporation was after land you owned, wouldn't you be tempted to "adjust" your price? I know I would be!

[michgc]

Like car54, I remember the Disney fight very well. It was all over the news, and everyone was talking about it. I lived in Maryland at the time, so it wouldn't have affected me as much as those who lived in NOVA. But I do remember there being a big outcry about Disney being near REAL civil war battlefields, dumbing down history, adding more traffic to an already congested area, etc. I also remember hearing a big collective sigh of relief from my neighbors to the south when the talk of Disney moving here was scrapped.

[guyincognito]

I remember it well. All of the County supervisors were generally for it, but a group called "PROTECT", comprised mostly of wealthy land-owners in Western PWC and Fauquier organized a strong opposition to it, holding rallies and news conferences claiming the park would destroy the natural environment and increase traffic. No one really seemed to care that the traffic was going to be going generally in the opposite direction of rush hour and that the state legislature had passed legislation that would fund the widening of 66 all the way out to Rt 15 by 1998. (Yes, it's 2009 and it still isn't there!)

So the NIMBYs chased Disney off and then disappeared, allowing developers to come in and build 1000s of tract homes instead. Why this is more preferable I'll never understand.

You can say what you want about Disney, but at the end of the day their theme parks are top-notch and they certainly bring the Midas touch to wherever they set up an operation. It wouldn't be as educational as a museum, but looking at EPCOT, Disney does a fine job of being fun while providing some education.

[Bigfoot424]

I lived where they wanted to put DW and I'm glad it fell through. The traffic on RT 15 and surrounding roads would have been atrocious. Hell, PW didn't require the right roads before Nissan was built. Just imagine what DW would have done.