Hot Rumor about land purchase!!!!!!

[HFC1969]

Being a Missouri native, this rumor really hits home!!!

I have first hand information that Disney has just purchased 3500 acres near Silex Missouri.

Whats the story? Can anyone shed some light on this?? Silex Missouri is about 60 miles from St. Louis.

[SteveS]

Why would Disney ever want to go to Missouri? I wouldn't bet the farm on that rumor.

[HFC1969]

I just talked to a gentlemen that is the sales manager of a large heavy construction equipment company and he said that he has heard that there are already excavating companies that have heard of the purchase.

To reply to the Why Missouri question - - Walt almost picked St. Louis before Florida, but after a little dispute with Gussy Busch, who owned Anhueser Busch, he decided to go else where. Oh Busch world head quarters is located in Missouri.

I am still checking........

[HFC1969]

Just talked to a friend of the family who is an attorney / real estate broker! He said that everything he has heard is that it is a done deal. It is approximately 3500 acres in Eolia Missouri, which is north out of St. Louis on Hwy 40/61.

Dang this is exciting!!!!:pinkbounc

[YoHo]

Marceline Ms Is Walt's Boyhood home. So it is certainly conceivable.

[Sarangel]

Thanks for the info HFC1969. We'll all be interested to hear what Disney may have in mind there...

Sarangel

[DanG]

Not every Disney land purchase is for a park. Consider whether they might be opening a technology or call center. That said, 3500 acres is a decent chunk of land.

DanG

[HFC1969]

I never said anything about a park. I am just curious about what is going on in my home state.

Anyone heard anything yet?

[Barbruka]

This is a nice central location in the US. How many acres is WDW total?

[JeffJewell]

...I see with assuming this might be a park is that Disney parks typically need year-round attendance to be a good investment (Unless they're about to unveil the new style Disney parks, you know, the ones they designed after learning from the mistake of spending so much money on California Adventure). Doesn't it get prohibitively brisk during those plains winters?

It certainly is a central, if not historically significant, location for a Disney's America park. Smack in the heartland, as they say.

Not sure what non-park plans might warrant that size land acquisition. Power Ranger rerun storage complex? Is there anything near enough by to warrant a DVC property/mini-gate?

Jeff

[YoHo]

Emu Ranch

[KnightsQwn]

WIth everything that Disney is capable of, I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to change the weather in that section!

Is there anything coming from Disney? you know, like a press release?

[HFC1969]

I talked with a lumbering company that goes in and clears land before excavators can begin to clear. This one was told to me by the owner of the company who is "a good ol boy" so this might be a bit of a stretch. He said, "It is a new park and it is called the MidAmerica Disney" and that they are shootin for a 2012 opening date. It sounds real juicy but this one I will leave at the rumor level. He did say that the land purchase is complete and that nothing has gon public at the county court house..


The saga continues

[doubletrouble_vb]

I have no idea where Eolia is but...Disney's America was going to be built in Virginia so maybe they are reviving the idea in a locale that won't kick up as much of a fight. I think St. Louis might be on par with Virginia as far as winters go so it might make sense.

Of course an easier possibility is that they are building a studio there.

PS...out of curiousity I checked out the average daily temperature and it appears to on par with Washington, DC. So depending on what they do they would have at least as good a chance of running a year round facility as Williamsburg.

From the point of view of people in the northern half of the country Washington temps would only be uncomfortable in January. Of course we are talking coats but not heavy winter gear.

[carterman_12]

I remember hearing on the monorail from EC to MK that Disney World is approx. 29000 acres. And no, I didnt push down the zero button too many times.

[wdwguide]

Figures for the size of WDW tend to range from 28000 to 30500 acres, and nobody seems to know what the latest correct figure is, but either way - it's enormous. DLP is about 4800 acres, Disneyland about 400, Hong Kong Disneyland about 300 acres, and I have no idea about Tokyo (these numbers are for the whole resorts, not just the parks, of course).

[BRERALEX]

I believe i read that the percentage of the land in Florida developed from what they own is not even half.

[Werner Weiss]

Originally, Walt Disney started with 160 acres in Anaheim. Through a series a acquisitions, the site was expanded, especially in recent years. I don't know how much land Disney owns in Anaheim, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's still only around 400 or 500 acres.

Walt Disney secretly acquired around 27,400 acres in Florida in the 1960s. Central Florida land was very cheap back then, and Walt had ambitious plans for a city called EPCOT. Today, WDW it's somewhere around 30,000 acres. The town of Celebration will eventually use around 5,000 of the acres.

Disneyland Paris sits on a site that's somewhere around 4,800 acres (although I've seen numbers ranging from 1,500 acres to 5,000 acres). Euro Disney SCA, the company that owns Disneyland Paris, is actively developing the land.

In Virginia, The Walt Disney Company planned to build Disney's America on a 3,000 acre site.

The theme parks themselves vary in size. DCA is only 55 acres, but that's because Disney has so little land in Anaheim. But figure 100 to 150 acres for a theme park, not including the parking lot.

So "3,500 acres in Eolia, Missouri" is in the right ballpark for a theme park resort development.

But I don't think it will happen.

[wdwguide]

Werner,

Are you sure that Celebration's acreage is still included in the property size? I have been getting contradictory responses to this. I think it really shouldn't be included since Celebration was de-annexed from the RCID in the mid-1990s and is now considered part of Osceola County.

The range of numbers at DLP is most likely due to the fact that Euro Disney SCA doesn't technically own the entire property yet - they pretty much absorb the designated land as they need it, while the undeveloped parts remain under government custody and are leased to farmers, etc.
Others also don't include Val d'Europe in their numbers, and others still just don't know how to convert from hectares to acres correctly.

[Werner Weiss]

From the official Celebration FAQ at http://www.celebrationfl.com/press_room/faq05.html
When complete, the community is anticipated to have 12,000 to 15,000 residents on 4,900 acres surrounded by a 4,700 acre protected greenbelt.
My understanding is that the Disney continues to count Celebration in its "47 square miles" publicity. (47 square miles = 30,080 acres.) The number didn't go down when Celebration was launched. Actually, it makes sense. Celebration is clearly part of Disney's little empire in Florida, even if it's not governed by the RCID. The number also includes thousands of acres that are set aside for preservation. At the same FAQ:
The plan for Celebration was coordinated with the long-term buildout plan of the adjacent Walt Disney World Resort. Disney's original preservation commitment, which totaled 7,500 acres of preserved environment, has been substantially increased to include 8,350 acres within the Walt Disney Resort, adjacent to Celebration and 8,500 acres in its overall Walt Disney World properties at the Disney Wilderness Preserve.
WDW is really an exception to the amount of land required for a Disney project. 3,500 acres would do nicely for a destination resort with multiple theme parks, resort hotels, and other real estate development.

That said, I don't believe that Disney wants to build a destination resort near St. Louis. Even if Disney were willing to build in an area with a poor winter climate, there are much better locations within the United States in terms of population within an 8-hour drive, such as Ohio (which is much closer to the true population center of the United States). Also, although I don't believe any of the current rumors about Texas, you can actually make a pretty good case for a Disney park in Texas based on Texas' huge (and growing) population. I'm not criticizing Missouri, but I just don't think it's a good location for a Disney destination resort.

[wdwguide]

Thank you for the information.
I share your judgement about the rumors in Missouri and Texas - unless the existing US theme parks started to fill to capacity on a very regular basis with no prospect to growth, additional US resorts would mainly spread an identical target audience over a larger number of destinations. The actual increase in total domestic visitation would increase very slightly, and the number of nights spent on property, one of the prime sources of revenue, might actually decrease since millions of former long-distance visitors would suddenly become locals.
It is quite possible that they are purchasing promising pieces of real estate to have them available for future use "just in case".
But we will see what happens... who would have expected Dusney to buy Fox Family just a few weeks ago? They are still good for surprises!

[HFC1969]

I agree that the idea of building a park in Missouri is a little bit out of the norm. The Six Flags them park that is located here is only open May til October. Winters here are down right cold, thats why we try and go south whenever we can.

So lets set aside the idea of a park in Missouri. That information was given to me by a gentlemen that would appear to be giving the information a boost just for story telling purpoes.

However, the information of the land purchase, was given to me by more than one reliable source, that are not connected in anyway.

So what do you do with 3500 acres of rolling farm land 60 minutes NW of St. Louis?????

[Planogirl]

But the Six Flags parks always close for the winter season (except for Holiday in the Park) no matter where they're located. They could reasonably stay open longer in Houston and San Antonio if they were only concerned with weather.

How far is this site from Branson? I would look it up on the Internet but my ISP is being balky tonight. :(

[HFC1969]

Branson is or was supposed to be the new Nashville of the country music scene, espically for the older entertainers. Branson is located in the southern most part of Missouri. To get to Branson from "the land purchase site" you would have to drive 4 1/2 hours by car. Branson land geography is a lot different than the supposed site area. Branson is extemely hilly almost cliff like typical "ozark hills", Eolia area is flat with slight rolling hills.

I agree that the chose of Missouri for a year round "outdoor" theme park seems extremely weird. It is cold here from November to March! I'm not saying its a park, I'm just saying I have good sources saying they (Disney) are buying land in Missouri. If Walt was still around I might be more opt to think its a park, we all know the history that St. Louis was the first choice way back when.

Well I just think the hole thing is exctitng. If you lived within a few miles of Walt Disney supposedly buying 3500 acres, you might be excited too.

[wdwguide]

Disney was looking into buying a DVC resort in Branson shortly after the program's inception, which was quite interesting to follow, especially since I lived in Springfield at the time - just half an hour away.

[roymccoy]

Somebody's yanking on your chain. If Disney can't make a theme park work in So. California in this economy, there ain't NO WAY there going to give it a try in Missouri. I know Missouri, I was born right accross the river in Illinois and it's a place people want to "escape from" not "vacation to"...the winter would never support a theme park and it's usually gray outside. Disney likes a lot of sunshine for their parks. Walt may have been born there, but I bet he was born with "the urge to travel!"

Roy :-)

[YoHo]

No offense to Missouri Residents As I love your beer (milwakee's is better :)) But Us Northern Illinoians Call it Misery. Of Course roymccoy you better watch it, most of use FIBs up here consider Southern Illinois WORSE then Misery. (Little Egypt would seem to support that idea based on general horridness of the situation.)

[roymccoy]

Sorry Yoho, but debating about which part of Illinois is worse (north or south) is a little like arguing the best place to live on the Moon.
My dad always said that there were two things to do in So. Illinois for entertainment...watch the paint peel AND watch the weeds grow up through the cracks in the sidewalks.

Roy :-)

[josierac]

here is a link to the news section of this board. It is title's Eisner going on shopping spree?

http://www.wdwinfo.com/newsroom/newsdetail.htm#992285030

[JeffJewell]

...actually, we've already seen the results of the spree Eisner speaks of in your link: The Fox Family channel and a few thousand hours of Power Rangers re-runs, in exchange for only five billion dollars.

Jeff

[ralphd]

According to the local tv and radio stations in Atlanta, Disney is going to open a 1000 acre park south of the city. More later!

ralphd

[HorizonsFan]

He did say that the land purchase is complete and that nothing has gon public at the county court house..
Part of completing a land purchase is filing papers at the courthouse.
If there are no papers filed, there is no purchase...

[padams]

that possible theme park south of Atlanta is being put together by a group of people that includes some ex-Disney execs, not Disney.

[Werner Weiss]

ralphd wrote:According to the local tv and radio stations in Atlanta, Disney is going to open a 1000 acre park south of the city. More later!
It's not Disney. See:
Henry theme park floated (http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/friday/business_b3f8b15da45560af00d1.html), a detailed article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ex-Disney Executives Envision Theme Park for Suburban Atlanta (http://199.97.97.16/contWriter/endnews2/2001/08/31/enter/5555-0042-pat_nytimes.html), a Cox News Service story at Entertinment News Daily (a shorter version on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story)
Group considers theme park in Henry County (http://www.wsbradio.com/news/0831amthemepark.html), from WSB AM 750
Don't get too excited yet. They need $500 million, but so far they only have initial financing of $300 thousand.
The articles don't name any ex-Disney executives except for former Walt Disney University teacher Richard J. Milano.