Neuer Park in Disneydimension für Atlanta?
Ich lass das jetzt einfach mal hier stehen... ;-)
(Quelle: http://atlanta.bcentral.com/atlanta/stories/2001/09/03/story8.html )
New theme park for Atlanta?
Supporters hope to build Disney-sized attraction
Walter Woods Staff Writer
A group of Atlanta and Orlando, Fla., executives are raising money to build a metro area theme park twice the size of Six Flags Over Georgia and big enough to rival Walt Disney World.
Tentatively called Transpo USA, the $500 million, 1,000-acre entertainment complex would be a celebration of transportation with roller coaster rides, daily air shows, magnetically propelled trains and antique cars and planes. It also would feature exhibits about space travel, including a life-size replica of the space shuttle.
Organizers even dream of a re-enactment of the Civil War naval battle between the early armored ships Monitor and Merrimack.
Plans call for the park to include a domed, year-round water park, two family hotels and an 850-room hotel and convention center with an
18-hole golf course. A steam locomotive would carry passengers to the park from Underground Atlanta.
Investors estimate the park would draw 3.5 million visitors each year, making it the No. 2 tourist attraction in Georgia. Stone Mountain Park, the No. 1 attraction, draws 4 million visitors a year.
The location has yet to be nailed down, but investors in the park, who have formed a company called the Atlanta Theme Attractions Group, expect to open a preview center at the future site sometime next year.
Transpo USA has been the dream of a small group of Atlantans since 1991, but the idea has gained momentum in the last year. The organizing company has secured a letter of intent from Crestline Capital (NYSE: CLJ), a hotel management company, to be involved in the project. It's also hired Hey Charvat Peacock/Architects, an Orlando architectural firm, to develop the preliminary designs for the park.
"Convention attendees complain all the time that there's just not enough to do here. Georgia needs a major theme attraction," said Earl Patton, one of the advisors to the project and former chairman of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Orlando is saturated, and we need to build something that is unique to the whole country to attract visitors to the area."
Fund-raising
Much of the group's planning and fund-raising is still very preliminary. The investors have raised $275,000 to launch the project and are now trying to raise an additional $600,000 to fund the final architectural designs, an operational plan and the salaries of three key operators, including the park's general manager.
A spokesperson for the group said the $600,000 likely would be funded by investors or possibly by the state of Georgia. The group may apply for money from the OneGeorgia program, a fund from the state's tobacco settlement to create rural economic development. State officials could not be reached for comment on the project.
The initial $50 million to $100 million to develop the park likely would come from bank loans, bonds and other financing. Organizers hope additional money would come from corporate sponsors, such as automotive companies, which also would provide attractions for the park.
Some tourism experts said they were skeptical an attraction could raise that much money in a challenged economy. Since Atlanta won the Olympic Games 10 years ago, a number of attractions have been proposed, but none of them have materialized, including a "Gone With the Wind" theme park that was to open before the Olympic opening ceremonies.
But organizers are confident they will raise the necessary dollars.
"It's true the economy is tight," Patton said. "But what we're talking about is two to four years down the road, and I don't know anyone who doesn't believe things will be better by then. You can't just put your head in the sand. You have to go ahead and start a project today for the future."
Demand debate
Industry experts also doubt there is sufficient demand for another attraction in the Southeast, and even nationwide.
"Building a theme park in Atlanta may be an unwise thing," said Tim O'Brien, senior editor of Amusement Business, a trade magazine covering the industry. "There's a lot of regional competition in the Southeast, and the theme park industry in the U.S. is very saturated."
There are about 500 amusement parks in the country, and collectively they get about 320 million visitors each year, O'Brien said.
"That's more than one visit per person each year in the United States, and that connotes a very mature market," he added.
New Southern parks like Jazzland, which opened in New Orleans in 2000, and VisionLand in Birmingham, Ala., which opened four years ago, have struggled, O'Brien said.
Existing parks are trying to stay competitive as well. Six Flags Over Georgia does not release attendance figures, but tourism experts estimate the park had a soft 2000. This year has likely been better, with about 2.2 million visitors. A solid year for Six Flags is 2.5 million visitors, industry experts said.
Six Flags Inc. (NYSE: PKS), the park's parent company, reported slightly better results for the first half of 2001, particularly in the United States, but some analysts have been disappointed that the company's parks didn't attract more visitors. Six Flags is the world's largest regional theme park operator, with 38 parks in markets throughout North America and Europe.
Atlanta tourism officials are excited at the prospect of another Atlanta theme park.
"Atlanta needs more destinations and attractions to make it more like Orlando, Nashville and New Orleans," said Spurgeon Richardson, CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It would be a great thing for the city."
(Quelle: http://atlanta.bcentral.com/atlanta/stories/2001/09/03/story8.html )
New theme park for Atlanta?
Supporters hope to build Disney-sized attraction
Walter Woods Staff Writer
A group of Atlanta and Orlando, Fla., executives are raising money to build a metro area theme park twice the size of Six Flags Over Georgia and big enough to rival Walt Disney World.
Tentatively called Transpo USA, the $500 million, 1,000-acre entertainment complex would be a celebration of transportation with roller coaster rides, daily air shows, magnetically propelled trains and antique cars and planes. It also would feature exhibits about space travel, including a life-size replica of the space shuttle.
Organizers even dream of a re-enactment of the Civil War naval battle between the early armored ships Monitor and Merrimack.
Plans call for the park to include a domed, year-round water park, two family hotels and an 850-room hotel and convention center with an
18-hole golf course. A steam locomotive would carry passengers to the park from Underground Atlanta.
Investors estimate the park would draw 3.5 million visitors each year, making it the No. 2 tourist attraction in Georgia. Stone Mountain Park, the No. 1 attraction, draws 4 million visitors a year.
The location has yet to be nailed down, but investors in the park, who have formed a company called the Atlanta Theme Attractions Group, expect to open a preview center at the future site sometime next year.
Transpo USA has been the dream of a small group of Atlantans since 1991, but the idea has gained momentum in the last year. The organizing company has secured a letter of intent from Crestline Capital (NYSE: CLJ), a hotel management company, to be involved in the project. It's also hired Hey Charvat Peacock/Architects, an Orlando architectural firm, to develop the preliminary designs for the park.
"Convention attendees complain all the time that there's just not enough to do here. Georgia needs a major theme attraction," said Earl Patton, one of the advisors to the project and former chairman of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Orlando is saturated, and we need to build something that is unique to the whole country to attract visitors to the area."
Fund-raising
Much of the group's planning and fund-raising is still very preliminary. The investors have raised $275,000 to launch the project and are now trying to raise an additional $600,000 to fund the final architectural designs, an operational plan and the salaries of three key operators, including the park's general manager.
A spokesperson for the group said the $600,000 likely would be funded by investors or possibly by the state of Georgia. The group may apply for money from the OneGeorgia program, a fund from the state's tobacco settlement to create rural economic development. State officials could not be reached for comment on the project.
The initial $50 million to $100 million to develop the park likely would come from bank loans, bonds and other financing. Organizers hope additional money would come from corporate sponsors, such as automotive companies, which also would provide attractions for the park.
Some tourism experts said they were skeptical an attraction could raise that much money in a challenged economy. Since Atlanta won the Olympic Games 10 years ago, a number of attractions have been proposed, but none of them have materialized, including a "Gone With the Wind" theme park that was to open before the Olympic opening ceremonies.
But organizers are confident they will raise the necessary dollars.
"It's true the economy is tight," Patton said. "But what we're talking about is two to four years down the road, and I don't know anyone who doesn't believe things will be better by then. You can't just put your head in the sand. You have to go ahead and start a project today for the future."
Demand debate
Industry experts also doubt there is sufficient demand for another attraction in the Southeast, and even nationwide.
"Building a theme park in Atlanta may be an unwise thing," said Tim O'Brien, senior editor of Amusement Business, a trade magazine covering the industry. "There's a lot of regional competition in the Southeast, and the theme park industry in the U.S. is very saturated."
There are about 500 amusement parks in the country, and collectively they get about 320 million visitors each year, O'Brien said.
"That's more than one visit per person each year in the United States, and that connotes a very mature market," he added.
New Southern parks like Jazzland, which opened in New Orleans in 2000, and VisionLand in Birmingham, Ala., which opened four years ago, have struggled, O'Brien said.
Existing parks are trying to stay competitive as well. Six Flags Over Georgia does not release attendance figures, but tourism experts estimate the park had a soft 2000. This year has likely been better, with about 2.2 million visitors. A solid year for Six Flags is 2.5 million visitors, industry experts said.
Six Flags Inc. (NYSE: PKS), the park's parent company, reported slightly better results for the first half of 2001, particularly in the United States, but some analysts have been disappointed that the company's parks didn't attract more visitors. Six Flags is the world's largest regional theme park operator, with 38 parks in markets throughout North America and Europe.
Atlanta tourism officials are excited at the prospect of another Atlanta theme park.
"Atlanta needs more destinations and attractions to make it more like Orlando, Nashville and New Orleans," said Spurgeon Richardson, CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It would be a great thing for the city."