As most of my friends, family members, and colleagues know, there’s nothing I enjoy more than being right.
What can I say—right or wrong—it’s a passion of mine!
As a result, I guess I’m happy to report that the $2-billion American Exceptionalism Amusement Park planned for the Grand Lake backwoods – you know, the one that was promised to us by a Branson entertainer and a 93-year-old Pizza Hut mogul – is “all but” dead.
I say “all but” dead because there’s still a chance Ryan Walters could be governor. And let’s be honest—if there’s one person in this state who would give a white evangelical American fairytale-themed amusement park hundreds of millions in state subsidies, it’s conservative Ryan Walters.
Here are the details via The Tulsa World:
A planned $2 billion Disneyland-like theme park announced two years ago remains in limbo — and may not happen at all — amid a shakeup between the project’s financial backer and those initially hired to make it happen.
Two of the project’s main principals parted ways with the Branson, Missouri-based development company, Mansion Entertainment, which also no longer has a working website.
The financial backer of the project, called American Heartland, is Gene Bicknell, who will turn 93 in September. Bicknell remains owner of the Mansion Theater in Branson.
If you don’t mind f-cking with Tulsa World’s paywall – one that will suddenly quadruple in price without warning and then require you to call an 800-number to renegotiate or cancel – you can read the full story there.
It covers all the nuts, bolts, and red flags.
I guess the one thing it doesn't mention is how the developers totally misjudged just how many pockets they’d need to line in the Oklahoma gentry to make this project a reality – you know, politicians, special interests, tribal nations, policymakers, contractors, landowners, etc.
It’s not easy to break into their club, and if you don’t give them a sizable chunk of profits and return on their “goodwill,” they’re going to stick with the traditional grifts in the good old boy networks and leave you out in the Oklahoma dust.
Seriously, how did a billionaire screw this up? It appears the only allies they had were a small-town mayor and a State Rep. who likes Kid Rock. That might get you a TIF, some job credits, or free tickets to Rocklahoma, but for billions in subsidies, infrastructure improvements, and assistance from the state, you need to go further than that.
The Tulsa World talked to one guy involved in the project, and he bemoaned the death of it:
Two of the principals who spoke — then-American Heartland Chief Operating Officer Larry Wilhite and Executive Producer Steve Hedrick, a former longtime Disney design executive — are no longer with the project.
“The American Heartland Theme Park and Resort is an incredible concept. It’s one of the best creative works I’ve been involved with in my 40 years of theme park development, 20 of those years with Disney Creative Entertainment and Imagineering,” Hedrick told the Tulsa World in a recent email…
“Now with millions of dollars owed to hundreds of theme park consultants and dozens of designers and architects, the chances of reviving the project are small.”
As I occasionally demonstrate, I do like to stick up for the little folks in the world who get dicked around by the cheap-ass wealthy...
That being said, it’s hard to feel sorry for “theme park consultants” who were obviously just trying to chase some easy cash here. If any of them were worth their ride bracelet in tickets, their consulting gig would have consisted of a brief and a simple “This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Good luck!”
Back when the project was first announced, I wrote that I’d believe it was real when I pulled my Canoo van into the American Heartland parking lot.
Now that Canoo is bankrupt and the American Heartland is experiencing cardiac arrest, I think it’s safe to say that’s never going to happen. But then again, who knows? Maybe someday we’ll all be able to watch Governor Walters cut the ribbon on a hot summer day at the park’s grand opening—using a telescope from high atop Bricktown’s Legends Tower!
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
