I don't think it's population density. I grew up in this town called Augusta, Georgia. Every year there's this event that draws people from all over the world. Despite two hours, give or take, major cities, it draws them in. Another point of view is that areas with less population density are use to commuting long distances. Put something like a Disney park in the middle of Kansas and people WILL come, and within ten years the cities closest to that park will be booming too.
> I don't think it's population density. I grew up in this town called Augusta, Georgia. Every year there's this event that draws people from all over the world. Despite two hours, give or take, major cities, it draws them in.
I think there's a big difference here – it's one thing to draw a large crowd for a single ~weeklong event, and another to do it continuously over the course of a year. I imagine the staffing requirements for Augusta National are different the week of the Masters versus the rest of the year (and I know that at least some of the additional staffing is done by volunteers). So the economics are wildly different. A Disneyland in the heart of the US would probably require fairly high staffing levels continuously. So this would require a fairly consistent attendance. Sure, there will be seasonal/holiday variations, but I doubt a theme park could survive the attendance amplitude swing that Augusta National sees between the Masters and the rest of the year.
And they'll continue going to Orlando and LA. The idea isn't to replace the existing parks as a destination. Nor to offer something so different as to be yet another must-see Disney attraction.
A copy of Orlando some place in the heartland would give access to more Americans.
Well that argues for putting one outside of Fort Worth, TX, then.
But the current hubs might not stay the only hubs. The new Boeing planes are rated for about 500 miles longer range, so that's going to put a lot of airports inland from the coasts as reachable from Europe and Asia, and a lot of coastal cities with smaller, cheaper airplanes.
