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When Disneyland opened on a hot July day in 1955, temperatures soared so high that television crews caught shots of women's high heels sinking right into the asphalt.

In the more than 50 years since, crowds have lined up consistently through rain and shine, heat waves and cold fronts, and shelled out cash to get their pictures snapped with Mickey Mouse and to ride Alice's teacups.

But that's in Southern California, where 85 degrees is considered hot.

The question for Arizonans, as lawmakers consider creating a taxing district to pave the way for a large-scale theme park in Eloy, is whether Southern Arizona's extreme summer temperatures — which can climb as high as 115 degrees — are too hot for tourists to handle.

It's an issue that skeptics and critics of the park — called Decades and based around a rock 'n' roll concept — have raised since its developers rolled out plans early this month.

In order for the ambitious concept to become reality, planners say they need legislative permission to levy a sales tax of up to 9 percent on all activity within the boundaries.

The money would be used to repay low-interest government bonds to pay back investors who front the money for the park. For their part, planners would need to persuade financiers to put up money to prove the park has viability before the first bond is issued.

But as legislators consider the idea — which could have a significant impact on the area's development and economy — feasibility is a key consideration.

In other words: Why would anyone in their right mind venture to Eloy and shell out $60 to stand in the piercing Arizona sun anytime from May until August?

Industry experts say consideration of weather is an issue that all parks face, since there are few spots on the globe that are paradise year-round.

To deal with extreme highs and lows, parks are not only designed with those realities in mind, they say, but some close down altogether in off-seasons.

And a new wave of parks is going to the extreme, even enclosing the massive properties to shield visitors from the outdoors.

Developers of the Eloy property point to the area's "heat index," a combination of temperature and humidity. Once you marry those factors, July in Eloy feels about the same as Orlando, the capital of theme parks.

"When the Fourth of July fireworks come around, tens of thousands of people come out," said Jason Rose, the Eloy park's public relations spokesman. "If you design the park properly with shade and misting systems, people will have a very, very enjoyable time."

We're all familiar with the phrase, "It's a dry heat." But summer in Arizona can also be an excruciating heat.

"When you get up to 105, 110 — even if it's dry it feels kind of like you're under a heat lamp," said Chris Rasmussen, a local meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"You can almost feel yourself baking."

He added, "The difference between a location like Arizona and a location like Florida would be Arizona is typically dry during the summer months — until you get into the monsoon season."

Then, Rasmussen noted, humidity can create a more "oppressive kind of feel."

Despite the high summer temperatures, tourism in Arizona is fairly consistent throughout the year, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism.

As long as designers take the heat into account, they can alleviate the issue, said Gene Jeffers, executive director of the Themed Entertainment Association.

Jeffers points to a new $20 billion park being constructed in Dubai. The park will be larger than Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Resort put together, and with temperatures there soaring as high as Arizona's during the summer months, designers are enclosing parts of the park. Part of the proposal even calls for an indoor ski resort.

"To be most effective, parks like to have the longest possible operating season," Jeffers said.

And even places that might sound ideal aren't necessarily so, said Rose.

"Everyone says, 'SeaWorld in San Diego in the summer, what a perfect fit.' Well, what about the other six months of the year?" said Rose, who is promoting the Decades rock n' roll park. "One of the first things you don't think of doing is going to see whales and seals when it's 55 degrees outside and you get Shamu to splash on you."

If the developers of the Eloy venture get what they want, construction of the park — which they hope would be among the largest in the nation — would be rare in today's market, said David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Theme park development in the United States has leveled off, Mandt and Jeffers said.

"It's an extremely mature market," Jeffers said. "Most of the new parks being built are in other parts of the world."

But advocates of the park say Phoenix is the largest metropolitan area in the country without such a facility, making the market ripe.

Just last week, the Eloy City Council gave the park its seal of approval, asking legislators and the governor to do everything in their power to make it happen.

Still, at the Capitol, lawmakers are undecided, with some skeptical not only about whether the park will survive in the summer months, but what kind of impact it will have on highways, water and growth.