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"Taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/zombie-apocalaypse-detroit-theme-park_n_1644298.html"

Thought this was cool and a good way to refurbish crack-land to something usable.

Why wait for the zombie apocalypse? One man wants customers to experience the terror now.

With soaring budget deficits and population on the decline, Detroit has become a laboratory for testing out creative solutions for cities, like urban farming and pedestrian-friendly greenway trails.

Mark Siwak says he has his own idea for bettering the city -- a live-action zombie theme park set in one of Detroit's abandoned neighborhoods.

Paying customers would be chased by a growing horde of zombies (all professionals) through a cordoned-off, desolate section of the city, seeking shelter in abandoned homes and factories and businesses.

Z World creator Siwak, who has launched a fundraiser on IndieGoGo (he's raised $2,200 of the $140,000 needed to meet his goal), says that the city of Detroit needs to consider creative solutions to areas of urban blight.

Mayor Dave Bing's long-touted campaign promise was the implementation of the Detroit Works Project, which could ultimately relocate residents from blighted districts to more populated areas in an attempt to centralize city services. Spread across 140 square miles, Detroit proper is so large that the entire cities of San Francisco and Boston, plus the borough of Manhattan, can fit inside its borders.

And Siwak says, with all that land, there's room in the Motor City for a zombie theme park. He even compares his idea to the city's famed Heidelberg Project, in which artist Tyree Guyton transformed the empty homes of his neighborhood into a large-scale art installation.


But some critics have shrugged off "Z World" as an exploitative and insensitive ploy to profit off the glamorization of Detroit's problems. Curbed Detroit blogger Sarah Cox wrote that Siwak's plan "sounds a lot like all that fun we had during the 1960s race riots. It is nice to know that Z Land is finally going to capitalize on our love of adrenaline rushes and nostalgia. Now even visitors from the 'burbs can 'wonder if they will make it through the night.'"

Siwak told CBS Detroit that "the city can only have so many urban farms or similar uses for vacant plots.'

And while he's far away from his funding goals, not to mention permission from the City of Detroit, he says he's already getting resumes from Detroiters who'd like their next 9-to-5 to focus on eating brains and staggering through the streets.

On his site, Siwak assured, "while zombies are great, the real neat thing about this project is the potential to inject some life into a forgotten neighborhood - with the opportunity to work with neighborhood groups and organization."

This wouldn't be the world's first live-action zombie role-play game, though Detroit's proposal is almost certainly the most expansive. In Atlanta, thrill-seekers wielding paint ball guns will pay as much as $30 to play hide-and-seek with undead zombies in a formerly abandoned truck stop rechristened as the Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse, opening Sept. 28. Over on the other side of the pond, wish.co.uk offers zombie combat mission experiences with training from military veterans and movie-grade special effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4awVqRr1eCo&playnext=1&list=PLD123832A6E42DACE&feature=results_main

Yawn.. Why create a theme park first? (wait for the end in that video)

Yea I seen that when it first came out, I lived in Miami for a while and was actually shocked the guy did not shoot him lol.

I'd go.

Three things:

1. Awesome idea!
2. It's all fun and games until someone gets killed in all the fun.
3. I don't think I'd ever go for the same reason I don't go to zombie rallies: its the perfect cover for some sicko to actually release "the t virus" or whatever you would like to call it.

This is cool but it will never happen. Factories and slums in the area have contaminated so much of Detroit that it would cost too much to clean it up in order to create a "zombie" park safe for the public.

Now that would be a vacation destination. :)

And once the idea get legs, that's when grant money starts pouring in to do the EPA cleanup.

And another thought.

Who in their right mind would go to Detroit with a pocketful of fiat? Sounds like a perfect place to use the Ellet on all the QR-codes scattered around Zombie World.

Think about this for a sec. If Bitcoin were an actual business, the PR guys would be all over this story, thus boosting both entities. But instead we have two fringe ideals looking to break out.

~Bruno~

The city already has grant money for it, they are trying to condense the city so they are willing to help them move people from the outskirts to the center. Houses in the "D" sell from anywhere from 1k-10k in the slum parts.

http://www.ibtimes.com/detroit-police-visitors-enter-your-own-risk-842953

Detroit is scarier than any zombie apocalypse...the cops are now passing out "enter Detroit at your own risk" flyers because they can no longer protect the city.

Detroit actually offers an opportunity to try something else entirely.

Robocop.

Meh. What I do know is that Detroit has some fantastic architecture. Though run-down. And a great history.

There is a great site with the old architecture of detriot think its called detriotdefunk or something like that. The guy goes around and photographs old buldings before they are demolished or burned by detriots great residents lol.

I remember a Detroit photographer's site like that from years ago. Let me see if I can find it again.... well, there's a lot of them really if you just do a google image search.

Why aren't they building things like that anymore?

http://cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/9c/b8/theater,ruin,abandonement,abandonment,decay,detroit-9cb8ab8709fda0c1cccb75c6a42e8679_h.jpg

Believe it not, the architectural salvage in that building alone would exceed a quarter of a million dollars. Last week, I just signed a contract to purchase only a roof that covers a half acre on 79th St. in Chicago. I'll gross right at $70K just for the lumber, not counting the copper and other metals. I've toyed with the idea of relocating to Detroit to salvage century-old homes and industrial buildings. There's a MF goldmine there. I have a buyer that will pay me $200 for each and every vintage newel post I can lay my hands on, like the one below.

http://www.historichouseparts.com/Images2/VWW0610-01.jpg

The theatre above would make a nice place to put on a zombie play. Too bad it's probably not up to codes.

You want to see what a $100M looks like? Google images using Detroit Blight (no quotes).

Definitely a zombie heaven (below). BTW, those pedestal tubs go for $600 even in the condition you see.

http://www.futurespeak.net/myopic/manteno/slides/manteno12.jpg

From what I have seen, some people on this forum wouldn't mind if you did move there. :)

I can pretty much agree with the belief that the theme park idea is going to flop though, too many loose ends on that kind of a project that will be its undoing before it ever begins.

Where do you sell them for $600 each? Tried selling one on craigslist for $150 for months and couldn't get a buyer.

Florida, people would probably buy them here. Not much in the way of very old furniture or fixtures down here.

My main buyer for tubs was in Florida. Want to know who? His business has been off though for the past couple years, but still a kickin'.

Hmm.. shipping a claw foot cast iron tub to FL would probably run me more than $100, not sure.  I often have claw foot tubs pulled from bathrooms I do rehabs on.