Celebration City Developments

History Buff · April 10, 2011, 05:00:10 PM

Yes, it will be family oriented.

shavethewhales · April 11, 2011, 11:43:44 AM

Hmmm, turns out that any new CC developments are still a ways off.

I recently stumbled upon a site with concept art for Celebration City's redevelopment. My first thought was that this was some kind of inadvertent leak on the part of the design company involved, and I immediately contacted the park for confirmation and to let them know in case it needed to be pulled off the web before we started talking about it openly. I'm glad I did, because it turns out we shouldn't be getting our hopes up just yet.

As it turns out, the concept art was simply one of a number of pitches made by design firms for the CC property following the park's closure in 2008. Pitches and concepts are still being developed to this day, but we likely won't see any noticeable progress towards re-opening the property for some time. There's still no real information to be had about where they're at in the process, and numerous factors are still at play and changing all the time, I'm sure.

The concept art is here: http://www.vertexproductions.com/celebrationcity.php?menu=2 - but keep in mind that this is simply somebody's pitch for the park's redevelopment, and not necessarily what HFEC is planning to do in any way.

I've gotta say though, I like their ideas. I didn't quite get the whole explorer's club idea, but I assume that was part of the 'resort' they threw in with the plans. Other than that it's just a couple of new rides that wind through animal exhibits, which would be fun. I really think adding animal attractions would diversify the property enough that it could stand it's own pretty well - but I'm sure there would still be some cannibalization of HFEC's other properties, and with gas prices and the economy still at play they probably aren't looking at doing anything as big as this anytime soon.

rubedugans · April 11, 2011, 12:54:47 PM

Nothing like lemurs playing billiards!

Junior · April 11, 2011, 04:06:13 PM

I'm glad to see some "quality" pitches to the company such as this. I will be interesting to see what happens. Guess we will all just have to wait. The property is too valuable to just continue to sit there. I am a sentimental guy, and wish the BRANSON USA folks would have left some of the trees on the old MUTTON HOLLOW property standing. The company did a nice job with CC, my family visited twice and loved it. As a former employee, I was impressed. Any redevelopment should be handled carefully.

thelarsonsix · April 11, 2011, 06:51:31 PM

The hang glider ride looks pretty cool. So does the jeep train and the dolphins. The rest of it didn't seem to do much for me. I wonder if the Explorer club would be a static display or something interactive. The overall "animal" theme does seem like it would work though. I still think (as I believe many others do) that an aquarium would be a great fit here. Ripley's in Gatlinburg is what comes to mind. Could be open year round if so desired.

sanddunerider · April 11, 2011, 07:19:15 PM

Agreed, Larson.

I would love to see a large aquariam go into the area, BUT as we have said before the new wildlife museum in springfield should be awesome! It is currently under a 2 year remodel!

http://www.wondersofwildlife.org/

thelarsonsix · April 11, 2011, 07:38:25 PM

Quote from: sanddunerider on April 11, 2011, 07:19:15 PM
Agreed, Larson.

I would love to see a large aquariam go into the area, BUT as we have said before the new wildlife museum in springfield should be awesome! It is currently under a 2 year remodel!

http://www.wondersofwildlife.org/

It sure seems like it's been closed longer than 2 years. I didn't realize however there was going to be an aquarium there. Probably wouldn't make much sense then to have another 45 minutes away.

Swoosh · April 11, 2011, 07:46:24 PM

^Why? There are two opening in the KC metro area in the next two years - including one owned by Merlin (Sea Life) who owns Legoland.

sanddunerider · April 11, 2011, 09:03:46 PM

actually swoosh, i think one of the two big projects in KC has been put on hold. I will look and see if i can find that article again.

I would settle for 1 if I have to, but 2 would be even better!

mhguy77 · April 11, 2011, 09:11:02 PM

Great Wolf Lodge

Swoosh · April 11, 2011, 10:36:49 PM

The Merlin Sea Life aquarium is going full throttle. Part of the Halls dept. store has already been cleared out to make room for it at Crown Centre.

sanddunerider · April 12, 2011, 02:36:51 AM

True enough, I think the other one was in the mission area. was going to be tied into retail and office complex. That project is going nowhere at this time.

CJR · April 21, 2011, 01:13:57 PM

I think that concept art makes sense. The last ride they put in had an Amazon theme which would fit in well with animals. Also, The Wildcat would fit in well. It all makes sense regarding that. I still remember the Wild Adventures survey thing and it seems like HFEC would want to brand it that way.

If I had to guess, I would say the amount of construction needed to do anything like what's shown in the concept art would be a couple years off. You have to keep in mind they would have to some demolishing and then build. To develop land suitable for animals, it will take some time. Look at how long Disney spent building Disney's Animal Kingdom. This is probably on a much smaller scale than that, but still, it'll take some time.

I'm going to say 2013 at the very earliest, which will also allow SDC to have its big addition next year. By then, hopefully, the economy will be much better and Branson will be in a period of growth again.

Swoosh · April 21, 2011, 01:44:58 PM

I wish they'd do a Sea World type park instead. It would take a lot less time to build tanks than habitats.

sanddunerider · April 21, 2011, 01:48:00 PM

agreed cjr, we have said that in the past. IF they had a plan NOW. it would take 2 years to complete any kind of a rebuild.