DHS Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[MisterPenguin]

relocate office workers to another site.

That's supposedly already happening. There are 100 offices available in the Starcruiser including large spaces for meetings and a CM cafeteria.

 

[JackCH]

Launch Bay and that back of house building have always been and still are on the chopping block. Plenty of room once that happens.

MI would definitely have fit there, I just think it was an easier/simpler/faster option to put it in Grand Avenue, and hopefully save AC for something even MORE substantial.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It's inherently way more complex and would have pushed the timeline back years: demo several buildings, relocate office workers to another site.

It also doesn't make a land (with dining and merch), that's just the doorcoaster space.

The post you’re responding to made it clear that the placement of the box on the map was arbitrary. There is absolutely ample space to orient the ride building to allow for a substantial miniland. Even as the poster positions it, all of AC - which we have considered a land or miniland for decades - could be converted to Monsters. Why, it even has a show space for the big Monsters show.

The idea that new lands need immense space is also deeply incorrect, a product of modern Disney’s incompetence. Compare the profound, sprawling failure of TSL to the tight brilliance of New Orleans Square (like Monsters, an urban setting) which features perhaps the two greatest rides in the Disney pantheon. Skilled designers can do a lot with relatively little space - in fact, such a layout would benefit an IP like Monsters.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Oh yeah, I'm expecting it at some point.

Still didn't solve that Grand Avenue was a dead area outside MV3D.

It was dead because Disney wanted it (or at the very least didn’t care that it was) dead. They went to considerable lengths to kill it.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Tron. Guardians. Monsters. Big clunky warehouses just sort of stuck there. Compare them to Thunder or Matterhorn or even Space. Just an immense difference.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

 

[mattpeto]

It was dead because Disney wanted it (or at the very least didn’t care that it was) dead. They went to considerable lengths to kill it.

I agree it was dead because Disney didn't do a good enough job in the land, no question.

This is going to turn out to be an expensive park expansion, so I don't think sabotage makes much sense to me.

 

[mattpeto]

Glad to see they are actively working on the site.

Letting it sit there and do nothing would have triggered more "they closed MV3D to save from operating it" posts.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's inherently way more complex and would have pushed the timeline back years: demo several buildings, relocate office workers to another site.

It also doesn't make a land (with dining and merch), that's just the doorcoaster space.

Demolition is not that complex.

Even Class A office buildings are not that complex. But the offices aren’t full of people who need to be at this or any park, meaning they could just lease existing office space in the area if there was a desire to move quickly.

 

[mattpeto]

Demolition is not that complex.

Even Class A office buildings are not that complex. But the offices aren’t full of people who need to be at this or any park, meaning they could just lease existing office space in the area if there was a desire to move quickly.

Sure.

But all of that is way less complex than building a new building on a parking lot.

 

[doctornick]

It’d be even easier to just reroute the roads.

Yeah, this was one question I had - what to do with the backstage perimeter road. Seems the easiest thing is to re-route it (going "behind" the new coaster show building), which is trivial given the existing parking lot. But how exactly the final road is set up might provide some insight into any possible future plans for that side of the park. The wider/farther out they make the road might suggest an interest - or at least the keeping options open - in eventually doing some work in Echo Lake.

 

[mattpeto]

Yeah, this was one question I had - what to do with the backstage perimeter road. Seems the easiest thing is to re-route it (going "behind" the new coaster show building), which is trivial given the existing parking lot. But how exactly the final road is set up might provide some insight into any possible future plans for that side of the park. The wider/farther out they make the road might suggest an interest - or at least the keeping options open - in eventually doing some work in Echo Lake.

Cool theory here:

 

[doctornick]

Sure.

But all of that is way less complex than building a new building on a parking lot.

Agreed. It would not have been difficult to put Monstropolis in the Animation Building footprint - and I advocated for that - but it would have been at least a bit more steps and time consuming. They can "hit the ground running" more quickly using the planned footprint because buildings can be reused easily and the main new building is literally on a paved flat surface. The only significant demolition is the Muppets Studios store which can be done in parallel with what they are building.

I am happy that the plans seems to suggest a good use of the space once they have fixed on this location. Expanding the park borders that is used for guests is good and beneficial for this park. It does feel like getting this up and running relatively quickly is part of the motivation for this location. Hopefully it isn't too far down the road that the Animation Bldg/backstage area is used because that I think is very important to increase attraction capacity and to improve guest flow (it would presumably be connected to where RNR is to allow for a lot more ease in park navigation).

 

[ctrlaltdel]

The post you’re responding to made it clear that the placement of the box on the map was arbitrary. There is absolutely ample space to orient the ride building to allow for a substantial miniland. Even as the poster positions it, all of AC - which we have considered a land or miniland for decades - could be converted to Monsters. Why, it even has a show space for the big Monsters show.

The idea that new lands need immense space is also deeply incorrect, a product of modern Disney’s incompetence. Compare the profound, sprawling failure of TSL to the tight brilliance of New Orleans Square (like Monsters, an urban setting) which features perhaps the two greatest rides in the Disney pantheon. Skilled designers can do a lot with relatively little space - in fact, such a layout would benefit an IP like Monsters.

I will disagree on saying this is too immense. Muppets Courtyard is essentially a mini-land being rethemed, and now the addition is an extra courtyard with a play area and the show building for a roller coaster. Don't think they are really blowing this out.

 

[doctornick]

Cool theory here:

I doubt making the perimeter road underground is a realistic option. I could be wrong, but isn't DHS all at "ground level" without lower levels (the way that MK and Epcot are with Utilidors)? It would probably be cost prohibitive and impractical to build an underground road in that area (and have a guest path over it) when they can easily just re-route the perimeter road around the new build. The water table in the ground at WDW generally makes anything below ground level more complex.

 

[Jedi14]

Tron. Guardians. Monsters. Big clunky warehouses just sort of stuck there. Compare them to Thunder or Matterhorn or even Space. Just an immense difference.

Yes, there is a difference. Because they are newer coasters.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yeah, this was one question I had - what to do with the backstage perimeter road. Seems the easiest thing is to re-route it (going "behind" the new coaster show building), which is trivial given the existing parking lot. But how exactly the final road is set up might provide some insight into any possible future plans for that side of the park. The wider/farther out they make the road might suggest an interest - or at least the keeping options open - in eventually doing some work in Echo Lake.

They don’t really plan that far out. Theme parks also abhor empty space, so making space now would give it time to be filled up with other uses. Then we’re just in the same situation as the old animation facilities.

 

[danlb_2000]

I doubt making the perimeter road underground is a realistic option. I could be wrong, but isn't DHS all at "ground level" without lower levels (the way that MK and Epcot are with Utilidors)? It would probably be cost prohibitive and impractical to build an underground road in that area (and have a guest path over it) when they can easily just re-route the perimeter road around the new build. The water table in the ground at WDW generally makes anything below ground level more complex.

Yeah, it would be far easier and cheaper to just route the road around the building.

 

[Andrew C]

Because they are newer coasters.

Is this to mean that newer coasters can only be stuck in warehouses? This isn't really a shot at what they have done with the new coasters, but they could do more with theming the buildings they are put in to if they wanted to do so...

 

[lazyboy97o]

I doubt making the perimeter road underground is a realistic option. I could be wrong, but isn't DHS all at "ground level" without lower levels (the way that MK and Epcot are with Utilidors)? It would probably be cost prohibitive and impractical to build an underground road in that area (and have a guest path over it) when they can easily just re-route the perimeter road around the new build. The water table in the ground at WDW generally makes anything below ground level more complex.

There are basements at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Alien Swirling Saucers and Smuggler’s Run had new ones built for their respective ride systems. It makes no sense to spend that much on a road that was relatively recently realigned to begin with.