Disney's America

Disney's America was a theme park that was to be built by The Walt Disney Company in Haymarket, Virginia in the early 1990s.

History

After concept plans for Disney's America were drawn up for the history-based attraction in 1993, it became Michael Eisner's pet project, and he even obtained the support of the Virginia Commission on Population Growth and Development.

Themed areas

The plans for Disney's America called for eight distinctly themed areas:

• Native American Village - An accurate Native American village that would have reflected the tribes that were known in that part of the country. Guests would have also enjoyed interactive experiences, exhibits and arts and crafts, as well as an exciting white water river raft ride that would have gone all around the area, based on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
• Civil War - A Civil War fort would have plunged guests into a more turbulent time of American history, and adjacent to it, a big battlefield, where Civil War re-enactments and water battles between the Monitor and the Merrimac would have once again been fought.
• Ellis Island - Moving into the 20th century, a replica of Ellis Island building where many immigrants came through, guests would have live the "immigrant experience" through music, ethnic foods and a great live show presentation.
• State Fair - Area that was going to show how even during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Americans knew how to entertain themselves. With folk art exhibits and a live show on baseball, guests could have enjoyed, too, classic wooden thrill rides in memory of Coney Island.
• Family Farm - A recreation of an authentic farm where guests could have had the opportunity to see different types of farm industries related to food production in addition to some hands-on experiences like milking cows and learning what homemade ice cream tasted like.
• President's Square - A celebration of the birth of democracy and those who fought to preserve it. The Hall of Presidents of Walt Disney World would have been moved to this section of Disney's America.
• Enterprise - A mock factory town, it would have highlighted American ingenuity where guests could have ridden a major roller coaster attraction called the "Industrial Revolution", traveling through a 19th century landscape with heavy industry and blast furnaces. And, on either side of the coaster would have been exhibits of famous American technology that defined the American industry in the past, and new developments that would have defined industries in the future.
• Victory Field - Guests would have experienced what America's soldiers faced in the defense of freedom during the world wars. It would have been themed to resemble an air field with a series of hangars containing attractions based on America's military fight using virtual reality technology. The air field would have also served as an exhibit area of planes from different periods, as well as a place for major flying exhibitions.

Some of these concepts were slightly re-themed and made their way into Disney's California Adventure including the Bountiful Valley Farm (Family Farm), Grizzly River Run (Lewis and Clark Expedition raft ride), California Screamin' (State Fair roller coaster ride) as well as Condor Flats (Victory Field).

Revisited

Proposed conversion of Knott’s Berry Farm

A conversion of Knott's Berry Farm into Disney’s America was later drafted shortly after the Knott family announced that they would soon take bids for the property. The idea for the conversion reportedly came from the exact replica of Independence Hall which sits in the parking lot of Knott’s Berry Farm.

The plan called for stretching out the park’s entrance across the street over to Independence Hall. The new entrance to the park would then be built to resemble Liberty Square located at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, though the name of the entrance would have been referred to as "Presidents' Square." The major attraction for this area would have included “The Hall of Presidents.” Another section of the park would have included the “Native American” territories as it was to pay tribute to the history of America’s native people. The area would have included the area at which the Mystery Lodge, Indian Trail, as well as Bigfoot Rapids are currently located. Along with that, Bigfoot Rapids would have had its name changed to “The Lewis & Clark River Expedition,” which was a similar attraction proposed for the original park. This idea was eventually scrapped because the Imagineers felt it was an "inconsistent hybrid of thrills and education."

Other proposed ideas would have been the conversion of the former Roaring '20s section into the “Enterprise” territory. Reflection Lake would have been converted to Freedom Bay, and would have showcased a recreation of the Ellis Island immigration center. And the Old Ghost Town section of the park would have been left much the same way as it had always been. Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village would more than likely have been converted into different “territories” as well.

The project was eventually canceled due to a number of reasons. One reason was a lack of a practical means to transport guests from the current Disneyland Resort over to Disney’s America, ruling out that a monorail system would be far too expensive, also noting that bus transportation would be a nightmare. But the main factor was that the Knott family had rejected Disney's bid since they were afraid that the Imagineers would replace much of what their parents had originally put into the park. Ironically, Cedar Fair (the company that bought the park 2 years later) ended up taking out more than what the Imagineers’ plans had called for.

References

External links

• Joe's Disney's America Tribute
• Disney Documents þlus on park's defeat
• Wetland Site Study for Disney's America proposed site