New Theme Park for Michigan?

[detwaa84]

Isn't 160 million too low for a theme park. They have to put extra effort and detail to their rides, buildings, and landscapes. Just one coaster costs 30-60 million to build, and I'm assuming they'll be more than one, in addition to other rides. This isn't going to look like Michigan's Adventure. Think closer to Disney.

[wolverine]

Am I the only one here who thinks that 160 mil is too low for a theme park. "Theme" is the keyword. They have to put extra effort and detail to their rides, buildings, and landscapes. This isn't going to look like the plain landscaped Michigan's Adventure. Think closer to Disney. Can any park experts back this up.

[detwaa84]

EDIT

[mr.rwilson]

Here are a couple of articles about the new Park. all are from The Gaylord Herald-Times

Proposed theme park boasts 2,000 jobs

Positive impact seen for region

DNR , Axiom have letter of intent for land

[kavok]

Grayling is not a good location for this because an Amusement Park is a destination, and not a pit stop. Most people don't say, oh lets go to Cleveland and stop at Cedar Point on the way, they just go to Cedar Point. Same will happen with this, people wont go to Mackinaw, and stop and spend a day at the park. More so, most people go to Mackinaw and make a short weekend vacation out of it. The timeline is basically Friday get off work, and drive up. (no time to really stop), spend Saturday around Mackinaw, and come home Sunday. So at most, people will only have a couple hours to spend there. Its just not something conducive to add onto your Mackinaw schedule.

If you are going to make this thing work, the Amusement Park has to be THE destination. So that being said, Grayling is not the close drive to any population center, especially with the cost of gas now. Plus at that distance, people are just going to go to Cedar Point instead. They would be much better off building this somewhere downstate closer to the population centers, where it could be its own weekend trip, and not just some place that people are going to pass up because they dont want to spend $$$ to stop for 3 hours on their Sunday drive home from Mackinaw.

[gvsusean]

Grayling is not a good location for this because an Amusement Park is a destination, and not a pit stop. Most people don't say, oh lets go to Cleveland and stop at Cedar Point on the way, they just go to Cedar Point. Same will happen with this, people wont go to Mackinaw, and stop and spend a day at the park. More so, most people go to Mackinaw and make a short weekend vacation out of it. The timeline is basically Friday get off work, and drive up. (no time to really stop), spend Saturday around Mackinaw, and come home Sunday. So at most, people will only have a couple hours to spend there. Its just not something conducive to add onto your Mackinaw schedule.

If you are going to make this thing work, the Amusement Park has to be THE destination. So that being said, Grayling is not the close drive to any population center, especially with the cost of gas now. Plus at that distance, people are just going to go to Cedar Point instead. They would be much better off building this somewhere downstate closer to the population centers, where it could be its own weekend trip, and not just some place that people are going to pass up because they dont want to spend $$$ to stop for 3 hours on their Sunday drive home from Mackinaw.

[hood]

While I think this would work better if it were more centralized, I know that I would still make a special trip up there if it is a decent park and a decent price. As far as I'm concerned the more amusement parks nearby the better, I'll visit them all. I think many people are the same, 1 million people a year seems like a very attainable goal.

[nofunk]

I dunno that Grayling is such a bad location. It's right on I-75, along a route frequented by millions of vacationers every summer. Plus, after doing a quick run-through on Google maps for distances, every major population center in Michigan is three hours or less from Grayling. Is three hours really too far to drive for an amusement park?

The only people for whom Cedar Point is a closer drive are those living in metro Detroit and Ann Arbor.

[sfloria]

Last summer a group of us went to Cedar point on a saturday and then drove to Cleveland that night to go bar hoping. It was great. I don't see why people wouldn't go to this park in Grayling and then continue on to TC or the UP for something else. I'd rather see it closer to the rest of the population but I think it can still make sense in Grayling. More power to the northerners! They need something other than fudge to keep them entertained.

Grayling is not a good location for this because an Amusement Park is a destination, and not a pit stop. Most people don't say, oh lets go to Cleveland and stop at Cedar Point on the way, they just go to Cedar Point. Same will happen with this, people wont go to Mackinaw, and stop and spend a day at the park. More so, most people go to Mackinaw and make a short weekend vacation out of it. The timeline is basically Friday get off work, and drive up. (no time to really stop), spend Saturday around Mackinaw, and come home Sunday. So at most, people will only have a couple hours to spend there. Its just not something conducive to add onto your Mackinaw schedule.

If you are going to make this thing work, the Amusement Park has to be THE destination. So that being said, Grayling is not the close drive to any population center, especially with the cost of gas now. Plus at that distance, people are just going to go to Cedar Point instead. They would be much better off building this somewhere downstate closer to the population centers, where it could be its own weekend trip, and not just some place that people are going to pass up because they dont want to spend $$$ to stop for 3 hours on their Sunday drive home from Mackinaw.

[Rybak 187]

Here is an update on the theme park that is planned for Grayling.

[Rybak 187]

Here is another update on the theme park planned for Grayling.

[mgman]

Looks like the sale could go through soon at a cost of around 5.2 million dollars but it will not be completed until after another meeting with the DNR in Dec. THe article also says that the park will operate on renewable energy after three years. Any one know how they plan to do that.

Purchase nears for theme park

[Rybak 187]

I think that it will probably be a mix of solar and wind energy. I know further up I-75 near Mackinaw City there are wind turbine generators. Here is some information from the village about them.