The People Respond

The plan to build Disney’s America sparked a wave of backlash from politicians, historians, environmentalists, and locals that Disney did not expect. There were a good number of reasons why people were upset. One reason was that the residents of Haymarket, a town with about 500 residents at the time,1 as well as residents all around the Washington DC area, did not want to become “the new Orlando” and were afraid that their neighborhoods and homes would be redeveloped in order to build the new theme park and the new hotels and housing which would inevitably come with it. They feared the pollution that would come with the construction.2 Having a theme park built only about 35 miles from the nation’s capital also caused major traffic concerns.3 Finally, people were concerned about how Disney would represent American history and the fact that their display of history would be disrupting and overrunning the actual historical site of the Manassas National Battlefield nearby where two battles of the Civil War were fought. The battlefield was already broken up by roads and in close proximity to the Dulles International Airport, and people feared that the area could not handle anymore traffic and roadways. Esteemed documentary maker Ken Burns stated that “the area doesn’t need any more history superimposed on it, especially of the intoxicatingly distilled kind Disney is proposing”.4 People were afraid that Disney’s portrayal of history would be harmful due to its oversentimentality. After all, how could a Disney Park portray things like history and racism in a way that is fun and family-friendly? Any attempt at that would come across as mockery. Ultimately, it came down to a battle of history vs. Disney.

Photo Creds: Town of Haymarket

The fight was led by two men named Richard Moe, the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Nick Kotz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. Both men opposed the building of Disney’s America, and in February 1994 they met in the Mayflower Hotel in DC to discuss the situation. They shared the widespread concern that the development of this theme park would overrun the Manassas Battlefield and other historical sites nearby.5 The two men recruited a couple other influential figures in their fight against Disney- namely Julian Scheer, a businessman (who was originally invited to work on the Disney’s America project), and Peter Hannaford, a public relations consultant. These four men were hoping to organize efforts against Disney, because so far, the only organized opposition to Disney was the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC),6 who were trying to save the many farms and vineyards in the Piedmont region.7 The PEC tried to convince people that Disney’s America was being built in the wrong place and that there were other locations better suited for the project, but George Allen, the governor of Virginia, enthusiastically supported Disney’s America, and local legislature was approving all the money that Disney asked for, especially since Disney’s negotiator Mark Pacala threatened to walk and take all the potential revenue with him if the money they asked for was not approved.8 Robert T. Dennis, the President of the PEC at the time, was beginning to think that stopping Disney would be impossible.9 Moe, Kotz, Scheer, and Hannaford believed that this fight needed to be taken to the national level.10 Instead of getting into the messy debate of the content of the proposed theme park, they pushed the argument that Disney’s America was simply being built in the wrong location. This strategy proved effective against Disney because Disney was trying to turn it into an issue of free speech, hence Michael Eisner’s statement that “the First Amendment gives you the right to be plastic.”11

Nick Kotz, Photo Creds: Prince William Times

On May 2nd of 1994, Moe took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post urging Disney to reconsider the location of Disney’s America. The ad received an overwhelming amount of responses from people who supported the cause. Moe, Scheer, Kotz, and Hannaford formed a group called “Protect Historic America,” and many other historians joined, such as David McCullough, Tom Wicker, and Professor Brown Morton of Mary Washington College.12 May 11th, 1994 was a pivotal day for Protect Historic America because it was their first press conference and their first time gaining attention from the national media. Newspaper articles were written by historians all over the country on the issue of Disney’s America. Protect Historic America’s strategy was to make Disney spend a lot of money and to tarnish their image and reputation.13 This was especially effective because image was and still is extremely important to Disney. Grassroots activists were even creating political cartoons that portrayed Mickey Mouse as a figure of corporate greed.14 At this point, Disney was spending about $50,000 per week in order to save Disney’s America and their reputation. Disney’s reputation took an even bigger hit when Virginia had to cancel a contract with an engineering firm that was helping them assess the environmental impacts of new roads for the theme park because it turned out that the consultant was working for Disney.15 Both sides enlisted help from politicians and government officials who had friends in high places. For example, Disney had help from Virginia senator John Warner and Protect Historic America had help from Harry McPherson, the former White House counsel to Lyndon Johnson.16

Richard Moe, Photo Creds: TIME

In more of the background, but still present was the fight to protect Shenandoah National Park from the effects of Disney’s America. This was led by Bill Wade, the superintendent of the park. Haymarket, VA is just 30 miles west of this 196,000-acre mountain reserve. The park had already been dealing with the threats of development and declining air quality, and this Wade was concerned that Disney’s America would only make it worse.17 Shenandoah National Park had also been having to spend millions of dollars on maintenance, so much so that campgrounds and visitor programs were being cut to keep the costs down. Wade and his team had already taken down a plan to build a power plant near the national park, but in 1994 one of the air quality monitoring stations was scheduled to close due to the tight budget and Wade feared that they did not have enough resources to stop Disney.18

Shenandoah National Park, Photo Creds: The Outbound Collective
  1. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  2. Wills, John. Disney Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press (2017). ProQuest Ebook Central.                 ↩︎
  3. Fisher, Christy. “Disney Surrenders on Theme Park.” Advertising Age 65 (42). 1994. ↩︎
  4. Wills, John. Disney Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press (2017). ProQuest Ebook Central.                 ↩︎
  5.   Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994. ↩︎
  6.   Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994. ↩︎
  7. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  8. Sidey, Hugh, and Kristen Lippert-Martin. “When Mickey Comes Marching Home.” Time (Chicago, Ill.), 143 (12). New York: Time, Inc, 1994. ↩︎
  9. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  10.   Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994. ↩︎
  11. Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994 ↩︎
  12. Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994 ↩︎
  13. Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994 ↩︎
  14. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  15. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  16. Bailey, Charles W. “How Washington Insiders Ambushed Mickey Mouse”. The Washington Monthly, 26. Washington: Washington Monthly Company, 1994 ↩︎
  17. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
  18. Fordney, Chris. “Embattled Ground.” National Parks (Washington, D.C.), 68 (11). Washington: National Parks and Conservation Association, 1994. ↩︎
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