With Liberty and Justice for Mickey : Tourism: Disney unveils plans to build an Americana theme park in the East. Anaheim project reported still on.

MANASSAS, Va. —  In a departure from its collection of fantasy- and animation-dominated theme parks, Walt Disney Co. on Thursday unveiled plans to build a 1,200-acre park outside Washington that will pay homage to American history and culture.

Dubbed Disney’s America, the park is planned for a site in Prince William County about 40 miles west of the nation’s capital. It would be Disney’s third U.S. park, joining Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.

The Virginia park will feature amusement rides as well as high-tech interactive and “virtual reality” re-enactments of U.S. historical events such as Civil War combat. Some 2,000 workers will be employed during construction of the park, and another 3,000 permanent positions will be created when it opens sometime in 1998, Disney officials said.

The officials said the new facility will cost “hundreds of millions” of dollars to build, but they wouldn’t be more specific.

Disney, which has already purchased or optioned the land needed to build the park, said it will spend the next four to six months securing local zoning and building permits in the booming Prince William community where the park is located. Disney officials said their Virginia proposal will not affect the company’s previously publicized plans to attempt to expand its park in Anaheim, an announcement echoed by Disney and Anaheim officials working on the project.

“The two projects are completely independent,” said Ken Wong, senior vice president of Disney Development in a telephone interview. “They are designed for different markets. They are not competitive” with each other.

Disney, he added, has enough money to build both Disney America and the proposed $3-billion Disneyland Resort theme park and hotel complex at the same time.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said he talked with Disney officials Thursday about their Virginia plans.

“I was assured that the Virginia project has no bearing at all on the Disneyland Resort project in Anaheim,” Daly said. The Anaheim project has already won the necessary city approvals--”they could start tomorrow,” he said--while the Virginia project has a long way to go to reach that point.

The area’s Manassas National Battlefield Park, Potomac Mills shopping mall and Prince William Forest Park drew more than 14 million visitors in 1992, according to a county official. And the Danish toy maker Lego Group is expected to announce whether Prince William County or Carlsbad in San Diego County will be the site of its first American park.

Despite the burgeoning growth, Prince William’s 230,000 residents have fought in the past to block some other large-scale commercial development projects, and historical and environmental groups are expected to scrutinize Disney’s proposal closely, observers said.

Officials declined to predict how many visitors they expect when the park opens, but Peter Rummell, president of Disney Design & Development Co., said he expects Disney’s America will draw fewer people than the company’s other theme parks.

“This park is designed to be a one-day experience” for tourists visiting Washington and nearby historic sites such as Williamsburg and Jamestown, Va., Rummell said. Other Disney parks, he noted, are “a four- or five-day experience.”

Besides amusement rides and historic exhibitions, Disney’s development will include hotels, residential housing and retail outlets, as well as facilities to host forums for educators and politicians.

But in promising to make historical events such as slavery, the Depression and the Civil War “fun and exciting for the whole family,” Disney executives acknowledged that the results could be controversial.

“The goal is to make this real but also make it fun,” Rummell said. “An intelligent story, properly told, shouldn’t offend anybody. . . . But we won’t worry about being politically correct.”

Rummell said Disney intends to somehow incorporate its well-known animated characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck into the park.

Many of Virginia’s top elected officials attended Disney’s news conference Thursday, and most praised the plan. They said they were pleased that Disney’s proposal appears to respect the heritage of the area and that the company had so far not asked for concessions to build the park in Virginia.

“I’m grateful that you did not subject us to a bidding war” in choosing the site of the park, Gov. Douglas Wilder told executives at the news conference. “I know I speak for the people of Virginia when I say that I am pleased that you have come to us.”

Gov.-Elect George Allen Jr. promised that his Administration “will kick down any hurdles” in the way of the park.

Times staff writer Chris Woodyard contributed to this report.