Disney announce an opening timeframe for Princess Fairytale Hall

[orky8]

Really? Have you seen the demolition plans for this structure? What about the hazardous materials removal plan, or any one of a dozen other things that happen when retrofiring a 30-40 year old commercial structure? Shopping centers are frequently stock plans that have been built dozens if not hundreds of times. That is the reason they go up in 6 months. The two projects are as comparable as the manufacturing of a hot wheels car and the restoration of a classic car.

Not to mention this is taking place in the middle of the most popular theme park in the world. 1.5 years does seem, rather long. But, seeing as we don't know exactly what they are doing, it a bit hard to judge. But you can't equate this to building a strip mall where boundary limitations and noise issues don't exist.

 

[xdan0920]

Gut reaction, that feels like a really long time. I can never get a feel for timelines though. Somethings I think should have taken a few years finish up in a year, other things I think should take no time at all, drag out over years. :shrug:

Is this building big enough to park the mountains of strollers that are sure to be piling up for this M&G inside? Because if not, we are looking at an epically sized sea of strollers filling up that area.

 

[Master Yoda]

Not to mention this is taking place in the middle of the most popular theme park in the world. 1.5 years does seem, rather long. But, seeing as we don't know exactly what they are doing, it a bit hard to judge. But you can't equate this to building a strip mall where boundary limitations and noise issues don't exist.

Exactly. The time frame does sound a bit excessive to me as well, but it is impossible to make an accurate judgement on that without knowing the actual scope of work, which at this time, none of us do.

 

[jt04]

Exactly. The time frame does sound a bit excessive to me as well, but it is impossible to make an accurate judgement on that without knowing the actual scope of work, which at this time, none of us do.

I love when Yoda unleashes truth on the masses.

 

[bgraham34]

This most likely all comes down to financials. It seems as though they want it to open the first quarter of the new fiscal year.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Is this building big enough to park the mountains of strollers that are sure to be piling up for this M&G inside? Because if not, we are looking at an epically sized sea of strollers filling up that area.

Fantasyland is already an ocean of strollers. Probably can't be any worse than it already is. Although there are talks that Disney is really going to be cracking down on strollers that are too big though. If it can't fit through the gates at the turnstiles, it won't be able to come in. End of story. :sohappy:

 

[NewfieFan]

According to that description, it sounds like each Princess will be getting her own room, as opposed to the tent, where all three stood awkwardly. If so this is really good news, because you can now pick and choose exactly what princesses you want to meet, and it will certainly help with traffic flow moving from princess to princess.

This is what I am hoping for! I hate the M&Gs that have characters all in a row, it really slows down the line. Sometimes you have a character at the end of the line just standing around waiting for guests but you can't move ahead and meet them b/c you have to move along in order. Dumb set-up if you ask me! And sometimes you don't want to see all of the characters just a certain one. Little girls have their favorite Princess and hopefully they can pick who they want to meet!

 

[IWant2GoNow]

Sounds extensive enough to be around for QUITE a while. I wouldn't expect anything to take its place for a decade or more. The princesses are a large draw for young girls & I now am going to fear that area being congested with huge lines. I also sympathize for parents who will be waiting in said lines. But I hope Disney has an idea on how to control separate lines for separate princesses. They will most likely also take counts on which princesses get visited more to maximize interest. I know it sucks to lose a ride for this, but I think it's going to be more popular than anyone of us thinks.

 

[vinnya1726]

Right on.

 

[chargerag]

I would tend to agree with the view that they are trying to smooth the numbers on the books. I just don't see how the construction can take that long. I remember when they had to rip all the abstestos out of my middle school over the summer. The ripped it out and rebuilt the whole interior in 3 months. I just don't see what would add 15 more months to this timeline.

 

[TP2000]

The very long timing of this is suspicious. I think there may be more to it than just a meet n' greet, and perhaps there's some major NextGen work going into this thing that hasn't been announced.

Disneyland is also getting a similar setup, but in a brand new complex being built from the ground up in a year. The Disneyland version, called Princess Fantasy Faire is being built in the old Plaza Gardens dancefloor area to the left of the Castle. The Plaza Gardens closed last month and the new Fantasy Faire opens a year from now in Spring, 2013.

So it takes a year to go from this...

Disneyland Plaza Gardens Spring 2012

To this...

Princess Fantasy Faire Spring 2013 - Similar elevation/location as above photo

Versus at WDW's Magic Kingdom Park, where a similar concept called Princess Fairytale Hall gets built inside a pre-existing building, going from this...

Snow White dark ride, Spring 2012

To this, but taking almost 18 months to do it...

Princess Fairytale Hall, Late 2013
http://www./wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fantasyland-rendering3.jpg

That's just too suspicious to take that long. Something BIG regarding NextGen concepts must be going on inside the WDW version to cause such a long downtime.

 

[EpcotForever82]

The very long timing of this is suspicious. I think there may be more to it than just a meet n' greet, and perhaps there's some major NextGen work going into this thing that hasn't been announced.

Disneyland is also getting a similar setup, but in a brand new complex being built from the ground up in a year. The Disneyland version, called Princess Fantasy Faire is being built in the old Plaza Gardens dancefloor area to the left of the Castle. The Plaza Gardens closed last month and the new Fantasy Faire opens a year from now in Spring, 2013.

So it takes a year to go from this...

Disneyland Plaza Gardens Spring 2012

To this...

Princess Fantasy Faire Spring 2013 - Similar elevation/location as above photo

Versus at WDW's Magic Kingdom Park, where a similar concept called Princess Fairytale Hall gets built inside a pre-existing building, going from this...

Snow White dark ride, Spring 2012

To this, but taking almost 18 months to do it...

Princess Fairytale Hall, Late 2013
http://www./wp-content/uploads/2011/01/fantasyland-rendering3.jpg

That's just too suspicious to take that long. Something BIG regarding NextGen concepts must be going on inside the WDW version to cause such a long downtime.

You also have to consider that Disneyland's concept is being built from the ground up, where as in Walt Disney World, they are tearing apart a 30 year old building that has be cleaned and cleared of Asbestos. It's a Small World went down for an unusually long time when they did this and I can see why SWSA would be down for this long and rebuilt into what Disney says it will be.

 

[lacarp40]

its not just tearing down the old building

as a general contractor its not just tearing down the old building to the concrete. the concrete beneath the structure must be removed to place new footings to suport the new structure. im sure that most of this must be done at night to keep the jackhammers and heavy equip from disturbing the guests during the day.

 

[Jakester]

as a general contractor its not just tearing down the old building to the concrete. the concrete beneath the structure must be removed to place new footings to suport the new structure. im sure that most of this must be done at night to keep the jackhammers and heavy equip from disturbing the guests during the day.

but if its inside, wouldn't it be unheard?

 

[alissafalco]

From that description it sounds like it will be like this:

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2011/10/disneyland-paris-update-princess.html?m=1

At Disneyland Paris

I hope so, that looks really nice

 

[bubbles1812]

but if its inside, wouldn't it be unheard?

It might be just me, but I feel like the sound of jackhammers carry fairly far...they are loud. Sorry, not trying to sound snotty. I think it's a good question but I suspect unless they put up something special to block the sound, it would carry.

 

[BalooChicago]

If all they were doing was gutting, dry walling and painting yes. However, form the description it looks like they will be doing far more than that.

They probably have a fair amount of asbestos abatement to do as well, right?

 

[Master Yoda]

They probably have a fair amount of asbestos abatement to do as well, right?

No telling. Given the age of the buildings it is possible.

 

[menamechris]

It just seems pretty clear to me that this is marketing driven. They need a promotion bridge between the holidays of this year when BatB and TLM open - and (I am guessing) Spring of 2014 when the Mine Train opens. That is a LONG spread of time for phased openings of an expansion. I am guessing the M&G opening in Fall of 2013 would be the perfect time to add something new, and not let the "New Fantasyland" promotion get stale...

 

[Stupido]

I feel that there is no single reason. Think it's a multitude of everything. Disney's not stupid. Yes, it would be smart marketing to hold it back until the initial buzz of FLE starts dying down. But at the same time, it also gives them more time to work on the project, spending more time on the over all look and feel of it. As reports of stated, this is going to be a pretty permanent M&G station, and I am really happy that they are taking more time to make it look that way. From the description a couple pages back, the M&G sounds very in depth. I'm glad that Disney is fleshing this area out and theming, as opposed to the previous Tent in Toontown. That never sat right with me, the princesses should be in the castle courtyard in Fantasyland. And I'm very happy they're getting their permanent home there. I am a huge fan of the princesses, and I would rather Disney take the longer amount of time to do this project right. I'm sure hella marketing is going into this as well. In the long run, this will benefit the guests and Disney. I think it's a healthy balance of things.