The American Heartland Theme Park and Resort

[jn1780]

^ Shun the loser who doesn't get the inside jokes!!!!!

(just kidding lol)

Sometimes the response is better than the joke itself. Glad someone agrees that FAA approval is not that big of a deal when it comes ro multimillion dollar developments.

[shavethewhales]

^lol, I still have no idea what the reference is.

Anyway,

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/bu...ce=mp-homepage

The latest update. Essentially they are saying that they are redesigning portions, including the RV park that is supposed to be under construction and the hotel. The say they ran into floodplain issues with the RV park. Sure seems like the cart is WAY before the horse. Running into floodplain issues is something that comes up during design - usually WAY before the contractor shows up and puts out silt fencing and the contractor staging area and such. So it seems they really were rushing to get a few turns of dirt moving just for the cameras... Or they just have no idea what they are doing and how this process works.

Regardless, they say they are still moving forward.

[Jersey Boss]

5 million in unpaid debts. Not off to a promising start.
https://nondoc.com/2024/05/09/compan...r-unpaid-work/

[Pete]

“The market isn’t there,” Dennis Speigel, founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based International Theme Park Services, Inc., told NonDoc on Thursday. “It’s not a supportable investment in that market for a theme park. Now for an RV park, that’s totally different. There may be a million campers that go through that area, and that could be fine. But in terms of building a theme park that’s going to draw 4.9 million people in the first year, it’s just not practical, and it’s totally unrealistic. They don’t have the tourism, and they don’t have the local population to support it. And the industry as a whole, I haven’t heard anybody say they think it’s a viable and possible idea.”

https://nondoc.com/2023/10/20/vinita...roundbreaking/

[PhiAlpha]

Would be much smarter for them to lean into doing some type of resort on the Cherokee Spur Ranch property that has a ton of lake frontage. Could actually make money on that project.

[BDP]

Agree. A super nice RV park has always seemed to be the most logical and feasible part of this project. That sounds like a guaranteed money maker, imo.

The cynical view would be that the theme park was proposed to garner the attention it's gotten and to wow local government to assist in the project.

[Jake]

I will forever love the fact that their claim to competence in all their press releases is that they were the sponsor for the Rose Parade.

[Jake]

Also, makes OKANA even cooler in context. Props to the Chickasaws for actually doing what they said they would.

[The]

The whole thing was a sham and a trash idea from the very beginning. It needs to die.

[PhiAlpha]

The whole thing was a sham and a trash idea from the very beginning. It needs to die.

The park may be a sham but they did buy several thousand acres worth of property out there, both near Vinita and on Grand Lake. Will be interesting to see what they do with all of it whether they build a theme park or not.

[The]

The park may be a sham but they did buy several thousand acres worth of property out there, both near Vinita and on Grand Lake. Will be interesting to see what they do with all of it whether they build a theme park or not.

Your idea above made a lot more sense. I’m against the theme park nonsense.

[PhiAlpha]

Your idea above made a lot more sense. I’m against the theme park nonsense.

Agree, even IF the park was realistic lol. Much rather promote the lake than a new disney world in the middle of no where.

[shavethewhales]

Having a consultant come after you in a situation like this is a big deal. The consultant stood to make a ton of money if this project made it to any sort of fruition. I imagine they had millions more dollars of work in the pipeline theoretically. For them to feel that they needed to do this says that they have zero faith in Mansion to be a viable enterprise to work with. I'm a civil consultant myself and have to be very careful to keep clients happy. Something like this is a nuclear option at the corporate level.

Everything about this proposal has been weird, and it's starting to add up to a complete fiasco. They have kept up appearances better than most of these pie in the sky development proposals, but the ship is starting to sink. Every time I think they may be able to pull something off, reality bites. They still don't seem to have approvals/final design for the tens of millions of dollars worth of off-site infrastructure needed. The RV park still needs to be redesigned and re-approved (was it approved in the first place?). They need to be starting on the theme park yesterday in order to even have the first bit open for 2026/27. It just doesn't add up.

[Swake]

Agree, even IF the park was realistic lol. Much rather promote the lake than a new disney world in the middle of no where.

The park would make much more sense if it was part of a resort on the lake itself.

[barrettd]

I heard they already got FAA approval though

[Jersey Boss]

The park may be a sham but they did buy several thousand acres worth of property out there, both near Vinita and on Grand Lake. Will be interesting to see what they do with all of it whether they build a theme park or not.

Do you know if the check cleared?

[PhiAlpha]

The park would make much more sense if it was part of a resort on the lake itself.

Good point.

[PhiAlpha]

Do you know if the check cleared?

Most of it was purchased over a year ago and the deeds have been recorded so it would be pretty dumb on the part of the previous owners if they did so before clearing payment

[PhiAlpha]

I heard they already got FAA approval though

And they have cool renderings too!

[jn1780]

Well if the theme park talk helped them spring board the RV park project then I would say 'mission accomplished?"

[Jersey Boss]

Most of it was purchased over a year ago and the deeds have been recorded so it would be pretty dumb on the part of the previous owners if they did so before clearing payment

Forgot to add "/s/ "

[PhiAlpha]

Forgot to add "/s/ "

I won't tell the FAA if you won't.

[warreng88]

Article in the Oklahoman highlights.

Mostly stuff that we already know from the nondoc article.

“At this point the RV park is running behind schedule due to a redesign of the initial footprint,” Kristy Adams, spokesman for Mansion Entertainment told NonDoc in a story published on May 9. She also said the developer is working through some issues surrounding flooding with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Some of you may have noticed that the RV park is lagging a little behind, and that’s my fault. I’m sorry,” Steve Hedrick, American Heartland executive producer of project development, told the council. “I asked the designers to compress the RV park.

Hedrick said more RV spaces could be added and that the planned resort has been expanded from 300 to 400 hotel rooms.

People still doubt the project will come off. HelloVinita.com, a local website launched last August as "an info hub for all things Vinita and American Heartland," was last updated on Dec. 18.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/busi...e/73646446007/

[shavethewhales]

I think hearing them openly admit that they are behind schedule and working on new timelines is interesting. That's a big change to how they were talking last year while being repeatedly pressed about their crazy timeline.

I wonder how long it's going to take them to redesign the RV park. Theoretically they only have to change the flood plain areas and permitting should only take a few months if they aren't doing anything to intense right on the flood plain itself. If they were smart, they would do it right and apply for a CLOMR-F and actually update the floodplain to give them maximum buildable area - but that would take a year or more.

But who are they still working with? Since FORREC is taking legal action against them, are the other contractors getting paid?

[Jersey Boss]

I think hearing them openly admit that they are behind schedule and working on new timelines is interesting. That's a big change to how they were talking last year while being repeatedly pressed about their crazy timeline.

I wonder how long it's going to take them to redesign the RV park. Theoretically they only have to change the flood plain areas and permitting should only take a few months if they aren't doing anything to intense right on the flood plain itself. If they were smart, they would do it right and apply for a CLOMR-F and actually update the floodplain to give them maximum buildable area - but that would take a year or more.

But who are they still working with? Since FORREC is taking legal action against them, are the other contractors getting paid?

Why would anybody perform labor for an outfit with a $5.5M lien on them for not paying wages.