Dave_and_Jen said:
I looked at the plans and I don't get the Disneyland comparison. There are no big rides, no amphitheaters, no water slides, no massive parking lots, no giant mice ...
The entire site is only 6.5 acres, and most of that looks like it will be taken up by a hotel and lagoon. Its hard to believe there's enough space left over to have enough shopping and dining to affect the rest of St Maarten's economy. I guess I just don't buy the dire predictions.
I wonder if Loterie Farm with their zip lines would agree with you since this new development will have zip lines. Most of their business had come from cruise ship passengers who will now stay close to the ship.
And other vendors who depend on boat trips to dive snorkel etc. And if you arrived on a cruise ship and found all this close to ship would you venture off to explore the island and spend elsewhere?
Brings to mind a cruise we took with a stop at Casa Maya only to find it was a town completely owned by the cruise lines---fixed prices, cabs not allowed. We had to craw under a fence to hail a cab and explore the nearest town where we found food and merchandize at 1/16th the prices in Casa Maya. True this area will be fenced (or will it?) and if a passenger has no desire to utilize anything offered there, they may venture out and spend with local businesses but this just makes it easier that they don't.
And I can hardly wait to see if it brings sustained noise to the area. That will spoil my visits to SXM. Traffic is bad enough without looking at an amusement park like atmosphere from my condo.
