Apricot Lane to open at DTD right in the heart of Hyperion Wharf territory

lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
scpergj said:
jt, your disdain for the southeastern US is amazing. Search for shopping districts in any medium size or larger city in Dixie, and you'll find many different high end shopping malls, INCLUDING in Orlando! Up here in Jacksonville, we have the St. Johns Town Center, which is quite upscale, including a Tiffany, Coach, Apple store, and many others. The area also includes several high end restaurants - Capital Grill, Cantina Laredo, Mitchell's Fish Markety, j. alexander, P.F. Chang, Cheesecake Factory...and in the evenings, some of these have (gasp) outdoor bars to serve waiting clients adult beverages!

Downtown Disney, and the area formerly known as Pleasure Island, has become nothing more than another shopping mall. Admit it, and get over it - TDO messed up big time.
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I don't think it's disdain so much that jt probably doesn't get out enough to realize that most neighborhoods have strip malls that rival DTD.
 
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Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Really great points there! And for those who haven't been to Disneyland, the mention of "falling" into Anaheim's Downtown Disney is not a reference to drunkards stumbling back from the House of Blues. :lol:

It's a reference to the fact that rows and rows of Grand Californian Hotel room balconies sit above a long stretch of Downtown Disney.

Here's the view of Downtown Disney from one of the Grand Californian rooms, looking west towards the opposite end of Downtown Disney and the towers of the Disneyland Hotel sitting at the other end where Apricot Lane is now.

Balcony view of Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel, from a Grand Californian Hotel room

View of Downtown DIsney from hotel balcony by karlb, on Flickr

In addition to 3,000+ Disney-owned hotel rooms being literally steps away from Downtown Disney in Anaheim, the massive parking lot tram operation loads/unloads directly across from the World of Disney store and the entrance to the mall area. (The four-station tram loading area is directly on the other side of the landscaped area at the right of the picture above) At the end of the night both Disneyland and DCA empty out and direct most of the 22 Million theme park visitors at Disneyland Reosrt each year head towards the tram loading area at Downtown Disney.

It's all literally steps from each other, in a very compact and multi-layered planned urban environment. Housing built above retail/dining adjacent to mass transportation.

WDW's Downtown Disney doesn't have that benefit, as even some of the hotels in Lake Buena Vista are quite a prohibitive walk away, especially in the Florida climate most of the year. Downtown Disney in Orlando, specifically Hyperion Wharf for the sake of this conversation, needs to be different than Anaheim's Downtown Disney. WDW's Downtown Disney has to attract people on its own, it has to be its own magnet competing against the other theme parks and area attractions screaming for the tourists time and dollars.

.
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This PERFECTLY illustrates what I've been saying all along: DTD should've been built with at least two resorts included on the property. The resorts would've helped feed customers to DTD (and especially to Pleasure Island) and DTD would be a great incentive for people to stay at those resorts.
 
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Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
xdan0920 said:
And the myth of Hyperion Wharf continues to fade away. Much like the legend of the ancient Yeti.
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I don't get this. Hyperion Wharf was intended to be an area with third party retailers. This seems to me to be perfectly inline with the Hyperion Wharf concept (unfortunately).

I imagine we'll see a Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma announced any day now.:D
 
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maxairmike

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
This PERFECTLY illustrates what I've been saying all along: DTD should've been built with at least two resorts included on the property. The resorts would've helped feed customers to DTD (and especially to Pleasure Island) and DTD would be a great incentive for people to stay at those resorts.
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I've been thinking about that angle a lot lately, and I totally agree that a resort or two right there "in" DTD would be a great thing. I think Saratoga was supposed to be that "local" resort, but most all of it is just too far away. I feel like even with Cirque, DQ, and HoB at the end of West Side, it still lacks an "anchor" that holds it all in (the could be because it was originally going to be expanded beyond Cirque), mostly because once I get to HoB/DQ, the crowd basically disappears unless there is a crowd over at Cirque (even during peak seasons). Almost like there is too much empty space in that area.
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
This PERFECTLY illustrates what I've been saying all along: DTD should've been built with at least two resorts included on the property. The resorts would've helped feed customers to DTD (and especially to Pleasure Island) and DTD would be a great incentive for people to stay at those resorts.
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Now that PI is gone I think this becomes a viable possibility in the long run. We may be talking a decade or two from now but the land does exist to make something like this happen.
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Ignohippo said:
This PERFECTLY illustrates what I've been saying all along: DTD should've been built with at least two resorts included on the property. The resorts would've helped feed customers to DTD (and especially to Pleasure Island) and DTD would be a great incentive for people to stay at those resorts.
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You mean like the Boardwalk? I agree
 
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Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
Sort of, but the Boardwalk is too small to really be viable IMO. It's a nice place to stroll by, but it doesn't have enough to really keep anybody there.

More like CityWalk with the Hard Rock connected to it and Portofino right across the street. Only in my concept, the two resorts would be towers. One would be in the area north of Cirque (between Cirque and the water) and the other would be where Virgin was or in the current parking lot behind the AMC Theaters.
 
NMBC1993

NMBC1993

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
What lack of imagination? They have not even started major construction yet.
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And that's the problem, they haven't started yet and it's been three years. They're just trying to wait the economy out until companies start building again. If Disney really cared about DTD they'd start building new places on their own, but we all know Disney doesn't want to pay the bills just look at PI. Just curious jt, what are your thoughts on WoL, is there some new vision going in there too?
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
This is now open, here is a look
http://www.wdwmagic.com/Shopping/Ap...newest-store-'Apricot-Lane'-opening-today.htm
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Looks fine. I was reading the iinitial response in this thread from when this was announced. I think what people fail to grasp is that DTD will be most successful if it attracts locals also. That is why stores like this make sense. And it isn't like they will run out of room anytime soon so I see this as a big plus. DTD should offer something for everyone whether tourist or local, young or old, lots of disposable income or limited funds. This adds to the diversity of offerings and I think Disney may just be warming up. Personally I think DTD could gain momentum and grow by leaps and bounds in the years to come.

NMBC1993 said:
And that's the problem, they haven't started yet and it's been three years. They're just trying to wait the economy out until companies start building again. If Disney really cared about DTD they'd start building new places on their own, but we all know Disney doesn't want to pay the bills just look at PI. Just curious jt, what are your thoughts on WoL, is there some new vision going in there too?
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I remember Future World before WoL opened. And to be perfectly frank I did not think it lived up to the standard established by the other pavilions. Yes it had fun elements but it seemed a bit too pop culture and cardboard as opposed to epic. So I can't really say I miss it. I have always said that it should be connected to Mission:Space and turned into a 'real' Mars outpost. I realize that would mean changing the storeyline but I think that would be an epic addition.

As for DTD, these things always take years. Look how long FLE is taking and DCA has been in the process of upgrading since Iger took over. Quality is rarely accomplised in a hurry.
 

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