amusement and theme parks
Inside the collapse of Disney’s America, the US history-themed park that almost was
Disney faced criticism from both liberals and conservatives over cultural portrayals, leading to the cancellation of a controversial U.S. history-themed park near D.C.
Last Updated on March 6, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Jared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder
As a top producer of children’s entertainment, Disney is no stranger to America’s culture wars.
Liberals have long criticized the company for its products’ promotion of gender stereotypes and racist tropes. Meanwhile, conservatives have excoriated the company for being “too woke,” whether it was casting actresses of color in live action remakes of the “The Little Mermaid” and “Snow White” or coming out against a Florida statute that curtails discussion of gender and sexuality in public schools.
As Disney CEO Bob Iger grapples with the unenviable task of navigating criticism from all sides, I can’t help but recall how executives decided to table an effort to “Disneyfy” American history 30 years ago.
My research and teaching investigates how media companies such as Disney construct historical narratives for popular consumption. I can only imagine how today’s culture wars would have expressed themselves at Disney’s proposed theme park, which would have featured everything from Civil War forts to Native American villages.
Disney eyes the outskirts of DC
From his early days as an animator, Walt Disney presented a sanitized and nostalgic view of America.
Mickey Mouse represented the “everyman,” while the company’s animators drew a largely optimistic portrait of America, first in the studio’s animated films and later in their theme parks. Anyone who has walked down Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A., witnessed Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents or visited Epcot’s American Adventure can see how Disney strives to present an uncomplicated, uncritical view of the nation and its leaders.
In 1984, Michael Eisner became the company’s CEO. He was credited with revitalizing Disney’s brand through producing hit animated features such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” and spearheading theme parks such as Disney–MGM Studios – now known as Hollywood Studios – and Disneyland Paris.
A visit to Colonial Williamsburg inspired Eisner’s next venture: a theme park based on U.S. history that would be built outside of Washington, D.C.
Beginning in 1993, the company quietly started purchasing real estate in northern Virginia using shell companies. The land acquisitions became public knowledge only a few days before the announcement of the theme park, aptly named Disney’s America.
The news was largely welcomed by politicians. Eisner had already gained the support of the state’s outgoing and incoming governors, along with the Virginia Commission on Population Growth and Development. The plan was to build the park in Haymarket, Virginia, a small, wealthy area southwest of Washington, D.C., a few miles from Manassas, the site of two major Civil War battles.
History isn’t so simple
Although Disney had diligently worked to consolidate support ahead of the announcement, signs of conflict emerged during the first press conference, which featured Bob Weis, a Disney vice president who had helped oversee the planning of several theme parks.
“This is not a Pollyanna view of America,” he told the group of assembled reporters. “We want to make you a Civil War soldier. We want to make you feel what it was like to be a slave or what it was like to escape through the underground railroad.”
Questions over how Disney would tell the complex – often discriminatory – history of the nation spurred a group of historians, led by David McCullough, to lodge their concerns: How would Disney construct its narrative of the United States? And how would the park affect Manassas, one of the most important Civil War battle sites?
According to the original plans and brochures, Disney’s America would contain nine sections: a Colonial-era Presidents Square, an Indigenous village, Ellis Island, a factory town from the Industrial Revolution, a Civil War fort, a county fair, an early 19th-century port, a World War II-era battlefield and a Depression-era family farm.
On the surface, these themed areas seemed fitting. You could easily see them as exhibits at the Smithsonian. But issues emerged when people took into account that this was still a Disney theme park, with entertaining guests and making money likely taking precedence over historical accuracy and contemporary sensitivities and sensibilities.
The story of immigration, for example, would have been told through the musical-comedy stylings of Kermit the Frog and the other Muppets.
There were also concerns over how Disney would handle the exploitative and violent history of the treatment of a number of groups.
This included the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of Indigenous populations, the latter of which was also connected to the forthcoming 1995 release of “Pocahontas.” Historians later highlighted the film’s distorted history, and it isn’t far-fetched to imagine rides or attractions based on those misrepresentations at Disney’s America.
Mickey Mouse goes to Washington
Even as plans came together for Disney, criticism began to mount.
Disney issued an ultimatum to the Virginia legislature to improve infrastructure surrounding the site, threatening to abandon the project if the US$150 million for infrastructure improvements were not passed on the last day of the Virginia General Assembly’s legislative session in March 1994.
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution opposing the park, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing regarding the proposed project’s environmental impact.
The now-infamous hearing featured discussions regarding sewage, traffic and lodging, and even saw U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, who at the time was a registered Democrat, place a Mickey Mouse hat on the lectern in a show of support.
As criticism mounted, Disney decided to shift its approach. In the summer of 1994, it renamed the project Disney’s American Celebration.
Rather than highlight periods or events in American history, the new concept would focus more on themes: Democracy, Work, Family, Generations, Streets of America and the Land.
Many of the attractions featured in these lands would have resembled attractions already in Disney parks. For example, Generations would have been similar to the Magic Kingdom’s Carousel of Progress, while the Land was already a pavilion at Epcot.
This would have also opened more opportunities for sponsorship. The Work section of the park would have included virtual factory tours of popular brands such as Apple or Crayola, while Streets of America would have featured cuisine from around the country, similar to Downtown Disney, which opened in 1997 in Disney World and in 2001 at Disneyland.
It all falls apart
Disney abruptly announced on Sept. 28, 1994, that it would abandon these plans.
Although the criticism from historians was a factor, there were also concerns about the park’s profitability in colder months. The company faced mounting debt from its Paris theme park and uncertain leadership after the death of senior executive Frank Wells in a helicopter crash in April 1994. Eisner, meanwhile, had undergone bypass surgery in July 1994.
Many of the attractions that were planned for the Virginia site found their way into Disney parks, particularly in Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim.
Disney, both under Walt’s leadership and after his death, has long leveraged patriotism for the sake of its media content and park experiences. From Mickey Mouse to the Hall of Presidents, Disney’s nostalgic, linear and uncomplicated view of American progress has been foundational to the Disney experience.
However, an entire park dedicated to this approach – just down the road from a real battlefield integral to the bloodiest war in U.S. history – was too much for historians and other critics to ignore.
Disney’s failure to profit from an uncritical celebration of America may have been a blessing in disguise, as it avoided constructing yet another battlefield in the culture wars.
Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Sports
Chili’s Takes the ‘19th Hole’ Literally With Golf Course Pop-Up
Chili’s took the 19th-hole tradition to a new level with a limited-time golf course pop-up in Burbank featuring food, specialty margaritas and exclusive golf apparel.
BURBANK, Calif. — Chili’s Grill & Bar took its casual-dining game onto the golf course with a limited-time experience celebrating one of golf’s favorite traditions: the 19th hole.
The restaurant chain transformed the clubhouse at DeBell Golf Club in Burbank, California, into the Chili’s Golf Club, a two-day pop-up held Aug. 28–29. The event welcomed golfers and fans to enjoy Chili’s favorites, specialty drinks and a golf-inspired apparel collaboration.
The concept played off the traditional “19th hole” — the post-round gathering spot where golfers grab food and drinks, talk about the day’s round and, perhaps, make those missed putts sound a little closer than they actually were.
Chili’s Meets the Golf Course
Guests at DeBell could stop by after playing 18 holes — or simply visit the clubhouse — for Chili’s menu favorites such as the Triple Dipper. The pop-up also featured golf-themed drinks including the Transfusion Marg and Tee Time Marg, created specifically for the Chili’s Golf Club experience.
The promotion also teamed Chili’s with active-lifestyle apparel brand Rhoback for a limited-edition Rhoback X Chili’scollection featuring the Chili’s Golf Club crest. The lineup included performance polos, hoodies, quarter-zips, crewnecks and golf hats.
“Chili’s is the people’s clubhouse, so it only made sense to bring that spirit to the course,” George Felix, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of Brinker International, said in announcing the campaign.
Food, Golf and Entertainment Collide
Chili’s extended the promotion beyond the course with a campaign film celebrating everyday golfers — particularly those whose enthusiasm for the game may be considerably stronger than their scorecards.
The film featured appearances by Wesley Bryan, Caleb Pressley, Jena Sims Koepka, Chaz Bowker, Josh Kelley and JaNa Craig, bringing together golf, entertainment, food and lifestyle culture around the familiar 19th-hole tradition.
Although the Burbank pop-up lasted only two days, the campaign offers another example of restaurant brands looking beyond the dining room to connect food with sports, entertainment and fan culture.
For Chili’s, that meant finding a place where burgers, margaritas, golf stories and questionable scorecards already seemed like a natural fit.
Source
- Chili’s — “Chili’s is Fulfilling Every Golfer’s Dream by Opening on a Golf Course. Yes, Really.” — Original Aug. 26, 2026 press release announcing the Chili’s Golf Club promotion.
Related Links
- Chili’s Golf Club — Official Event Page — Details about the DeBell Golf Club takeover, food, specialty margaritas and Rhoback collaboration.
- DeBell Golf Club — Official Website — Information about the Burbank public golf course that hosted the Chili’s Golf Club.
- DeBell Golf Club — Golf Course Information — Background on the 18-hole, par-71 municipal course in the Verdugo Mountains.
- Rhoback X Chili’s Golf Club Collaboration — Rhoback’s official page covering the limited-edition golf apparel collaboration.
- Rhoback Official Website — More from the active-lifestyle apparel company involved in the Chili’s Golf Club campaign.
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Entertainment
Jason Voorhees Steps Into the Real World With New Interactive Halloween Attraction
Jason Voorhees is stepping out of the movies and into haunted attractions across nine U.S. cities. The new Jason Universe experience includes a terrifying walkthrough and a limited interactive add-on that lets guests direct Jason’s next attack.
The first-of-its-kind licensed Jason Universe experience will bring the “Friday the 13th” slasher to haunted attractions in Phoenix and eight other U.S. cities.
Horror fans may want to keep their flashlights close this Halloween. Jason Voorhees is leaving Crystal Lake and stepping into the world of live haunted entertainment.
Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group has partnered with Horror, Inc. to launch “Jason Universe: Survive the Night,”an officially licensed walkthrough attraction inspired by the Friday the 13th franchise. A separate, limited-capacity interactive experience called “Jason Universe: Director’s Cut” will allow guests to influence how part of the terrifying encounter unfolds.
The experiences are scheduled to appear during the 2026 Halloween season at select Thirteenth Floor attractions in Denver, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix, Green Bay, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Nashville.
For Arizona horror fans, the inclusion of Phoenix means one of cinema’s most recognizable masked villains will be lurking close to home this fall.
Surviving a Night With Jason
“Jason Universe: Survive the Night” places visitors inside a dark, suspense-filled environment in which Jason can appear around virtually any corner. According to the attraction’s description, guests will try to make it through the night while the seemingly unstoppable slasher stalks them through the maze.
The experience promises close encounters with Jason’s battered hockey mask, relentless pursuit and the unsettling feeling that, no matter where guests turn, he is already waiting for them.
Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group says the collaboration is the first licensed Jason Universe haunted attraction of its kind. It combines the mythology and visual identity of Friday the 13th with the company’s large-scale sets, performers and immersive haunted-house production.
Guests Can Direct Jason’s Next Attack
The most unusual part of the attraction may be “Jason Universe: Director’s Cut,” an optional experience with extremely limited nightly availability.
Inside a rustic cabin, a camp counselor leads a small group to a control station featuring four choices: Panic, Slash, Strike and Stalk. Guests select how Jason will attack next, temporarily placing them in the director’s chair and giving them a hand in determining how the scene plays out.
The people inside the cabin may control one moment, but the attraction warns that Jason remains in charge of the rest of the night. Participants will receive a limited-edition “Jason Universe: Director’s Cut” patch as a collectible.
Chris Stafford, CEO and founding partner of Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, said the collaboration grew from conversations about creating a Jason experience unlike anything fans had encountered before.
“We found an opportunity not only to bring the Jason Universe brand to guests across our attractions, but to create a first-of-its-kind licensed Jason Universe attraction that gives fans the opportunity to partake in an additional experience and choose their ending,” Stafford said in the announcement.
Robbie Barsamian, executive vice president at Horror, Inc., said the company has been looking for new ways to bring Jason to audiences through games, online projects and real-world experiences.
More Than Four Decades of Horror History
The original Friday the 13th opened in theaters in 1980 and helped establish the summer-camp slasher as a horror staple. Although Jason Voorhees was not yet the hockey-mask-wearing killer audiences would later recognize, the character eventually became the franchise’s defining figure.
Across sequels, television, games, comics, collectibles and Halloween costumes, Jason’s mask and machete became enduring symbols of the genre. The franchise ultimately expanded to 12 films, while Jason developed into one of horror’s most recognizable pop-culture characters.
Horror, Inc. launched the broader Jason Universe initiative in 2024 as a home for new projects connected to the franchise. Those projects include Crystal Lake, an upcoming television prequel series from A24.
The partnership with Thirteenth Floor represents another step in that expansion, transforming Jason from an on-screen threat into a physical presence that fans can encounter—and, for a moment, direct.
Tickets and Availability
Dates, participating venues, ticket prices and availability will vary by city. The “Director’s Cut” upgrade will have limited capacity each night, so interested fans may want to check availability early.
Additional information is available at ThirteenthFloor.com. Fans can also follow developments across the franchise at JasonUniverse.com.
This article is based on information provided by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group. Attraction details and availability are subject to change.
Source: Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, press release dated August 20, 2026.
Related Links
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amusement and theme parks
Six Flags and Travis Kelce Kick Off 2027 Season Pass Sales With Lowest Prices Through Sept. 7
Six Flags launches 2027 Season Pass sales at its lowest price through Sept. 7, with unlimited visits now through 2027, parking perks, and regional access.
Six Flags is officially in “season pass season” — and it’s starting with a headline deal. The company announced Aug. 7 that it has launched sales of its 2027 Season Passes at the lowest price guests will see this season or next, with a limited-time offer running through Sept. 7, 2026. To mark the 8/7 launch date, Six Flags teamed up with brand ambassador Travis Kelce, celebrating the biggest pass offer of the year on a number that’s become part of his legacy.
The big takeaway for fans: buy early, and you’re not just locking in 2027 access — you’re getting the rest of 2026, too. That includes major seasonal events like Halloween and holiday celebrations, plus the chance to start using the pass right away across participating parks.
What the 2027 Season Pass deal includes
Guests can purchase a 2027 Gold Pass or Prestige Pass at launch pricing and receive admission for the remainder of 2026 and all of 2027.
Kelce framed it in simple terms: unlimited visits, especially heading into fall and winter event season, is the kind of value that would have been “mind-blowing” as a kid — and it’s built for families and friend groups who want more reasons to get together.
Gold Pass: the value play for frequent park visits
The 2027 Gold Pass is positioned as the core option for guests who want maximum visits at the lowest price point. Benefits include:
- Unlimited visits for the rest of 2026 and all of 2027
- Free general parking (restrictions apply)
- Regional park access (East, West, Midwest, or Texas)
- Admission to fall haunt events and seasonal holiday celebrations
- Discounts on select food, merchandise, and tickets
- One bonus Bring-A-Friend Free ticket for renewing passholders and new members who purchase by Sept. 7
Prestige Pass: VIP perks and nationwide access
For guests who want more premium access and in-park benefits, Six Flags is also pushing its Prestige Pass tier. Prestige perks include:
- Access to all Six Flags parks across North America
- Preferred parking at many parks
- Complimentary fountain beverages
- VIP entrance access at participating parks
- Free Bring-A-Friend tickets
- One free single-use Fast Lane per visit
- A $20 in-park credit for new Prestige members and Prestige passholders who renew by Sept. 7
Memberships: month-to-month flexibility
Six Flags also announced 2027 Memberships for guests who prefer a monthly payment option. Memberships include unlimited visits and a range of benefits similar to Season Passes — including multi-park access (based on tier), parking benefits, discounts on food and merchandise, and member-exclusive rewards and offers.
Premium membership tiers add expanded park access and additional VIP-style perks, giving guests more ways to customize how they visit.
Why Six Flags is making a big push now
The 2027 pass launch arrives as Six Flags prepares what it calls one of its most ambitious attraction lineups ever, with major additions planned across regions.
Highlights announced so far include:
- East: Six Flags Great Adventure will debut Bakunawa, billed as the world’s tallest and fastest spinning coaster (382 feet, 100 mph), anchoring a renovated Boardwalk area inspired by Jersey Shore culture. Carowinds will introduce Rip Roarin’ Falls, a super-flume featuring a 100-foot drop.
- Texas: Six Flags Fiesta Texas will debut Werewolf Gorge, described as the world’s longest family launch coaster with immersive storytelling.
- Midwest: Six Flags Great America will open Camp Timber Trail, a family adventure area anchored by Sky Hawk, a suspended family coaster.
- West: Knott’s Soak City will introduce Coral Craze and Kelp Kraze, new family raft slides featuring ride systems making their West Coast and North American debuts.
Six Flags also teased that more major announcements are still on the way.
You can start using the pass in 2026 — and more is coming
Beyond the 2027 pipeline, Six Flags says guests who buy now can take advantage of new or recently opened additions in 2026, including:
- Quantum Accelerator (Six Flags New England)
- Tormenta: Rampaging Run (Six Flags Over Texas)
- Shoreline Pier (Six Flags Great Adventure)
- Daredeviler (Canada’s Wonderland)
- Speedway Stunt Coaster (Six Flags Mexico)
- Looney Tunes™ Land (Six Flags Magic Mountain)
- Phantom Theater (Kings Island)
- A major summer entertainment lineup (Kings Dominion)
And the calendar doesn’t slow down after summer. Six Flags says its 2026 Halloween lineup is coming soon, featuring new horror franchise experiences and new entertainment, followed by holiday events across parks — including the return of a newly reimagined Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Over Georgia.
The deadline to know
If you’re considering a pass, the timing matters: guests must purchase by Sept. 7, 2026 to receive launch pricing and promotional offers. For park-specific details and restrictions, Six Flags directs guests to visit sixflags.com.
For fans, Kelce summed up the pitch: more time at the parks now means more memories later — more rides, more laughs, and more reasons to bring your crew along for the season.
Source: Six Flags
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