DHS Toy Story Land expansion announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[UNCgolf]

It ist the best designed version of an awful concept if you ask me at least compared to the other two in Paris and Hong Kong.

Aren't the ones in Paris and Hong Kong significantly smaller? That's the design flaw I'm talking about (as I said, I think there are many others too).

TSL at Hollywood Studios is not that much smaller than Galaxy's Edge but it feels like it's about 10% of the size. It just has an absolutely terrible layout. I'd rather have the smaller Paris/Hong Kong versions so the extra space could be used for something else.

 

[HMF]

Aren't the ones in Paris and Hong Kong significantly smaller? That's the design flaw I'm talking about (as I said, I think there are many others too).

TSL at Hollywood Studios is not that much smaller than Galaxy's Edge but it feels like it's about 10% of the size. It just has an absolutely terrible layout. I'd rather have the smaller Paris/Hong Kong versions so the extra space could be used for something else.

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't have built TSL to begin with. I would have leaned into the Pixar Studios idea and have a complete area dedicated to quality Pixar attractions and would have spared Muppets and Frontierland and would have saved them a significant amount of money in the process.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I'd rather have the smaller Paris/Hong Kong versions so the extra space could be used for something else.

I really, really don't think you do.

For all of Hollywood Studios' Toy Story Land's faults (and there are many) it actually feels something like a land and has some actual design and concept behind it which is way, way more than can be said for the other versions around the world.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Aren't the ones in Paris and Hong Kong significantly smaller?

The one in Paris is connected to other Pixar properties so it doesn’t feel small. It has a very charming feel to it - but it wouldn’t be able to handle the crowds at DHS.

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

I really, really don't think you do.

I really, really think they do.
Someone has different opinions than your own

 

[lazyboy97o]

I really, really don't think you do.

For all of Hollywood Studios' Toy Story Land's faults (and there are many) it actually feels something like a land and has some actual design and concept behind it which is way, way more than can be said for the other versions around the world.

How is the design and concept different?

 

[ToTBellHop]

The Toy Story Playlands have such cheap rides that they feel like something Six Flags could do. At least our TSL has ride systems befitting of a Disney park (high tech and therefore expensive).

 

[lazyboy97o]

The Toy Story Playlands have such cheap rides that they feel like something Six Flags could do. At least our TSL has ride systems befitting of a Disney park (high tech and therefore expensive).

Six Flags has 3D shooting dark rides… the ride system they don’t have access to is Aliens Swirling Saucers.

 

[BrianLo]

Chapek was only responsible for the cuts to both lands in that he, like everyone else over the past 20 years, was unable to restructure Walt Disney Imagineering into a more efficient project management organization. Both lands had large budgets. The fundamental problem with both is not a lack of stuff but poor organization and subject matter.

Obviously what you say is the core problem. My understanding was mid project cycle there was also a decision made to pull features out for the hotel? This probably impacted Disneyland more in aggregate and now WDW downstream of the hotel closing. I think that was a Chapek era decision? But I am fuzzy.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

How is the design and concept different?

There is pretty much no real similarity between Toy Story Land at DHS and the other Toy Story lands around the world. The others resemble each other a good bit. DHS is very solitary both in how it's designed, laid out, and what attractions it has.

Is it a good land? No, I wouldn't say so. Is it the best Toy Story land in the world by a wide margin? Yes it is, because the others are just less themed with less interesting attractions. The others don't even have Toy Story Mania, let alone something like Slinky. It's all Toy Story themed off the shelf flat rides.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I really, really think they do.
Someone has different opinions than your own

Friend, I think you're maybe taking the words themselves too much at face value rather than the point they're making.

 

[Casper Gutman]

The Toy Story Playlands have such cheap rides that they feel like something Six Flags could do. At least our TSL has ride systems befitting of a Disney park (high tech and therefore expensive).

As Lazy points out, Midway has been replicated in every two-bit amusement park on the planet. Many of the rip-offs, like Sally’s SpongeBob version or the Sesame Street version, are very significant improvements on Disney, with AAs and some sets. A bare-track kiddie coaster is also not particularly unique.

What distinguishes the rides in WDWs TSL from those found in the others is not their aesthetic or technological sophistication but their sprawling, inefficient size and the space they waste.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Obviously what you say is the core problem. My understanding was mid project cycle there was also a decision made to pull features out for the hotel? This probably impacted Disneyland more in aggregate and now WDW downstream of the hotel closing. I think that was a Chapek era decision? But I am fuzzy.

I still place the blame on Walt Disney Imagineering. For one, the hotel project was already in development when Galaxy’s Edge was announced. The design team pitched something based all around high, ongoing entertainment costs. They were also trying to take story engine from two small play tests to an entire land. And this was after NextGen’s personalization lasted all of like half of a day. They were too afraid to just do Space Wizarding World, which is the wish fulfillment that people really want.

 

[Purduevian]

Like someone just said, I hate that it is one main path and you are always in the way. Why does it feel so different from the main corridor of say something like SDMT/Pooh/shops?

Walking just on the main path of TSL is ~650 feet. In that space you can see/turn into

• Round up BBQ
• M&G space
• TSMM
• SDD
• A small souvenir stall
• Woody's lunchbox
• Alien
• Bathrooms
• Popcorn stand

Basically 1 think every ~70 feet

Compared to the pooh corridor (Encanto M&G to Back of the castle) ~850 feet long

• Encanto M&G
• Bathrooms
• Cheshire Cat
• Mad Tea Party
• Pooh M&G
• Pooh
• 7D
• Hundred acer goods
• Storybook Treats
• Friars Nook
• Carousel
• Fairytale hall
• Sir Mickey

Basically 1 think every ~65 feet... but also in that span has branching paths to NFL, Tomorrowland, or the small world plaza

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I really, really don't think you do.

For all of Hollywood Studios' Toy Story Land's faults (and there are many) it actually feels something like a land and has some actual design and concept behind it which is way, way more than can be said for the other versions around the world.

If it feels like something…its cheap

beats empty soundstages…but it’s amazing how little impact a 5 year rip apart of that park actually affected how it feels

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

Friend, I think you're maybe taking the words themselves too much at face value rather than the point they're making.

Anyone else you want to tell how they should be thinking ?

 

[BrianLo]

I still place the blame on Walt Disney Imagineering. For one, the hotel project was already in development when Galaxy’s Edge was announced. The design team pitched something based all around high, ongoing entertainment costs. They were also trying to take story engine from two small play tests to an entire land. And this was after NextGen’s personalization lasted all of like half of a day. They were too afraid to just do Space Wizarding World, which is the wish fulfillment that people really want.

Definitely, functionally I understand some of that really was never going to come together well fiscally or even work at all.

The Chapek-ism that I never quite understood was the retribution to cut the revenue sources. Particularly the table service restaraunt in Galaxies Edge and the retail location in TSPL.

 

[wannabeBelle]

The Chapek-ism that I never quite understood was the retribution to cut the revenue sources. Particularly the table service restaraunt in Galaxies Edge

I concur. If done right the restaurant would have been a huge revenue driver. Marie

 

[lazyboy97o]

Definitely, functionally I understand some of that really was never going to come together well fiscally or even work at all.

The Chapek-ism that I never quite understood was the retribution to cut the revenue sources. Particularly the table service restaraunt in Galaxies Edge and the retail location in TSPL.

Table service has half to a third the hourly capacity of a quick service, lower instantaneous capacity, and a higher cost per square foot/person to build. It’s absolutely the guest friendly thing to cut.

I honestly don’t understand the constant lamentations for Al’s Toy Barn. There’s nothing ever shown about the store that makes it unique. It’s not supposed to be a stand in for an elaborate store like F.A.O. Schwartz. The sentiment seems to be entirely attached to the nostalgia associated with business owners who ran ubiquitous ads featuring themselves in a funny costume. The store would just look like a toy barn. And Toy Story merchandise is readily available, so it wouldn’t make sense to even do something like the huge aisle of Buzz Lightyears.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Definitely, functionally I understand some of that really was never going to come together well fiscally or even work at all.

The Chapek-ism that I never quite understood was the retribution to cut the revenue sources. Particularly the table service restaraunt in Galaxies Edge and the retail location in TSPL.

The modern business philosophy is generally that a dollar earned by cutting is worth much more than a dollar earned by increasing investment. This is not a philosophy unique to Chapek - Iger and a great many executive decision-makers share it.