Two years ago, a $2 billion theme park off Route 66 in Vinita, Oklahoma, was announced with much fanfare from the principals and area officials.
Now, the Tulsa World reports that an apparent falling out between two of the project’s principals has placed it in limbo.
The newspaper reported the American Heartland theme park may not materialize at all.
The main backer of the project is 92-year-old Gene Bicknell, CEO of Mansion Entertainment and owner of the Mansion Theatre, both in Branson, Missouri. He has ties to nearby Picher, Oklahoma, and Pittsburg, Kansas.
The theme park was announced in July 2023 in front of 900 people at the Craig County Community Center in Vinita.
Two of the principals who spoke — then-American Heartland Chief Operating Officer Larry Wilhite and Executive Producer Steve Hedrick, a former longtime Disney design executive — are no longer with the project. […]
Sources told the Tulsa World that Bicknell may remain committed to the theme park but that a lot of money was being spent with little being done. Mansion declined to comment for this story. Wilhite could not be reached for comment. He and Hedrick parted ways with the project several months ago.
Perhaps on a related note, the Mansion Entertainment website went offline.
Vinita Mayor Josh Lee said a new project manager told him and other officials the first phase of the project — the Three Ponies RV Park and Campground, with 750 RV spaces and 300 cabins — is proceeding.
However, the website for that project has gone offline, as well.
Though celebrated by many locals, the American Heartland project also generated skepticism due to its enormous expense, size and lofty projections of visitor numbers and jobs created.
Last fall, Mansion Entertiainment announced completion of the project would be delayed by three years. Principals intitially announced it would be finished by Route 66’s centennial in 2026. That was after a Canadian company hired to design it filed a lien, claiming it was owed nearly $5.5 million.
The price tag for the theme park also rose by $500 million, to $2.5 billion.
(Artist’s rendering of the American Heartland theme park planned near Vinita, Oklahoma)