Ten Incredible Theme Parks That Were Never Built

With roller coasters reaching prices well above the eight-fold digits and the need to buy large tracts of land that are located in tourist destinations but not too close to people’s homes to warrant a complaint, building an amusement park can be an expensive and complicated task. endeavor. And these two factors are just a few of the hundreds of obstacles that prevent theme parks from popping up almost anywhere.

Despite that fact, however, plans for theme parks are regularly written and announced. At Disney parks, the “Imagineers,” or people who design the park, have what’s known as a “Blue Sky” period where they plan without any budget or constraints in mind. More often than not, other parks around the world are sometimes forever stuck in this blue sky setting. This is a list covering ten amazing-sounding theme parks that never saw the light of day.

Related: 10 Ways Disney Parks Hide Things Right In Front Of You

10 Space City USA

Like many of the entries on this list, many businessmen had plots to unseat Disneyland as the king of theme parks. Near Huntsville, toward the northern tip of Alabama, Space City USA was planned to be one such usurper. Like Disneyland, the property would involve multiple themed grounds, all tied to the overall theme of time travel, and would break ground in 1965.

Guests would meander between the Old South, a Mesozoic Lost World, a futuristic moon colony, and the Land of Oz, which expands on the time travel theme a bit. However, the $5 million price tag, coupled with a general sense of mismanagement, would prove too high of a hurdle for Space City USA. By 1967, the project would be scrapped when the land was sold at auction. ^[1]

9 Six Flags Indiana

Despite being one of the most successful amusement park companies, in terms of the number of parks currently operating within the chain, Six Flags Corporation has the reputation of being the company on a slightly tighter budget than Disney World. However, the history of Six Flags Indiana is poignant in that it was far enough along in the development phase to ship six complete roller coasters to the destination before they gave up.

In 1996, the Six Flags corporation purchased the Old Indiana Fun N water park after an accident earlier in the decade forced the park to close. Six Flags would even bring back four roller coasters they bought from the defunct Opryland USA theme park. However, the roller coasters would never be rebuilt. It is speculated that this is more likely because Six Flags had a habit of overspending during the 1990s, and the Indiana site was ultimately deemed too bad an investment.^[2]

8 wonderland amusement park

The capital of China, Beijing, is where this next failed venture found its weaknesses, or more specifically, the town of Chenzhuang in the suburbs of Beijing. Wonderland Amusement Park began a small amount of construction in 1998 and wanted to rival Disneyland before the corporation tried to build its own park in China. Wonderland even attempted to build its own castle motif as its centerpiece, and creepy photos show the structure was even half-built.

The project was halted due to lack of funding, though even if more money came in, Disney would end up planning a park in Hong Kong in 1999, completely eradicating any hope of Wonderland’s success. As a result, the 120-acre terrain would be left for urban explorers alone, littered with incomplete structures and towering, empty mock-castle battlements.^[3]

7 kiss world

In 1973, the New York hair metal superstar named KISS was conceived, and by 1977, the group had already released six different hit albums. Naturally, the group’s lead singer, Gene Simmons, wanted to build on his success and try a different business: the theme park industry. Unlike other entries on this list, the band wanted to operate a traveling amusement park, much like a traveling fair, rather than use a static location, and brainstorming began around 1978.

Called KISS World, the project would never get off the drawing board. This is mainly due to the fact that the band’s popularity began to decline severely in 1979, as evidenced by declining attendance at their concert tours. Management also concluded that an amusement park would be too high a price for a single rock band to go it alone.^[4]

6 Charlie Daniels Western World and Theme Park

Famed country singer Dolly Parton was able to successfully build a thriving theme park in her hometown of Pigeon Forge, TN in 1961, where it operates to this day. Enter Charlie Daniels, another prolific country star who vied to build her own amusement park in Florida. He teamed up with stockbroker Michael Vandiver in hopes of building something big enough to compete with Disney World. Like KISS World, Charlie Daniels Western World and Theme Park would never break through.

Just north of Tampa, the Saddlebrook community was where this amusement park would be located. Themed “Wild, Wild West,” Daniels’ original plans scrapped a traditional selection of theme park rides in favor of attractions like a rodeo, a 36-hole golf course and dinner theater, though a roller coaster of wood was in the center. plays. Although the park was planned to open in 1997, price tag, coupled with pressure from Saddlebrook residents, caused this theme park to lose its proverbial fast-track attraction to Disney.^[5]

5 six flags florida

With Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and Busch Garden having great success in the Sunshine State, the Six Flags company also wanted to try its hand at the safe-looking market. Rumors that the underdog theme park chain would open a park in Orlando have been circulating since the ’80s. bought any property on a large scale.

Although no official statements were ever made regarding plans to build a park, the company had hinted at such a project since the company built similar parks in Georgia. The company’s modus operandi of buying independent parks even made it look like it would buy the defunct Orlando Boardwalk and Baseball theme park in 2018, though many suspect that the company’s repeated bankruptcies, coupled with a complicated global economic theater, made plans such as totally theoretical.^[6]

4 Disney West C.O.T.

In 2001, Disneyland in Anaheim, California opened its second theme park on the property; Disney’s California Adventure. However, before planning to them a location based on the Golden State, the Disney corporation originally drafted plans to co-opt Disney World’s EPCOT on the West Coast. Named WestCOT, the park was to move away from the utopian future concept of the original Prototype Experimental Community of Tomorrow and lean toward the celebration of nations found at EPCOT’s World Showcase.

The geodesic dome would be replaced by a larger gold dome clad in metal, and many more countries would be added to the park’s roster besides its Florida sibling. The high prices were a huge hurdle, especially after other mediocre Disney projects in the ’90s drained the budget, and the massive park would be a major thorn in the side of Anaheim’s city planners. As a compromise, the smaller California Adventure would be built, although it was initially criticized for looking too cheap.^[7]

3 Multiple parks in Dubai

Six Flags tried to make it big in Dubai. Universal parks tried their luck. Even the Disney corporation itself discussed the idea. But sadly, these three parks, among others, would never be completed in the largest city in the UAE. The project that saw the most progress ended up being Universal Studios Dubailand, which it ended up buying and breaking ground in 2008. Sadly, though, the theme park would endure the purgatory of construction until finally receiving the sweet release of death in 2016.

The park would feature many of the same attractions as its predecessor in Florida. Plus, it would supposedly add enough attractions to double the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex, as well as add the world’s largest shopping mall. This project, along with the others, was snuffed out by the global recession that began in 2008. Six Flags Dubai didn’t even make it to 2010, though there is talk of the Six Flags chain trying its luck in the Arabian Peninsula once again. in Qiddiya.^[8]

2 the battersea

Fans of British progressive rock band Pink Floyd would probably first recognize the massive decommissioned Battersea Power Plant factory complex in west London as the building on the cover of their 1997 album. animals. But music was far from the only form of entertainment planned for the building. In 1987, John Broome, owner of the Alton Towers amusement park, purchased the building in hopes of building the most ambitious indoor amusement park project of all time.

Plans were afoot to build a massive mining train roller coaster, the world’s largest aquarium, and a plethora of flat rides. Despite its many skeptics, the Battersea theme park project would actually be fully funded. However, the indoor park would run into a very different problem. Poor structural integrity, asbestos, and other construction problems stifled the most ambitious aspects of the problem. Unlike other entries on this list, however, Battersea would eventually become a more low-key entertainment complex that operates to this day.^[9]

1 disney america

Disney America is easily the biggest blight on the Disney theme park resume. Those familiar with the Disney history of the late 20th century are already familiar with Michael Eisner, Disney’s CEO at the time, who watched projects like EuroDisney and the aforementioned California Adventure turn rather catastrophic. First announced in 1993 and located in Haymarket, Virginia, Disney’s America would be Disney’s third destination in the US and perhaps Michael Eisner’s biggest overall flop.

The park’s focus was on American history, rather than being themed like the original Disneyland, and would feature land based on historical periods from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and even a 1940s state fair. The park’s failure stemmed from the severe reaction of Virginians, especially Civil War historians who feared that local battlefields would be damaged. Intensive lobbying against Disney, coupled with the death of Disney’s top brass, Frank Wells, sealed the fate of Disney America in 1994.^[10]