Eisner on "Fifth Park"

[PeterAlt]

I specifically remember when Animal Kingdom opened, a reporter asked Eisner if there will be a fifth WDW park. Eisner responded: "Yes." The reporter then pressed Eisner on the issue and asked if he knew what its theme would be. Eisner responded: "I've been thinking about it and I have an idea... I know exactly what it is, but no one [in the company] knows about it [yet]..."

I wonder how WDI took this!

 

[dreamteacher]

well I am glad there will be another park so what will the theme be?

 

[PeterAlt]

well I am glad there will be another park so what will the theme be?

He said this in 1988. Back then, apparently, only he knew... (WDI didn't even know anything!). But after AK started taking attendence away from the other parks, Eisner, from what I read, changed his mind about building the fifth park... at least for the time being. But whether or not he asked WDI to start developing it from 1998 to the time he changed his mind I have no idea!

 

[niteobsrvr]

He said this in 1988. Back then, apparently, only he knew... (WDI didn't even know anything!). But after AK started taking attendence away from the other parks, Eisner, from what I read, changed his mind about building the fifth park... at least for the time being. But whether or not he asked WDI to start developing it from 1998 to the time he changed his mind I have no idea!

This all leads back to the Seven Gate scenario that comes up from time to time. It has always been that the majority of disney fans beleived that the 7 gates would all be theme parks like the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. However, the other possibility is that they would be a mix of venues. For example:

1> Magic Kingdom
2> Epcot
3> Disney-MGM Studios
4> Animal Kingdom
5> Blizzard Beach
6> Typhoon Lagoon

7> It could be considered Wide World of Sports or Downtown Disney or it is possible there will be one more park someday.

I would have to guess that as Wide World of Sports grows now that there is no longer a law suit pending against it, it may actually be the seventh gate just not in the traditional sense. I really dont foresee another true themepark added to the mix because it would only draw attendance away form the other parks as Animal Kingdom did.

The seventh gate would have to attract a market that would not draw from but enhance the offerings of the other Disney parks at WDW. WWS certainly does this as it brings in groups that may not think of Disney as a place for their event and then allows them the opportunity to also go the parks when not in competition. Its a good business strategy jsut not the one that most Disneyites would have wanted.

 

[speck76]

There is no demand in Orlando for another theme park.....Any new park built will simply further weaken the existing parks. The funny thing is when Disney opens a park, it weakens attendance at Disney parks....not Universal/AB....when Universal expanded, it hurt Universal....not Disney.

Until there is enough demand in the market to where a company will not be competing with itself to get admissions, no parks should be built.

 

[General Grizz]

I'm surprised; I thought Eisner would say "theme parks are a dead art." :lookaroun :zipit:


SORRY! :lol: :wave:

As I've said before, FINISH AK (as Imagineer99 has pointed out) and reinvest in the existing parks before even CONSIDERING another "gate." Plus I just don't trust that CEO.

 

[PeterAlt]

This all leads back to the Seven Gate scenario that comes up from time to time. It has always been that the majority of disney fans beleived that the 7 gates would all be theme parks like the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. However, the other possibility is that they would be a mix of venues. For example:

1> Magic Kingdom
2> Epcot
3> Disney-MGM Studios
4> Animal Kingdom
5> Blizzard Beach
6> Typhoon Lagoon

7> It could be considered Wide World of Sports or Downtown Disney or it is possible there will be one more park someday.

I would have to guess that as Wide World of Sports grows now that there is no longer a law suit pending against it, it may actually be the seventh gate just not in the traditional sense. I really dont foresee another true themepark added to the mix because it would only draw attendance away form the other parks as Animal Kingdom did.

The seventh gate would have to attract a market that would not draw from but enhance the offerings of the other Disney parks at WDW. WWS certainly does this as it brings in groups that may not think of Disney as a place for their event and then allows them the opportunity to also go the parks when not in competition. Its a good business strategy jsut not the one that most Disneyites would have wanted.

While this "theory" sounds good, it's not true. A few years ago, Disney was "required" by law to submit to the state its future land plan map. In it, it showed two more major theme parks (themes were not required to be revealed in the plan), a number of minor parks (this included something called
"The Worlplace", and dozens of new hotels. When I get the time, I will do a search for it and post it. If someone has some time and wants to search for it, please be my guest!

 

[mickey04]

No way they'll be a fifth park any time in the near future. As others have said, AK didn't really increase overall attendence that much, but rather took visitors away from the other parks. Plus, AK doesn't have nearly enough rides to make it a full day park for most visitors.

Personally, I'm preying that a new park doesnt get built until Eisner and anyone who thinks like him are out of that Team Disney Burbank building. Otherwise, all we'll get is some misguided, budget-cut to death, vision-less park that will further hurt the company. (Disney's Florida Adventure, perhaps :hammer: )

 

[PeterAlt]

No way they'll be a fifth park any time in the near future. As others have said, AK didn't really increase overall attendence that much, but rather took visitors away from the other parks. Plus, AK doesn't have nearly enough rides to make it a full day park for most visitors.

Personally, I'm preying that a new park doesnt get built until Eisner and anyone who thinks like him are out of that Team Disney Burbank building. Otherwise, all we'll get is some misguided, budget-cut to death, vision-less park that will further hurt the company. (Disney's Florida Adventure, perhaps :hammer: )

Trends are that a new theme park is built every 10 years. So expect a fifth park around 2008-2003, and the sixth park ten years after that. If you look at the map, you will see that the arrangement of the parks are forming a circle. There are two big gaps of empy land that would be parks 5 and 6, and if built, parks 5 and 6 would complete a complete circle around the property.

As for Eisner building any of these parks.... he built MGM and AK, which are great parks. He has gotten rid of the people who built DCA, Dinorama, and Imagination, so don't be too certain that Eisner overseeing parks 5 and 6 would be desasterous. I honestly think he's learned from DCA, but it's possible I could be wrong....

 

[speck76]

I would not expect this trend to continue.......I think WDC will focus more on other areas of WDW....not on adding another gate.

 

[TheOneVader]

Personally, I think they should "finish" AK, spruce up the parks, add the Canadian raft ride, redo JIYI, and then, and only then, should there be another theme park. I'd really like to see another theme park within the next 10 years. I can't get enough Disney magic. :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[speck76]

Do you really think they should "finish" the park.....or just expand it to be a complete park?

 

[PeterAlt]

Personally, I think they should "finish" AK, spruce up the parks, add the Canadian raft ride, redo JIYI, and then, and only then, should there be another theme park. I'd really like to see another theme park within the next 10 years. I can't get enough Disney magic. :sohappy: :sohappy:

Of course they will finish AK before building a fifth park. As you may know, they are building Expedition Everest right now (proof, in my point of view, that Eisner has learned from the mistakes of the 'cheap' attractions built in the company's recent past). Imagineering just had a restructuring, putting new people in charge of development of the U.S. parks, except Joe Rhode remains in charge of "expansion" of AK, which tells me that the company plans to keep growing AK over the next several years.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Can someone thoroughly explain what you're talking about with refence to the 7 gates and lawsuits. I first read that and thought someone was comparing WDW to the 7 gates of hell. Us "newbies" are lost at times.

 

[WDWEric]

Why would Michael Eisner and Disney care about taking attendance from other disney parks, It's all a business, the more parks the more people the more money, I expect another park by 2010.

 

[mickey04]

Why would Michael Eisner and Disney care about taking attendance from other disney parks, It's all a business, the more parks the more people the more money, I expect another park by 2010.

Well because it costs about a billion dollars to build a good theme park, and then you have to staff it and keep it running. So, in business terms, if you don't have a sizeable increase in customers, but are spending more, your gross profit will be less. The situation when DAK opened was that there was not a huge increase in total attendence as expected. That's why I think it would be crazy for there to be a 5th gate any time in the next 10 years. I do think the WDC realizes this, and that's why they will continue to improve existing parks before adding a new one.

As far as Eisner getting rid of those responsible for DCA, this is only because Paul Pressler left to work at the Gap and many of his followers, well, followed. Eisner loved him and his budget-cutting ways. And while Rasulo so far has done a great job, I'm still not entirely sure I trust Eisner.

 

[speck76]

It's all a business, the more parks the more people the more money, I expect another park by 2010.

I a perfect world, more parks would equal more ppl, but that has not been the case in Orlando....when DAK opened, the net impact to WDW was only around 3 million people. DAK had around 6 million admissions, but the other DISNEY parks were down collectively around 3 million admissions. These parks are not as profitable with the smaller amount of guests.

When IOA opened, Universal thought the 9 million or so ppl that visited the Studios each year would also visit IOA.....the net impact of IOA should have been 9 million additional ppl, but it was only around 2 million additional people.

The supply of new parks in Orlando increased greatly over a span of 10 years.....4 parks opened...which is 1 more than what was done in the previous 20 years. Supply is outpacing demand by an extreme amount.

Orlando does not need another park right now...Orlando just needs the current parks to get better.

 

[disneydummy125]

Orlando does not need another park right now...Orlando just needs the current parks to get better.

You took the words right out of my mouth. There just aren't enough people to make a big enough profit on a 5th gate.

 

[Kadee]

I completely agree that they need to "finish" AK and add more to some other parks (esp MGM), but I would love to see another park or two. When it was just MK and Epcot, you could "do Disney" in 2-3 days. Then with MGM added, you had to add another day. Now they have added AK and additional rides/shows in other parks. Now our WDW vacations are up to 7-8 days and we still don't see it all, plus additional days at a WDW hotel to go to US/IOA. With the addition of more parks, our vacations would either be extended or become more frequent (or leave out US/IOA alltogether). I can only speak for myself, so I'm definitely not saying anyone is wrong. This is just the way it has worked for me.

 

[careship]

I can see them opening another gate but not for awhile. It would also have to be something new and extreme to pull in more guests rather than just dispersing their current admissions. I feel that as much as I loathe Eisner and loathe some of the rides lately (not all) at least there is one thing I feel they are doing correctly. Each year they have to have something new and great to keep the people who are annual visitors from far away to keep returning to see the new thing. There were a couple of years that this wasn't the case. There was nothing new to see. Personally, I go every year no matter what however, if I had to make a choice in a year where nothing new was there, maybe those who are on the cusp of affording the trip would say no not this year wait until they have something new to see. So, even though I disagree with Eisner and the lack of really new imagineering, I do think that even though he has used some lame excuses for rides and themeing, he has at least added yearly the past few years to get people coming back again after 9/11. To get people traveling again and on a regular basis, you have to do something big each year and between the special rates that made it very affordable for many people and things like Mission:Space, he has at least given people a reason to come again. They need to do some drastic things, like Everest and Soarin to pull in alot of people once again. The problem is...where do they go from there? Will they continue to expand? Will they get a brain and do something new and once again to Disney standards? Or will he go back to cheap carnival rides and lack of imagination? Unfortunately, with the big ME at the healm, only time will tell. He has certainly become aloof and cheap, leaving him predictable and boring. Bring back WDI and restore it's former glitter and let them shine for the world to see, that will be the beginning of a new era for Disney.

edited for spelling