Closure of The Theme Park
The ranch and park remained a popular seasonal attraction for decades after the network run of Bonanza ended, having outlived most of the series' original cast. Business remained strong into the late 1990s. The land was purchased by billionaire software entrepreneur David Duffield in 2004. In September 2004 he closed the Ponderosa "indefinitely".
An article in the Reno Gazette-Journal on September 26, 2004 (Ponderosa rides into the sunset) quoted "co-owner Anderson " as saying: "This is the biggest year we’ve ever had", and conservatively estimated that 250,000 people visited the Ponderosa during its last April to September 2004 season.
Royce Anderson, son of ranch founder Bill Anderson, said he decided to sell the ranch because "land values are so high." Bill Anderson had retired to his personal ranch in Dayton some ten years earlier.
The Washoe County, Nevada web site reveals a Ponderosa Ranch land use concept diagram which alludes to a plan for a new theme park within the Ponderosa Ranch limits. No other information is available and owner David Duffield has not publicly announced a new theme park plan. Nothing new has been built. Google Map imaging indicates that as of January 14, 2011 all of the original structures were still standing.
Read more about this topic: Ponderosa Ranch
Famous quotes containing the words theme park, theme and/or park:
“The one regret I have about my own abortions is that they cost money that might otherwise have been spent on something more pleasurable, like taking the kids to movies and theme parks.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“The park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,”
—Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)