The Plan for a NEW Theme Park Designed By Former Disney Imagineers Is Dead

Well, not everything can work out the way you originally imagined. As sad as it is, it’s true.

Back in October 2024, it was announced that a new theme park called Libertyland USA was in the works to arrive in South Dakota. It was intended to be a large theme park, complete with an American History-themed theme park itself, a hotel and conference center, an indoor/outdoor amphitheater, an indoor water park, a retail and dining district named Liberty Village, a themed RV resort, and a residential district featuring single-family and multi-family residences. However, a year later, the project has MAJORLY scaled down, and it looks like the “theme park” part of this new land won’t be coming to fruition after all.

SiouxFalls.Business has just reported that the grand original idea for Libertyland USA won’t be happening after all, though something will still be built on the land purchased. Now that the project has been scaled down, the new plan is focused on commercial development for about 50 acres owned by the Liens.

Darren Sloniger, managing director of Libertyland USA LLC and the master developer alongside Storyland Studios, said, “Everyone wants this to be a year-round development, so anything I can do to increase the seasonality of the project, I want to do it. We needed to take this from Disney World down to Disney Village and make it something that’s financeable and year-round and attract tourists and local residents.”

Storyland Studios is a team with experience that includes work at The Walt Disney Co., Walt Disney Imagineering, Pixar Animation Studios, Universal Studios, and Legoland, so they’re certainly not unfamiliar with building large theme parks. Inside Libertyland, it’s now planned that individual businesses will own a proposed hotel, attractions, restaurants, and other venues. However, 130 acres will also remain to hopefully develop housing in the future.

Darren Sloniger described what’s coming to the new area by saying that it’ll be like walking onto an island, and that, “It will be anchored to the east with a boutique hotel that will have entertainment-driven retail in the base, and then it will be anchored to the west by some larger 30,000-to-40,000-square-foot users, attractions.” There will also be a village-like setting of food and beverages. The hotel itself is planned to have 160 rooms, but the vision is for it to be entertainment-driven on the first floor with many attractions, such as an immersive theater. Outside, Sloniger is envisioning a 150-foot-high Ferris wheel, a carousel, go-karts, and putt-putt golf.

The goal of this new land is to give visitors to Rapid City for Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills a reason to stay longer, and they’re hoping to break ground in the next six months. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this development to see if it truly does come to fruition, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest news!

Check out what the original plan for Libertyland was about a year ago to see how much it’s changed!

What do you think about the plan for Libertyland now? Tell us in the comments!