[billcollins531]

I saw a news clip a few weeks ago about a construction site in NC where a Christian family theme park was once present.

Here's the problem... I can't remember where they said it was! Would one of the history buffs on the boards like to contribute anything to this?

[coasterdave]

Heritage USA maybe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA

[billcollins531]

That's it!!

Fascinating - they were raking in $126 million per year! It's also pretty incredible that they bought over 2000 acres of land at the start of their career. Hard to find that much land anymore - even though it's only been 20-30 years.

[arby]

You may recall that Jim Bakker went to prison for over 8 years due to fraud, some of which was related to Heritage USA. That whole scandal is the part of the reason the park is defunct and also why most people want to forget that it ever existed.

[PhantomCat]

I think the scandal was mainly with overbooked timeshares - that allowed guests to stay on the property once a year. There were too many shares sold but not enough property. The Jessica Hahn incident was only an added feature.

[billcollins531]

Check out this water-park!!

[sccoasterbear]

I use to love the look of their waterpark. It is great when the slides become part of the terrain, and not just an ugly tower.

[arby]

I think the scandal was mainly with overbooked timeshares - that allowed guests to stay on the property once a year. There were too many shares sold but not enough property

That's what started the whole investigation. There were numerous issues that came out that I can't remember them all now (although I could find them on the Internet if I looked. )

It's just sad that greed ruined what was a great theme park.

[PhantomCat]

I visited the place a few times in it's prime and I don't call it a theme park. Sure, they had the water park, a skating rink, shops, places to eat, and the taping studios, but calling it a theme park is a bit of a stretch. It was more like an attraction.

If you're a Jim Bakker fan, he has another TV show. I've run across it a few times on late nights while channel surfing but I don't remember the network. It's a small show that gives the appearance of a night club setting with the light on. His guest, mostly an older crowd, sit at round tables in front of the stage where Jim and his wife sit. They happened to show a high, wide shot of the room he was telecasting from on one episode. It looked like a backstage storage area because I could see costumes on racks and stage show sets in the background. Movable partitions separated the storage from the filming set. One night I witnessed him still up to his same old tricks, working to separate people from their cash for some vision of his. Needles to say, he turned me off so I turned him off.

[PhantomCat]

I didn't visit the attraction a whole lot but I became bored about every time I went.

[arby]

Thanks for that info! I had never been there so I can only go off of what I know from the news (we know that's all true ), the Internet (we know that's all true ), and others (we know people don't have opinions ).

I'm probably the farthest from being a Jim Bakker fan than anybody (even before he was caught) so I won't go looking up that show.

[PhantomCat]

Arby
You are hilarious.

[arby]

Thanks. I just try to make others smile.

If I could only be positive 100% of the time... On 1/11/11 I made my 2011 resolution.

[billcollins531]

It's just sad that greed ruined what was a great theme park.

For real. It's amazing how far greed will take you. If you've got a few minutes, check out some of the pictures on this website. http://sbno.illicitohio.com/heritage/heritage01.html It's really quite eerie how it looks nowadays. It almost looks like an apocalypse-type site. They should have filmed I Am Legend here.

[PhantomCat]

arby
It's nice to see you did make a resolution to better yourself.
Remember, you are only human. With this life there are ups and downs. With them comes the time to speak about the positive/the negative, and the times to say nothing about them. I don't see you holding to this New Years resolution 100% of the time because it's too high of a goal and too instant of a change. If it were that easy more people would have done it a long time ago. But, I do see you working on becoming a more positive person. I think the biggest problem with resolutions is that people set goals too high, they end up getting disappointed, quit, thus bringing on the regularly spoken line, "I don't make resolutions anymore because I never keep them."

billcollins531
I looked at the pictures until they became boring. It was like reliving a nightmare. Now, you can plainly see that the place was no theme park at all. It's no wonder the skating rink was built because there was nothing much for visiting kids to do during winter months when the water park closed. With all of the hotels going up, shops, studios, stage theaters, etc., my questions are: What was the vision? What was Jim trying to accomplish? Was an actual theme park in the works?
The man never could get his hands on enough money.
Always on TV.
Always begging...