Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Expert: Theme-park numbers just don’t jibe Brown declined to comment last week when asked if he was with Disney or had ever worked for the company. Disney officials who were reached last week by the Globe said they would neither confirm nor deny any plans. Brown said he is working with a local real-estate agent, Allyn Burt, to acquire the land. Burt said last week that he was working to put together property owners for the land deal, but he also said he has been skeptical about any theme-park plan, and that ARM officials have been “quiet” about who they represent. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Several residents in the region said they have been approached and offered money for their properties along Douglas Fir Road, but none wanted to discuss the offers or the details on the record. Told about the scale of the project, Speigel laughed. “Those numbers are just astronomical in today’s world in that size market,” he said. “It’s fabricated. If you took all the people who live in those surrounding markets (Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, Okla., etc.) and slid them into Joplin, you couldn’t service the debt on a project of this nature. “Disney is not looking at anything out there. Six Flags is not looking at anything out there. Universal is not looking at anything out there. Cedar Fair (Worlds of Fun) is not looking at anything out there.” Rob Norris, who is on the board of directors for the amusement-park association and the group’s immediate past chairman, said a park of the size outlined by Brown for the area is rarely done. “The scale here is world-class,” said Norris, president of Seabreeze Park in New York. “This is bigger than a drive-to park.” He also said it would take a “world-class” airport to serve the park being proposed. “Why Joplin? Why that area? It makes no sense,” added Speigel. He said there is a major theme park with 2.5 hours of every major metropolitan area in the United States, and that new “greenfield” parks are rarely built anymore. What’s more, he said, this is not the way major theme parks operate. “If Disney — and they’re not — were involved, this would be so under the radar that people wouldn’t have a clue,” he said. “It’s silly to let these things run rampant,” he said of the speculation. Andy Ostmeyer is the metro editor for The Joplin Globe. 
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