American Heartland Theme Park announced

[Wabigbear]

They have announced plans for a $2 Billion dollar theme park called "American Heartland" to be built in Oklahoma.  Designing it are a large numbers of former Disney Imagineers and personnel.

While I question how successful a theme park would be in an area that gets cold weather in the winter and is in/near tornado alley, the plans for it are really interesting.  In many ways it's similar to Disney's planned Disney America Park from years ago.

 

A video that shows an overview of the park plans... https://youtu.be/bHhAHnXecXA

 

[JB]

Thanks for the link, Wagi. Yeah, when I read about this proposed park in the news this morning, I immediately thought of Disney's America park. And, like you, the second thing I thought of was "tornado alley". Presumably, they researched the tornado frequency in this part of Oklahoma.

One thing I noticed from the artists rendering is, no skyway gondolas ride to get from one end of the park to the other. Probably Disneyland's biggest mistake was removing their Skyway. (I know they had their reasons, having to do with wheelchair access and such.) I too, will be interested to see if the park is, indeed built, and if it proves to be successful. It could go the way of NY's Freedomland park.

[Wabigbear]

You're right JB, gondolas seem to not be included... 

Although it's interesting that there seems to be a two lane roadway encircling the park with what I presume are stations along the way.  In closer views you can see it seems to hold individual 'cars'...I wonder if they are going the PeopleMover route but with individual cabs themed to classic cars or such?  Route 66 is a major theme, so this would be a good way to move people around...

Still not 100% clear on the different lands - seems to be a small-town Main Street, a country farm (with Charlotte's Web as an attraction), a Southern swamp area, an Art-Deco-ish Metro area, an New England Coast, a forested mountain, and there's a show arena with a pirate ship.  I kinda think there is a circus-themed area too, and the logo features horses...wonder how they would fit in?  There's several other open-air arena-type buildings as well.  I think there's a large hotel at upper left too, but that leaves several areas with unknown themes.  Have to watch for more screenshots coming...

All in all, it's a very interesting layout!

[wolfpaw]

Very interesting layout, yea I heard about this as well. Extremely interesting location too - does Oklahoma get that many tourists? I can't think of many reasons to visit Oklahoma, haha (unless this is their aim)

Also very interesting that it's a bunch of past Disney Imagineers working on this - I know things haven't been going well for Disney recently (especially in their theme parks) so a lot of Imagineers have decided to leave. Hopefully, it gets built - I don't see myself going to Oklahoma anytime soon but I would imagine a lot of people from surrounding states would flock to visit. I would also imagine that there are now sky trams or gondolas due to the weather they get there but who knows!

Interested to see where this leads...

[JB]

Visually, I like the Bayou Bay area best, so far. Admittedly, there isn't much to see yet, but it holds a lot of promise.

[Wabigbear]

I always temper any excitement for these announced parks when I recall DreamVision SoundScape's plans for parks in Alabama and Texas a few years ago...the drawings looked cool.  Unfortunately it was a fraud, a Ponzi-scheme that ended up sending the guy running it to prison...

 

At least this Oklahoma project seems to have talent from Disney behind it...we'll see! 

[Wabigbear]

Some of the Oklahoma Parks planned areas...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still a few areas that we can't see close-ups of...

 

 

[wolfpaw]

What the heck is supposed to be Electropolis?

[Wabigbear]

From the few images I've seen, it seems Eletropolis is kind of a weird Art Deco area, not sure what connection it has to actual areas of the country or that Route 66 travels by.  Maybe it's supposed to be futuristic?  There's a coaster that seems to fly down one of the main streets, then loops around some sort of tower in the lake, but other than that I'm still guessing!  LOL!

[Wabigbear]

Found more information:

Behold Electropolis! A bright, bold vision of the American age of innovation. Rising like palaces from the greatest World's Fairs, the towers and structures of Electropolis stand for high voltage stories and high-powered thrills. The inventions of great American figures carry you swiftly and smoothly throughout this sparkling testament to the power of American genius.

https://www.americanheartlandthemepark.com/electropolis

[wolfpaw]

Ah okay that's what I originally thought it was gonna be, you can tell by that tall tower they have in the concept. Looks interesting! Great share - thanks for posting it here!

[Gin]

This looks really cool, however, I have so many questions...

Tornadoes - I'm sure they researched it, but even then, it's an ever present danger.

Other than this park, I don't see a whole lot of an increase of tourists to the state.

[Wowman]

THX - this is the best pics I have seen of this so far

[citytrader]

Wagi and I were jokingly commenting the other day if these guys were following our Disney's America thread over the last few years. Really strange parellels to our park. Liberty Town, World's Fair, Swamp bayou adventure, timber falls (our 1849 log flume), etc. Very weird coincidences!!! 

[wolfpaw]

1 hour ago, citytrader said:

Wagi and I were jokingly commenting the other day if these guys were following our Disney's America thread over the last few years. Really strange parellels to our park. Liberty Town, World's Fair, Swamp bayou adventure, timber falls (our 1849 log flume), etc. Very weird coincidences!!! 

Wouldn't that be amazing? Real park designers taking inspiration and making someone's Planet Coaster or RCT3 project in real life? Haha the dream