DHS Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[HMF]

I agree on Disney not being funny, but disagree on the cause; mocking themselves is a rubber stamp they still apply liberally. In Zoogether you have Nick rolling his eyes at the musical number (I hate that joke with a burning passion I cannot understate) and a meta comment about how Giselle can't sing because fo legal reasons. The Epcot preview center mocked the Otherworld Showcase concept (and I've been told the ride mocks old Epcot being destroyed but I can't find it and never went on). That stupid Incredicoaster intro mocks how dumb of an idea it is. I've heard painfully unfunny things about Deadpool over in Disneyland...

They're just not funny.

The thing is, these jokes aren't jokes so much as they're the equivilant of being self deprecating because of low self esteem. They're not there to make you laugh. They're there to preemptively mock something they think will get mocked so they can say "look, we get you!" and when you say "Wait...why isn't the singing character singing/this coaster concept is dumb/etc." someone can chime in to say "They acknowledge that in the show/ride!". Which isn't actually a refutation of the complaint, but for some ungodly reason we have decided creatives get a pass for making crap so long as they say "haha, yeah, I really made crap, didn't I?" at some point. Anyway, if your so called joke isn't there to make people laugh but instead just to exist as a barrier against criticism, why bother cooking up something actually funny when just saying it's dumb will work just as well and take less effort?

Then there's the oversaturation element; if your skipper makes a joke about gift shops in a trip that has otherwise been void of self deprecating, it's funny partially because it's unexpected and it lends itself to Jungle Cruise being off kilter. If you get jokes like that regularly, it loses a lot of its punch. Disney does these things in all their media now, not just the parks, it's expected and rote, practically white noise.

Modern creatives also have a deathly fear of being called cheesy, which doesn't play well with comedy. It cuts off funny ideas before they can grow, and leaves anything slightly out there (or just any form of wordplay) with the same rubber stamp mockery immediately after, ruining the joke. With something like Muppets a lot of it was still silly. Now you don't get the fun and the funny, just the cynicism, because the cynicism is less likely to be called goofy and god forbid someone thinks you made something goofy.

They're not funny, they're not in an enviorment conductive to being funny, and we as a society have been giving painfully unfunny jokes a pass.


I miss when I could go into Country Bears or the preshow for Dinosaur and wait for the moment where someone burst out laughing. It always happened.

I would also point out that Tiki Room: Under New Management which most people hated was one of the biggest examples of self-deprecation in Disney history

 

[mattpeto]

Expansion is not inherently a good use of space. It’s like adding a room to house that has empty rooms. And doing so by building the new room away from the house and attaching it with a big hallway that will complicate future additions.

There’s a ton of space between the two attractions and nothing to fill it in. The park needs greater density. In a universe with portal technology you don’t need the non-place of an industrial district leading to a massive warehouse.

One of the big myths of the fan community is that the parks are built out along these decade long plans and they’re just not. It is very much an ad hoc process. Even when there are attempts at such projects (Evolving Epcot) they are hit with the changing priorities that come from a variety of places, including executive musical chairs. Actually building out new expansion pads would require significant work that shouldn’t be put off for future expansions to address.

I do see your point, it would be nice if they did more in between the theater and the door coaster.

Still the “empty room” in the back is going to be an e-ticket.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I do see your point, it would be nice if they did more in between the theater and the door coaster.

Still the “empty room” in the back is going to be an e-ticket.

The coaster isn’t the empty room…

 

[jah4955]

It’s like adding a room to house that has empty rooms.

Of course this scenario is bad.

If I'm not mistaken, the parks still aren't back to their pre-pandemic levels.

Ideally they should (at least) also be addressing the empty rooms if they hope to return to (or exceed) that.

 

[Agent H]

This is one of the issues with the franchise mandate and choosing to build based on metrics unrelated to guest experience. The themed experience is not very strong and there is concern that people will not recognize the reference, so themed decor is a crutch to make sure people know the reference and can say they saw the reference. It’s similar to the rat motifs in the ornament around the Ratatouille rides, which make absolutely no sense in the context of the movie, only in the context of viewing the movie.

True but I think the rat details are fun and cute. The sulley slide is a normal slide just painted blue and covered in purple polka dots.

 

[SplashJacket]

The tossing of the concept of Pixar Place for whole lands dedicated to one IP is probably one of the biggest wasted opportunities of the last decade.

Pixar Place is not a theme, so that concept does not belong in a theme park.

It’s an amalgamation of IPs that don’t necessarily relate.

A city-type land with the Incredibles or Soul could be a theme, but both are set in different locations / time periods, so they would only loosely connect.

 

[James Alucobond]

Pixar Place is not a theme, so that concept does not belong in a theme park.

It’s an amalgamation of IPs that don’t necessarily relate.

A city-type land with the Incredibles or Soul could be a theme, but both are set in different locations / time periods, so they would only loosely connect.

It could work if the lands were still studios with facades designed exclusively under that theme. The issue is that they're not interested in doing that anymore, and places where they have just mashed Pixar IPs together (like Parc Studios) have demonstrated that it's not a good look.

 

[HauntedPirate]

If Iger's IP mandate were in place when MK was built, it would have had 6 lands, 5 E-tickets, 4 C/D-tickets, and a dozen half-***ed restaurants. But 82 merchandise locations and zero entertainment.

Think about the stuff that's been built under Iger. Pandora - 2 rides. Fantasyland expansion - 2 rides. GE - 2 rides. TSL - 2 rides. The Cars nonsense - 1 ride (for sure). This - 1 ride.

Aka. Not even par for the course, but a bogey (or double-bogey) even for someone who doesn't understand theme parks.

 

[HMF]

Pixar Place is not a theme, so that concept does not belong in a theme park.

The theme of the park was supposed to be a studio. Not every park has to be Magic Kingdom 2.0

 

[HMF]

It could work if the lands were still studios with facades designed exclusively under that theme. The issue is that they're not interested in doing that anymore.

Theres your problem.

 

[gorillaball]

Of course this scenario is bad.

If I'm not mistaken, the parks still aren't back to their pre-pandemic levels.

Ideally they should (at least) also be addressing the empty rooms if they hope to return to (or exceed) that.

I don’t think attendance back at pre-pandemic levels is a top priority. Slightly less but higher paying attendance seems to be the target over the last several years. Better guest experience (outside of the impact on bank accounts), and more $$$ to the mouse.

 

[BrianLo]

Forgive my crudeness. This whole concept art seems to be very misrepresentative to me. As best as I can figure I don’t think the foundation of what is ultimately the queue structure in front of the coaster gravity building can be seen in aerials. Likewise the concept art is generous for ignore the big box.

Maybe the front facade queue structure was shifted into better alignment than the model has it, but still.

 

[James Alucobond]

If Iger's IP mandate were in place when MK was built, it would have had 6 lands, 5 E-tickets, 4 C/D-tickets, and a dozen half-***ed restaurants. But 82 merchandise locations and zero entertainment.

Think about the stuff that's been built under Iger. Pandora - 2 rides. Fantasyland expansion - 2 rides. GE - 2 rides. TSL - 2 rides. The Cars nonsense - 1 ride (for sure). This - 1 ride.

Putting aside the very real entertainment and dining complaints, those were not unusual attraction counts for lands even in the old days (using your own more modern definition of what "counts" rather than absolutely everything that was ticketed). Most of MK's lands launched in the 2-3 attraction range during the first year, including Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Liberty Square. Only Fantasyland was more robust, and some of that bulk was provided by B/A tickets (Dumbo, Golden Carrousel, Tea Party). The difference was that they concentrated solely on MK with very meaningful expansion of Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Frontierland over the subsequent decade prior to EPCOT's opening.

Also, Piston Peak is not a distinct land.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

If Iger's IP mandate were in place when MK was built, it would have had 6 lands, 5 E-tickets, 4 C/D-tickets, and a dozen half-***ed restaurants. But 82 merchandise locations and zero entertainment.

Think about the stuff that's been built under Iger. Pandora - 2 rides. Fantasyland expansion - 2 rides. GE - 2 rides. TSL - 2 rides. The Cars nonsense - 1 ride (for sure). This - 1 ride.

Aka. Not even par for the course, but a bogey (or double-bogey) even for someone who doesn't understand theme parks.

Fantasyland and Cars are both expansions, not actual lands.

Fantasyland - (now) 9 rides + 1 "show" + 1 playground section
Frontierland - (now) 4 rides + 1 show

He clearly thought these lands needed more rides so he added to their usable "ride" counts. Although Frontierland was not a net gain in terms of actually "adding" a ride count but rather adding a better quality ride.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Think about the stuff that's been built under Iger. Pandora - 2 rides. Fantasyland expansion - 2 rides. GE - 2 rides. TSL - 2 rides. The Cars nonsense - 1 ride (for sure). This - 1 ride.

Every land that was added after a park was built has had 1, 2 or 3 rides
Always. In every management. This is not a new thing

New Orleans Sq: opened with 0 rides, now 2
ToonTown: opened with 2 rides, now 3
Bear/Critter/Bayou Country: opened with 0 rides (1 attraction), now 3
ToonTown Fair: 1 ride
Sunset Blvd: opened with 1 ride, now 2

Eisner also opened MGM with 2 rides and DAK with 3

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Every land that was added after a park was built has had 1, 2 or 3 rides
Always. In every management. This is not a new thing

New Orleans Sq: opened with 0 rides, now 2
ToonTown: opened with 2 rides, now 3
Bear/Critter/Bayou Country: opened with 0 rides (1 attraction), now 3
ToonTown Fair: 1 ride
Sunset Blvd: opened with 1 ride, now 2

Eisner also opened MGM with 2 rides and DAK with 3

Imagine what people would complain about Disney doing back then if they had the attitude of nowadays!


Ugh! Disney is opening up a ride about going through a greenhouse? How exciting... where are the drops?

Twilight Zone for a Disney ride? Who's still watching Twilight Zone? Anyone who watches that would never be going on a drop tower...

A park dedicated to animals but no Lion King ride? Jungle Book? Mickey gets his own land tho!

 

[HMF]

Imagine what people would complain about Disney doing back then if they had the attitude of nowadays!


Ugh! Disney is opening up a ride about going through a greenhouse? How exciting... where are the drops?

Twilight Zone for a Disney ride? Who's still watching Twilight Zone? Anyone who watches that would never be going on a drop tower...

A park dedicated to animals but no Lion King ride? Jungle Book? Mickey gets his own land tho!

Those people would likely become the Disney Executives of today because that is the attitude most of them have.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I don’t think attendance back at pre-pandemic levels is a top priority. Slightly less but higher paying attendance seems to be the target over the last several years. Better guest experience (outside of the impact on bank accounts), and more $$$ to the mouse.

Sorry, where’s the better guest experience? No package delivery, no room service, no Magical Express, no free Magic bands, dramatically reduced extra Magic hours, less services across the board, dramatically expanded ride reservations that now cost large amounts of cash rather then being free, etc. No one can argue with a straight face that Disney has improved the guest experience over the last decade.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Forgive my crudeness. This whole concept art seems to be very misrepresentative to me. As best as I can figure I don’t think the foundation of what is ultimately the queue structure in front of the coaster gravity building can be seen in aerials. Likewise the concept art is generous for ignore the big box.


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Maybe the front facade queue structure was shifted into better alignment than the model has it, but still.

Wonder how much they plan to do to fix the sightlines looking back at the existing park from the new ride building. That’s a LOT of bare walls to theme, many of which can’t just be hidden, and it’s not the sort of thing on which modern Disney likes to spend money.

 

[mattpeto]

Sorry, where’s the better guest experience? No package delivery, no room service, no Magical Express, no free Magic bands, dramatically reduced extra Magic hours, less services across the board, dramatically expanded ride reservations that now cost large amounts of cash rather then being free, etc. No one can argue with a straight face that Disney has improved the guest experience over the last decade.

This is likely what the OP was referencing to (crowding):

Iger:
“It’s tempting to let more and more people in, but if the guest satisfaction level is going down because of crowding, that doesn’t work… we had to figure out how we reduce crowding but maintain, obviously, our profitability…

“…we actually reduced capacity, certainly improved guest experience, and we’re able to maintain profit…”

Chapek:
“…when you’re playing a yield game like we are right now … we read demand. … We operate with a level of sophistication with our pricing that not only does it maximize shareholder value, but it enables us to provide value to guests no matter what time of year they want to come.”

Christine McCarthy:
“…we’re choosing to limit attendance using [the reservation system] … to optimize the guest experience…” — limiting how many people can visit the parks via reservations."

But I'm with you @Casper Gutman, it's hard to compare the onsite perks that existed in 2019 vs 2025/2026 and think we have better experience because of this.

It's also why we will likely never get a Value or Moderate hotel built again at WDW unless another gate is built.