New "World" Park

[justhat]

Hello,
The driver of a Tiffany TownCar Man (The owner, Keith) informed us during the drive to the airport that Disney is in the middle of buildinga new park. It's more of a roller coaster type. He said his father has worked for Disney as an engineer for years, and that the new park should open sometime in 2004. Anybody heard anything about this?

 

[Dznefreek]

Disney is in the middle of buildinga new park. It's more of a roller coaster type

I'm afraid not. Construction of that magnitude would not have gone unoticed for very long.

There has long been rumors of a Disney thrill park to compete with Islands of Adventure but nothing concrete.

 

[justhat]

Can anyone else confirm this because he sounded so positive and said his father helped create the plans for the new park and was working with them to build it. Since he runs a reputable company I didn't think he'd just make up something like this. Any ideas?

 

[raidermatt]

Sorry, unless they are builing it inside a mountain (think NORAD), or under the ocean (think Atlantis), it's not happeing. Maybe the driver heard about the Hong Kong Disneyland under construction and was confused?

There might be some plans for the park you mention in existence, but Disney has a lot of plans for a lot of things. Since there are limited resources (especially now), most of these plans are never developed.

 

[Golter]

What did the one rope call the other rope who had been cut and tied up.......................Frayed Knot...aint happening in Orlando.

 

[hopemax]

Is it possible he was talking about California Adventure in Anaheim? That's been open for almost 2 years now, but it does have a roller coaster and more "thrill rides" than Disney has done before (raft ride, Soarin', mad mouse, space shot and they're building a Tower of Terror).

But no way could he be talking about a new park in Florida, it took them 2 years to add the spinner and mad mouse to Dinoland, they couldn't put up a whole park by 2004 if they started today. And if they already started, someone would have seen it.

 

[justhat]

Nope, he was definitely talking about Florida. What made it sound believable was that he is one of the Tiffany Town Car owners and his dad is the union president for the engineers at Disney. He started off as a construction worker there and worked his way up the ladder to be the union head. He said his dad was one of the primary designers for MGM, Animal Kingdom, and now this new park he said they were building. We told him we never heard of or saw it and he said that Disney wanted it that way and was keeping it a secret on purpose. I just don't see why he'd want to lie about it since we could (and did) tell people and word would get back that he's a liar and wouldn't that make people less likely to use his company.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Construction of a new park is a massive undertaking. Even if Disney wanted to keep it hush-hush,they couldn't. First,their financial statement would show a huge expenditure which would be public knowledge. Stockholders want to know where hundreds of millions of $$$$ are going. Second, what about the actual workers, have they been sworn to secrecy like in the days of the "Manhatten Project". Something like this is just too big. Sorry, but I think someones chain has been yanked.

 

[wdhatter]

I'm a 12 year Cast Member of WDW and I can tell you that there is absolutely no construction going on now or plans for any for a new park in the near future.

 

[Bob O]

No way could someone mistake DCA for a thrill park!!!!

 

[CasualObserver]

Engineers are not the "work your way up from construction worker" types of professions. You need a college education and then pass a bunch of exams to get a license. These jobs are usually not union jobs, they are considered "management".

The Tiffany guy was jerking your chain in a big way. Having never used Tiffany before, I'm also suspicious that he was the owner. Probably just seeing how gullable you were and he got a good laugh from it.

Construction for a new park takes more than a year, and at the pace that Disney works, it takes even longer. It took them a year to build a hat in MGM! I can't recall what the construction schedule was like for AK.

Too many things just don't add up -- besides the obvious that there are just too many fan sites, cast members, annual stockholder reports, arial photographers, suppliers, etc. to keep a new park hidden. Area 51 it ain't.

 

[All Aboard]

Enough has been said in this thread already to outline why a park is NOT currently being built in Central Florida. But, to add to the heap, there are aerial photo junkies out there posting photos on the web every time there is a drainage ditch being dug on WDW property. Surely, they'd have noticed a theme park going up.

 

[Figmentrocks]

We're lucky that they replace lightbulbs and clean the bathrooms around WDW now. Spending capital for a new theme park is laughable. Any rumor of new constuction, should be taken at face value, a complete, incorrect rumor.

 

[justhat]

Hey Guys,
I was simply posting a question on a disney fan website. By reading the responses it seems as if I said they're building a 400 foot statue of Walt Disney. I don't live in FLorida, so if they're building something new I would not know about it. I don't go around (like some of you) taking ground measurements and examining satellite photos to see if the man is lying.
Maybe the man did lie, but he's taking a big chance by being found incorrect. I should be like some of you people and go to the NSA and examine some top secret satellite photos since you people OBVIOUSLY know everything and everybody else is simply ignorant. I just thought I would get nicer responses.
By the way, I work for a union and engineers are unionized.

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by Bob O
No way could someone mistake DCA for a thrill park!!!!

People mistake IOA for one constantly...

 

[rangebob]

Yes they are engineers, but if the persons father is an engineer at Disney he would have used the correct term for them, they are imagineers at Disney. The only rumor that I keep on hearing about a roller coaster is only a single installation and it is at Animal Kingdom. I know that a couple of years ago I heard of a thrill park being investigated but I've heard the plans have been shelved for now.

 

[justhat]

He may have said 'imagineers' but I didn't really pay much attention to his specific wording. He did know the union local number though, and working in a union and having a mother who is a union president, I guess I could find out if that's really the guy, but since I don't really care to prove whether or not he's lying, I don't think I'll bother checking. I was just interested in knowing if others had heard this rumor and what they thought about the possibility.

 

[CrayzeeDiz]

I have listened to the same rumor from Disney Cast members. I recall being told in October that Disney was making a huge Villains park with thrill rides only that would dwarf Islands of Adventure. And yes engineers are unionized.

 

[slam_mjg]

Seems like everyone here agrees that Disney isn't "in the middle of building" a new theme park and there won't be a new park opening in 2004.

Does anyone think Keith, the owner of Tiffany Towncar, would fabricate this story and lie to his customers?

 

[justhat]

Thanks Slam_mjg, I think that is really my biggest question-why would Keith want to make something like that up. Having used his company many times before I know they are reputable and responsible (he even got us a ride home from our NYC airport just to help us out on the way home) so wouldn't lying to his customers make us less likely to trus usng his service? Sure, maybe he's some sort of pathological liar, but really, how many are there who run established companies? I'm sure it's possible, but it just doesn't seem probable. I just thought that maybe he knew something we didn't, even if he details weren't all entirely accurate (since we all know Disney doesn't always complete things on time).