American Heartland Theme Park (Vinita)

[Dspike]

So a $2B theme park the size of Disney World is going to be built in Vinita by Fall 2026. Seems like a legit Branson-based business and the website is full of the information you'd expect. Still seems surprising to place it 60 miles from any city and so far from Dallas/KC/St. Louis.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/2b-theme-park-similar-to-disneyland-planned-for-vinita/article_b4d7e374-24bb-11ee-997d-8343bdab83d0.html

https://www.americanheartlandthemepark.com/

[Jake]

Huh. Wish them luck.

[buffalodan]

I had been wondering when this would get published. I've heard a little about it, and am so confused. Phase 1 is the hotel/water park, with the rest of the theme park to come. I don't think anybody is thinking that they are just building the hotel and the rest spends 10 years being "around the corner" though.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I know where they can get a good deal on a Sky Ride to travel across parts of the park. 

[Laramie]

Great news for Tulsa MSA, this will be a game-changer. All of NE Oklahoma will embrace this along with tourists throughout the country. It will be Big League and awesome.

https://twitter.com/kolbyratigan/status/1681692240496975878?s=20

GO T-TOWN!

[shavethewhales]

I wasn't sure whether this was going to be posted about in here or the burbs forum, so I made a post there, but I'll reiterate:

I've heard this one before. Developers with no connection to the theme park industry making a splash by promising billions of dollar poured into a vague concept in the middle of nowhere. Last time was down in Texas and Muscle Shoals AL for a confusing two park pitch: https://attractionsmagazine.com/exclusive-dreamvision-theme-park-plans-become-a-nightmare/

There are several other examples. Grand Texas was a more legit theme park/resort/outlet mall proposal that resulted in just a water park and an RV campground after years of effort - and I consider that pretty good, all things considered. Getting something like this off the ground is not easy.

If you had $2 billion, where would you invest it? Even if your heart is set on a resort, why Vinita? Wouldn't you want to be closer to an airport and existing destinations? Grand Lake gets some traffic, but not that much. With this money, you could move in on Branson and easily compete with SDC - and Branson has an airport that is hardly being used. You could also build down on the coast, or anywhere else that gets traffic already. Why would they pick Vinita other than it being cheap, which shouldn't matter if they actually have access to $2 billion.

[Weatherdemon]

Awesome but only one coaster and it’s wooden.
And, I’ll believe it when they are actually starting construction.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I see that this is a division of Mansion Entertainment Group out of Branson MO and they seemed to be involved in recording studios, TV programming, animation and the presenting organization for the 2024 Rose Bowl Parade.

https://www.mansionentertainmentgroup.com/

[shavethewhales]

Awesome but only one coaster and it’s wooden.
And, I’ll believe it when they are actually starting construction.

There's at least a couple coasters shown in the concept artwork, and it's only conceptual regarding the rides I assume. Wooden coasters can be pretty awesome if they are designed and maintained well. Most of the wooden manufacturers now utilize hybrid track systems that are smoother and take less maintenance.

[Jeff P]

If you had $2 billion, where would you invest it? Even if your heart is set on a resort, why Vinita? Wouldn't you want to be closer to an airport and existing destinations? Grand Lake gets some traffic, but not that much. With this money, you could move in on Branson and easily compete with SDC - and Branson has an airport that is hardly being used. You could also build down on the coast, or anywhere else that gets traffic already. Why would they pick Vinita other than it being cheap, which shouldn't matter if they actually have access to $2 billion.

My guess?

You can build it for $2 billion in Vinita when it may cost twice as much (or more) in some of those areas you describe.

Some advantages of Vinita off the top of my head:

* It's literally on I-44 giving it good, direct interstate access.
* It's almost equidistant between the Tulsa metro with ~1mm people an NW Arkansas with another ~600K
* There isn't an airport right in Vinita obviously, but it's a quick ~40 minute drive down I-44 to TIA or ~90 minutes to Bentonville.
* It's a naturally beautiful area and is in close proximity to Grand Lake, which provides some extra vacation/getaway "synergy"

I guess I don't see how this is any different than Branson, Missouri, was when it was being built up essentially in the middle of nowhere 50-60 years ago. In fact, Vinita has better access to travel infrastructure and population base than Branson did.

I'm not saying it will be a success or will ever even get built, but (to me) it does make some sense.

[buffalodan]

I don't like the comparison to disney world that they talked about. I get that they are disney people, but you could have done Kings Dominion, Silver Dollar City, or Hershey Park and let people know what you are actually thinking. Dollywood may also have been a solid name to drop. I still think this is kinda crazy and it may be a scam, but at least the plans seem pretty concrete and it isn't the craziest concept I've heard.

I think the crazy thing to me is Vinita is middle of Cherokee Nation and I haven't seen anything about their involvement. When I first started to hear rumors of it, sorta figured that we would be hearing that Quapaw/Wyandotte/etc had signed an agreement.

[Red Arrow]

* There isn't an airport right in Vinita obviously, but it's a quick ~40 minute drive down I-44 to TIA or ~90 minutes to Bentonville.

There is actually a small airport at Vinita but you are correct that it is not suitable for the type of traffic for a theme park.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/H04

It's a short walk, with access, to the restaurant over I-44/Will Rogers Tpk.  It's a favorite "hundred dollar hamburger" place for small planes.

https://goo.gl/maps/tCpMkW6fC1xe94gBA

[tulsabug]

Hmmmm - nothing on their website makes it seem like they have $2b in the bank or even could raise it. Plus - that's $2b to build it - it's going to need some deep pockets to keep it running long enough to be profitable. It all just seems too good to be true in a ponzi scheme sort of way. Maybe if they named it "Bell's".

[shavethewhales]

I don't like the comparison to disney world that they talked about. I get that they are disney people, but you could have done Kings Dominion, Silver Dollar City, or Hershey Park and let people know what you are actually thinking. Dollywood may also have been a solid name to drop. I still think this is kinda crazy and it may be a scam, but at least the plans seem pretty concrete and it isn't the craziest concept I've heard.

I think the crazy thing to me is Vinita is middle of Cherokee Nation and I haven't seen anything about their involvement. When I first started to hear rumors of it, sorta figured that we would be hearing that Quapaw/Wyandotte/etc had signed an agreement.

Disney is an apt comparison if they are indeed going to build an animation empire with any sort of significant intellectual property. The rides would be indoor and highly thematic rather than focusing on forces. KD/Hershey are all about giant outdoor roller coasters and base thrill rides. SDC used to copy Disney (literally using a lot of the same engineers back in the 1960's-80's) and had more indoor and highly thematic rides, but now they buy the same stuff as all the other parks and just dress it up a little more.

One of the big questions is, what are they really basing this park on? They clearly have some big media goals, but so far their company is a joke. One animated film about their own founder that was probably outsourced. I don't think the kids are going to get excited about a film that follows an old rich white guy's life. I'm sure they have other plans, but many have tried this before and failed. HFEC, the owners of both SDC and DW also own an animation company. They actually have one semi-successful kids show about trains called Chuggington or something like that. They actually had a thing for it at SDC last year.

I don't think they need approval from the Cherokee Nation. They own the land - it's not part of a controlled reservation.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Doing a little looking around, Mansion Entertainment was founded by Gene Bicknell who started out as a Pizza Hut franchisee in 1962 and now owns Mansion, NPC (Pizza Hut stores) and American Media which owns a dozen radio stations in the US.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220624005013/en/O.-Gene-Bicknell-Pens-a-Compelling-Story-of-Triumph-Over-Isolation-With-the-Acclaimed-Book-%E2%80%9CHERMIT-A-NOVEL%E2%80%9D


https://rbr.com/american-media-investments-expands/