(Image credit: Pursuitist.com)
Way back in the early 2000s, you must have heard whisperings of a famous theme park being built on our tiny island. If you heard the rumours, the theme park was suppose to be a Disneyland and the place where it was suppose to be built was that huge empty space between the Yio Chu Kang MRT station and the Khatib MRT station.
Back then, I thought it was simply a rumour, a reason why the 2 spaces were spaced so far apart was due to the Government’s plans of building a theme park, and what other theme park is more famous than Disneyland?
A few years later and I have to say after some research, I must concede that I was wrong. Yes, there were plans to build a Disneyland on our sunny island.
In the 1990s, there were speculation that the Singapore government was in negotiations with the Walt Disney Company. Unfortunately for us Disney fans, the plan fell through for a few reasons.
1. The Walt Disney Company Needed Land
(Image credit: Vicuna Family Blog)
The Walt Disney company required land, a lot of it, 300 hectares to be exact (Universal Studios Singapore is only 20 hectares!).
2. Who Should Own and Run Disneyland Singapore?
(Image credit: Proprofs.com)
Not only was there an issue of space constraints but The Walt Disney was unwilling to invest funds into developing Singapore’s Disneyland.
Singapore too was reluctant to sell so much land at such a low costs and Singapore firmly believes that theme parks should not be funded by the government and should be essentially run by the private sector (If you didn’t already know, USS is owned by Genting Singapore, a company of the Genting Group).
For a long while, there wasn’t any other news of a Disneyland being built in Singapore. Until 2006, where it was rumoured that CapitaLand and the Singapore Tourism Board were in talks to bring Disneyland to Singapore. There were even speculations that a site near the Marina Bay Golf Course had been earmarked for the theme park. But once more, plans fell through between The Walt Disney Company, CapitaLand and the Singapore Tourism Board.
(Image credit: Singapore Through My Eyes)
For now, the Lower Seletar Reservoir still stands with only small developments making it a nice place to sit and chat during cool evenings. While we might just have to settle for Universal Studios for the foreseeable future, I just keep thinking won’t it be AMAZING if a new amusement park was developed at this scenic stretch? It’ll definitely boost Yishun’s street cred!
