So, What’s Going on With the Theme Park Former Imagineers Are Building?

Several years ago, a brand new theme park – designed by Disney Imagineering veterans was announced to be coming to Oklahoma longtime theme park fans like myself were intrigued by the prospect, if a bit confused at the location, theme, and financials behind the park.

©American Heartland

Turns out, we were right to be skeptical of this $2 billion theme park, as the project turned from blue sky to boondoggle, ending in nothing but lawsuits.

As initially announced, the theme park was to be called American Heartland and would have been located in northeast Oklahoma in Vinita. Based on initial renderings, the resort was to span 1,000 acres and include a 125-acre theme park roughly the size of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, a water park, a large RV park with cabins, a dinner theatre, an amphitheater, a swimming pool, a clubhouse, and more.

©American Heartland

The park’s announced development team included over a dozen former Disney employees with experience in special effects, technical design, entertainment, and more.

©American Heartland

The park which was expected to include six themed Americana lands: Liberty Village, Great Plains, Bayou Bay, Bit Timber Falls, Stony Point Harbor, and Electropolis, was intially slated to open in the fall of 2026. Meanwhile, the Three Ponies RV and Campground, which was to consist of an estimated 750 RV spaces and 300 cabins, was expected to open the year prior in 2025.

©American Heartland

Unfortunately, before construction had truly even began (outside of a chainlink fence) was halted due to financial issues. During development, the project’s budget had increased from $2 billion to $2.5 billion, which was about $500 million more than the original estimate. This led to accusations that the developer, Mansion Entertainment, had fallen behind in paying the bills during the planned construction phase of the theme park.

©American Heartland

The issue came to a head in the summer of 2025, when O. Gene Bicknell, a 91-year-old former pizza chain owner who have invested in the project filed a massive lawsuit. According to reports, the suit alleged that American Heartland officials, Richard Silanskas, Larry Wilhite, and Stephen Hedrick, worked together to defraud Bicknell out of over $60 million in investments. 

According to Bicknell’s lawyers, the American Heartland trio “operated a criminal enterprise that defrauded Bicknell and duped him into sinking his remaining fortune” and that they had “executed a predatory conspiracy of psychological manipulation — convincing Bicknell, through fraud and impersonation, that God himself was commanding him to invest in the theme park.”

©American Heartland

The lawsuit seeks to hold Silanskas and Wilhite accountable for their alleged actions through a jury trial and compensatory damages. Stay tuned for DFB for more updates on this ongoing litigation.

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