New Disney Park in GA?

[sha_lyn]

According to a co-worker of DH's who live in Henry Co ga, the Disney Co. has purchased a chunck of land and plans to open a park there. This Guy says he has sat in on county meeting etc. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

 

[Nschur]

We live NW of Henry co with land next to Henry in Butts co. Yes I said Butts. Anyway the only thing I have heard about down there is the new resevoir that Henry is building in both counties. This I know because several years ago Henry bought 23 low lying acres from us. As of this fall when we went down there they had cleared a sizable piece of land in preperation for flooding. I am 100% certain of these facts. I have heard that they want to increase the size of the Henry co airport, but this is because of the Atlanta Motor Speedway that NASCAR uses. Henry co is bisected by I-75 and is close (about 45 min S) to Atlanta. It wouldn't be a bad place to build a park but I think the price of the land would be prohibitive for that. Land is between 10k and 30k per acre right now.

 

[sha_lyn]

it really doesn't make much sense to me, considering it would only be about 7 hrs from WDW, but this guy swears he's been to the zoning meetings and it will be a theme park. I think he's pulling DH's leg, or DH or the guy has confused Busch with Disney. There has been talk of Busch building a park in GA. At one time they had plans for one just NE of Catersville. However I believe all that land is now slated for an industrial park.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

it really doesn't make much sense to me, considering it would only be about 7 hrs from WDW, but this guy swears he's been to the zoning meetings and it will be a theme park.

If The Walt Disney Company actually had people at a zoning meeting -- anywhere in the world, and certainly in Georgia -- seeking approval for development plans, it would be all over the news. Zoning meetings are public.

If Disney ever decides to build a third destination resort in the US, it won't be 7 hours from Walt Disney World.

[fixed typo]

 

[jack&sally]

Just because Disney purchased, or is rumored to have, the GA land doesn't neccessarily mean they'll build there. About maybe 10 years ago Disney bought land in/near Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and there were plans to build a new american history ala Disney themed park. As you can guess, this park never came to be. Apparently, Disney has, or is rumored to have, purchased land in TX for a park. This location makes A LOT more sense than GA, but only time will tell if the park will come to be.

 

[sha_lyn]

I know the Williamsburg park was met with a lot of oppisition, thus they pulled the plug.
TX would make sense for a new park. If their were a market my guess would be the GA land would be something like a DVC golf resort. Hopefully DH can get more info from the guy. It really has peaked my couriosity.

 

[Yensid_MD]

Disney America was not in Williamsburg area, it was just west of DC in Northern Virginia. The opposition was brought by rich land owners in the area. There are alot of horse farms and fox hunting grounds in the area Disney proposed the park.

 

[Nschur]

In regards to the Busch park near Cartersville... Several years ago, maybe 10, A. Busch did build a factory near there. I haven't heard anything else about that. The city of Atlanta owns a very large piece of land up in that area and there has been much talk about a new major airport for North GA. I agree with the thought on a new park in Texas. I still don't see it happening in the near future.

 

[GaTech]

How about this theory for a possible Disney site in Georgia... Let me start by saying that I have just come up with this idea myself so it has no credibility.

Henry County is about 7 hours from WDW. What if Disney built a place for travelers to stay overnight before the last leg of their drive to Orlando. It's just south of Atlanta where people driving on I-20, I-75 & I-85 would all pass. It could be as simple as a hotel or as nice as a resort/spa with a golf course. Oh, don't forget that there would be plenty of shopping. Now who hasn't stopped at the Disney Welcome Center in Ocala?

 

[mitros]

Just wondering, what will Disney do with all the land they supposedley purchased in these various states if they are not going to build anything? Will they try to sell it back at a loss just to unload it?

 

[Tink@40]

I think the fellow who claims Disney is going to build must have been to "Johnny's Hideaway" one too many times <g>, which BTW is a great place.

 

[sha_lyn]

LOL...I can't wait for DH to get back to work (plant is closed this week) and find out more. The guy gave DH detailed stories about the zoning meetings etc, how it was opposed in the beginning etc. However if it's happening I agree that it would be all over the local news.

 

[DancingBear]

You can read the minutes of the Henry County Development Authority meetings at http://www.hcda.org/AboutUs.htm. I just skimmed through all of the 2004 minutes and no mention of Disney there.

A search of the county's website (http://www.co.henry.ga.us/) for "Disney" gives no results, but "theme park" gets this snippet from a zoning discussion:

The biggest challenge that will be raised and the question that will have to be answered one day if we are challenged is if the Board rezoned this property to R-2, C-3 or OI 18 months ago, what has change in aspects of that property that now makes that zoning not appropriate. There will be very few zonings of property that were sufficient a year ago, 2 years ago or 3 years ago that are no longer appropriate to maintain their zoning classification. There maybe some that are and certainly something based on a theme park coming in. Focus on the fact that you are rezoning property and you need to give it an appropriate zoning.

 

[sha_lyn]

interesting snippet. Makes me think there has been some talk of a theme park.

 

[sbelyo]

and is between 10k and 30k per acre right now.

That's not bad at all. In the northeast it's 10 times that easy.

 

[raidermatt]

An independent company has been trying to get a park built, and somewhere in Georgia is/was the primary site they are/were looking at. (think of a souped-up Renaissance Faire) That much I was told by somebody within that company.

The *rumor* I heard was that the main reason this company was looking at Georgia was to get Disney to actually partner with them, allowing them to use Disney's money to build and benefit from the Disney brand. The idea was that Disney would rather partner with them than compete with them. Disney's fear would be that the park could siphon a day or two off of guests' vacations if it were located on the main artery into Florida.

Trying (or threatening) to build within Florida to scare Disney would prove too problematic for a variety of reasons.

It was also *rumored* that Disney developed some pretty detailed plans with this company, but of course, unless a deal is reached, the company would not be able to use the plans.

A separate set of plans developed without Disney were at one time available on the web, though it took some creative searching to get to them. Last time I checked though, the site was gone.

The person who relayed the rumor portion of this was skeptical about the company's ability to get the park (parks actually, as they hoped to build several regional parks) going without Disney's involvement. They believed the company was bluffing about its intent to build the park(s) with or without Disney in an effort to force Disney's hand.

I haven't heard anything in several months, so I'm not sure where everything stands.

My guess is that this rumor about Disney building a park in Georgia is rooted in the above.

 

[raidermatt]

Here's a link to an article about the proposed park (with no mention of Disney potentially being involved of course). Note that the article is from August of '04. At the bottom of the article, there is another link to an older article that has an overview of what the park would be about.

Article

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Okay, I'd just like to say that a park like this sounds like an extremely cool idea!!! :jumping4: I've always loved going to renaissance fairs, even though I haven't been to one in years. The Georgia Renaissance Festival was always very well done and I'm assuming it still is.

What I find really cool is that they're talking about putting this where I grew up!! I lived in Calhoun, just north of Cartersville, until 1998, and Calhoun is in Gordon County, which was mentioned in that second article as a possible location.

 

[sha_lyn]

Did you go to Gordon Central? My uncle teaches there.

 

[drdelsol]

As far as the rumoured land Disney has bought in other states, they have bought and sold land here in Central Florida without ever using it after changing their mind. At a profit.