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Page » Opinion » Waterslide Park A Slippery Slope That Could
Douse Public  Waterslide Park A Slippery Slope That Could Douse
Public   Written by on July 13, 2006  By Michael Lewis The
county’s vote last week to go toe to toe with Orlando in the
theme-park business is pitting a lion king against a mouse –
with Miami, not Disney, playing Mickey’s role.  Adding a 20-acre
water-slide park, a 300-room hotel and shops and restaurants to
the MetroZoo complex would be nice but would hardly put the area
on fair footing with Disney and friends.  Our MetroZoo attracts
a half-million people a year, down from an average 850,000 in
the 1980s, before Hurricane Andrew. With skillful management, a
small theme park and hotel could double or triple that at the
stated capital cost of $1 billion.  But in Orlando, Disney alone
tallied 16.2 million visitors last year to its Magic Kingdom,
9.9 million to Epcot Center, 8