There was a park in San Antonio, Texas called Fiesta Texas. I do not know the fate of this park, but it does seam that Texas is right in the middle of the country.
ARTICLE No. 1 (RUMOR 1)
Disney Decides to Step Up Plans for a Texas Theme Park Resort.
(AF) First was Anaheim, California, then Kissimmee Florida, and
now Frelsburg, Texas may become the latest site for a Disney
Theme Resort. [Frelsburg is a small community in Colorado County
located 35 miles west of Houston] According to Colorado County
Commissioner Kirten Ontz, Flo-Cal Real Estate Investors (FREI)
(A Disney Company) has purchased or has options on close to
59,000 acreas of land divided into 3 plats of approximately
44,000 acreas, 12,500 acreas, and 2,000 acreas. The plats will
be used for a Theme Park Resort, a privately owned commercial
airport, and a Cruise Ship Port located near Matagorda Bay.
According to a source within Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney has
actively been purchasing land in Texas since the early 90s but
the project became a priority since the Disney's America fiasco in
Virgina in the mid 90s. The source stated the Western Themed park
will not be called Disney's America to avoid the bad PR associated
with that project. However, many of the concepts may be adapted for
the new project code named "Operation Boone" after the Disney series
about the Texas hero. A name has been decided on but not released
pending acquiring copyrights.
Disney was to focus on international projects such as the park
proposed for China, a second and third gate at Disneyland Paris,
a second gate at Tokyo Disneyland, and proposed parks in Australia,
South America, and India. Although Disney is proceeding with the
expansion of the Tokyo and Paris Parks, building any new international
parks are being put on hold. The Texas Park was slated to open by
2010 but pushed up to 2005 due to the unstable conditions in China and
Europe.
An official release from the Walt Disney Company will not be made
until behind the scenes details are worked out with state and local
politicians, environmentalist groups and Disney Board Members. The
Disney group has had preliminary discussions with Florida Governor
Jeb Bush, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and former President George
Bush. The Disney Company is determined not to make the same mistakes
they made in the Virginia project.
The Texas Bullet Train may be resurrected with Disney willing
to donate 50 million dollars to the project pending the Disney
Resort becomes a stop. This would place the resort 30 minutes from
San Antonio, 30 minutes from Houston, 30 minutes from Austin, and
90 minutes from Dallas. Disney has options on land connecting its
three plats for a proposed monorail system. Allowing a tourist to
get from the Cruise ship port to the Disney Resort in under 30
minutes including a stop at the proposed Disney Airport.
The city of Houston is proposing to build a major airport within a 30
minute drive from this site. Disney is willing to work with the city
in building the West Side Houston airport but also has contingency
plans to proceed with building it's first commercial airport. Disney
also has plans to Launch Dumbo Airlines offering Themed airplane
trips between major cities in the Americas and its resorts in California,
Florida, and Texas.
Michael Eisner is more determined then ever to build a Resort in
Texas from the ground up avoiding problems encountered in the past.
Adding to Disney's determination is rumors of proposed parks by both
Warner Brothers and Universal in the area.
Of course rumors of Disney building in Texas have been around for
sometime. The Internet seems to add fuel to the fire with newsgroups
and web pages including the DisTex Texas Disney Rumor Page
at http://nethelp.tamu.edu/~mickey/DisTex.html. Mickey DisTex the
WebMickey of this page when asked about the latest information of
Disney's plans was quoted as saying "I hope my fellow Texas Disney
fans will forgive me, for pulling their leg on this false April
Fool's article."
ARTICLE No. 2 (RUMOR 2)
Is Disney planning to build a new theme park / resort in Texas? The project sounds unlikely, but...in
the past....the mouse has announced plans to build new parks and resorts outside of Anaheim and
Orlando.
Want to learn to learn more? Well read on......
Over the past few months, rumors have been flying around the web about Disney buying large tracts of
land in th Lone Star State of Texas. As the story goes, the Mouse has secretly purchased some 2400
acres of primo Texas real estate that it plans to use as as the site of a brand new theme park.
The Walt Disney Company officlally denies any stories about secret plans for Texas. Dedicated Mouse
Watchers (whove maybe watched one too many episdoes of "X-Files") point to this denial as proof that
Disney actually IS up to something. "Of couse they denied it," they say. That's how Disney operates.
They keep people in the dark till the last possible moment. That's how they were able to get all that
land around Orlando for rock bottom prices way back in the 60's.
Given all the speculation on the internet, this "Disney in Texas" rumor has taken on a life of it's own.
And it's easy to understand why. It is a pretty entertaining story after all. But True? Well....
Let's be logical here, folks. sure it's possible that info about Disney's super secret project could have
leaked out of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) well in advance of the official announcement. (After
all, detailed information about Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park hit the web, courtesy of an
"Orlando Sentinel" front page story, way back in March of 1994, afull 15 months before Disney
officially acknowledged that project was in the works,) But, if this story is true, how come nobody ca n
tell us where this marvelous 2400 acre parcel of land is? I mean, I know this project is supposed to be
secret, but ace it, Disney can't be building this resort in the middle of nowhere.
If Disney were planing to build a new stateside park, they'd have to take everthing they'd learned while
building Disneyland and Walt Disney World, arguably the two most popular man-made tourist
destinations in the world, apply those very successful rules to any proposed future projects. So,
following that line of thought, it shouldn't be too hard to track down the site of disney's Texas Theme
park. After all, in order for the place to be a success, the Mouse would want to build this resort on a
sizeable piece of land.
A) Somewhere near the intersection of two major highways.
B) Somewhere near a sizeable airport.
C) No more than 30 miles outside of a major urban area with easy access to pre-existing tourist
attractions.
These three points are crucial to the success of a Disney Theme Park/Resort. The park/resort must be
built in an area where guests have easy access to the property. And then there must be guest already
visiting the area that Disney can attract to their resort. (Disneyland drew people who were already
visiting California for Hollywood and it's sun and fun culture. Walt Disney World drew people away
from Tampa, Miami and Florida's other pre-existing vacation destinations.) And finally Disney will
only build in an area that it can confidently recruit capable new "cast members" out of. That's why,
way back in 19963, Walt and his Imagineers opted to buy the land for "Disneyland East" in Central
Florida. rather than in Walt's first choice for the site of the resort: Ocala, Florida! The pencil pushers at
WED convinced Walt that by building the resort on property in Orange and Osceola counties, he'd be
able to recruit employees from the pre-existing workforce in the Orlando and Kissimmee area. Though
property may have been cheaper out up north near Ocala, that mostly rural area didn't have nearly big
enough a population base to provide the thousands of skilled workers Walt needed to build and operate
his resort. And that, truthfully is one of the major reasons WDW got built where it's built....Strange but
true.....Back to Texas......
So, is anyone out there on he web familiar enough with Texas geography to apply these rules and come
up with a possible location for this alleged resort? (Paging Harry Knowles!) Better still, could the
person who originally posted the "Disney's Coming to Texas" note just come forward and provide us
all with more information about the project?
All right, I know. That last request ain't gonna happen. But I can dream, can't I? A little More info
would sure go a long way toward clearing this mystery up!
So what do I think? Personally, the idea of a new Disney Theme Park/Resort in the Lone Star State
sounds pretty looney to me. (particularly after this summer's deadly heat wave down that-a-way.) And
yet I am reluctant to entirely dismiss this Texas tall tale.
Why?
Two Words......."DISNEY'S AMERICA"
Does anyone remember "Disney's America"? The history based theme park that the Walt disney
Company announced that it wanted to build in Virginia way back in November 1993? Disney had
hopes to build a brand new park complex on a parcel of land 60 miles outside of Washington DC near
the town of Falls Church, VA. A small group of influential locals protested Disney decision to develop
a resort in Prince Williams County. They threatened to keep the Mouse tied up in court for years
before they'd allow the company to build as common a theme park in their backyard.
So bowing to pressure, Disney CEO, Michael Eisner pulled the plug on the project in October 1994.
However, at that time, Eisner did say that the company would continue to search for a new site for the
park and that eventually "Disney's America" would be built.
But in TEXAS?
Well....MAYBE......
Mouseka-Trivia buffs may recall that not too long ago, the Disney Company wa pretty vocal about it's
plans to build new theme parks and resorts outside of Orlando and Anaheim. The first to be announced
was "Port Disney" in Long Beach, CA. Then there was the "Disney Studio Backlot" in Burbank, CA.
Finally, there was "Disney's America" in Virginia.
Hope you find all these helpful!