Disney, Little Caesar's Heir, Masterminding Grayling Theme Park?

$160 Million Project Predicted to Be State's Top Tourist Attraction

June 1, 2007
By: Dave Rogers

Hollywood may be coming to Michigan.

Look at it another way: Northern Michigan may become just like Hollywood.

Rumors are flying that Disney, the Hollywood movie company with monster theme parks in Florida and California, is behind the proposed "Main Street America" that may gobble up Grayling and Northern Michigan like a giant pac-man.

It's also likely that one of the heirs to the Little Caesar's pizza fortune, Mike Ilitch Jr., has a hand in pulling the strings on this dancing puppet.

The fact that the State of Michigan is broke and desperately needs cash and jobs may have opened the door to the sale of 2,200 acres of state forest land at I-75, M-72 and M-27, according to some observers.

The projected 2,700 jobs (700 full time) and estimated $25 million annual payroll no doubt whetted the appetite of state as well as Crawford County officials for the deal.

"The minute it opens the doors it will be the biggest tourist attraction in the state," Supervisor Terry Wright of Grayling Township, where the park would be located along Four Mile Road, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

If the park draws the 1.7 million visitors annually that planners estimate, it would be third in Michigan tourist attractions behind the Henry Ford in Dearborn with about 5 million and Frankenmuth with about 3 million visitors a year.

Traverse City and Gaylord newspapers reported Thursday that the Grayling Township Planning Commission unanimously approved a concept plan for the four-seasons theme park. That approval gave the go-ahead to the state. Property sale negotiations will follow a land appraisal taking about two months, according to David Freed, chief of land and facilities for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR).


About 200 windmills would sprout under a plan for "greening" the energy demands of the proposed park, that also will use solar and battery power mixed with traditional energy sources like natural gas.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland was quick out of the blocks to condemn the idea of using state economic development dollars for the project. Diane Katz and James M. Hohman fired off a brief in April entitled "Taken for A Ride" saying: "Amusement parks can be loads of fun, but that doesn't justify the use of tax dollars to build one."

That opinion was in response to requests for about $25 million from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) for sewer, water and highway improvements sought by the project.

Big Mack ticked off failures like Flint's AutoWorld bust and said stiffly: "Indeed, it bears noting that any park or other amusement facility that must rely on tax dollars, rather than private investment, is by definition not viable and thus unworthy of taxpayer support."

Local wags with long memories point out that the first critic of AutoWorld was Michael Moore, now a notorious filmmaker, putting the Mackinac Center in strange company.

Environmentalists also fear the effect of such a development on the pristine AuSable River, one of the world's top trout streams, recently the focus of a $1 million project to divert all runoff. "Where will the theme park get its water?" one activist queried.

Observers were quick to retort that, if the project proves out, MEDC will have done its job by providing "seed money" to gain a much larger investment and desperately-needed jobs for northern Michigan.

Planners have said the most of the employees of the theme park will come from a 75-mile radius, an area noted for its depressed and job poor status. Part of the proposed theme park property is an empty industrial park that has sat unused for eight years.

Jobs are projected to pay from $8 per hour minimum up to $36,000 a year for college and university graduates. The Gaylord Herald Times reported that Patrick Crosson of Axiom told the planning commission if the property purchase moves ahead as expected a June 2010 opening of the park would be anticipated.

Crosson also reportedly said the park would pay about $1.2 million in real estate taxes growing to $6 million or more in a few years. Revenues are projected to rise from $10 million the first year to $55 million a year.

The park would transform pine and oak woodlands into a family-oriented wonderland of roller coasters, an indoor water park with surfing, snowmobile and auto racing tracks, a farm and 200 acre campground. According to Sheri McWhirter of the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the project also would include a hotel, stores and an amphitheater for dramatic and musical productions.

According to the Crawford County Avalanche, Grayling weekly newspaper, the park would also include extreme sports including a skateboard park, wakeboarding, a skydiving simulator and high-performance go-carts. The water park and wave surfing pool would be under a glass enclosure for use year round. The park would also feature "The Blizzard," a roller coaster that travels at speeds up to 70 mph and operates in the winter.

One attraction would be a lighted "Winter Wonderland" reprising the old toboggan runs at the Grayling Winter Sports Park of the 1940s and 1950s. Trains used to run from Detroit, Saginaw and Bay City into an early version of a theme park at Grayling that drew skiers and winter fun seekers. In those days the only lodging was at the tiny Shoppenagons Hotel in Grayling, named for a famed Indian chief who was a summer visitor and notable for tourist viewing.

The Bay City Times broke the story last year when an enterprising reporter, Eric English, wielding a Freedom of Information request pried documents out of the state showing that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was meeting with Axiom Entertainment of Rochester, Michigan, behind closed doors, regarding the proposed sale of state land.

Mike Ilitch Jr., 48, associated with Axiom Entertainment, is one of seven children of Mike and Marian Ilitch, founders of the Little Caesar's pizza chain in 1959. They own the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and have a large interest in the Motor City Casino. The couple has seven children: son Christopher Ilitch (born June 1965) is CEO and President of Ilitch Holdings, Inc.; daughter Denise Ilitch (born November 1955) is an attorney. Other children are Ron Ilitch (born June 1957), Michael Ilitch, Jr.; Lisa Ilitch Murray; Atanas Ilitch; and Carole Ilitch Trepeck.

If Ilitch Jr. is in fact involved in the park deal, that would explain the Hollywood connection. Ilitch is the co-founder of Prelude Pictures, Inc., originally based at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, and now in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prelude is best known for purchasing the movie rights to "Lost in Space," a 1998 movie sold to New Line Cinema, according to Crain's Detroit Business. Ilitch Jr. signed on as executive producer at Daniel Brian & Associates in late 2001.

Along with Disney, Six Flags has been mentioned as a possible player; but Six Flags, the largest chain of amusement and theme parks, is a money-loser billions in debt and has sold off Frontier City and White Water Bay in Oklahoma City and closed Astroworld. Disney is likely the only firm with the cash clout and expertise that would gain state confidence for such a massive venture.

We're still trying to connect all the dots, but what is known for sure right now is:

Grayling Township has approved a project plan for a year-round $160 million theme park on 2,200 acres of state land off I-75 south of Grayling;

Axiom Entertainment has a deal with the DNR giving the firm the sole right to buy the property for two years;

Mike Ilitch Jr. is a principal in Daniel Brian and Associates, the advertising agency that runs Axiom Entertainment.

Axiom Entertainment has recently begun distributing "family-friendly" movies through VeriSign and a movie download service run by AxiomTV, a subsidiary of Axiom Entertainment, based in Rochester, Michigan.

Axiom also has developed an Internet TV channel that runs parent-approved movies and shows for youngsters. It will use a technology aptly called "Mother" to block pornography, violence and foul language.

AxiomTV claims to be the first Internet movie service focused on family-friendly entertainment. Other firms in this online movie field are CinemaNow, Movielink, Amazon.com's Unbox, Time Warner's AOL Video.

VeriSign calls its system for distributing AxiomTV movies the "Intelligent Content Delivery Network." This system uses a peer-to-peer system to save costs and improve speeds. With this technology a movie file might come from a different computer hard drive rather than from a central server.

The questions are:

Did Axiom's venture into online movies put it in contact with Disney?

Did that business tie evolve into the idea of a year-round theme park for Michigan?

Will the whole thing come together and prove an economic boon for a sagging state economy?

Will Grayling become the next Orlando?

Stay tuned.

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