Theme park fans have lots of amazing choices all over the world, but it’s exceedingly rare to get new theme parks due to the cost of building them and the increasing difficulty that comes with finding places to put them. While Universal recently announced plans to build a new park in Texas, it will be much smaller than the other locations. However, a few hundred miles away a brand new theme park was just announced, and it’s planning something big.
Today Branson-based Mansion Entertainment Group announced plans to build the American Heartland Theme Park in Vinita, Oklahoma, about two hours west of Branson. The theme park, set to cover about 125 acres and therefore slightly larger than Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, as part of a 1,000-acre complete resort destination, has been announced to open sometime in 2026. And while there are obviously a lot of details left to be discovered, there’s already a lot we know, including the fact that the who thing will cost an impressive $2 billion.
We also know the basic layout of the park, including its lands, and even some of the attractions. American Heartland will consist of six lands, including Liberty Village, which gives off very strong Main Street U.S.A. vibes. This looks to be the entrance area that will lead into other lands in a similar hub and spoke setup as the one originally pioneered at Disneyland.
From there, guests can move into a Great Plains land, which is set to have a First American Stories Theater, focusing on Native American tales, and a Charlotte’s Web barnyard adventure. This appears to be the only piece of licensed IP in the park, at least at the moment. There will also be at least one roller coaster, the Jackalope Coaster.
Other lands include Bayou Bay, which will include a pirate stunt show, Big Timber Falls, which is teasing a log flume attraction, and Stony Point Harbor which will feature a haunted lighthouse attraction.
The most interesting idea, at least from my perspective, is Electropolis, which looks to be a throwback to the White City concept from the World’s Columbian Exposition, where electricity itself was an attraction. Some of the earliest amusement parks were based on this idea, which makes it a fitting setting for a land in a theme park looking to celebrate Americana.
A separate water park is also planned for the resort, as well as an RV park and campground, and a 300-room resort hotel for guests to stay. A boardwalk area with shopping and dining will complete the resort, giving it basically everything you can find at a Disney or Universal resort.
One has to wonder how Silver Dollar City feels about this, only about two hours away by car, it may be the most directly impacted theme park. Although Silver Dollar City is also on the verge of a significant expansion, and one wonders if that might get fast-tracked in order to compete with its new neighbor. It's also possible this park could influence the recently approved Frisco, Texas Universal Park. That park has no set opening date as of yet.
There are several former Walt Disney Imagineers on board as well as attraction designers that have worked with Disney, Universal, and others, so the pedigree is certainly there. Not every theme park that gets announced even happens, The London Resort was delayed back in 2021 and at this point, it's unclear if it will ever actually happen. And the final result will probably bear some significant differences from these early concepts. Still, it’s all very interesting and could turn out to be impressive. We’ll certainly be keeping our eye on this one.
