A brief history from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedomland_U.S.A.
Woody and Walt
Freedomland was conceived by Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood (1922–1992), a young Texan, who had previously worked in the planning, construction and management of Disneyland. Hired by Walt Disney in 1953, Wood was the person who selected the orange grove site in Anaheim, California where Disneyland was eventually built.
Wood became very close to Disney during the next two years, but eventually the two men had a falling out. Reasons for this are unclear, but three theories exist: Wood was embezzeling money from the park[citation needed]; Wood was taking too much public credit for Disneyland or Wood betrayed Disney by planning his own amusement parks, effectively stealing Disney's original concept.
By January of 1956, Wood had been fired from Disneyland. To this day, The Walt Disney Company refuses to acknowledge any role played by him in the creation of the Magic Kingdom.
Concept and construction
In 1956, the 33 year-old Wood began planning and building three of his own amusement parks across the country. In 1958, Wood opened Magic Mountain near Denver (closed, 1960 but revitalized in 1971), Pleasure Island in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 1959 (closed, 1969) and finally, Freedomland in 1960.
Wood's partner was Milton T. ("Ted") Raynor, a television sports producer and attorney, who served as Freedomland's president.
The park's original concept was history-based and the layout was arranged in the shape of a large map of the United States. Guests entered at the approximate location of Washington, D.C.. Much like Disneyland, Freedomland was divided into different themed areas, each with its own attractions, shops and restaurants.
The research and design team consisted of 200 top artists and architects, including 19 Academy Award nominees. Original music for the park was written by Jule Styne, composer of many Broadway musicals including Gypsy and Funny Girl.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for Freedomland took place on August 26, 1959. Disaster struck on March 24, 1960 when six unfinished buildings were demolished by fire and had to be razed.
Freedomland was built on the site of a former municipal airport. Although the property was spread out over 205 acres, the actual amusement park itself was just 85 acres - the same size as Disneyland. The park could accommodate 32,000 visitors at one time (90,000 during the course of a day) and boasted 8 miles of navigable waterways and lakes, 10,000 newly planted trees, 18 restaurants and snack bars and parking for 72,000 cars. It cost $65 million to build.
Freedomland was built at a time when the traditional New York City amusement area of Coney Island was in a state of continuing decline. Unlike Coney Island, Freedomland was highly accessible by automobile; however, it was difficult to access by the heavily used New York City Subway system, requiring a connecting bus ride after taking an isolated subway line to the last stop. Coney Island, by contrast, was (and is) directly served by four separate subway lines. Coney's last integrated amusement park, Steeplechase Park, closed in 1964, the same year as Freedomland.