Van Arsdale: Disney Rumor Has Long History

Responding to Texas Mouseketter's inquiry in the Disney Texas Park rumor, State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale (R-130) said Tuesday the locations and gossip about Mickey's move to the state has been spreading since the '90s.

Via email, Van Arsdale said:

I've been hearing about various Disney rumors since the mid 1990s. Originally, it was in Tomball. Then it was in Pinehurst. I hadn't heard the 290/Spring Cypress version. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge about any such project.

Stay tuned for more, friends.

Superintendent: Unfamiliar with Disney Texas Rumor

I received a response from Dr. David Anthony, superintendent of the Cy-Fair Independent School District, regarding the rumored Disney project on SH 290.

Anthony's retort was brief:

"I have not heard that rumor at all."

How Would Disney Affect Schools? One of the questions I posed to Anthony, which was not answered, was how he thought the potential for a Disney theme park might affect CFISD.

While I am sure traffic and growth would remain a challenge at the second largest school district in Harris County, I am sure the district would benefit by the partnerships Disney is known to provide for its neighboring schools.

What do you think? E-mail me your thoughts and concerns and I will post them on a later entry.

Gov't, Community Leaders Respond to Disney Texas Inquiry

Since launching Texas Mouseketter this month, I have been busy working to garner comment from state and local government officials and area community leaders regarding the potential for a Texas Disney project.

While none had any concrete information available as of press time, most I spoke to related enthusiasm for such a possibility and even claimed to have heard about the long-spread rumor themselves.

• Harris County Judge Ed Emmett responded to our inquiry, saying that he would not divulge information regarding a possible Disney project:
  

  Thank you for contacting me regarding the possibility of Disney locating a facility in Harris County . However, as I am sure you can appreciate, I would never comment on whether or not the county is in discussions with a company considering a move to Harris County.

  
  

• Barbara Thomason, president of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce, said she heard the rumor a decade ago, only "Disney had purchased parcels in far west Houston for a potential park." And how would this Chamber work with the incoming media giant? "We would welcome it into our area." she said. "We would want to work with Disney developers early on to insure the integrity of our community, such as the preservation of wetlands, green spaces and compliance with existing laws."
  

• A colleague close to one of the Houston-area U.S. House representatives said they had also heard the Disney park rumors, only the location would be "farther out. That location (Editor's Note: SH 290) is pretty much built out."

Disney Texas Wishes: Make A Wish and Do as Dreamers Do

Just a little video featuring historic footage of the actual Disney Theme Parks. Will we see a Disney Texas park on YouTube in the near future? Only time will tell.

Disney Texas Reference Removed from Wikipedia

In researching the Disney Texas Park rumors, I found via Google that a reference to Disney Texas was removed from Wikipedia.

The original copy cited Disney officials were looking to San Antonio to build the park, which would be called 'Disney Texas.'

Where Else is Disney Allegedly Building? According to Werner Weiss, the owner of Yesterland, the famed Texas Disney project has also been rumored to be built in Austin, Beaumont, Celina, College Station, Conroe, Frisco, Frelsburg, Huntsville, Katy, Houston, Lampasas, Lubbock, Magnolia, Midland-Odessa, Paris, Round Top, San Antonio, Sealy, and Woodlawn, Texas.

But, he says he believes the Texas Disney Project could be a possibility:

If Disney ever wants to build a third major destination resort in the United States, then Texas is probably the best state for it. There are parts of Texas whose climate is not much worse than Orlando, making all-year operations possible. Like California a few decades ago, Texas has a large and growing population—providing a lot of potential local guests.

Plumber Claims Florida Firm Hired Him for Disney Texas

While I am going to take every story I receive regarding the Texas Disney Project with a grain of salt, a friend of mine (who also served as an intern and management trainer for the Walt Disney World Resort) said he was talking about his internship at work in Houston when a plumber joined in the conversation.

According to Eddie, the plumber claimed the company he worked for was hired by an Orlando, Fla. firm to handle plumbing on a project in Cypress, Texas. "You won't have to wait long," he said, "for you to go back to Disney, because it is going to be here in a few years."

After further prodding, the man told him the tracts of land off of SH 290 had so much pipeline work necessary before construction could begin that "it would take an awful lot of money--millions--to get the job done."

Take it for what it is worth, folks.

Why a Disney Park in Texas Could Be Possible.

While these ideas are not so much concrete, there are a few new faces to the Houston landscape that have also found a great home alongside the Walt Disney World Resort; are their appearance in northwest Houston coincidental? Or do they coincide with the building of a Texas-sized Disney project?

• Chelsea Premium Outlets. Recently opened to wide fanfare off Hempstead Road/SH 290 in Cypress, the Houston Premium Outlets (owned by Chelsea Premium Outlets) offers tourists and residents alike with fine shopping experiences, food and entertainment options. Likewise, the Orlando Premium Outlets (also owned by Chelsea), located five minutes outside Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney gate, also attracts similar attention. And which media station was there to cover it first? Houston's Disney-owned news affiliate, ABC-13.
  

• Rainforest Cafe. As a current manager of a shop within Willowbrook Mall, we hear a lot about what is up and coming; one such stop rumored to be coming to the FM 1960-area mall? Rainforest Cafe. This is fitting as Rainforest Cafe finds itself twice within Lake Buena Vista city limits, one at Downtown Disney and the other at Disney's Animal Kingdom miles away. (The drive would be similar to a drive between the Houston Premium Outlet and Willowbrook Mall, actually.)
  

• Steak N Shake. While this chain once had a location in the Champions off of FM 1960 decades ago, a new location is being build only moments from SH 290 near FM 1960 and Eldridge Rd. The Steak N Shake off of S. Apopka-Vinland Rd. in Orlando, Fla., is a late night hangout for Disney interns and employees who work the night shift. Expect more to pop up around Houston.

Also, with as much development as there is in the Cypress area, expect a natural progression of more Disney-influenced product on the shelves. For example, the Wal-Mart store accessible to Disney interns (by shuttle while living in company-sponsored housing) carries a large selection of Disney tourism merchandise. A sudden surge in Disney product near the impulse grids and front of the Fairfield/Coles Crossing Wal-Mart may indicate the company's influence.

Disney's Texas Park -- Measuring the Truth Behind a Texas-Sized Disney Urban Legend

Are Mickey and friends establishing a Texas zip(a-dee-doo-dah) code?

Chances are if you have been a Texan in the last two decades, you have probably heard such claims; indeed, the Disney-Texas connection may be one of the state's biggest urban legends to date, if not the most widespread.

I remember first hearing about Disney's reported intentions as a senior at Cy-Fair Senior High School in Cypress, Texas. In 2002, the story went that the Disney Company had snatched an unspecified--but impressive--amount of land near the Katy Prairie reserves in Katy, Texas, for a top secret project destined to be Disney's park on the Third Coast.

But, a recent, new incarnation of the story is now making its way like wildfire across town: Forget Katy and look to Harris County's northwest corner to become the future Disney, Texas.

A man, claiming to be a real estate agent in the area, relayed to me that "the cat is out of the bag," that the Walt Disney Company has purchased extensive tracts of undeveloped land off of State Highway 290 near Fairfield, in Cypress.

The purchases, he claimed, were made by a number of front companies all owned or related to the Walt Disney Company, similar to Walt's own secret operation for an "East Coast Disneyland."

While I do not personally believe Disney would do anything to siphon business from its prime Florida attractions, I cannot help but also be a little bit suspicious of where these rumors come from in the first place.

Out of full disclosure, I once served as an intern and manager for the Walt Disney Company at the resorts in Lake Buena Vista; one thing I learned very quickly, however, was despite many internal controls to protect their new projects, there were more leaks from within Disney than there were Hidden Mickeys--and any Disney fanatic will tell you there are many!

Until their official announcement, Texas Mouseketter remains enthusiastic about discovering the truth, if any, about the Texas Disney Project; while many do not seem to believe, remember the words of Walt: "It's kind of fun doing the impossible."