Didn't see this being discussed. Disney Theme Park in Texas?

[tzuhouse]

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The Woodlands real estate community received a much needed boost this week when the Township announced that they closed on the sale of 1,300 acres to The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) for a planned Texas-themed attraction.

The land sale abuts the Spring Creek Greenway north of the newly developed Village of Creekside park, and would remain largely forested even after development, according to Township officials.

A new Texas-themed park, tentatively identified as “Frontierland Texas” could open as early as 2013, according to sources close to the negotiations. It would be Disney’s first new greenfield park construction

project in the US since 1971. Currently Disney operates theme parks in Florida and California in the United States, as well as parks in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
“Our vision for The Woodlands is to serve as a world-class convention and visitor destination, and this partnership with Disney is one more step in that direction,” said Fran Price of the Woodlands Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We look forward to bringing the Disney Magic to America’s Hometown.”

Walt Disney Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

Both parties were characteristically tight-lipped during the negotiations, which have been rumored to be ongoing for several years. Only when the agreement had been signed and papers filed with Montgomery County officials did sources close to the deal go public.

A joint news conference hosted by The Woodlands Township Board of Directors and officials of The Walt Disney Company is slated for Monday morning at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott. Architectural drawings of the theme park attraction are expected to be unveiled.

Mary

 

[tzuhouse]

I would love love love to have it here since it's 15 minutes from home, but I'm just not sure about Frontierland Texas. I want Space Mountain and Jungle Cruise and a castle! Big Thunder would be great, but I want so much more!

How about Disney Planet or Disney Universe!

And really, 1,300 acres? How large is the Magic Kingdom? That just doesn't seem like enough land to me?

Mary

 

[Robo]

What was the DATE of the news story?

 

[tzuhouse]

I got it yesterday. I'm assuming the news conference would be tomorrow. Could be an April Fool's thing. Just not sure.

Doesn't 1,300 acres just seem like small potatoes for Disney?

Mary

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Are you sure this isn't an April's Fool joke that you noticed a bit late? I'm not saying it's impossible, and stranger things have happened, but to go completely under the radar screen until the actual sale of the land seems highly unlikely. Not impossible, but I'd be shocked if they pulled it off.

And if they did, the CIA & State Department should take notes from the Disney Corporation...

 

[pktbMouse]

I live it Spring Texas too and I havnt heard a thing about it either..dont get me wrong I would LOVE something like this to be 10 mins from me but I have heard rumors like this before...fingers crossed its not a joke. I know they will be opening the new Houston Dinosaur Park in New Caney in 2012..wonder if this is what they mean? Please keep me posted if you hear anything else.

 

[grafxgirl]

I would love love love to have it here since it's 15 minutes from home, but I'm just not sure about Frontierland Texas. I want Space Mountain and Jungle Cruise and a castle! Big Thunder would be great, but I want so much more!

How about Disney Planet or Disney Universe!

And really, 1,300 acres? How large is the Magic Kingdom? That just doesn't seem like enough land to me?

Mary

Magic Kingdom is 107 acres, Epcot is 300 acres, Animal Kingdom is 500 acres, and Hollywood Studio is 135 acres. Those numbers add up to just under 1300 acres. Found the info on disneyworld.disney.go.com.

 

[baler31]

I agree this is most likely an April Fool's that got a bit delayed. Here is a link to a news article about the constant rumors of a Disney park/ DVC in TX.


Link not working sorry. Here is the article



Here is a News Paper Article debunking this very old, and reoccurring myth:

08/20/2007
Express-News
My San Antonio
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/sto…
by Sean M. Wood


SAN ANTONIO TX -- Despite what your hairdresser, grocery store checker or barista at your favorite coffee bar tells you, the Walt Disney Co. is not building a theme park here.

We know you heard it from a good source.

It was someone who was cutting the hair of this guy whose wife sells real estate out on the West Side. Or somebody who ordered a bunch of cappuccinos because they were touring vacant land sites. Or somebody who picked up a lot of croissants for a morning meeting with a big developer.

But contrary to popular belief, Disney's plans for a theme park in South Texas are nothing more than an urban legend. It is a myth that has grown with an amazing virulence. "Disney will build a theme park on the moon before they build one in San Antonio," said Dennis Speigel, president of Cincinnati-based International Theme Park Services Inc.

Disney officials won't comment on the record about whether they are planning any parks anywhere. They did say they get calls every week from reporters across the country looking into the latest Disney rumors. "If somebody comes to town wearing a Disney T-shirt, that's enough to start a rumor," said Paul Serff, president of the Texas Travel Industry Association and former GM manager of Fiesta Texas (pre-Six Flags).

That's not to say Disney never thought about putting a park here. Developer Marty Wender reportedly took Disney officials on a tour of his Westover Hills development nearly 2 decades ago. Wender did not return several calls seeking comment.

Disney rumors surfaced again in the early 1990s with talk of a Disney vacation club. The rumors popped up again in the mid-1990s, then the late 1990s, and again in 2001, 2002, 2003 ... You get the idea.

Some of the rumors are Disney's fault, Serff said. Walt Disney took a risk building his park in the orange groves of California, far outside (at the time) Los Angeles city limits. But it became a hit.

So he did it again, this time in the orange groves of Florida. The purchases he made out there were all under aliases and shadow companies. "The rumor was that a lot of the land was bought up there and nobody knew who was buying it," Serff said. "If someone is buying land and they can't tell you who it is and it's for an entertainment thing ... ah, it must be Disney."

Veterans of San Antonio's real estate market continue to hear the rumors and still encounter people who think the Mouse is coming to South Texas. The Disney rumor has kept broker Landon Kane of First American Commercial Property Group from making some deals. "We deal in land exclusively," Kane said. "But we talk to people who hear Disney is going to come to their area and they're going to hold on to their land a little longer to see if the value goes up. And they hold on to it for years."

Putting a Disney-themed attraction in San Antonio might have made sense once upon a time. The area had plenty of land, a lot of tourists and decent weather much of the year. But along came Fiesta Texas (which was preceded by Disney rumors) followed by Sea World San Antonio (which was preceded by more Disney rumors), and the market had as many theme parks as it could take. "You already have 2 parks in San Antonio that have cut the baby in half," said Speigel, who might have been an architect of some of those Disney rumors in the 1990s.

His group worked with Gaylord Entertainment on the sale of Fiesta Texas. In the report submitted to Gaylord and partner USAA, Speigel said they suggested selling the park to Disney. It would have given the "House of Mouse" a regional park for $100 million, about the cost of 1 new Disney attraction. "We made that recommendation and nothing ever happened," Speigel said. Except for the spread of rumors.

It would be really hard to find enough land for Disney to build a park here, said Kit Corbin, executive VP with Grubb & Ellis. "Disney knows the real money comes from controlling everything around it," Corbin said. "They need an enormous tract of land so they can control the hotel sites, the motel sites and the retail. I think Disney, more than anybody, recognizes they're not going to plop their park down on a piece of dirt and let others capitalize on the development."

Yet the rumors persist. They even make some sense to Ramiro Cavazos, director of research and economic development for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and former head of the city's economic development office. "We at the City had heard off-and-on that they were scouting sites in San Antonio," he said. "I would imagine that they would look at the strength in the hospitality industry and the advantages that are already built in with the strength of the hotels. The advantages of having Sea World and Fiesta Texas and the Missions and Spurs and the Alamo and the River Walk. But we had never really concluded that they were talking to anybody at the City."

Because they weren't. All the advantages Cavazos named only dilute the tourist dollar, which Disney likes to dominate in its coastal U.S. markets.

Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, was the only attraction of its kind when it opened far outside the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. But it was still close enough to draw people who wanted a break from the city.

Walt Disney World helped make Florida a gateway to European visitors. Millions enter Florida via Orlando and continue their tour of the state.

San Antonio already has enough going for it that it doesn't need Disney, said the Texas Travel Industry's Serff. "You have 2 of the best theme parks I have ever seen," he said. "You have a world-class River Walk, water parks, Natural Bridge Caverns, history, a great zoo and the best and classiest team in the NBA. So why overlook the pearls that currently make up San

 

[Suellen]

Sorry but this totally looks like a hoax to me. One blog has the story in the whole of internet and that blog has ONE post... this one????

http://woodlandsrealestatenews.blogspot.com/

Totally random.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

I found the blog post, http://woodlandsrealestatenews.blogspot.com/2011/03/woodlands-township-inks-disney-land.html, and given the timing of the post (March 31st, assuming most people would notice it the following day) and that no other news media have picked up on it, I'm going to assume this was an April Fool's Day joke...

 

[tzuhouse]

Just went and found the same stuff. I'm trying to think, though, where exactly this would be where that is THAT much land. They can't be on the freeway because Camp Strake is owned by the Boy Scouts and not for sale.

I'm thinking it's an April 1st thing, but I've been emailing them for years telling them we need a cruise ship out of Galveston and a theme park here for the people who live in the central time zone. Maybe they finally listened to me. : ) Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Mary

 

[chartle]

Sorry but this totally looks like a hoax to me. One blog has the story in the whole of internet and that blog has ONE post... this one????

http://woodlandsrealestatenews.blogspot.com/

Totally random.

If you click the first link at the bottom you get to this page

http://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx

Read the first topic.

 

[pktbMouse]

OMG YES for the Disney cruise ship!!! bring it on!!!!!!

 

[tzuhouse]

Would love a cruise ship. But honestly, since Astroworld closed down, there would be no competition for a theme park. Disney People would come to Houston/Woodlands over San Antonio if they wanted Disney and spend all their money there. No split stays, jumping between Universal or Sea World. All Disney, all the time. I'd buy an AP immediately and I know many others would, also. But it would have to be Disney. Not some goofy Frontierland thing.

Mary

 

[Dominus]

I like the idea, but it's a rumour that's been around forever. Disney has been storied to buy land everywhere around Houston (Belleville, Katy, Sealy, Spring, you name it).

 

[jmkjr72]

 

[chartle]

I like the idea, but it's a rumour that's been around forever. Disney has been storied to buy land everywhere around Houston (Belleville, Katy, Sealy, Spring, you name it).

I think what really fuels these rumors is that Disney has and does buy property all over the place. Sometimes just for an investment, sometimes like Baltimore's inner harbor and Hawaii for DVC resorts. I've even heard they will buy a little land to put up a radio tower and its starts up again that Disney is going to build a park in like Wisconsin.

 

[MissionMouse]

Considering Shanghai Theme Park is Disney's current focus I would suspect this Texas article is a April 1st hoax. Is this what higher Disney guest rates financed? I would say don't expect anything new from Disney in existing parks unless competition makes them do it, like you find in Orlando when Universal created the Harry Potter area. Disney was forced to respond as they appear to be focused on growth by accessing new populations of guest.

 

[ccudmore]

If it's on the Internet, it must be true!!

 

[EMom]

DH grew up in the Houston area and he said the rumor about Disney buying land in The Woodlands area has been around since the 70s. For those not familiar with the area, it's very close to Houston's main airport, plus there's Hobby for Southwest flights. It's a low crime area, beautiful and heavily forested, just off an interstate, upscale with lots of shopping, etc. In other words, if someone could put together enough land for a Disney park, this would be a great place to put it. Smack dab between Disneyland and Disney World, weather similar to Florida, plus a gateway to Central and South America. But the way land has been bought up around there, I don't know if it could ever happen. Ten years ago, maybe. Now...not so much.

But I don't see Disney laying out the kind of money to open a new place anyway.