American Idol Experience To Close

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I though the new Star Wars area was going to include a re-theming of Sounds Dangerous and The Backlot Express Restaurant, with new rides/attractions in the current backstage/parade float building area, and be away from the 1930's Hollywood theming of the Sunset Boulevard area like this
That was the lack lustre plan of a new eaterie and indoor training academy thingie with no actual attractions.

Now if they took Idol and say the Indy area and associated expansion pad too as also proposed...
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
I though the new Star Wars area was going to include a re-theming of Sounds Dangerous and The Backlot Express Restaurant, with new rides/attractions in the current backstage/parade float building area, and be away from the 1930's Hollywood theming of the Sunset Boulevard area like this
SWL.jpg

If I was drawing the red line I would include the AIE theater, the Indiana Jones complex, that other support building and as far into the parking lot as needed.
 

Figaro928

Well-Known Member
I agree with you. It's like when the parade and Disney Channel Rocks were closed with no replacement still to this day. Were they the best shows? No but that means you replace them with something better not nothing. But I guess people just prefer paying more and receiving less for their money and other people losing their jobs.


I think it also means added time to the already lengthy queues of what is left. AI was at least a small crowd absorber
 

Figaro928

Well-Known Member
Agreed. It's such a no brainer we must be missing something.

Here's my optimistic view of why nothing has happened yet. They don't want to go half a$$ed on it. They want to take their time and design a truly immersive StarWarsLand.

Too much pixie dust for you? OK, another possibility is they are waiting to build rides in China or Japan so someone else foots part or all of the bill. Then they will clone the rides at DHS. Saves them money and construction time.
f70a0e06b149d586683056d8a7ee0acf3d9dc620b0a400ac3dcd99e8e56b9818.jpg
 

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
Are you saying Walt should not get Credit for WDW? He did buy all the land. He did plan lots of it. Epcot may not be what he envisioned but cities from all over the world study and learn from WDW. That was his goal and it is being realized. Even he said that the plans for the Florida project would change and change again. He knew what he thought the future would probably be different than what it would turn out to be but he knew you have to try and he did. He was the dreamer and Roy kept his feet on the ground and somehow raised the money. I personally don't feel Roy gets the credit he deserves but he followed Walt's dreams.
Eisner gets a lot more credit for most of WDW than Walt. Walt was a visionary....Eisner saw that the park expanded to what it is today. Walt never imagined any of the attractions past the few remaining at Magic Kingdom that he had his hand in for Disneyland that exist today. In fact Walt never imagined that there would be a Disneyland clone in Floida. A theme park was indeed included, no doubt, but not necessarily a clone.

To credit Walt himself for the Tower of Terror is just as erroneous as crediting Iger for any plans he may start now that may or may not get built in the future.
 

Tim Lohr

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I dont think that would be enough room for multiple new rides/shows like you said. Sure I could be wrong though
That was the lack lustre plan of a new eaterie and indoor training academy thingie with no actual attractions.

Now if they took Idol and say the Indy area and associated expansion pad too as also proposed...

Taking over the AIE, Backlot Restaurant, and Indy areas, along with the backstage Parade Float buildings seems like an awful lot of Star Wars stuff to me
 

DinoInstitute

Well-Known Member
Taking over the AIE, Backlot Restaurant, and Indy areas, along with the backstage Parade Float buildings seems like an awful lot of Star Wars stuff to me
Agreed, but you might not be taking into account the show buildings, which would take up a lot of space
 

Figaro928

Well-Known Member
Are you saying Walt should not get Credit for WDW? He did buy all the land. He did plan lots of it. Epcot may not be what he envisioned but cities from all over the world study and learn from WDW. That was his goal and it is being realized. Even he said that the plans for the Florida project would change and change again. He knew what he thought the future would probably be different than what it would turn out to be but he knew you have to try and he did. He was the dreamer and Roy kept his feet on the ground and somehow raised the money. I personally don't feel Roy gets the credit he deserves but he followed Walt's dreams.
Walt should get just as much credit for the current parks as Henry Ford does for the F-Series.
 

GrumpyFan

Well-Known Member
Walt should get just as much credit for the current parks as Henry Ford does for the F-Series.
Indeed. You might say Walt gets the same amount of credit because his name is on the product. "Ford" F-150, "Walt Disney World". I think that's a huge amount of credit. After all, it's not called "Eisner's Hollywood Studios", thank goodness! But, maybe at some time in the future, after we've all forgotten his last few years, there probably should be some tribute to Eisner and his contributions.
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Next gen was needed and is working.

It wasnt needed (except for Disney to find more ways to "get a bigger share of your wallet" -Jay Rassulo). Isnt it amazing that ALL other Disney parks are still operating without the wonders of Nextgen. How have they not caved in on themselves by now? lol. You were told it was needed and that was enough to convince you.

As far as it "working", well, lets see what replaces American Idol. Probly nothing amazing (for now) because the almighty Nextgen is dragging on the bottom line so hard that they cant risk spending the money, even though they told the BoD they would see a ROI by last year, which they havent yet. If thats what you consider "working", then yeah, its a smashing success. Maybe if they sell 50 million of those Star Wars MB's at $30 a pop they will break even. I do agree they are pretty cool, but not $30 cool.

And back to the Disney Parks Division wait until Shanghai Disney opens. That 5.8 billion dollar investment will provide profits for other Disney Parks expansions and hopefully more international expansion and more domestic expansion.

Your saying Shanghai is going to provide enough money for park expansions world wide? Um, Im not sure how funds are allocated but I would venture to guess that the domestic parks wont see much, if any, of the profits from Shanghai, especially considering how much money the govt over there has pumped into it. There are a lot of hands in that pan.
 

mahnamahna101

Well-Known Member
I'm still wondering what the $800 million for Shanghai Disneyland is even going towards... it's apparently for additional attractions and doesn't cover the costs of the ones planned out. Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar, Frozen, Cars, Indiana Jones... I don't have a clue. Any information on that? New Fantasyland was $500 million and that didn't have an E-ticket.
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
Walt should get just as much credit for the current parks as Henry Ford does for the F-Series.
I didn't say Walt should get credit for DHS or AK. I said Walt deserved credit for MK and the original idea of WDW. I also think if Iger and the board put together a plan and financing for expansions that Iger should get credit for them. The legacy of a leader does not alway happen during the person's time being the leader. Many times the plans that were made during one person time in charge don't get finished before leaving office. That is just the way it is but who gets credit? Jimmy Carter certainly doesn't get credit for recognizing China. Nixon does and rightfully so. Walt will always get credit for WDW because be and he alone had the idea of such a large piece of property. Eisner deserves credit for putting Disney back on track. Right now I would rank him second behind Walt but Iger has done an amazing job. He has expanded the company with the purchase of Star Wars and Marvel. He has expanded the parks, cruise line and DVC. He has invested in technology and infrastructure needed for future growth. The movies and television division continues thrive. The only area of complaint I see here is he has not invested enough in WDW. However the parks are more than WDW and if you add all the has been invested it's huge. I think Shanghai deserved the money first.

Now that Shanghai's just about finished and WDW and DLR are just about at capacity the time is right for domestic expansion. To build everything needed for WDW including Hotels and DVC resorts would cost 10 billion and 2 to 3 billion for the 3rd gate in California. This could be paid for over 7 years and given the current profits from the Disney Parks Division it's affordable. The profit potential is enormous. WDW can and should average attendance of over 75 million a year in the early 2020s and more in the late half of the decade. There should be 50,000 hotel and timeshare rooms on property to meet the demand.
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
It wasnt needed (except for Disney to find more ways to "get a bigger share of your wallet" -Jay Rassulo). Isnt it amazing that ALL other Disney parks are still operating without the wonders of Nextgen. How have they not caved in on themselves by now? lol. You were told it was needed and that was enough to convince you.

As far as it "working", well, lets see what replaces American Idol. Probly nothing amazing (for now) because the almighty Nextgen is dragging on the bottom line so hard that they cant risk spending the money, even though they told the BoD they would see a ROI by last year, which they havent yet. If thats what you consider "working", then yeah, its a smashing success. Maybe if they sell 50 million of those Star Wars MB's at $30 a pop they will break even. I do agree they are pretty cool, but not $30 cool.



Your saying Shanghai is going to provide enough money for park expansions world wide? Um, Im not sure how funds are allocated but I would venture to guess that the domestic parks wont see much, if any, of the profits from Shanghai, especially considering how much money the govt over there has pumped into it. There are a lot of hands in that pan.
Actually I don't expect any money from Shanghai to be used for domestic parks. The tax structure in County is backwards compared to the rest of the world. Our companies are forced to keep their profits over seas and to expand their. That does not mean it should not have been done because some time this country will wake up and fix that but not for a long time and well after millions of high paying jobs are lost.

Note. I edited this to fix typos and put in a period.
 
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StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
Actually I don't expect any money from Shanghai to be used for domestic parks. The tax structure in County is backwards compared to the rest of the world our companies are forced to keep their profits over seas and to expand their. That does not mean it should not have been done because some this country will wake up and fix that but not for a long time and well after millions of high paying jobs are lost.

What? No? Wrong. Stupid.
 

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
Actually I don't expect any money from Shanghai to be used for domestic parks. The tax structure in County is backwards compared to the rest of the world our companies are forced to keep their profits over seas and to expand their. That does not mean it should not have been done because some this country will wake up and fix that but not for a long time and well after millions of high paying jobs are lost.
That's just too hard to decipher.


http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Style-Fourth-Edition/dp/020530902X
 

Tim Lohr

Well-Known Member
Agreed, but you might not be taking into account the show buildings, which would take up a lot of space

I know over the years there have been many elaborate and really cool sounding projects that at the last minute got scaled back or cut all together...

Star Wars is really popular, so are the SW weekends, and it would be dumb to not add on more SW to the park but what exactly? The Star Tours ride is also a really popular ride, with a gift shop in the exit and the Jedi Training academy next to the queue, how much stuff, how many unique rides and attractions can they realistically do beyond what the already have?

Even though people seem to be turning their noses up at it a bit, I think a restaurant is a great idea, especially given how popular Be our Guest is. A Star Wars restaurant with a Cantina band room, and a Jabba the Hut band room, with animatronics of those characters would be great, but coming up with a dark ride or a rollercoaster that can compete with Star Tours seems like the hard part of a Star Wars land to me.

But I think these new films are going to have be really successful and have some kind of new content/vehicles to base a ride around, in order for it to be a big a land as people are hoping for
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
Next gen was needed. In another thread some wrote a detailed post of the labor problems in central Florida and that there may not be enough people available and the costs involved. WDW is now going to automate check in freeing up cast members for other jobs. Restaurants around the country are experimenting with electronic ordering thus reducing labor. Disney is doing them one better by allowing meal ordering with MDE at BoG. The food is at your table when you sit down. When this is expanded across the property if will allow for hundreds of cast members to be resigned to other jobs. When its all done there will either be thousands less cast members if you take the clinical view or enough employees to staff the expansion of new hotels, existing parks and even a 5th gate. If they take the first approach it would be very short sighted and not provide the growth that stockholders want. In either case next gen will pay for itself. If you doubt this ask the union.
 

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