American Heartland: $2 billion theme park and resort planned along Route 66

CNN
July 20, 2023
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There’s another stop coming along Route 66 in northeast Oklahoma.

The $2 billion American Heartland Theme Park and Resort will to be located just west of Grand Lake on Route 66, according to plans for the development announced Wednesday.

The theme park and resort are expected to open in 2026, after a first-phase RV park with cabins in spring 2025. At 125 acres, the “Americana-themed” park will be comparable in size to Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, American Heartland said in a news release.

“We feel like this project will be a gamechanger for tourism in not only Northeast Oklahoma but the entire region,” Kristy Adams, a sales and marketing executive for the development, said in an email to CNN Travel. “We have already met with several tourism partners and are excited to start promoting this addition to the great state of Oklahoma.”

Adams said in the news release that the destination expects to attract more than two million visitors to Oklahoma from out of state each year.

Six American “lands” will be featured in the park: Great Plains, Bayou Bay, Big Timber Falls, Stony Point Harbor, Liberty Village and Electropolis. Led by Steve Hedrick, the design team includes more than 20 former Disney Parks builders and Walt Disney Imagineers, according to the news release.

The RV park will span 320 acres with 750 RV spaces and 300 cabins. A 300-room hotel and an indoor water park are also part of the planned development.

Source: CNN