A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[Cesar R M]

So Bob thinks he's personally responsible for the park's existence.
Ha.

It seems he his now having serious ego issues.
Next he will proclame himself as the next Walt Disney (even if he has ZERO creativity and only follows the money train)

 

[lazyboy97o]

yo @WDW1974 . I just read the news that the new doors of the panama channel are now in operation. Is this the cause of the announcement of the refit of the Wonder?

How would the new locks be related? The Wonder was already able to fit into the old locks.

 

[peter11435]

How would the new locks be related? The Wonder was already able to fit into the old locks.

The refit could potentially make it impossible for the Wonder to fit in the old locks. Just like it did for the Magic.

 

[wogwog]

How would the new locks be related? The Wonder was already able to fit into the old locks.

The Wonder was the only ship that could use the original canal after the Magic refurb. Now the wonder can be refurbed as any of the other three DCL ships can now do a Panama crossing and sail the US West coast and Alaska.

 

[Cesar R M]

The refit could potentially make it impossible for the Wonder to fit in the old locks. Just like it did for the Magic.

Not to mention the refit was delayed for many years.

 

[peter11435]

Not to mention the refit was delayed for many years.

Exactly, the Wonders drydock was delayed because of the delays with the Panama Canal expansion.

 

[flynnibus]

So rides will now need to provide space to store popcorn buckets while the owner is on a ride?

I see the potential to result in a mess with popcorn debris on the ground in the parks, cues, and in ride vehicles as a few buckets make their way onto rides.

This is a concept borrowed from TDL where the flavored popcorn stuff is a huge thing

Themed buckets are collectibles etc

Just ramping up the next 'must have' money printing machine

 

[asianway]

This is a concept borrowed from TDL where the flavored popcorn stuff is a huge thing

Themed buckets are collectibles etc

Just ramping up the next 'must have' money printing machine

Yeah but the popcorn there has true unique flavors

 

[Phil12]

Yeah but the popcorn there has true unique flavors

Beverly popcorn must be a real treat!

 

[AlexMBush]

Not sure if anyone has posted it here; but this does prove as something of potential if Los Angeles gets chosen as the official 2024 Olympic City..if it's been already posted here; please delete the post.

Variety reported on Wednesday that Comcast/NBCUniversal is intending on expanding their prominent Front lot into the iconic Red Sea with 10 soundstages over the period of 2017-2018 and if LA get's chosen as the Olympic City; they will be structuring with more soundstages.

This also posts as a big move for the theme park; as they intend on expanding into a few of the Lower Lot's Soundstages.

http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/universal-studios-hollywood-soundstage-theme-park-expansion-1201795566/

Universal Studios is embarking on a new five-year plan that will reorient many of its production soundstage facilities to the east near its backlot, as it makes way for additional space to expand its theme park.

In the works is a new complex of ten soundstages, to be built in 2017 and 2018, as a cluster of smaller stages on the front and west portion of the lot are removed to make way for new theme park attractions.

Also in the works is a new childcare facility, an expanded fire station and sheriff’s substation, and a trail head park and bike path along the Los Angeles River.


In the first phase of its expansion plans, Universal and its parent Comcast invested $1 billion in the lot and theme park, including the recently opened “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” as well as extensive upgrades to its infrastructure, such as a bridge over Lankershim Boulevard to accommodate visitors coming with the Metro, a new parking structure and new and widened ramps along the Hollywood Freeway. Two new soundstages are under construction and are scheduled to be completed later this year.

A new theme park attraction, located near “Transformers: The Ride” in the lower part of the theme park, is expected to be announced soon.

The next phase represents a commitment to shooting projects and series in Los Angeles. But it is also a recognition of how much on-the-lot production has shifted to a mix of scripted TV, live audience shows, sitcoms and new media projects, as feature films migrate to other states and countries offering generous incentives.

“All in all we have had tremendous support from Comcast and have done a lot of to make this a better lot,” Ron Meyer, vice chairman of NBCUniversal, said in an interview. “In every way we are going to have better and more advanced production facilities. They will be shifted around and put in different places, but we have 400 acres so we have a lot of luxury to do that.”

The soundstage complex — to be built at the backlot’s Park Lake — will be constructed in two phases in 2017 and 2018, ranging from 16,000 square feet to 18,000 square feet, with attached or adjacent offices, dressing rooms, rehearsal halls and parking. The stages are designed to be flexible enough to accommodate a variety of types of productions, and will be in closer proximity on the lot to the backlot sets and support facilities like props and transportation.

Two additional stages will be built at the complex if Los Angeles is awarded the Summer Olympics in 2024. If so, the lot would be the site of the international broadcast center, according to the bid proposal from LA 2024.

Meyer said that while the television stages are full “all the time,” when it comes to major feature films, studios are still finding that California still has trouble competing when it comes to tax incentives.

“If you go to places like Atlanta or Montreal or even New York, sadly they treat us much better than they treat us in California, and because of the significant cost savings, especially in the motion picture area, so much of the production of every studio is outside of where it should be,” he said. “We would all like to keep it in Los Angeles. On rare occasions we do shoot in L.A. But I will tell you that maybe 80% of the films that are shot, and maybe more, are shot outside of L.A.”

He added, “They have improved it. It is better than it was, but it is not as good to be really competitive.”

California has more than tripled the size of its production credit, to $330 million per year. But states like Georgia offer a larger credit and allocate unlimited sums.

The nature of production on the lot also has changed as Comcast has centralized its Los Angeles operations since it merged with NBCUniversal in 2011. E! Entertainment and Bravo have moved to the lot, and the network and local affiliate news operations were moved to the Brokaw News Center. Comcast purchased the 35-story 10 Universal City Plaza in 2013, and under construction is a walkway connecting the office structure with the rest of the lot.

Michael Moore, president and general manager of NBCUniversal Studio Operations Group, called the changes a “pivot” to new production needs.

“Most of the studios were designed many, many years ago, and much of it was not in a master plan and it was designed for a different type of production in a different era,” he said. Universal has stages “that were designed to accommodate production from 50, 60, 70 years ago.”

He said that the changes will “allow us to align the various uses of the property in the right areas.”

He said that the construction was being planned to not disrupt current productions.

Universal plans to remove 13 stages from the front lot, on the northwest side of Universal, to make way for future theme park expansion. The studio ultimately will have four fewer stages but, because the new facilities will be larger in size, a gain of about 11,000 square feet for production, a studio spokeswoman said.

Stage 28, built in 1924, already has been demolished, but the studio has preserved what was inside: The 91-year-old set of the silent film “Phantom of the Opera.” The studio would like to place it in a prestigious facility like the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, currently under construction.

“We took great pains in making sure that none of the iconic aspects of that have disappeared, so it can be recreated at any time,” Meyer said. “We made sure that is all safe. It is frankly in better shape than if we left it up there. You couldn’t have preserved it the way we have now.”

There’s good reason to make way for theme park expansion — attendance growth.

According to consulting firm Aecom, 7.1 million people visited Universal Studios Hollywood in 2015, an increase of about 4%. That is expected to jump this year, given the interest in the Harry Potter attraction, which officially opened in April.

Larry Kurzweil, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios Hollywood, said that they have “taken almost every corner of the park and transformed it into an entirely new place.”

He said that attendance in the ten weeks since “Wizarding World” opened has “exceeded all expectations,” with a spike not just in attendance but retail and food sales.

“We have never had so many wands in any of our parks,” he quipped. “Our wand sales are through the roof.”

Other plans include moving the childcare center from a building on a hillside near Barham Boulevard to one near the Los Angeles River. It will be able to accommodate almost double the number of children.

Also in the works is the construction of a public trail head park and bike and pedestrian path along the Los Angeles River. When it obtained approval of its master plan in 2013, Universal agreed to build the path as a way of connecting a larger network of biking trails.

This proves as a monumental move for the studio; as they will be bringing over 10 soundstages initially. Along with that, the theme park will receive a massive expansion stated to be announced in the future.

Once again, if this has been posted yet; this can be deleted as I'm not sure if it has been posted before..

 

[truecoat]

No offense Mike, but we have a Universal forum for a reason.

I can't remember when Spirit's posts have ever been limited to just Disney or Disney World. I remember several conversations you were a big part of that revolved around sandwiches in Philly or at gas stations.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

@WDW1974 ... have you ever done a DCL cruise in Europe? My daughter is currently flying to catch her 11 day cruise to Norway and Iceland with a few other ports of call tomorrow. I expect a full trip report from her. I asked her why she isn't doing WDW this year or a cruise in this hemisphere. She said it's too hot in Florida for her and the kids and besides, they are waiting for Star Wars.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

As an accompaniment to The Theme Park Guy's documentation of the construction of Shanghai Disney Resort, here is a collection of photographs by photojournalist Fritz Hoffman of the rapid development of Pudong New Area, known best to the world as Shanghai's futuristic skyline, during the 90's and early 00's.
http://www.chinafile.com/photo-gallery/building-icon

 

[lazyboy97o]

As an accompaniment to The Theme Park Guy's documentation of the construction of Shanghai Disney Resort, here is a collection of photographs by photojournalist Fritz Hoffman of the rapid development of Pudong New Area, known best to the world as Shanghai's futuristic skyline, during the 90's and early 00's.
http://www.chinafile.com/photo-gallery/building-icon

Even the most recent photos in this series are missing Shanghai Tower which sits next to and dwarfs the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Finance Center. It is the tallest building in China and third tallest in the world.

 

[choco choco]

Not sure if anyone has posted it here; but this does prove as something of potential if Los Angeles gets chosen as the official 2024 Olympic City..if it's been already posted here; please delete the post.

Variety reported on Wednesday that Comcast/NBCUniversal is intending on expanding their prominent Front lot into the iconic Red Sea with 10 soundstages over the period of 2017-2018 and if LA get's chosen as the Olympic City; they will be structuring with more soundstages.

This also posts as a big move for the theme park; as they intend on expanding into a few of the Lower Lot's Soundstages.

http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/universal-studios-hollywood-soundstage-theme-park-expansion-1201795566/

This proves as a monumental move for the studio; as they will be bringing over 10 soundstages initially. Along with that, the theme park will receive a massive expansion stated to be announced in the future.

Once again, if this has been posted yet; this can be deleted as I'm not sure if it has been posted before..

This jibes with what the New York Times posted a couple years ago, that many of the major studios are planning huge expansion projects for production in Los Angeles.

The narrative for many years was that production was leaving this area. But it turns out the studios were prescient. While it's true that film production has sailed for greener (i.e. cheaper) shores, "television" production was soaring.

We really should call it "content" nowadays, since the stuff everybody from A(mazon) to (Y)ouTube is presently producing bears little relation to what is traditionally television. Whatever it is, it's really, really high employing. A typical 13 hour limited-series/season/mini-movie is many more man-hours and staff than a typical Hollywood movie and it has thus made more sense to keep everyone in a centralized location for work.

And so the competition for space has become brutal. Hollywood (I mean the actual physical location of Hollywood) is experiencing a building boom as I've not seen in my lifetime. Small, independent studios have had to build huge skyscrapers on their lots (I just passed by Sunset and Gower the other day and am still shocked at the behemoth looming over what was once one of the quaintest facilities in the region)

According to that map, Universal really is eating a lot of their outdoor backlot space and converting it into soundstages. I'm guessing with the advent of CGI, there's less and less need for outdoor shooting. They keep that up and I'm wondering what the backlot tour is going to be in a couple years. The soundstage part of the tour is always the most pointless, since it's nothing to see but plain boxes.

The map also doesn't show where the Diagon Alley expansion is supposed to go, as the Waterworld Theater and Citywalk are still there unchanged.

 

[Cesar R M]

@WDW1974 ... have you ever done a DCL cruise in Europe? My daughter is currently flying to catch her 11 day cruise to Norway and Iceland with a few other ports of call tomorrow. I expect a full trip report from her. I asked her why she isn't doing WDW this year or a cruise in this hemisphere. She said it's too hot in Florida for her and the kids and besides, they are waiting for Star Wars.

Doesn't the 11 day cost on the upper side of 10,000 usd per cabin?

 

[Nmoody1]

So a week and a half into the 'grand opening' period of Shanghai Disneyland:

- you still can't access the in-park wifi with a non China telephone

- Pirates has been going down quite regularly, along with TRON which is currently only running with one track - even with a fastpass ticket the line is over 40 minutes

- castle walk through has been closed most of today

- wait times across the park are high but crowds around the actual park aren't a problem (was never going to be with all that space!)

 

[lazyboy97o]

- you still can't access the in-park wifi with a non China telephone

It was available during the soft openings. But it is not unusual for government associated Wi-Fi to require authentication with a phone number.

- Pirates has been going down quite regularly, along with TRON which is currently only running with one track - even with a fastpass ticket the line is over 40 minutes

Do you mean one station? Or one train? TRON only has one track.

 

[ford91exploder]

@WDW1974 ... have you ever done a DCL cruise in Europe? My daughter is currently flying to catch her 11 day cruise to Norway and Iceland with a few other ports of call tomorrow. I expect a full trip report from her. I asked her why she isn't doing WDW this year or a cruise in this hemisphere. She said it's too hot in Florida for her and the kids and besides, they are waiting for Star Wars.

Wait long she will for the x-wing spinner....

 

[Nmoody1]

It was available during the soft openings. But it is not unusual for government associated Wi-Fi to require authentication with a phone number.


Do you mean one station? Or one train? TRON only has one track.

Apologies, I meant one station.

Wifi was not working on opening day (for international tel. Numbers). I am well aware that verification is needed. Yet wifi works perfectly across shanghai in Starbucks, Apple, Uniqlo and McDonald's to name a few. We spoke to park managers on opening day about the wifi, they acknowledged that it won't send a verification internationally. There is always Disney town's starbucks, and outside the metro station will connect to disney wifi without need for a verification code.