The problem is, you cannot bring in the vast amount of tourists to do this. I've read somewhere, that Thailand has 5 million tourists every year. That's "only" (I think too much!
) a third of what the DisneyWorld would require to make a decent profit. It is - Simply not fesable that the tourist-entry to Thailand, would explode, just cause there's a Disneyworld here... If that were the case, why is HongKong not flodding with tourists from all over Asia? Disney has a strong brand, but not THAT strong... It's not a "live or die" thing
DisneyWorld is Too big for Thailand.... Allthough, I would like to see a (smaller) amusementpart with some rollercoasters in Thailand - Somewhere between Hua Hin and Bangkok....
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Firstly on projects of this nature you cannot apply North American economic philosophies with European ones. In Asia things are completely different from both. You must discard all you baggage and rethink.
There would not necessarily be any of the requirement or knock on effects that you have mentioned.
The bonus of this scheme is that it would employ many Thai people in most cases for life. This gets you many brownie points in Thailand where the welfare system is almost no-existent.
A second bonus is that infrastructure to the area would have to improve dramatically and would presumably be funded by National Government.
Another bonus for the investor is that no matter what happens with the success of the park when opened, the investment should remain safe and gain high growth.
I cannot go into the development costs but much would be funded from overseas. There are only a handful of countries in the world who can build white knuckle rides. As for other buildings, the cost would be considerably less than in the West or Hong Kong or Japan. I doubt if the gate money will be reduced in the same proportion.
So there you have all the ingredients necessary to start a project in Thailand. If you are going to go ahead then Pran Buri must be ideal. Lots of flat land, near to Bangkok, least rainfall and highest number of hours of sunshine in Thailand.
On the negative side. The Thai government backed by the very squeaky TAT have earmarked many tourism related projects for about ten years now. Not one single one has even been started yet. Unless Mr Chang has the budget for the airport, new road, high speed railway etc., etc., etc., then he will be relying on the National Government. (In case anybody has missed some news lately, we don't actually have one of them).
As for the internal of the park, as I mentioned before many of them will have to be contracted out to companies in Europe or the US and they will have to be paid for in Dollars or Euros. Normally in amusement parks in the west a lease purchase deal is struck first with the inventors, developers and constructors who get a regular payment boosted by a usage bonus. I.e. the better your ride or show is then the more money you get. I doubt very much if any of these countries would enter such a deal with a Thai operation. The Thais would have to pay up front with cash or a WBO sanctioned loan internally or nearby in Asia.
So IMHO this project if it is real, which I strongly doubt (according to Goofy & Pluto), it would be decades before the first person takes a white knuckle rid and meets Mickey.
A hell of a lot of people will be taken for a ride in the meantime though.
So don't worry STEVE G it will be shuttles coming over your house. All 747s will have long been grounded and lots of annoying people on Honda Airwave 125cc gyrocopters will be buzzing round your house.
Pete