In the early 1990s we met Ray Purdom, who was running the Museum of Space Exploration out of some trailers in Colorado Springs. Ray was a cigar-chomping dreamer whose life's goal was to open an attraction he called America the Beautiful Park. It would be a topographically-scaled map of the U.S. -- a mile wide -- with miniature landmarks, flowing rivers, and a train that took you to every point within an hour.

Ray died last year (The Museum of Space Exploration seems to be doing fine without him). But Ray's dream -- or a strangely similar version of it -- lives on. Its new champion is a Belgian immigrant named Edward van der Meer, and his project is called America in Miniature. And this time it looks as if the pint-sized USA may actually get built.

Van der Meer has bundled America in Miniature into a proposed Las Vegas resort named The Wet Project, which will be a vast, domed theme park with year 'round indoor surfing and Alpine skiing.

Tiny attractions have had their share of difficulties in America, and we asked van der Meer why he thought that America in Miniature would succeed, given that Americans usually favor big things over small things. "Well," he said, "this is a BIG small thing."

America in Miniature is planned to cover ten acres. 200 to 300 landmarks will be featured at 1:24 scale: the mini-Empire State Building will stand 52 feet tall, the tiny Niagara Falls -- which is already being promoted as a Las Vegas-style wedding spot -- will tumble seven feet. Dubbed "One Nation Under One Roof," the indoor park will shift from day to night at the flip of a switch (like Roadside America the attraction) to show off its twinkly lights. It will also have a man-made river on which visitors can float their way around the park, a touch that would have made Ray Purdom proud.

Craig Hudson, the project's director of marketing, told us that America in Miniature will offer "a good chance to see all the really cool things about the United States in just a few hours." Hudson feels that it will attract international tourists as well as time-pressed American families who might otherwise never get to see the St. Louis Arch or the White House.

Hudson and van der Meer told us that America in Miniature will offer its visitors many chances to "be interactive." Specifically, they mentioned push-buttons that will make the models light up or move, and opportunities for visitors to join real-life parades that will frequently wind their way through the park, part of what Hudson called "the Wow factor." We offered another suggestion: a special "Godzilla" zone where tourists could stomp the Pentagon or kick a hole in Hoover Dam. Hudson said that that probably wouldn't be practical, but he promised to think about it. [08/18/2007]

February 10, 2012