Bob Iger at WDW now ... BoD to Follow?

[mahnamahna101]

$3.5B, 80% to DHS

Just something @ISTCNavigator57 mentioned in another thread, but:

If New Frontierland is 'just about to be greenlit', according to @whylightbulb, would that mean MK's $350 million is for something else and New Frontier is getting its own budget? Or would MK's essentially be Frontierland expansion and possibly a Space overhaul?

That seems like it'd be a lot to spend on a park that's already doing fine. I'd rather AK get another $300-350 million than MK get $500 million+.

 

[GhostHost1000]

regardless... that's a nice chunk of change. Let the bulldozers begin!

 

[Matt_Black]

It's doing "fine", but it's also the crown jewel of the park complex that's the most visited of all Disney Parks and the world.

 

[mahnamahna101]

It's doing "fine", but it's also the crown jewel of the park complex that's the most visited of all Disney Parks and the world.

I don't mind MK getting $750m-$1b potentially. I just don't want Epcot or AK to get overlooked because of that. AK could use some love for its existing attractions (Kali, Everest, DINOSAUR), while Epcot needs a FW overhaul.

If TDO had used some of the MM+ budget to enhance the non-MK parks from 2009-present, I wouldn't be as leery about two of them being overlooked. But if they are, DHS and MK will dominate the other two by 2022/2023.

 

[mahnamahna101]

Where are you getting these wait times from?

The last 1.5 yrs at MK lol.

FP+ has created some ridiculous posted stand-by wait-times during summer, Christmas, etc.

Just look at MDE or any wait-times app,

 

[gmajew]

I don't mind MK getting $750m-$1b potentially. I just don't want Epcot or AK to get overlooked because of that. AK could use some love for its existing attractions (Kali, Everest, DINOSAUR), while Epcot needs a FW overhaul.

If TDO had used some of the MM+ budget to enhance the non-MK parks from 2009-present, I wouldn't be as leery about two of them being overlooked. But if they are, DHS and MK will dominate the other two by 2022/2023.

AK is getting a lot of love right now when you look at it. I hope they continue the love and continue to fix and update this park as they have been over the past few years. Everest I don't think we will ever see it the way it was designed.

 

[FullSailDan]

The last 1.5 yrs at MK lol.

FP+ has created some ridiculous posted stand-by wait-times during summer, Christmas, etc.

Just look at MDE or any wait-times app,

Ok, I'll finally stop being a lurker and pop my commenting cherry. Wait times during summer and christmas have always been stupid ridiculous. Back when I worked in the resorts we got notification on the flash reports of 2 hour waits to get quick service meals in tomorrowland. FP+ isn't driving the extended long lines, lack of content to soak up guests is. When you are operating at peak numbers, the park will not be comfortable.

There's a good chance the new plans being pushed in MK are not because someone finally convinced senior leadership its a good idea. Rather, the park is on the verge of violating fire code every day right now and needs additional space. The hub redesign wasn't because someone thought it would be fun, but because the existing infrastructure didn't meet code in the event of an emergency.

 

[George]

I don't mind MK getting $750m-$1b potentially. I just don't want Epcot or AK to get overlooked because of that. AK could use some love for its existing attractions (Kali, Everest, DINOSAUR), while Epcot needs a FW overhaul.

If TDO had used some of the MM+ budget to enhance the non-MK parks from 2009-present, I wouldn't be as leery about two of them being overlooked. But if they are, DHS and MK will dominate the other two by 2022/2023.

I see where you're coming from and completely understand. However, I think they're decision making on this is OK. They really need to not only make the other parks more attractive to spread attendance out a bit, they really need to increase capacity at MK which will be visited heavily regardless of what they do. Personally, I'm most worried about EPCOT since they don't seem to have any cogent idea of what to do there except for making the Food and Wine festival last for 8 months or whatever (I know this isn't the length of time for the F&W).

The big problem is that after 15.6 years of heavy under investment in the resort, it is hard to make up for it all at once. It may be the case that in a few years some special plan may be announced for EPCOT. I think (though I have no way to know this) that they really don't have anything close to a cogent plan for the prototypical community of tomorrow. Plus, I'm sure attendance numbers play a big part in this and the festivals do really help with attendance and spending. I hope they can come up with better than a "big outdoor convention center with some mildly entertaining stuff to do" model, but we'll see.

Ok, I'll finally stop being a lurker and pop my commenting cherry. Wait times during summer and christmas have always been stupid ridiculous. Back when I worked in the resorts we got notification on the flash reports of 2 hour waits to get quick service meals in tomorrowland. FP+ isn't driving the extended long lines, lack of content to soak up guests is. When you are operating at peak numbers, the park will not be comfortable.

There's a good chance the new plans being pushed in MK are not because someone finally convinced senior leadership its a good idea. Rather, the park is on the verge of violating fire code every day right now and needs additional space. The hub redesign wasn't because someone thought it would be fun, but because the existing infrastructure didn't meet code in the event of an emergency.

Correct. Hard to argue with increasing capacity at MK. It has gotten to the point where it is far from comfortable much of the time.

 

[Shaman]

Disney should not allow the park to become so crowded. I know it doesn't make much business sense, and a lot of guests will be pretty frustrated by sudden closures, but Disney doesn't have to continue to flood the park with people after it becomes packed. They don't need to expand to control the crowds at MK...they just need to turn people away occasionally. This isn't a Christmas/NYE problem only. MK is crazy on most days of the year.

 

[gmajew]

Disney should not allow the park to become so crowded. I know it doesn't make much business sense, and a lot of guests will be pretty frustrated by sudden closures, but Disney doesn't have to continue to flood the park with people after it becomes packed. They don't need to expand to control the crowds at MK...they just need to turn people away occasionally. This isn't a Christmas/NYE problem only. MK is crazy on most days of the year.

That would result in higher ticket prices! They are going to cram everyone they can into park and continue to raise ticket prices....

 

[twebber55]

Ok, I'll finally stop being a lurker and pop my commenting cherry. Wait times during summer and christmas have always been stupid ridiculous. Back when I worked in the resorts we got notification on the flash reports of 2 hour waits to get quick service meals in tomorrowland. FP+ isn't driving the extended long lines, lack of content to soak up guests is. When you are operating at peak numbers, the park will not be comfortable.

There's a good chance the new plans being pushed in MK are not because someone finally convinced senior leadership its a good idea. Rather, the park is on the verge of violating fire code every day right now and needs additional space. The hub redesign wasn't because someone thought it would be fun, but because the existing infrastructure didn't meet code in the event of an emergency.

this would make sense, that's why the word expansion is being used here

 

[FullSailDan]

Disney should not allow the park to become so crowded. I know it doesn't make much business sense, and a lot of guests will be pretty frustrated by sudden closures, but Disney doesn't have to continue to flood the park with people after it becomes packed. They don't need to expand to control the crowds at MK...they just need to turn people away occasionally. This isn't a Christmas/NYE problem only. MK is crazy on most days of the year.

The only way MK can close due to capacity and have it acceptable for guests would be to start ticketing for specific days. Right now that isn't really a possibility. I don't know that it ever will be. Maybe with a complete ticketing overhaul. It would still be a very negative mark in forcing guests to plan every day they are on vacation.

 

[Andrew C]

The last 1.5 yrs at MK lol.

FP+ has created some ridiculous posted stand-by wait-times during summer, Christmas, etc.

Just look at MDE or any wait-times app,

That does not match with my experiences the last 1.5 years. Sure, sometimes it can get up there. But I have also seen many times where stand-by was well below these times. I think you are just generalizing a bit too much as I have also walked on to several of those attractions over the last 1.5 years. But I would not generalize them as walk-on's because I know this is not always the case.

I am not disagreeing that FP+ has increased some stand-by wait times, however. This is known to basically be fact.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I wouldn't expect to see any additional Moderates any time soon. Any additional new resorts IMHO would like be either Values or Deluxe with a DVC component. More likely the latter since DVC helps to defray the cost.

There is the long speculated Moderate Disney's Vacation Club concept.

 

[FullSailDan]

There is the long speculated Moderate Disney's Vacation Club concept.

DVC bookings are already a mess with home resort priority, point values, etc. Adding in a new tier of moderate owners to the booking equation would be a disaster. Will they significantly diminish the number of points a moderate owner receives when purchasing? Then what prevents a deluxe owner from booking several stays at the moderate level to get longer stays? Leaving moderate owners in the dust for availability. Not doubting the idea was explored, but at this point I think Pandora's box is sealed for a good while.

 

[George]

DVC bookings are already a mess with home resort priority, point values, etc. Adding in a new tier of moderate owners to the booking equation would be a disaster. Will they significantly diminish the number of points a moderate owner receives when purchasing? Then what prevents a deluxe owner from booking several stays at the moderate level to get longer stays? Leaving moderate owners in the dust for availability. Not doubting the idea was explored, but at this point I think Pandora's box is sealed for a good while.

Conversely, once the moderate DVC is booked with 4 week long vacations by other DVCers, your moderate owners can enjoy 3 hours at BLT before being forcibly evicted by the new "DVC Enforcement Brigage" or DEB for short.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Disney should not allow the park to become so crowded. I know it doesn't make much business sense, and a lot of guests will be pretty frustrated by sudden closures, but Disney doesn't have to continue to flood the park with people after it becomes packed. They don't need to expand to control the crowds at MK...they just need to turn people away occasionally. This isn't a Christmas/NYE problem only. MK is crazy on most days of the year.

well if they would expand parks more (attractions and sq footage) to thin out the crowds it would help.... even a 5th park one day

 

[TabulaRasa]

So it sounds like everything we've heard has been very park-specific. Any rumblings about the next resort? Obviously we have WL DVC expansion but occupancy has been consistently high for a while to the point where I have to imagine they're considering an entirely new resort. Any chance that's part of the whale of an approved budget? I know there were some rumblings a while back about a second DAK resort.

I would absolutely love it if they created an Asian themed resort near DAK, or a Hollywood themed one near DHS. I would bet that the next resort would be a Deluxe/DVC combo, seeing as Art of Animation was the last one constructed.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Just something @ISTCNavigator57 mentioned in another thread, but:

If New Frontierland is 'just about to be greenlit', according to @whylightbulb, would that mean MK's $350 million is for something else and New Frontier is getting its own budget? Or would MK's essentially be Frontierland expansion and possibly a Space overhaul?

That seems like it'd be a lot to spend on a park that's already doing fine. I'd rather AK get another $300-350 million than MK get $500 million+.

Thats a question I cant answer or reconcile....

 

[Cesar R M]

regardless... that's a nice chunk of change. Let the bulldozers begin!

hopefully, they wont spread it for years and drag it for so long.. like they did with NFL and Avatar.