Viso and Parker Collaborate on Theme Park for Santa Clara
An important project affecting Santa Clara was a collaboration between Viso and Parker in which Viso had no financial interest. Parker had called his friend Viso in early 1971 to complain that an important frontier-themed amusement park project he had been working on in Boone, Kentucky had been upended by a former financial partner in the project deciding to build a competing park across the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio. Parker’s idea was to follow up on his hugely successful Daniel Boone television series with an amusement park that echoed the frontier theme. But now, a competing park so nearby would preclude Parker from getting the financing he needed for his plans. After listening to his friend’s lament, Viso simply said “why not build your amusement park right here in Santa Clara, California?”
Working quickly, the Parker-Viso team created plans for Fess Parker's "Frontier Worlds" project in Santa Clara, a 10-year project on 1,000 acres projected to cost about $100 million ($678 million). The centerpiece was to be the 150 acre "Frontier Worlds" theme park, projected to cost $25 million ($170 million), which was expected to open in the spring of 1975. The developer would be Fespar Enterprises, owned by Fess Parker. The development would include an additional $40 million ($271 million) investment in hotels, motels, restaurants and associated retail according to Viso, who was responsible for interesting Parker in choosing this site for his development. The entire development was to be completed by 1976. Over the next 10 years, further development totaling an additional $72 million ($488 million) was expected. Santa Clara City Councilmen were reportedly "exuberant” over the proposal that would bring, in total, more than $740 million ($5.1 billion) in development investment into Santa Clara.
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The key question was how would the original amusement park development be financed? Under Parker’s proposal, the city of Santa Clara would issue bonds to purchase the land required for the development and would finance the construction of all facilities. Santa Clara would own all the park facilities; Fespar Enterprises would build and manage the park. Parker promised "wholesome recreation for the entire family", much like Disneyland, with which Parker had been associated earlier. The new amusement park was to be called "Fess Parker's Frontier Worlds of Santa Clara". Parker estimated that 2 million people would visit the park during its first year in 1976, the United States Bicentennial year. The expected tax benefits to Santa Clara were enormous.
Ever the promoter, Viso used one of his personal helicopters, Whirlybird II, to give Council colleagues and members of the media a bird’s-eye view of the proposed park site.
But it was just too good to be true for a city with a history of nasty politics. Mayor Gary Gillmor quickly concluded that he believed the management contract between Santa Clara and Parker’s Company was "fraught with conflict of interest", and things went downhill quickly for the project from that point. Fed up with the petty politics, Parker withdrew his plan for public financing and stated that he would finance the entire project privately. A sorely disappointed Viso said that he had hoped to be able to issue a dividend check to every resident of Santa Clara in the U.S. Bicentennial year from the park profits, but those checks would now go to the private financiers instead. After striking out in conversations with Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, Parker teamed up with Bill Marriott Jr. to finance the park.
What could have been a fabulous deal for Parker and Santa Clara, turned out to be just a good deal for Santa Clara. Squabbling broke out almost immediately between Parker and his corporate partners. Never very high on the idea of a frontier-themed amusement park in the center of an area that was very much trying to burnish its high-technology image, Marriott fought Parker every step of the way. The dealbreaker turned out to be whether or not a carousel would be the centerpiece at the entrance to the park. Parker wanted a Noah’s Ark ride; Marriott wanted a massive, double-decker carousel that was projected to cost $1.5 million ($7.5 million). To Parker, who had planned to construct the entire park for $25 million ($175 million), this seemed to be an extravagant waste of money for something that didn’t even fit his “Frontier” theme for the park. Parker walked away from his dream, and Santa Clara got the “Great America” theme park by Marriott in 1976.