$2B Theme Park Coming to Oklahoma

Aerial view of the American Heartland Theme Park and Resort in Oklahoma. Image courtesy of American Heartland

Construction could begin this fall on the first phase of a $2 billion, 1,000-acre theme park and resort development in northeast Oklahoma proposed by an affiliate of Mansion Entertainment Group, with completion of the 125-acre American Heartland Theme Park and Resort coming as soon as 2026.

The developers are planning to begin work on the 320-acre Three Ponies RV Park and Campground this year, with the goal to open it by the spring of 2025. Construction on the 125-acre American Heartland Theme Park and Resort is expected to start in 2024 and be ready for visitors by the fall of 2026. The developers anticipate more than 4.9 million guests annually.

The project, which will be located just west of Grand Lake off Route 66, was unveiled in mid-July but took a step forward this week when the Vinita City Council approved a proposal to annex several square miles of land outside the city limits for the development. Vinita Mayor Josh Lee told ConstructionDive the city of about 5,000 residents is expecting the massive development to cause a surge in population and wants to speed up the permitting process to build commercial and residential projects and other infrastructure to handle the influx. Lee reportedly told other media outlets that Branson, Mo.,-based Mansion Entertainment has the funding for the project.

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In addition to the RV park and campground, which will be adjacent to the theme park, American Heartland Theme Park and Resort will include a 300-key hotel and indoor water park. The theme park will be comparable in size to Disneyland Park in California and the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. It will feature an Americana-themed environment with rides, including rollercoasters, live shows, family attractions, waterways, concessions, food and beverage offerings.

The theme park will have six areas with different themes—Great Plains, Bayou Bay, Big Timber Falls, Stony Point Harbor, Liberty Village and Electropolis.

Development and design teams

The Three Ponies RV Park and Campground, designed by Oklahoma architects ADG Blatt, will be the largest campground in the central U.S., with 750 RV spaces and 300 cabins plus amenities. Crossland Construction, a Columbus, Kan.,-based firm will be the builder of the RV park.

Led by Executive Producer Steve Hedrick, the design team is made up of some of the world’s best theme park designers including more than 20 former Disney Parks builders and Walt Disney Imagineers. Design firms include THG, FORREC and Cunningham, whose portfolios include work on major theme park brands such as Six Flags, Disney Parks and Universal Studios.

THG, a Pasadena, Calif.,-based creative agency that specializes in creating attractions for theme parks, museums and leading brands, crafted the initial concept master plan and is creating designs for the park’s primary attractions. THG Chief Creative Office Erik Neergaard said in a prepared statement American Heartland is one of the first independent theme parks of this scale to be built in the U.S in many years.

Playing around at other parks

Several planned theme parks, such as Legoland in New York’s Hudson Valley, and Epic Universal at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida, were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. First proposed by Merlin Entertainments in November 2017 for a 170-acre site in Goshen, N.Y., Legoland finally opened in July 2021. The $500 million destination was the first new theme park to open in the Northeast since 1974.

Universal announced in August 2019 it was planning a fourth theme park in Orlando. After a break during the pandemic, construction resumed in March 2021 and Epic Universe is on track to open in the summer of 2025. Earlier this month, a Universal executive revealed the 750-acre park will have four themed lands and feature advanced technology including next-generation robotics and facial recognition for visitors that would enable them to use their faces as credit cards for purchases or the park’s fast pass express system. One of the theme lands will be a Super Nintendo World but the others have not been disclosed.