Army Considering Military Theme Park

[Kadie]

Aug 8, 2006 5:13 am US/Pacific

Army Considering Military Theme Park

(AP) FORT BELVOIR, Va. The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military theme park that would include “4D” rides and bars including a “1st Division Lounge.”

Military officials said a massive entertainment and hotel complex built next to a national Army museum could draw more than 1 million people a year. But authorities in Fairfax County are objecting because of already traffic-clogged roads surrounding the proposed site.

Universal City Property Management III, of Orlando, Fla., submitted the unsolicited proposal for the theme park last year.

“You can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner,” according to the proposal, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

http://cbs13.com/topstories/topstories_story_220081449.html




Army Ponders Amusement Venue, Hotel At Ft. Belvoir

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; Page A01

Army officials say they are considering allowing a private developer to build a 125-acre entertainment, hotel and conference center complex next to a national Army museum at Fort Belvoir that could draw more than 1 million people a year to traffic-choked southern Fairfax County.

The possibility of adding what county officials call a military theme park arises as about 22,000 employees prepare to be transferred to Fort Belvoir in the next five years because of the federal base realignment and closure recommendations, designed to save $49 billion nationwide.

"As a lifelong resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia and a product of the public education system of Virginia, I feel that it is a shame that the state that produced some of the greatest leaders, thinkers, and writers our country has ever had, who believed so strongly in civil liberties and freedom, now chooses to discriminate against some of its own citizens. "

The Army is considering the entertainment venue to help offset the cost of the $300 million museum, which a spokesman said is scheduled to open in 2013. No federal funds are being sought for the museum, but Fairfax has donated $240,000.

A Florida developer has submitted an unsolicited proposal for a military theme park that would include the "Chateau Belvoir" hotel and an entertainment district with bars like the "1st Division Lounge" and several "4D" rides.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701182.html

[mopinko]

1. omg nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. The Generals in the Pentagon can get second jobs as clowns.

Already well qualified.

[Kadie]

22. .

Maybe the present administration can work at the theme park once they are booted out.

:shrug:

[Skidmore]

3. Sh*t......

Those people can't find a better use for those facilities?

[MountainLaurel]

4. You've got to be shitting me

Ignoring the matter of how utterly tasteless the idea of a theme park dedicated to people whose job is to kill other people, that area doesn't have the infrastructure for the people who live and pass through there now, let alone the tens of thousands of DOD workers getting moved to Belvoir, let alone people going to a frickin' theme park. And heaven knows there won't be funding for infrastructure support anytime soon.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. Funding is the whole point

By creating system of generating revenue independent of Congress, the military will have more money to fund important war efforts. :sarcasm:

[On the Road]

21. Are We Imitating the Chinese Military Now?

They are great entrepreneurs.

[ChicagoRonin]

5. I can see it now . . .

The theme park could be divided into sections like Disneyland or Six Flags: fantasyland, futureland . . . No Man's Land

[leveymg]

6. Other thrilling rides and attractions:

Baghdad Green Zone Checkpoint
The Abu Ghraib Prison Guard Funhouse
Airport Road IED Dodge'em Cars
Falluja MAM Hunt
White Phosphorous Fireworks Display

Fun for the whole family!

[peekaloo]

13. you forgot

Whack a Journalist

[leveymg]

15. That's part of the tank ride. eom

[TahitiNut]

17. ... mass graves, My Lai Village with corpses, get fitted for prosthetics,

... flooded sandbag bunkers with rats and scorpions under a rocket barrage ... stand at attention for 90 minutes under a hot sun ... blanket parties (blanket provided) ... visit the Burn Ward ... :puke:

[htuttle]

20. That'll be an E Ticket ride for sure.

[OhioChick]

7. ......

:wtf:

[marmar]

9. America, getting nuttier by the second.

:crazy:

[Chimichurri]

10. American Dad had an episode where he took his daughter out

to a military theme park - I can't believe it may actually become a reality.

As everyday passes our country gets more and more bizarre.

[Drum]

11. Half-way house for returning vets...? nt

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

12. this will go over just like disney's "history" theme park

that was proposed several years ago for the virginia horse country outside DC.

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. Well, the traffic problems may prevent it. If suburbanites get off their

asses about anything, it's traffic.

[htuttle]

16. Well, they've finally outdone Leni Riefenstahl

[leveymg]

19. And in such a characteristically American way.

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared::wow:
:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :wow:

[unhappycamper]

18. Oh, goodie.

I'll let ya'll know how the Tet '68 ride compares to the real thing.


I guess recruiting isn't going well.

[MountainLaurel]

23. UPDATE: The idea has been scrapped

The Army yesterday distanced itself from a proposal to turn a planned Army history museum at Fort Belvoir into what critics call a military theme park, calling a pitch from a former Universal Studios executive "dead on arrival."

But the Army is still considering a major tourist destination for the museum that could include a conference center and hotel and a partnership with the private sector to help pay for the museum, said Keith Eastin, assistant secretary of the Army. The entertainment concept would be "appropriate and tasteful," he said.

The comments represented a shift, coming a day after the Army declined to disavow the theme-park-like proposal it received in 2004 from Universal City Property Management. They also differed somewhat from an account of the museum discussions given yesterday by Marc A. Watson, Universal City's president, who has vast experience in the theme park industry.

Watson said Army officials approached him at Universal Studios in Orlando in 2003 for ideas on how to use simulation technology to attract more visitors to a planned museum. He continued to discuss the museum with the Army, which gave him a tour of Fort Belvoir in 2004 to inspect sites for what he was proposing, he said. Watson said he has not been told that his plan has been rejected.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800831.html