Disney adding a new park?

Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Everyone seems to forget about poor old neglected Wonderful World of Sports theme park. It is specially designed for sports enthusiasts and is visited by many, many people everyday. There has been a 5th gate for many years now, it's just that no one has noticed. Back 15 years ago when I went with my daughter and son in law, all he could talk about was going to the WWoS. He's a sports fanatic practically from birth. Granted it doesn't charge the money that the other parks do, but, it does charge a minor amount (or at least it did back then)
 
DfromATX

DfromATX

Well-Known Member
Maybe this has been said, I skipped through most of it, but my opinion is no new parks anytime soon, especially with Avatar and Star Wars Lands coming up. I'd be happy with improving what's there now and I'm excited about the new lands. But as someone else said, never say never and maybe there will be a new one I can take my grandchildren to one day.
 
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jensenrick

jensenrick

Well-Known Member
Tom P. said:
I'm telling you... everybody disagrees with me, and that's fine. :) But regardless of what you think of Bob Iger's management philosophy, Disney is not going to let Universal add a 3rd gate without responding. Universal is clearly headed to an announcement of a 3rd gate in the not too distant future, and I would go to Vegas and bet everything I own on the proposition that before too long after that, Disney will announce a 5th gate.
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Don't go to Vegas, I'll hold that bet for you. :)
 
jensenrick

jensenrick

Well-Known Member
Tom P. said:
I'm telling you... everybody disagrees with me, and that's fine. :) But regardless of what you think of Bob Iger's management philosophy, Disney is not going to let Universal add a 3rd gate without responding.
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Okay that last note was a joke, but on a serious note, here is my question about Disney "responding" - why would they?

Even if you just measure quantity of "gates", doesn't Disney already have twice as many as Universal? (As far as quality, that's another issue that I think UO has gained on)
But seriously- they didn't respond when Discovery Cove opened, or when Islands of Adventure opened, or when Aquatica opened, or when the Wizarding World opened and basically changed the game. Universal could build a literal Shangri La on it's new land and Disney would say, "who did what now? And where can we put another restaurant in the Springs?"
 
DfromATX

DfromATX

Well-Known Member
jensenrick said:
I've been there, it was alright. But it's got lower repeat-ability than Ellen's Energy Adventure, and that's saying something.
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What exactly is over there? ESPN and ...

Never mind, I just looked on their website. Sounds pretty boring if you're not a sports person.
 
insaneshadow

insaneshadow

Active Member
Stupid question, so I apologize in advance, but I've seen people on the forums talking about these gates. 4th gate, 5th gate, here a gate, there a gate, everywhere a gate gate.What are they talking about? Are gates just new entrances to the existing parks or new parks?
 
Tom P.

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
When people say "3rd gate" or "5th gate" they're talking about the addition of a completely new theme park. The connotation is that you have a gate that you have to buy a ticket to pass through, as opposed to a park expansion like Star Wars Land, where it's not separate from the existing park.
 
insaneshadow

insaneshadow

Active Member
Tom P. said:
When people say "3rd gate" or "5th gate" they're talking about the addition of a completely new theme park. The connotation is that you have a gate that you have to buy a ticket to pass through, as opposed to a park expansion like Star Wars Land, where it's not separate from the existing park.
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Ooooh, cool. Thanks =D
 
Tom P.

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
jensenrick said:
Okay that last note was a joke, but on a serious note, here is my question about Disney "responding" - why would they?

Even if you just measure quantity of "gates", doesn't Disney already have twice as many as Universal? (As far as quality, that's another issue that I think UO has gained on)
But seriously- they didn't respond when Discovery Cove opened, or when Islands of Adventure opened, or when Aquatica opened, or when the Wizarding World opened and basically changed the game. Universal could build a literal Shangri La on it's new land and Disney would say, "who did what now? And where can we put another restaurant in the Springs?"
Click to expand...
I think that's the point, though. Disney hasn't been responding to these major developments by Universal, and they now have come to realize that was a mistake. Hence, the sudden massive investments that Disney is making by pumping billions of dollars into New Fantasyland, Avatar Land, Toy Story Land, Star Wars Land, the rumored expansions at Epcot, etc.

But I think Disney has already realized that they have a capacity problem, which all these new expansions of existing parks is only going to exacerbate. Not to mention Disney's desire to continue expanding DVC as rapidly as possible, which will only add to the capacity issues. With Universal building a 3rd gate, I think Disney will be afraid that people will get tired of the overcrowding at their parks and go check out the new offerings at Universal instead. Even if it's only people vacationing at Disney who hop over to Universal for a day or two, that's revenue Disney doesn't want to lose. And that is why I think if they see Universal starting to up their game by building an entirely new theme park, Disney will want to build a new one of their own.

Besides, this isn't exactly a new idea. Disney has kicked around the idea of a 5th gate for quite some time, off and on. So they've seen the potential need for and benefit from it, and just need that final motivation to pull the trigger. I think Universal's expansion will be that motivation. This is not the Disney of five years ago. Their mindset about the parks has changed, and I think we'll see more expansions, not less.
 
righttrack

righttrack

Well-Known Member
Any Universal news will be met with subsequent WDW news. Disney would have done far better and one-upped Universal one better had they just created a Star Wars theme park from the ground up in Florida. They could have really transformed rather than bolted on something.
 

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