Earth Quest Adventures

[Subdude]

From the Chronicle:

Eco Theme Park Plan Raises Hopes and Questions

by Katie Plocheck

During an information session at Kirksey Architects on Wednesday, September 8, a team including former Disney "imagineer" Chris Brown, developer Don Lessem (aka Dino Don), and MIT scientist Dr. Matt Gardner presented plans for EarthQuest.

The 1,600-acre resort and learning institute is set to break ground at an undisclosed date in New Caney, Texas. The facility would teach "green living" and "re-engage the public with what's real," according to Brown, who is president of Contour Entertainment. Houston was a strategic choice. As the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, Brown said that an estimated 18 million people live within a few hours drive of the potential park. This, along with Houston's position as an energy capital, and the city's lack of a theme park since the demise of Astroworld, make its location prime real estate.

If people are on a quest for anything in this day and age, it's one to figure out how to be more "green." Now, theme parks are vying for a coveted position in the green arena. But the notion of "green" can be amorphous.

The presenters acknowledged that the project would involve "cutting down" most of the 1,600 acres of quality bottomland natural forest on the site along Caney Creek.

And the link...

[intencity77]

http://sanantonio.bi.../13/story5.html

Does anybody know any information about the second possible theme park development? I couldn't read the full article as I am not a subscriber.

[gto250us]

I hear that Disney is buying up property in Anahuac. Oh, wait. That was 30 years ago. Never mind.

[Coaster]

The article might be talking about the Grand Texas "theme park" project. Grand Texas is supposed to be located in Tomball. There were news articles about a year ago that called it a theme park, but if you look at what they plan to build it doesn't exactly look like a theme park in the traditional sense. In fact, the website looks very amateurish.

However, on the website, there is a NEW headline that mentions that their are big changes coming. So who knows, maybe the developer found some investors to finance this project and turn it into a legitimate theme park.

http://www.grandtx.com/

http://swamplot.com/grand-texas-theme-park-in-tomball-bringing-some-of-that-texas-frontier-spirit-to-texas/2009-07-09/

[HtownWxBoy]

From reading all of the articles it seems to me that this thing is gonna happen... it's more a matter of "when" than "if"... very exciting hopefully it happens. With the millions of people living in Houston and the surrounding region there is no reason why we couldn't support at least some sort of amusement park. What I hope is that if this thing doesn't happen someone else comes in and builds a park somewhere in the area. If Dallas and San Antonio can both support amusement parks there is no reason Houston can't... just need to build it in a better location than Astroworld.

[TheNiche]

The article might be talking about the Grand Texas "theme park" project. Grand Texas is supposed to be located in Tomball. There were news articles about a year ago that called it a theme park, but if you look at what they plan to build it doesn't exactly look like a theme park in the traditional sense. In fact, the website looks very amateurish.

Developers' sites typically look amateurish. Unless they're marketing directly to a consumer (i.e. Randall Davis), they're only a tad better than engineers' sites, a fair bit worse that the sites of a production builder, and utterly barren as compared to the websites of most architects.

However, on the website, there is a NEW headline that mentions that their are big changes coming. So who knows, maybe the developer found some investors to finance this project and turn it into a legitimate theme park.

Probably not. If they got financing, they'd announce that. It'd be a huge deal. Everybody would know.

[TheNiche]

From reading all of the articles it seems to me that this thing is gonna happen... it's more a matter of "when" than "if"...

Articles don't mean jack.

[Talbot]

Well if this is true then it is very exciting! We shall see.

[lockmat]

The last two phases are slated to be a retail corridor and 2.5k residential units, but are based on the success of Phase I—the residential space could be replaced with more entertainment.

The Adventures Theme Park is broken into five aspects—Water, Sky, Land, Life, and Pangaea—and will blend rides and education. An EcoTourism section will have low impact trails, horseback riding, and kayaking in Caney Creek, which provides the western border of the park.

The hotel will have 250 rooms, 30 cabins, and 20 treehouse villas, and The Woodlands Conference Center group has expressed interest in running EarthQuest’s conference facilities. Chris tells us he expects to wrap up financing by year-end, then will finish schematics and hopefully break ground in 2011. Look for over two years of construction.

He’s launching programs now that don’t require a building, like the Mobile EarthQuest vans visiting elementary schools.

http://www.bisnow.com/houston_commercial_real_estate_news_story.php?p=10223

[tanith27]

Isn't that Borat?

[livincinco]

This will be nicest theme park in all of Kazakhstan!

[Trae]

If Don Lessum turns out to be Borat, I'm going to be pissed. He had us all along!

[txtiger]

Eesh... Time for additional patience:

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/11/16/east_montgomery/news/46emcemcid.txt

I'm still absolutely ecstatic about EarthQuest Resort as a whole, and really always will be, but at this point I hope EMCID and Marlin Atlantis really concentrate on getting just the bulk of the ticketed EarthQuest Adventures theme park component constructed and opened so revenue will start pouring in... Get the themed rides in there, open it with all the roller coasters/thrill attractions planned for... Locals will still absolutely swarm to spend a day at a well-done park... The rest of the development will be great as it's phased-in. (My opinion is that the ticketed water park component should be the very last thing funded.)

[LTAWACS]

When I see the word "patience" around here it usually means delays... am I right?

[Trae]

Eesh... Time for additional patience:

http://www.hcnonline.../46emcemcid.txt

I'm still absolutely ecstatic about EarthQuest Resort as a whole, and really always will be, but at this point I hope EMCID and Marlin Atlantis really concentrate on getting just the bulk of the ticketed EarthQuest Adventures theme park component constructed and opened so revenue will start pouring in... Get the themed rides in there, open it with all the roller coasters/thrill attractions planned for... Locals will still absolutely swarm to spend a day at a well-done park... The rest of the development will be great as it's phased-in. (My opinion is that the ticketed water park component should be the very last thing funded.)

Doesn't sound like bad news and still appears to be moving forward.

[Coaster]

They are just now doing what they should have been doing 5 years ago. The team running this project is flaky and they sound a bit incompetent. Captain Hindsight said, "They should have had an alternate plan for building in phases already in place just in case they could not raise the $600,000,000 to build the entire resort at once".

It makes perfect sense to start with the parts of the resort that will bring in the most cash first (THE THEME PARK), duh! If they had started smaller, a bit more sane and had a little more respect for reality, the park would have probably broken ground already. Remember, they originally said that the park would be OPENED in 2011. Now it won't even break ground until 2011, if then.

My confidence in the project grows weaker as each day ends. But I will admit that I've never built a theme park before either, so I am certainly no expert. And who knows, they might actually be able to pull it off now that they have investors. Now they can start playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with real money instead of Monopoly money.

[livincinco]

They are just now doing what they should have been doing 5 years ago. The team running this project is flaky and they sound a bit incompetent. Captain Hindsight said, "They should have had an alternate plan for building in phases already in place just in case they could not raise the $600,000,000 to build the entire resort at once".

It makes perfect sense to start with the parts of the resort that will bring in the most cash first (THE THEME PARK), duh! If they had started smaller, a bit more sane and had a little more respect for reality, the park would have probably broken ground already. Remember, they originally said that the park would be OPENED in 2011. Now it won't even break ground until 2011, if then.

My confidence in the project grows weaker as each day ends. But I will admit that I've never built a theme park before either, so I am certainly no expert. And who knows, they might actually be able to pull it off now that they have investors. Now they can start playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with real money instead of Monopoly money.

I agree, it seems pretty obvious to decouple the theme park and get it launched as soon as funding is available. The good news is that demand is so high for some sort of amusement park in this area that it will probably be a success no matter how flaky that project management has been.

[lockmat]

Interesting info I found from the Travel Industry Association tia.org

So it seems the Houston area will be the main ones supporting this thing, not tourists.

The percentages of those on trips with children

engaging in various activities are as follows

• Shopping 37%

• Outdoor activities 21%

• Historical places/museums 14%

• Theme/amusement parks 15%

[Trae]

Interesting info I found from the Travel Industry Association tia.org

So it seems the Houston area will be the main ones supporting this thing, not tourists.

The percentages of those on trips with children

engaging in various activities are as follows

• Shopping 37%

• Outdoor activities 21%

• Historical places/museums 14%

• Theme/amusement parks 15%

I think this will be true at first, but it'll definitely attract more tourists outside of the Houston area.

[lockmat]

I think this will be true at first, but it'll definitely attract more tourists outside of the Houston area.

Maybe. I think it'll depend on it's uniqueness. I think most amusement parks mostly draw just regionally. Only a few like Disney Land/Word draw from outside the region. If it just becomes a regional place, I think the stats will stand true. If it's truly unique then I think you'll be right. Just my opinion.

[Houston?]

Any word?

[Trae]

EarthQuest Institute, the ecofriendly entertainment center slated for construction in New Caney, recently partnered with Lone Star College-Kingwood students to develop an interactive game in which players can recycle items in their virtual neighborhood and gain points for their efforts.

The game is intended to be played later this year on EarthQuest's Web site at www.earthquestinstitue.org. EarthQuest Institute is one of six components of EarthQuest Resort, a 500-acre theme park paying homage to Earth sciences. At the nonprofit research institute, visitors can participate in hands-on activities geared toward sustainability.

The developer, Marlin Atlantis, told East Montgomery County Investment District board members Nov. 10 that the mixed-use project must be re-planned and built in phases. The first phase of the re-design — the dinosaur theme park and museum -will cost approximately $307 million to build and construction will start in the summer of 2011.

College students to create game for theme park | Ultimate Kingwood

New tax there are proposing:

EarthQuest

The EarthQuest Adventures project was originally slated to be open this year, but construction has yet to begin. The developer, Marlin Atlantis, told improvement district board members in November that construction will start this summer.

Baseball park

This bill comes almost a year after plans were announced for East Montgomery County's new baseball park. A professional minor league baseball team is expected to play in 2012 at a 4,500-seat stadium at U.S. 59 in Porter. The project was announced early in 2010 and is expected to break ground later this year.

The new baseball park is a collaboration between Ventura Sports Group, a sports and entertainment company that develops minor league baseball stadiums and teams; Wallace Bajjali, a real estate investment firm; and the improvement district. The team will be an independent American Association team much like the Grand Prairie Air Hogs, playing at least 48 home games in its inaugural season. "The net winner in this partnership will be the citizens of Montgomery County as we deliver affordable family entertainment that touches the entire community," said Mark Schuster, managing partner of Ventura Sports Group.

'Gate tax' proposed by local lawmaker | Ultimate Kingwood

[LTAWACS]

so is this a go?

[DrLan34]

so is this a go?

-

[Soapboxmom]

I live near Dallas and I remember the excitement about "Dino Don" and his animated dinosaurs coming to Texas. We planned our vacation for 2009 around going to that museum. Imagine my surpise when I started researching Evolv water in 2009. That MLM was being sued by the world renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center. Evolv's founder and CEO was none other than Trey White, who just happens to be the chairman of the board for Marlin Atlantis. When I realized that goof was tangled up in this it became quite clear why the project was floundering.

Trey White spends time at recruitment meetings with totally sleazy MLM promoters. He happily participated in promotional videos and smiled for the cameras while being introduced as a multi-billioniare. Numerous reps in Evolv put those videos on youtube and many blogged of Trey's fantastic business success. But, it is all a frost. Trey White is not a multi-billionaire or even a billionaire. He isn't on and never has been on Forbes list of billionaires. He spins a great Texas sized tall tale however.

Marlin Atlantis is a little cheap starter, tract home division developer. Homes in the 100's to a few in the very low 200s. They have no experience with big projects like this. The Dallas Observer chronicled their tree killing, bankrupt disaster of a project near Duncanville, TX.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-03-19/news/dallas-wants-to-be-a-green-city-so-why-not-save-some-trees/

I think we should call Trey White's bluff and ask why he is not using his billions he bragged of to fund this project! I think the taxpayers should be asking a lot more questions.

Soapboxmom

[Coaster]

Realscam.com is a crackpot website. Soapboxmom has been at every internet forum that has an EarthQuest thread trying to discredit Marlin/Atlantis and Trey White. She finally found HAIF. My guess is that this is just another NIMBY troll out to try to stop the project. The latest news is that EarthQuest is still a go. The NIMBYs are getting nervous.

Marlin/Atlantis owns the land EQ is to be built on. I do not believe they are funding, building, designing, or managing this project.

[Soapboxmom]

Realscam.com is a crackpot website. Soapboxmom has been at every internet forum that has an EarthQuest thread trying to discredit Marlin/Atlantis and Trey White. She finally found HAIF. My guess is that this is just another NIMBY troll out to try to stop the project. The latest news is that EarthQuest is still a go. The NIMBYs are getting nervous.

Marlin/Atlantis owns the land EQ is to be built on. I do not believe they are funding, building, designing, or managing this project.

http://www.earthquestadventures.com/management-team/

Management Team

Creator and Limited Partner – Don Lessem

is a world-renowned educator and popularizer of natural history, consultant to Steven Spielberg, Disney and Universal films and theme parks, creator of international museum exhibitions, originator of the world’s largest paleontological charities, builder of the largest dinosaur recreations and author of more than 50 books for adults and children.

General Partner and Developer –Marlin Atlantis

of Dallas, Texas is one of the state’s leading residential and commercial property developers, with a particular emphasis upon maintaining natural habitats in its projects.

These are the first two entries on the EarthQuest official site. The Marlin Atlantis bunch I believe owns or did own all the land. They had no doubt hoped the dino park idea would artificially inflate the property value so that they could make a killing on one of their rinky dink residential communities assuming it is one of the ones that actually gets built out.

http://www.marlinatlantis.com/ma_whitestone.html

Located in southeastern Montgomery County, and with direct access to Hwy 59, this planned premier master-planned community will offer parks, trails, a large lake, and recreational facilities. There are planned landscape reserves and greenbelts for a quiet, natural setting. Whitestone, located on the east side of US 59, is the residential community component of a significant mixed-use development. The entertainment venue as well as a major retail/commercial development are located on the west side of US 59. Residential homes of various types will appeal to a broad market base. In Whitestone, residents will enjoy living, working, playing, and learning, all within the community. Planned are churches, a school site, daycare facilities, shopping, offices, and restaurants.

COMING SOON!

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Soapboxmom

[Coaster]

Isn't using HAIF to promote one's personal website forbidden? Soapboxmom has been using many forums to promote her own website and personal agenda. Don't worry tho, EarthQuest will be built one day. The latest news out of the EMCID is that they still have confidence that EQ will be built.

[lockmat]

The state legislature made provisions to make this happen. That's either signs that this is legit, or one very brave backroom deal.

[Soapboxmom]

Isn't using HAIF to promote one's personal website forbidden? Soapboxmom has been using many forums to promote her own website and personal agenda. Don't worry tho, EarthQuest will be built one day. The latest news out of the EMCID is that they still have confidence that EQ will be built.

What personal agenda? I researched Trey White very thoroughly as I reside in a suburb of Dallas and did not like his flaky water MLM in my hometown. I have worked with numerous enforcement agencies in Texas to protect the public. I am an administrator on the website in my sig and it has no advertising and generates no income. It does have several good threads about Marlin Atlantis and Trey White and the suit with MD Anderson which are good information for those considering investing.

I was very excited about "Dino Don" and his originally planned dinosaur museum. I believe the involvement of Marlin Atlantis suggests much more due diligence is necessary. The taxpayers have a right to the facts as this could turn into a very costly fiasco. The investors could get burned and property values will plummet in the surrounding area if this doesn't get built. Folks that paid inflated prices for their properties are going to be harmed if that should happen. I am concerned for them as well.

I think we should be getting more frequent and substantial updates on this!

Soapboxmom