An Interesting Concept Re-emerges-- Perhaps Another DVC Opportunity...

[whitfamily]

So a little background...

I (the DH of our online duo) went to high school in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs) and have found my way back here as a dirty nasty "lobbyist", at least thats how we are all portrayed!

When I was growing up here there was a HUGE land battle in my home county, Prince William. Disney had come in and bought a massive swath of land and was going to open its third U.S. theme park to be called "Disney's America". The concept would have been to have a park themed on american history, which you see a good bit of at Disneyland, MK and Epcot.

Well, being Virginia much of the open space is owned by people who have had the property for several generations. Between that and the traffic issues the deal eventually died and Disney sold off all of the land.

Well, a possible new development has come into play that is rumored around the Old Sominion to possibly revive the concept.

Last year Anhuesur-Busch was sold to the European company InBev. You probably saw a good bit about it on TV. Well, upon purchasing the company InBev announced its intent to sell none-core business lines and focus on the beverage/brewing industry. One of those is Busch Entertainment, which owns Busch Gardens, SeaWorld and Sesame Place.

Rumors are abound that Disney may be looking into purchasing part or all of the parks. Doing so would give them access into the Virginia and Texas markets where they have looked to expand in the past. They are also the only company in the theme park business that would seem to have the capital to make such a move.

For a good run down visit http://virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/is-inbev-getting-closer-to-selling-busch-gardens/. (Sorry that it has a bit of a political spin in general, but this story is apolitical.)

Anyways, though I am from VA I was thinking-- having a new Disney park anywhere with a new DVC property would be an amazing experience. I especially like the concept os an American History themed Disney park. WD was always very involved in history and it would seem to fit with both his legacy and the legacy of the company as a whole.

Here is a good run down of what happened with the project and what the intent was, including a proposed lay out and artists renderings:

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2008/03/disneys-america-theme-park-project.html

 

[nunzia]

I'd love it if that came to fruition. I remember the Disney's America thing and thought it would have been great in all of its commercial glory.

 

[jennypenny]

It would be a big expansion in a down year. Some of the markets are desirable, but I think Tampa is a problem. And what would they do with Sesame Place? I've always viewed sesame street as a competitor.

Maybe they would just pick and choose which parks they wanted. I could see the Busch Gardens parks, but not the seaworld parks.

 

[jimmytammy]

I would love this! I remember a few yrs back when Disney was looking at building a theme park near the Mannassas Battlefield in Va. I for one was against it as I have always been a history buff, especially Civil War history. But in retrospect, I believe Disney would have treated it with diginity. I understand wealthy homeowners were its biggest demise, and they wisely used the History lovers for their ammo. So now I see suburbia and Wal Mart invaded the area. Though this may not have been the specific properties that Disney was looking at building on, the sprawl may have been better handled.

Williamsburg would make a good spot. Busch Gardens there is our 2nd fav theme park to WDW, and it has as much to do with theming as anything. Disney would probably vamp it up, Disneyfi it and make it all the more appealing. And a DVC property would be just great!

It would be a 3.5 hr ride instead of 10.5 for us

 

[ssawka]

This has been speculated since the In Bev deal went through. I for one would LOVE it since I live in NOVA. My only concern would be that VA does not have a track record of improving infrastructure to support development, and I-64 is already overcrowded being a four lane highway. I for one would like to see Virginia court Disney to make this happen.

 

[drusba]

Note that the rumors of Disney buying what was the theme parks owned by Bursch (including all the Six-Flags parks) and now owned by InBev are unsubstantiated and are nothing but rumors. They are believed to have been started, without any basis in fact, by English brokers involved in selling the theme parks for InBev and were likely started to get others (including at least one European company) to bid and bid higher.

 

[podsnel]

That was a great article- what a fantastic park that would have been, or could be!! I can't even explain how excited I would be to be within a 5 hour drive to a Disney Park!!

I have my fingers & toes crossed!

 

[5forDiz]

This would be great for us, occasionally spend a weekend in between our trips to WDW ( for now we'll have to be happy with going to DisneyStore for our Disney-fix until we next get back to WDW )

 

[Chuck S]

As this topic isn't too DVC related, I'm going to move this thread to the Rumors & News board.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Note that the rumors of Disney buying what was the theme parks owned by Bursch (including all the Six-Flags parks) and now owned by InBev are unsubstantiated and are nothing but rumors.

Busch Entertainment, the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch InBev, does not own the Six Flags parks.

Busch Entertainment owns Busch Gardens Tampa Bay; Busch Gardens Williamsburg; three SeaWorld parks (San Diego, Orlando, and San Antonio); Discovery Cove in Orlando; three water parks; and Sesame Place in Pennsylvania.

ImBev announced to investors that they intend to sell off some of their business units to retire some of the debt they took on in their $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008. Because Busch Entertainment is non-core business for global brewer ImBev, it's clearly one of the business units that ImBev hopes to sell.

ImBev would probably prefer to sell all of Busch Entertainment to single buyer, but the reality is that potential buyers are most likely far more interested in some of the parks than others. My guess is that ImBev will have to sell pieces of Busch Entertainment to multiple companies.

It's reasonable that Disney would at least analyze whether it makes business sense to acquire one or more of the Busch Entertainment properties. This is, after all, a business opportunity for Disney to expand its core business, and possibly to do so when the price might be advantageous due to the depressed economy.

My guess is that Disney will decline the opportunity, but I could be wrong about this.

The Virginia Virtucon article is a bit simplistic. The author wrote, "As I recently noted, it appears that a sale of the parks comes down to two potential buyers that have both the will and the asset -- Disney and Universal." There are other potential buyers, such as European park operator Merlin Entertainments Group, as well as private equity groups looking for an investment with a proven track record.

The other thing that I found strange in the article is the author's assertion that if Disney ends up owning Busch Gardens Williamsburg, it would mean that "Disney's American" park would finally come to fruition. Think about it. If Disney ends up with a park that is carefully themed to look like regions of Europe, it would make no sense to rebuild it as Disney's America. Sure, Disney would make improvements over time, but if they want an entirely different park, it would make more sense to start off with vacant land.

 

[movie77]

So a little background...

I (the DH of our online duo) went to high school in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs) and have found my way back here as a dirty nasty "lobbyist", at least thats how we are all portrayed!

When I was growing up here there was a HUGE land battle in my home county, Prince William. Disney had come in and bought a massive swath of land and was going to open its third U.S. theme park to be called "Disney's America". The concept would have been to have a park themed on american history, which you see a good bit of at Disneyland, MK and Epcot.

Well, being Virginia much of the open space is owned by people who have had the property for several generations. Between that and the traffic issues the deal eventually died and Disney sold off all of the land.



We live in NOVA and I would love to see a where are they now story on this in the Post. What a disaster turning out Disney was for that area. Now its a collection of Costcos Sam Clubs and Olive Gardens. Disney would of brought much more revenue into PW county.

 

[ChrisnKim913]

I think Universal is buying the Busch parks. My sister works at Bubba Gumps in CityWalk and they all get free admission now to Sea World and Busch Gardens, on top of free admission to Universal and IOA

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I think Universal is buying the Busch parks. My sister works at Bubba Gumps in CityWalk and they all get free admission now to Sea World and Busch Gardens, on top of free admission to Universal and IOA

The Universal parks and Busch Entertainment parks in Florida have had marketing agreements in place since long before ImBev came into the picture. Just because Bubba Gumps employees get free admission to theme parks of both companies doesn't mean that GE (NBC-Universal) is buying Busch Entertainment.

If and when there's such an agreement, it will involve a multi-billion dollar transaction. It won't be a secret from the shareholders of both companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the business press. And the employees of Bubba Gumps won't be the first to know.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Just to add to the intrigue...

there is a rumor going around that Disney bought land just west of Montgomery, Alabama.

Let's just say there is more than one way to take on American History.

Montgomery is well known for Civil War / Civil Rights.

It would definitely be more contemporary.

Of course during the Revolutionary War -- this was Indian (Native American) Land. Hmmmm.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Just to add to the intrigue...

there is a rumor going around that Disney bought land just west of Montgomery, Alabama.

Let's just say there is more than one way to take on American History.

Montgomery is well known for Civil War / Civil Rights.

It would definitely be more contemporary.

Of course during the Revolutionary War -- this was Indian (Native American) Land. Hmmmm.

If in fact they did - there would be a public record of it someplace and someone would have found it and publicized the bee-jeebers out of it by now.

You see, this comes up a lot..

Disney is rumored (or JUST) bought land near _______________, _ _.

Just fill in the blank with the city and state.

It comes up in part because of how Disney originally purchased the land in Florida under a whole mess of complicated 'front companies' with strange names.

While it is conceivable that Disney could do that again - it would be a whole heckuva lot harder in this modern age of transparency for publicly held companies and their holdings.

In summary - Disney has probably not bought any land in Alabama and if they did it may be for the decidedly unglamorous uses of:

- Radio/TV transmitters for Radio Disney or an Owned and Operated ABC affiliate
- Warehousing and distribution for consumer product(s)
- An investment to sell and profit from

And most likely not for anything as grand and glorious as a theme park.

Just sayin..

Knox

 

[doconeill]

You see, this comes up a lot..

Disney is rumored (or JUST) bought land near _______________, _ _.

Just fill in the blank with the city and state.

It comes up in part because of how Disney originally purchased the land in Florida under a whole mess of complicated 'front companies' with strange names.

And its been happening for almost 40 years since the "Florida project". The Internet has just allowed the rumors to travel faster.

My Dad told me that Disney was looking at land in Massachusetts - 30 years ago.

 

[apehat02]

I actually worked at Sesame Place for a number of years, and can tell you that Disney has tried to leverage that park away from Busch a number of times. Sesame Place as a piece of land, structure and environment is actually owned by Sesame Street Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop) and Busch Entertainment only staffs and manages the facilities for them.

Disney was not happy when Jim Henson passed away and he allowed Disney to manage the classic muppets and SSW to have the Sesame Street brand. They have tried on a few occasions to buy out SSW and Sesame Place to no avail. If the oppurtunity came along for Disney to buy that park I don't even think they would bat an eye, the place is a gold mine and would give them the north eastern presence they have been looking at for years with failed projects like Disney's America and the expansion of the DisneyQuest franchise to NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia.

 

[apehat02]

Universal, Six Flags and Busch (along with other smaller management companies) all have regional agreements for their employees to gain access to each others parks free of charge. Working for Busch in Philadelphia, I could visit Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ free, Hersheypark in PA free and a few others, but since I was in PA I couldnt go to Universal or any of the other Six Flags parks with the same bebefit.

 

[TinaMedley]

I think it would be a great idea. To have a park with partly based on American history. You could spend a few day there and then go see the real American history around the state of VA. But Disney being Disney it probably won't happen.

 

[ssawka]

... it would make more sense to start off with vacant land.

Not necessarily true. BG Williamsburg is already in a great location, with a yearly supply of tourists, and it is already zoned as a theme park, so Disney would probably not face the same problems the faced in Northern Virginia.