MK Piston Peak and Villains Land Construction Thread

[TrainsOfDisney]

after Walt once saw a Frontierland CM in western garb walking through Tomorrowland on his way to his job, or something along those lines, IIRC…?

At Disneyland you can still see CM’s cutting across Main Street by the firehouse on the way to and from work in other areas of the park.

 

[James Alucobond]

There’s really no need for a connection regardless. The existing Frontierland utilidors can continue to serve the Cars area, which is part of Frontierland. Villains will presumably have a backstage connection behind Haunted Mansion, which takes you directly to the rear utilidor entrance anyway.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The water management drawings show the existing soil cement river bed as remaining place, they’re not ripping it up to reuse for what will essentially be swimming pools and not actual water management features. They also show that the area is not being filling completely to the same elevation as the Frontierland paths. The minimum fill is a few feet lower and it’ll need to be to make the new water management plan work.

Yup, like I said, I was just guessing but I still think if they don't have good drainage and water accumulates over what once was the river bottom, they could have some problems. But, I am not an engineer and I will always go with whatever they decide will work. I realize that there is going to be a little bit of a widening in the area across from Frontierland in the direction of HM and HoP and that they want to keep some of the boardwalk in that area as well, but regardless it is going to require a lot of dirt and they can't change the entrance elevation a lot but they do have to come fairly level to widen the walking area past HM and the entrance on the Thunder Mtn. side wouldn't they?

 

[gorillaball]

Just a guess on my part, but I highly doubt that Todays Disney would want to spend the money.

They want to get this LL selling attraction built as cheap as possible while stretching the work across as many quarters as possible for finance reasons I do not understand.

If you don’t understand the (alleged) finance reasons for stretching across quarters then why do you continue to mention them? (Insinuating it’s something more than misguided internet chatter)

 

[DrStarlander]

If you don’t understand the (alleged) finance reasons for stretching across quarters then why do you continue to mention them? (Insinuating it’s something more than misguided internet chatter)

I agree. If it's cap ex and depreciated over decades (and not an expense), I don't understand the "spread across quarters" explanation. Can someone with an MBA in Finance please settle this?

 

[SteveAZee]

Then, they’d be called “Musktilidors”…!!!!!!!

Borridors.

 

[Disstevefan1]

If you don’t understand the (alleged) finance reasons for stretching across quarters then why do you continue to mention them? (Insinuating it’s something more than misguided internet chatter)

OK, projects are stretched across as many quarters as possible for reasons I do not understand. Is that better?

All we can do is wait for years and years and hope for the best.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

OK, projects are stretched across as many quarters as possible for reasons I do not understand. Is that better?

It’s a strange claim anyways - who has determined it’s better to stretch out a construction project vs. just get it done asap?

 

[Disstevefan1]

It’s a strange claim anyways - who has determined it’s better to stretch out a construction project vs. just get it done asap?

I guess only Disney knows why they stretch projects across as many quarters as possible.

It’s a similar mystery like their movie budgets. Disney movies seem to cost more to make than other studios.

I am sure it’s NOT money laundering.

 

[DrStarlander]

I guess only Disney knows why they stretch projects across as many quarters as possible.

I suspect it's because for the people managing the projects, the worst thing they can do is bring the project in late. Given the marketing around a project opening, it's critical that it be completed on time. So to make sure they don't bring the project in late, they don't attempt a super efficient, tight-timeline project, as that would be very risky. Instead, they probably buffer the hell out of every phase so there can be hurricanes, strikes, material shortages, design changes, whatever, and they can still hit the far off opening date they promised the marketing department.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

So to make sure they don't bring the project in late, they don't attempt a super efficient, tight-timeline project, as that would be very risky.

Umm…. How did that plan work out for galaxies edge?

 

[DrStarlander]

Umm…. How did that plan work out for galaxies edge?

Are you saying it would have worked better if they had a tighter timeline? How would that have helped?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Are you saying it would have worked better if they had a tighter timeline? How would that have helped?

It wouldn’t have been any worse and in theory it would have still opened earlier since they would have completed the original work sooner and then discovered the issues sooner.

 

[DrStarlander]

It wouldn’t have been any worse and in theory it would have still opened earlier since they would have completed the original work sooner and then discovered the issues sooner.

Yes, it would have been worse because it's not just opening a land and attractions, it would have screwed up their staffing and training timelines, merchandise from China would need to be warehoused longer which is costly and cuts into margins, food orders with vendors delayed ("what do we do with all the chicken we ordered?"). A thousands things are coordinated toward a specific date and the amount the date is missed exacerbates the problems. So, yes they would have been late either way, but better to be late by less time.

I understand your theory about "discovering the issues" but without a deep inside knowledge of how that all played out, I'm not sure that particular experience and argument justifies tight timelines given the stakes of missing a deadline -- from a marketing perspective -- and the stuff I mentioned above.

All that's to say, if you absolutely need a big, complicated project to be done on a certain date, the best way to do it is to buffer your timelines in the project schedule and work hard to beat the schedule and compress the timeline (bring phases forward) to the extent possible to create slack at the end.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Yes, it would have been worse because it's not just opening a land and attractions, it would have screwed up their staffing and training timelines,

I think we are talking about different things here? A shorter construction deadline doesn’t screw up staffing, training, or merchandise.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Many believe that they are managing risk - of an already risky project – by spending less. The reality is that if you miss critical mass of the experience, you are taking more risk. This is a hard one for the number crunchers to get their head around, but it is the way the real world works. - Matt Ouimet

 

[DrStarlander]

I think we are talking about different things here? A shorter construction deadline doesn’t screw up staffing, training, or merchandise.

A shorter construction deadline means you are trying to accomplish the same big complicated task in a shorter amount of time. It's the same task, just less time to do it in. That means there's less room for error (hurricanes, strikes, setbacks of any type). You can't absorb contingencies. You are more screwed when bad things happen.

Buffering means phase A is given, say, 6 weeks even though on paper it should only take 4 weeks. So if there's a weather delay for a week, and it takes 5 weeks, they still meet the phase A complete deadline. Phase B start is unaffected. But it also means the site may look like nobody is working on the project for a week or two.

When you have a tight timeline, and only allow 4 weeks for phase A, and so phase B can't start on time, that subcontractor may take other work instead. They're not just sitting around waiting through whatever delays you have. They've lined up a project after yours.

If you set June 1, 2027 as your opening date and you hire employees starting April, with training set for May, and you don't actually open until September, what do you do with the employees, or the employees you hired to hire and train the employees? Put them furlough? Lose them to other work. Scramble to replace them?

What about the merch you told the Chinese factory you need to start flowing into the distribution center in April? The products start piling up because you're not selling them to guests. You start having to ask factories to hold off on production, but you committed to use their factory for a certain time period -- they have toys for Mattel and Hasbro scheduled next, you need to use the factory capacity you contracted for now. So you need to ask the factories to store the finished goods in China or rent shipping containers and put them in parking lots. It's a nightmare. It's expensive. Neon colored T-shirts you ordered for a Summer opening are not as useful in Fall when longer sleeves and muted colors are more appropriate.

Marketing bought advertising time on TV that is no longer useful. Bob Iger was scheduled for Good Morning America... well, nix that in an embarrassing way. McDonald's Happy Meals coordinated with opening are now many months too early.

Special flavored French fries you ordered from a food vendor for your land are now needing to be cancelled or stored frozen longer, etc. and some items are perishable.

A longer construction timeline, with buffering for each phase along the way, is the best way to make sure all this stuff comes together on that date.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

A longer construction timeline, with buffering for each phase along the way, is the best way to make sure all this stuff comes together on that date.

But that doesn’t necessarily happen - see Galaxies Edge vs. Transformers.

 

[lazyboy97o]

But that doesn’t necessarily happen - see Galaxies Edge vs. Transformers.

If you’re going to invoke a comparison then maybe go with things that are comparable in scope and scale. Transformers: The Ride – 3D was one attraction, the third interaction and, most importantly, it’s been at least a decade since Universal could do something similar again.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

If you’re going to invoke a comparison then maybe go with things that are comparable in scope and scale. Transformers: The Ride – 3D was one attraction

Rise and Transformers aren’t comparable?