The American Heartland is finally entering the world of massive, multi-billion dollar theme park resorts in 2026, as an “Americana-themed” park was officially announced this week. The 125-acre theme park will be titled “American Heartland Theme Park” & will be built near Grand Lake, Oklahoma along Route 66. Ironically, Grand Lake is located just a few miles north of the aptly-named city of Disney, Oklahoma. Strangely, that’s not where the Disney ties end, as it was also announced that over 20 former Disney Imagineers will be on the design team for the project, including names such as Steve Hedrick, who served as Senior Producer and Entertainment Project Director for Tokyo’s DisneySEA Theme Park, heralded as one of the most impressive theme parks in the world, and Don Hilsen, former Executive Director at Walt Disney Imagineering.

The massive theme park project is reportedly going to cost upwards of $2 billion to plan, build, & complete, & is expected to bring thousands of jobs to the area. According to American Heartland officials, the park is expected to bring in nearly 5 million guests per year to the Northeast Oklahoma resort. The park itself will be a proposed 125-acres, which would make it larger than most Disney & Universal parks & would make it the largest theme park in the Midwest. The resort project as a whole is proposed at around 1,000 acres.

The park itself will feature a total of six themed lands, taking each guest on a journey through the best of the American story. These lands are: Great Plains, Bayou Bay, Big Timber Falls, Stony Point Harbor, Liberty Village, & Electropolis.” Specific details for each land have yet to be released, but American Heartland officials did showcase multiple pieces of concept art for the project, shown below.

The park will be the focal point of a larger resort complex, similar to the many Disney & Universal resorts across the world. Joining the massive Disneyland-sized American Heartland theme park will be a 300-room hotel, an indoor water park, & an attached RV park with cabins. The RV park, cabins, & hotel are all slated to open by late 2025.

That is about the extent of details that have been made available about the upcoming resort as of now, although more details are likely to come soon with an opening date of just 36 months away. Stay tuned to Theme Park Professor for up-to-date news on the new resort as well as all major theme park resorts around the world!