"Disney to Open Theme Park In Israel"

[Mooobooks]

Someone just handed me a page from a magazine called "Lifestyles" and it carried the following bizarre item:
"The Disney Group is planning to open an amusement park in Israel in early 2005, 'Yediot Aharonot' has reported. The Disney group, via Shamrock Holdings, recently signed an agreement with Kibbutz Hotel and ... Comfy group to launch the project. The partners are slated to invest $135 million in the project and set up the park land, owned by Kibbutz Harel, near Bet Shemesh. The amusement park, which will be called Israel Park, will be built on 100 acres and will initially employ 1,500 people. The park will contain a History of Israel Museum, comprising modern tent structures, a trade fair center and, according to Disney international standards, a 3,000 seat amphitheater. In addition, the park will house water slides, roller-coasters, special effects facilities, and an ice rink."
Has anyone else heard about this?

 

[Testtrack321]

Not yet, but this is unlikely. If it is to open in 2005, then howcome it hasn't brokent ground yet and we haven't heard about it? China we have know about for a year and it isn't set to open till 2006! And Disney isn't likely to sell their talent of theme parks to an outside buyer.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Shamrock Holdings, Inc. is the private company through which the Roy E. Disney Family invests their considerable wealth. Roy E. Disney is the son of Walt Disney's brother, Roy O. Disney.

I hadn't heard about Israel Park, and there's nothing about it at the Website of Shamrock Holdings, Inc., http://www.shamrock.com/ . (But that might just mean the Website hasn't been updated lately.)

Through a Google search, I found a few other references to this project, including this item from the Canadian Jewish News, December 20, 2001:
<DL><DD>Dec. 14
Disney is planning to open an amusement park in Israel in early
2005, Yediot Achronot reported. Disney, through Shamrock
Holdings, recently signed an agreement with Kibbutz Harel and
the Comfy group, to launch the project. The partners will invest
$135 million in the project, and set up the park on land owned by
Kibbutz Harel, near Bet Shemesh. The amusement park, to be
alled Israel Park, will be built on about 100 acres and employ
1,500 people.</DD></DL>
If this new is true, "Disney" would be Roy E. Disney, not The Walt Disney Company.

A German language Israeli tourism site refers to the project as a "Disneyland is the Holy Land." The article goes on to describe "a Disney-style museum to further the understanding Israeli history and a 3,000-seat amphitheater" plus "a water park, an ice-skating arena, an artificial ski resort, cinemas, restaurants and the largest discotheque in the holy Land." The use of the term "Disneyland" seems to be creative wording on the part of the author -- and a lack of understanding that Roy E. Disney and The Walt Disney Company are not the same thing.

This could be legitimate news; it could be a leak or rumor of pending news; and it could be something without a factual basis.

It's actually quite believable. Shamrock Holdings is a real estate development company. The only reason I question the legitimacy of this news is that I'm surprised that wasn't carried in far more publications. Even though it's not The Walt Disney Company and it's certainly not a Walt Disney World scale project, the mere fact that "Disney" is involved with a tourist attraction in Israel would seem to be business news story that would be more widely circulated.

 

[Werner Weiss]

I just found something else the Google: "Comfy denies plans for Israeli Disneyland" in the Jerusalem Post.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

If there is any direct company involvement I would think that it may just be some consulting work on the design of the park. Disney has done this several times in the past that I can recall (however the names of the projects are escaping me at the moment).