In my class for some leadership project we have to come up with some idea to promote positive change in our town. Unfortunately I live near Detroit and that is what everyone’s attention was on in class. Someone brought up urban farming and other people dismissed it. My question is this, is it feasible to build a Disney World in Detroit by buying up all the unused land or would it be too expensive. I think it is a great location, the other two Disney amusement parks are on the far edges of North America this one would be right in the middle and would probably get increased business from Canada and the whole Midwest. Only about 7100 acres of the Land Disney World sits on is developed.
As long as no public money goes into the project then Go For It. But Detroit has been plagued by financial disasters associated with taking property.
Disneyland and Disneyworld are both in locations with warm-hot weather year-round. I don’t think people would be too keen on spending their vacation in a Detroit winter.
Maybe some kind of entrepeneurship workshops and classes. Stuff like that.
I live in Detroit (city proper) and it has to be one of the worst places to live in America. Building anything here is a terrible idea, because there is no market for anything here. People are leaving the city in large numbers, why start any business here besides one-way buses headed out of town?
Lol
I agree with this, except I was in Minneapolis recently and for the first time went to Mall of America. It’s amazing in there, and because it has so much, it seems to give people a way to escape from the cold and have a lot to do. Perhaps Detroit could have something similar. The only problem is that parasitic city governments tend to look on succesful business ventures as potential sources of tax revenue rather than benefits in themselves to a city.
There are reasons Disneyland and Disney World are where they are.
Forget about them being ‘at the far ends of the country’.
Disneyland was built there because it was close to the Disney Studios. Simple as that. Hollywood was more or less the center of film production at the time.
Florida was chosen as its a popular vacation destination (Detroit is NOT). The location was choosen very specifically. FURTHER, they wanted a LOT of land to build, and intentionally left much of it undeveloped. They wanted a buffer between Disney World and other attractions in the area, somthing that the Disneyland location did not give them. It is near a major city (Orlando), giving them an airport, and located near two major roadways (I-4 and the Florida Turnpike), both of which cross Florida near DW and connect to the major interstates going thru Florida: I-75 and I-95.
One thing I’ve learn about amusement parks is that LOCATION is vital. Many well designed and funded amusement parks have gone under because of their poor location. (I believe there is some guy who is very good at working out locations for things, who consulted on the location of DW. I wonder what he’d tell you of the feasibility of Detroit…)
As for Disney World IDK, the cold weather is indeed a problem but also I would also agree that it is a lot closer to a lot of people so it might work.
If I were to do this project however I’d probably do something with education, especially vocational stuff.
For northern climates it’s better to build rides in a mall, as in West Edmonton mall. With LIM rollercoasters it’s much easier now. Unfortunately, we are entering an era of economic decline when grand amusement ideas are being pushed down the line.
Urban farming is usually a sign of deep decay: the most evident historical case was Byzantium.
The arguments against Disney World and Disney Land are very sound, so I’ll switch to another idea.
How about a so called “tourist trap”? Two examples in not so favorable climates are Pigeon Forge and Niagara Falls (Ontario). Pigeon Forge may be considered a bit tacky but it was originally a dirt poor, underdeveloped country town. Theme parks, outlet malls and music venues turned the place around. Niagara Falls has the added bonus of having the falls but when you look at the many tourist attractions it’s obvious the falls themselves are just a backdrop. You have casinos, covered aquatic parks, food malls etc.
Of course such a project would require huge capitals and a bit of understanding from both State and City officials.