"We don't want Disney to move in because it might urbanize the area" *Builds a subdivision instead*

I'm from NOVA, and the fact that people were worried about the urbanization of the area is hilarious. The area is becoming filled to the brim with cookie cutter houses

The short sightedness of the public is amazing. Today, Northern Virginia is a nothing but a plethora of strip malls, burbs and heavy traffic and no benefits to residents unless you enjoy that type of chaos.

The place they were planning to build it was 5 mins away from my house. I will never forgive Northern Virginia. I could've had a kick ass job at Disney.

Video Suggestions: Episode 19: Abandoned - Dreamland Japan Abandoned - Shicheng Abandoned - Salto Hotel Abandoned - Hashima Island Unlikely Episodes: Abandoned - Canadian Snow Church Abandoned - San Zhi Abandoned - Military Hospital (Germany) Abandoned - Submarine Base (Ukraine) Abandoned - NY City Hall Subway Stop Abandoned - Wooden Houses (Russia) Abandoned - Georgia Train Station Abandoned - Bedford Orphuem Abandoned - Sunken Yacht (Antartica) Abandoned - Michigan Central Station Abandoned - Italy Mill Abandoned - SW Florda Island Abandoned - Bulgarian Connunist Party Abandoned - Maunsell Sea Forts Abandoned - Floating Forest (AUS) Abandoned - Kolmanskop Abandoned - I.M. Cooling Tower (Belgium) Please like so Jake can see 🙂

The Mount Fuji ride in the Japan theme park would had been dope

Someone's going to build something near your house on that open parcel of land. You get to choose one of the following: 1) Prison 2) City dump 3) Factory 4) Disney park People would have to be pretty messed up to miss having the Disney park nearby, and with their income there's a high liklihood of sufficient revenue for them to uphold the infrastructure of traffic and utilities improvements as a result of their construction. If the land near the historical battlefield was so sacred, why build houses? It's still building, right?

I live in the area and was closely following the debate surrounding Disney's America at the time. The loudest complaints were that this was right around a major historical site, and, rightly or wrongly, few people trusted Disney to handle that with the appropriate respect. *That's* where the concern about increased traffic came into play. Very few people were complaining that the park would lead to too much urbanization. It's not like the area was especially rural to begin with. What they were worried about, and, I would argue, with some justification, is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to build a major theme park in the area without a corresponding growth in the surrounding area. That's precisely what happened in Anaheim and especially Orlando, which were relative backwaters until Disney rolled in. The growth in those places was less to do with Disney's own plans, at least initially, but with the various hotels and shopping that grew up in response to the increased traffic Disney attracted. And, simply put, that's not something that Manassas could have supported. As I said, it wasn't undeveloped by any means, but it wasn't developed for the tourist business that Disney had in mind. The amount of actual undeveloped land was fairly small, and what remained was complicated by things like historic preservation concerns. And there were more mundane concerns, as well, like adding to traffic congestion in what was already one of the two most congested areas in the country, the affect on property values, and so on. And as for the park itself, while the concept was intriguing, it's also hard to imagine how Disney's ambitions wouldn't have ultimately given way to exactly the same kind of experience all of their other parks became. Both Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom started out with a similarly high-concept "not your typical amusement park" premise, and both eventually abandoned much of that in favor of essentially Magic Kingdom with slightly different theming. And that's something that deeply worried both historians and locals, to whom the historical significance of Manassas was a deeply serious thing, and not something anyone was keen to seen devolve into commerical kitsch. Simply put, Disney's entire plan showcased an almost _stunning_ lack of familiarity with both the practical and cultural issues inherent to developing in the region, and the company seemed to lose interest when it became clear that they might have to make certain compromises to win over their opposition. And, more than anything else, that's why it's probably the best for all involved that Disney's America never happened. In the end, the concept just wasn't compatible with the region, like trying to build the world's largest water park in the middle of the Sahara.

Tbh building anything in Virginia is hard. People out here see everything as historical. Like thus old falling apart house that has no historic value hasn't been taken down. For people think it's important when it's really not. Virginia is just a very Historic area where a lot of battles and history has happened. Though I wish that this park opened for I would have loved it. History is one of my favorite things.

The site is only around 15 minutes from my house. A very unfortunate shame it never came to fruition. Today it's become a large housing development and a country club. I-66 already brings in a lot of traffic from around the country, so I don't see how this park would change a lot. I asked my uncle about it, and he's been working at Disney for over 20 years as a waiter at the Italian restaurant on Main Street in WDW, and he really did not know a lot more than I and the public did, so I can presume that in the company itself, it was not a very public matter.

There is still rumors that Disney was thinking about reviving the idea, which I definitely hope and pray that it will be because it would be reasonably close to me.

That concept art got me hyped and now I really want that Park to be real. Also I LOVE American history so I would have died!

DAMN WISH THEY WOULDVE BUILT THIS TBH

THAT IDEA SEEMS SO COOL! Just walking into different American eras and learning about them is beyond amazing 😍

Disney has abandoned so many projects

As some one who is taking classes for a History degree..... I WANT THAT CIVIL WAR PARK

10/10 would watch again

Dear People in VA: You realize that it could have brought revenue to your area, right?

I live in Va and I can attest to this state being against anything fun.... its horrible for entertainment as a state

6:06 - "300,000 soldiers died" at Manassas?! No - 1st Bull Run= 800 dead, and 2nd Bull Run = 2,800... So, maybe 3,600 in total.

I do wish this had happened, I live in VA and it'd be cool to have more parks in the state

California Adventure may have been lackluster in the beginning, it certainly has become very popular since. I went about a year after it opened and it just seemed empty. Now its more crowded than Disneyland.

I’m a History major and love this park idea. This would have been so great for introducing children to American History. It’s like a warm up for the real history in dc.

I know people hate on Eisner and he wasn’t perfect but he was one of my favorites because like Walt, he was passionate, bold and imaginative. All things Disney seems to lack today.

I lived 30 min away as a kid, when we moved there I was excited to hear about it coming, and disappointed when it was cancelled a few years later. The story was heavily covered in the local tv stations and newspaper, one of the biggest arguments against it as I remember was people wanted to preserve the rural nature of the area in the county north of rt 29. I thought it was ironic 10 years later the area was filled with mcmansions lol.

I WANT THAT MT. FUJI RIDE. Seriously, Epcot is easily the most boring park, and a roller coaster would be great.

"Don't let Disney slip Virginia a Mickey." I'm sorry but that's fuckin hilarious.

I live in the neighborhood they built where Disney was supposed to be and it makes me sad the plans never went through

why the hell would they just decide to stop a good idea like this all because of some whiny people?

I wonder if they planned to have any reference to slavery in the park. Kind of awkward

I appreciate someone on youtube finally giving Eisner the credit he deserves. Not all of his ideas worked out, but he had ideas and he had a vision- something that can't be said of Iger

literally so sad that this park never occurred. every time i go to D.C. i always say why isn’t there anything Disney? (i’d even take a Disney store) I would go to this park yearly if it happened. such a lost great idea.

Disneys problem is their imagination is too big for their pockets

Small tidbit, but this had me laughing a bit (sorry). 300,000 soldiers didn't die at Manassas (6:00 into the video). That'd be about 3/5 the total casualties in the Civil War in one battle lol.

“No dont build a theme park, it’ll urbanize the damn place! Here, build a shit ton of houses instead.”

im from the DMV area and knowing there could of been a disney attraction within an hour from my houses would of been great

This theme park should have happened! I went to DC a few years ago, and this would have blown anything I saw there out of the water. I love the idea of going through the history of America in a theme park. And the civil war battle field reenactments would have been awesome. I don't know why those people were against it, it would have brought so much money to the surrounding area.

How about a Disneyland Canada instead? Instead of the teacup ride we can have spinning buttertarts 😛

I hate the fact that they never made this park happen. I love just an hour away from the original location and it would have been such an amazing thing to happen in our area. We get so many tourist anyway, this park would have made everything even better. Loudoun Country prides its self on being the richest country in country and a Disney park would have made it even richer.

Out of all the different planned and abandoned park/attraction concepts, this is one of the most disappointing ones to see fail. I love history and having this park would have been very cool. What is your biggest disappointment Jake? I would be cool to know your opinion.

You should do abandoned "Indian Ridge condos" at Branson Missouri. They're so creepy!

You should do a video on the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois. Many would recognize it from the Blues Brother's Movie.

Man a Disney theme park in Virginia? That's so much closer than Florida! Come on Disney! Build it!

They should just build this as an add-on to Magic Kingdom. It would be a perfect fit right behind Liberty Square and Frontierland.

That's a shame, I love theme parks that live Americana. :D

I'm excited for all the "minor" stuff Disney has planned with expanding their already made parks. But I'd love for them to build a new park here in the States. Whether it's in Disneyland Resort, Disney World, or just a single park somewhere else, I don't care. Just like to see that happen.

Make Disney's America great again

As someone who lives in NOVA I would have absolutely loved this!!! I wish they ended up actually doing this.

As a historian, I love the creativity and what could have been an intriguing place to visit.

TOO BUSY WATCHING THE PERISCOPE STREAM LOL

The difference between what Disney wanted to do, and what is actually there now - Disney would have put the infrastructure to support the "urbanized" area. Now it's just more DC suburban traffic and a bunch of McMansions.

The idea of Disney taking over the entire country reminds me of that one joke Some Jerk with a Camera made about the Bolivian mice- TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

since "Westcot" is in california and obviously in the west, would that mean that they'd have to change the florida park to "Eastcot"?

I am finding your video's absolutely fascinating. Glad I found your channel.

I love your content, especially the “abandoned series” I think it is really interesting to learn about what things that were left behind by companies

I'm from Fairfax and have spent a lot of time in the area this would've been in, and I can tell you this would've been an absolute failure. For starters, unless they did charter buses, visitors would've been forced to rent cars as Haymarket was technically the middle of nowhere in the 90s and 22 miles from Dulles airport (Reagan Airport was even farther). Traffic would've also been miserable. At the time it would've opened, 66 would've still been two lanes going each way through Prince William County. The expansion was not completed through Haymarket until a couple years ago, and even mid-expansion in the late 2000s, the exit Disney's America would've had was always backed up and wasn't fixed until the expansion was completed. There was also the idea that schools could do field trips, and while this may have been more convenient for NOVA schools and rural districts out in that area, Virginia has rich history that allows for less expensive and more focused tour group spots regardless of where you live within the state (I can't tell you how many history field trips I had in the 2000s). On the contrary, Disney had HUGE potential with that National Harbor location. There's a convention center right there and now MGM is nearby, so they lost out on having a family friendly alternative and convention business.

This is such a weird channel to subscribe to but always so interesting...

These documentary type videos are so addicting .

@bsf You've come a long way since your first few episodes where you were mumbling and stumbling throughout your narration. You are now a pro at it. 👍👏

I just came back from the Defunctland episode to appreciate this episode of Abandoned again. Also, you showing up in that Defunctland episode gave me a heart attack from surprise. But a good surprise. Here's to hoping you're also in the DisneyQuest episode

Hey I just wanna say I sent one of these videos to my mom and she ended up forwarding it to my entire family now every time we meet up we all talk about the last episode of abandoned XD it's ridiculous but amazing

Can you imagine being a worker during Universal’s Studio site, and just seeing the CEO of Disney, EVERY DAY!!!, just watching you? Someone has to know someone, cause I really want that story to be true.

i remember hearing about this back in the day! i would have gone too, it sounded awesome. thank you for the Blast from the past Bright Sun Films!

Omg omg I LOVE THE CEDAR FAIR REFRENCE!!! I thought I was the only one that hated them for what they did to geauga lake !! Great video

“Corpritizing the country” hasn’t that been the last century.

I freaking love this channel!

Well... Here's to hoping we eventually get Disney's America... Because it does seem like something Walt would have loved himself. It invites a lot of room for locomotives and displays of human progress of the past and Walt would have loved that. Especially the trains.

As someone who’s always been disappointed by the fact that most Disney parks are just the basic Magic Kingdom area, hearing about stuff like this is fascinating. I loved visiting Disney world and the California Adventure zone in California was really cool, I wish more of the locations where unique, or each location had more stuff in.

I live i Virginia and everything here is so boring so I wish they built disney america

9:37 why don't you like Disney California Adventure?

The white roller-coaster from Disney's Americana was actually build in California Adventure. That park used to be lackluster but now they completely revamped and expanded it so it's really awesome now.

Who wants a war park at Disney? That's pretty sad that that's the only history they could find. I guess the other history wouldn't have been much better.

How did I not know of this I live like 15 minutes from the planned sight

Do you mind talking for next episode about what happened with Blockbuster ? ^^

They should've built it here in philly...we would've loved it here. 😢

Great breakdown of Disney’s battle with NOVA. On a side note: While stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Georgia Avenue variant), I took my soldiers to The National Harbor on several occasions to enjoy one of the best (and cheapest @$36) lobster, clam, and mussel bakes that I’ve yet to discover on the east coast. From what I can find, Pier 2 *still* holds said bakes on the weekends during the spring and summer months. -Doc

could you do a video on the abandoned Union Station Mall in St. Louis? It's an abandoned train station in downtown St. Louis that was turned into a mall and hotel. it was really popular at one point but now it's completely empty and basically abandoned. I got in a couple weeks ago and it's really creepy because all of the historical stuff and some of the stores are still intact even tho they haven't been touched in years. It's pretty sad that such a cool historical place is now abandoned in the middle of St Louis. Anyways, I thought you might be interested. I love your videos, keep up the great work 💗💗

Michael eisner saved Disney. ever since he left it's been crap

Omg! I love that idea! Disney America! Especially the first one!! Sad.😔

I lived and worked in the area at the time and remember this brouhaha. The development came anyway, just in different forms. The public was manipulated by environmentalists and other groups focused on the impact to the Manassas Battlefield. In the end it didn’t matter. The developers always win.

As a black guy I'm okay skipping the 1800's

Dude this park would've been amazing

A huge field trip for elementary/middle school students in VA consists of the historical triangle + a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I wonder if Disney’s America would have been the new thing.

Love Disney videos. Should have been a clue when my honeymoon in 99 was first time WDW evacuated for hurricane lol!

When David McCullough, Shelby Foote, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., James McPherson, Barbara Fields, C. Vann Woodward, and John Hope Franklin all think your park about "history" is a fucking terrible idea then it's definitely a fucking terrible idea.

I would have liked this, but Colonial Williamsburg does it better anyway.

I feel like I might have been someone who was skeptical of the project at the time but now am 10000% here for it.

So interesting, thank you for sharing. Never knew about Disney's America.

I would not call DCA lackluster, as a annual pass holder I spend about 85% of my time in DCA, better ambiance, better rides, better food, more spacious, more adult friendly, the list goes on. :) Going next weekend!

I live on the disney america site!

I've never been a history person but I am a rollercoaster enthusiast! This place looks amazing and it's sad because a lot of the cancelled disney parks look like they have more thrilling rides. That industrial revolution coasters looks really fun. Looks like some sort of Gerstlauer or something

As a non American, I would have 100% gone out of my way to visit An American History themed Disney park on the times I have visited the united states.

Honestly, it doesn't surprise me that this was abandoned in Northern Virginia. Gotta remember it was 20 miles away from Manassas Junction, where the two battles of Bull Run took place, so it would be kind of disrespectful. I'm thinking maybe somewhere closer to either Boston or Philadelphia?

*This concept actually sounds really cool. It shows that Disney had an idea for wanting to appreciate American history. Unlike how they are today ^^" Though the location should have been really noticed. I can understand the locals not happy.

In my fictional world, this place never gets abandoned and still successful

This title put such a huge smile on my face!!😃All is right in the world again!!

Disney's America would make a great 5th park for Disney World honestly

8:12 Holy shit! Thats the same scream they use in roller coaster tycoon. Anyone else hear it?

really diggin the abandoned series. great work

Euro Disney was initially supposed to be in Salou Spain but then moved to Paris and now in Salou there is PortAventura..the more you know! hahaha