To no one’s surprise, a multibillion-dollar theme park along Route 66 near Vinita, Oklahoma, probably will be delayed for three years.
Mansion Entertainment, a company with ties to Branson, Missouri, announced in summer 2023 that it would build the American Heartland theme park and RV park by Route 66’s centennial year in 2026 and draw 5 million visitors annually.
The Tulsa World reported last week the massive project would be pushed back about three years, but developers still are committed to building it.
“We are continuing to move forward. We have had some temporary challenges to overcome but we are confident that we will be back on track soon,” Gene Bicknell, the project’s financial backer, told the newspaper.
Developers broke ground on the 750-unit RV park almost a year ago, but construction reportedly has been held up by permitting issues with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Other than fencing and gravel laid down at the site, little other work has commenced.
Problems with the theme park surfaced in the spring when a Canadian company hired to design project filed a lien claiming it was owed nearly $5.5 million in unpaid bills. The cost of the project has swelled to nearly $2.5 billion.
The project also was greeted with skepticism from the outset due to its scale and claims of its eventual visitor and job-creation numbers.
Also, Bicknell is the sole investor in the project and is 92 years old. He has ties to nearby Picher, Oklahoma, and Pittsburg, Kansas.
(Artist’s rendering of the American Heartland theme park planned near Vinita, Oklahoma, via American Heartland’s Facebook page)