Why has Disney never made a "Disneyworld over Mid-America???"

[gf78]

I've been reading about Disney cancelling Infinity and slashing budgets at Disneyland and Disneyworld and all signs point to losses at their Shanghai location.  So I have to ask, what the hell Disney?  Disney is first & foremost a beloved American company.  I had heard rumors years ago that Disney was contemplating making a new location somewhere in the middle of the US, possibly Missouri.  And you know what?  It makes a helluva lot more sense than Shanghai!

There is a ton of undeveloped land in Missouri and Illinois that could be a prime location.  It would also be within a day's drive for huge cities like St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio which are four of the largest and most heavily populated cities in the US out of the top 10 (St. Louis is #60).  The land here is infinitely cheaper than California, Florida or Shanghai. 

I'm not a financial analyst, brain surgeon or businessman beyond selling things here & there on eBay and online.  But there is a huge section right down the center of the country that take vacations to Disney's locations every year.  These people spend a small fortune on the travel plans alone, money that if they didn't have to fly or drive halfway across the country could be used during their vacation.  That's more revenue in Disney's pocket.  People would also go more than once a year or less if it A)  Wasn't so expensive to travel and B) So far away that they had to wait until they had a few weeks vacation time.  If Disney was a few hours away, wouldn't you go more often?  I would go every month just to buy stuff!

It just seems like a huge missed opportunity to make money for them, spread the joy of Disney and make your homegrown fans happy.  And even as a grown man, I have to say that there truly is something magical about Disney.    

[turf]

Rumor was that they were looking to build one around Branson, MO at one time. 
Then, someone was buying up chunks of land around Mt. View, AR.  Lots of local whispers were claiming it was a Disney company buying it up.  None of that has come to be true yet. 

[gf78]

Rumor was that they were looking to build one around Branson, MO at one time. 
Then, someone was buying up chunks of land around Mt. View, AR.  Lots of local whispers were claiming it was a Disney company buying it up.  None of that has come to be true yet.

Yeah, that's what I had heard.  I didn't remember it being around Branson, but I knew it was Missouri.  Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois....just frickin' build one around here and folks will come.  It's a boatload of money waiting to be made. 

[Flashback2012]

If they ever did put a park in the Midwest, it would have to be in Kansas City as that looks like the geographical middle of America. There's plenty of amusement parks within a few hours of here and while they're no Disney Park, they'd certainly be in competition for profits.

I've no idea what it's like beyond Indiana but about 3 hours away from me in Christmas, Indiana is Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. We have Kings Island locally as well as the Beach Waterpark just up the street from it. Down in Louisville there's Kentucky Kingdom and 5 hours away near Knoxville, TN is Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with Dollywood. 3 1/2 hours North of me is Cedar Point.

Farther out is Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Kings Dominion in Richmond, Virginia. Both of those are roughly 8 hours away, still closer than Walt Disney World in Orlando. In that regard, Branson, Springfield and ideally Kansas City would be nice since they're about 8 hours the opposite direction of here just far enough to make the trek worthwhile instead of hauling all the way to the middle of Florida. 

Would there be any drawbacks to planting a Disney Park in the KC area? I mean are tornadoes or violent windstorms an issue? I also figure that Disney would want it to be in a place where the park could be open year round like they are in their current locations (though are ones in Paris and Japan open year round?).

[fighterpilot562]

As nice as it sounds to have a Disneyland/ Disney World would be, you aren't missing much when it comes to having one. I live about 17 miles from Disneyland, and have been a handful of times. Its expensive, they go up in price every year. As a SoCal resident, I get a discount, I only have to pay $98 to get in, and that is on a off day.(they have a new pricing chart, where prices depends on the time of year/day.). So off/slow days  are cheap, but popular days/summer its way more expensive. I think its like $120 per a ticket on busy days. Plus the crowds, waiting in line for rides, food is expensive and not good.

Then again, I am not much of a theme park fan......

[gf78]

If they ever did put a park in the Midwest, it would have to be in Kansas City as that looks like the geographical middle of America. There's plenty of amusement parks within a few hours of here and while they're no Disney Park, they'd certainly be in competition for profits.

I've no idea what it's like beyond Indiana but about 3 hours away from me in Christmas, Indiana is Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. We have Kings Island locally as well as the Beach Waterpark just up the street from it. Down in Louisville there's Kentucky Kingdom and 5 hours away near Knoxville, TN is Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with Dollywood. 3 1/2 hours North of me is Cedar Point.

Farther out is Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Kings Dominion in Richmond, Virginia. Both of those are roughly 8 hours away, still closer than Walt Disney World in Orlando. In that regard, Branson, Springfield and ideally Kansas City would be nice since they're about 8 hours the opposite direction of here just far enough to make the trek worthwhile instead of hauling all the way to the middle of Florida. 

Would there be any drawbacks to planting a Disney Park in the KC area? I mean are tornadoes or violent windstorms an issue? I also figure that Disney would want it to be in a place where the park could be open year round like they are in their current locations (though are ones in Paris and Japan open year round?).

I don't think the Paris and Japan ones are open year round because they have the same weather patterns we do (snow, hot, etc.).  Kansas City, MO would be just fine with me.  Even if they rides couldn't be open year round, the stores and venues could be which is a huge part of the draw for many people. 

[rayne315]

If they ever did put a park in the Midwest, it would have to be in Kansas City as that looks like the geographical middle of America. There's plenty of amusement parks within a few hours of here and while they're no Disney Park, they'd certainly be in competition for profits.

I've no idea what it's like beyond Indiana but about 3 hours away from me in Christmas, Indiana is Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. We have Kings Island locally as well as the Beach Waterpark just up the street from it. Down in Louisville there's Kentucky Kingdom and 5 hours away near Knoxville, TN is Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with Dollywood. 3 1/2 hours North of me is Cedar Point.

Farther out is Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Kings Dominion in Richmond, Virginia. Both of those are roughly 8 hours away, still closer than Walt Disney World in Orlando. In that regard, Branson, Springfield and ideally Kansas City would be nice since they're about 8 hours the opposite direction of here just far enough to make the trek worthwhile instead of hauling all the way to the middle of Florida. 

Would there be any drawbacks to planting a Disney Park in the KC area? I mean are tornadoes or violent windstorms an issue? I also figure that Disney would want it to be in a place where the park could be open year round like they are in their current locations (though are ones in Paris and Japan open year round?).

I don't think the Paris and Japan ones are open year round because they have the same weather patterns we do (snow, hot, etc.).  Kansas City, MO would be just fine with me.  Even if they rides couldn't be open year round, the stores and venues could be which is a huge part of the draw for many people.

yeah but having them in paris and japan spreads out the interest so they do not compete against each other. if you were to put a Disney world in the middle of the US not only would it be extremely cost prohibitive (in current markets) but would compete for business from both the California and Florida Disney parks.

[badATchaos]

There's a lot of undeveloped land in Maine where I live. You can buy an acre for under 100 dollars but you don't see anyone lining up to develope it, because there's nothing up here but moose and blackflies. If it's more than two hours away from a major metropolitan center there's not much of a point to them. The cost of property isn't important in the long term, it's location. If investors think there's a lot of money to be made in a big city they'll have no problem ponying up the cash for a prime location. Shanghai for example has 24 million people living in it. That's more than the whole state of Florida. Why would someone place a resort in a state of 6 or 12 million when you can instantly have access to 24 million? By developing in a larger city you also have the added benefit of having greater access to lodging, public transit, and a more robust power grid.

[kamikazekeeg]

So there's Disneyland, Disney World...Disney Universe is the next likely one here? lol

Also I'd imagine that having Disney in places with regular good weather is a plus.  No snow or cold weather to worry about in Florida and I'd mostly imagine the same for where Disneyland is at?

[maximo310]

My guess is they look to build parks where the money is. That;s why Disneyland is in Orange County, which has a ton of people and strong tourism, Orlando is pretty similar ( not to mention its inland so less susceptible to hurricanes compared to Miami or Tampa), not to mention Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai have huge metro areas compared to other areas.

[telly]

So there's Disneyland, Disney World...Disney Universe is the next likely one here? lol

My guess would be Disney Galaxy, an homage to Mario

[gf78]

So there's Disneyland, Disney World...Disney Universe is the next likely one here? lol

My guess would be Disney Galaxy, an homage to Mario

The name sounds good, but it would probably be Galaxy since they own Star Wars.

[badATchaos]

Disney Planet ?

[gf78]

My guess is they look to build parks where the money is. That;s why Disneyland is in Orange County, which has a ton of people and strong tourism, Orlando is pretty similar ( not to mention its inland so less susceptible to hurricanes compared to Miami or Tampa), not to mention Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai have huge metro areas compared to other areas.

Chicago is a huge metropolitan area.      

[maximo310]

My guess is they look to build parks where the money is. That;s why Disneyland is in Orange County, which has a ton of people and strong tourism, Orlando is pretty similar ( not to mention its inland so less susceptible to hurricanes compared to Miami or Tampa), not to mention Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai have huge metro areas compared to other areas.

Chicago is a huge metropolitan area.      

True, but I think tourism also plays a strong role to it as well.  I don't have data on it, but I'm think that big cities on the coast seem to get more tourism + revenue than in the middle of the country, especially if you look at the OC. Another reason could also be that they prefer build their parks in warm climates vs cold/rainy and they don't feel like its worth their time to build a huge business area w/ the park + additional shops/hotels in that area.