Gold Coast theme parks: 1998 deal for Gold Coast Disneyland dumped over $845m disagreement

A secret deal to bring Disneyland to the Gold Coast was negotiated behind closed for more than two years. But then it suddenly fell apart. Here's why.

How the Gold Coast Disneyland would have looked.

IT took 21 years of work but entertainment giant Disney was finally keen go build its own Disneyworld on the Gold Coast.

But it all went wrong and the plan fell apart.

The push to secure Disneyland for a site at Coomera first began in 1977 when the Southport-based Star Land Company began trying to woo the American company.

How Gold Coast Disney would have looked.

But it was not until early 1998 that things got serious when the State Government got involved.

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Gold Coast-based Sport Minister Mr Mick Vievers visited Disneyland in late 1997 with former Expo chairman Sir Llew Edwards, fuelling speculation that the Government was negotiating a deal with Disney Corporation to set up shop in Queensland.

Talk initially centred on Bribie Island but attention soon turned to the Gold Coast and the Star land.

An early concept image

Initially led by the Borbidge Government and continued by Labor after it won that year’s election, taxpayers ultimately stumped up around $2 million.

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Operating under the working title of ‘Starland’, former premier Wayne Goss was brought in to lead the charge and was sent to the US by the Government to negotiate with the Walt Disney company.

There was strong support from the Gold Coast City Council’s Cr Jan Grew.

An overview of the Disney site at Coomera.

Less than two months after taking office, Premier Peter Beattie wrote to Disney saying he wanted an answer on whether the project would go ahead by September 1998.

Disney responded that month saying it would require millions of dollars in support to make the theme park viable.

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“For a Disney project to be feasible, it would require direct government support including land, infrastructure, tax incentives and capital dollars for construction costs of the theme park of at least $US300 million to $US500 million, most likely toward the upper end of this range,” the company said.

Former Premier Wayne Goss Picture: Nathan Richter

A month later, Mr Beattie wrote to the Disney organisation seeking a clear indication by the end of September as to whether the Starland project had sufficient support for a full financial feasibility study to proceed.

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But Disney hit back claiming the “economics” were “difficult”.

“At this time, we do not have sufficient confidence that the project will receive enough financial support for it to be feasible, and therefore, do not wish to risk creating false expectations either among the public, government leaders or Star Land Company.

Premier Peter Beattie in 1998.

“Therefore, unless your government is willing to commit to this type of funding, we don’t believe that probabilities warrant further time and energy being spent …’’

The Premier then wrote to Star Land chairman Dr J. Carmichael that the Government appreciated the substantial effort and commitment by the company to the development of the project.

“In the circumstances, I advise that the Queensland Government is not prepared to provide any further funding to the Star Land Company for the Starland project,’’ he said.

Originally published as Gold Coast theme parks: 1998 deal for Gold Coast Disneyland dumped over $845m disagreement