Prominent businessman makes huge bid to get a Disneyland theme park in Australia
A prominent businessman has made a huge bid for Disneyland to build one of its iconic theme parks in Australia.
Winery owner Warren Randall wants 'the happiest place on earth' to come Down Under and he's picked South Australia as the perfect place to host it.
There are already six Disneyland theme parks around the world, with California, Florida, Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong given the stamp of approve from the Walt Disney corporation.
But Australia could soon been the seventh wonder of the Disney world if Warren Randall gets his way.
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He's told The Advertiser: “I think, in tourism, we’re all a little bit sick and tired of Adelaide being the place you fly over when you go from Sydney to Perth.
“It is time we made a statement, a few statements, in our state.
“McLaren Vale would be my spot – wide, open, flat, next to the beach, next to the ranges - (it) makes a lot of sense.”
He said he would even be open to the idea of using some of his Randall Wine Group's land to help 'kickstart' the project - even though a lot of the surface area is being used for wine.
"I would love to make land available for the location to kickstart it. Definitely," he said.
"Either you sell the land into a consortium or you lease it or you gift it – you find a way.
"Firstly, you find the right location, on the right area. I think because we are so close to the beach, the hills and the city, particularly with the two-way Southern Expressway, that makes all the difference."
He pointed to California's Anaheim Disneyland park as a shining example of how to do it right.
Randall said the park there has 'fantastic resources, great infrastructure in terms of traffic, getting there, buses, parking', so they would be looking to replicate that in South Australia.
He added: "But we already have the model. We have the land. We've just got to have the will, the desire and the energy to put it together."
According to 7News, the Gold Coast made a pitch for Disneyland to come to Queensland in the 1990s and reportedly got to the final stage of the process.
However, Disney ended up building another park in Hong Kong instead.
It could be a massive win for Australian tourism if a theme park was built. Disneyland Paris has seen 375 million visitors since the park was opened in 1992.
Stewart Perrie