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Disney Overcrowding: Hike Rates or Expand...what will they do?
- Thread starter CinematicFusion
- Start date
alphac2005
Well-Known Member
Our four year old can't get enough of the Universal Orlando Harry Potter ads. I sat as he rewound the ad a good fifteen times during a Nickelodeon ad break because he's so into Harry Potter. (Older brothers will do that to a four year old.
) Disney, nothing. I can't even get him to show any interest in the Disney Jr. shows. His older brothers (turning eleven) want to go back to Universal and don't really care about Disney anymore. It's a huge problem and many of us have talked about this for years here. My hardcore Disneyfanboi parents are even bailing on the Mouse. They just returned from Orlando and said that the quality has just hit rock bottom and that they can't justify the money on the overpriced APs anymore. Considering their house looks like a small scale Disney art museum, that's saying plenty. The MK has overcapacity problems because they choose to funnel people into the MK to pad those numbers and justify not spending at the other parks along with not updating ride capacity since the 90s.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
The thing is, no other single entity matches Disney animation for family friendly animation. Number two on that list is Pixar animation, followed by dreamworks. Fantasyland drives vacations to central Florida more than anything else. It is the most popular land in the most popular park in the world. Additions to Fantasyland need to happen regularly to accommodate increased crowds.
The Fantasyland expansion helped this significantly. Now the problem is being able to quickly add the newer characters where applicable. This is why I'm pushing a move of it's a small world while others are pushing removal or a retheme of the Tomorrowland Speedway.
The Fantasyland expansion helped this significantly. Now the problem is being able to quickly add the newer characters where applicable. This is why I'm pushing a move of it's a small world while others are pushing removal or a retheme of the Tomorrowland Speedway.
bethymouse
Well-Known Member
I agree with this. No matter what Disney will raise prices annually, and so will other "theme parks". No matter what, any company will come up with a reason to "jack up" the prices. Supply and demand. Disney is in demand, so prices will continue to go up until Disney is no longer in demand ( never will happen IMHO).
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
I think you are thinking like an adult trying to be in the mind of a 7 yo boy. Every kid is different and there are plenty of kids(boys and girls) who love WDW and are happy going on any ride. I think as adults we set gender roles to everything that most kids do not.
cinderellafan6
Well-Known Member
The Disney company is just going to hike rates...I honestly don't see them doing anything about it.
COrunner
Well-Known Member
Yes. Like Yosemite in the 70's, WDW is being loved to death. Eventually, it simply becomes impossible to hire enough staff to repair and maintain everything on a daily basis. I believe WDW is literally being trampled to death
I would like to respectfully disagree, only as the comparison is mostly private/public entity vs. government. Yosemite and many parks were loved to death by the public but lacked the government backing to maintain themselves. As a publicly traded property Disney has every reason to constantly reinvest in their infrastructure because if they do not we will see the mid 90's early 20's Eisner decline when the staffing and parks funding was being cut and the customer backlash was evident (pre social media web 2.0 days).
Great points on the returns and well put on what Disney will not do.
A lot of items have happened, they discontinued the no expiration option on tickets. If you look at a lot of the deals they were offering post recession on rates/travel/food, most of those are now much more limited. I remember when we took a trip in 2010 and got 40% off our Port Orleans room in early October. Now most deals are in the 25-30%
I personally believe we will see a new park/large expansion in the world before 2020. I say this because Pixar has become such a being unto itself that a small section in MK, AK, HS just doesn't seem to satisfy the want people have for that IP.
Good points, Trotsky & COrunner. I'm in the new park group. 1/3 of the 27,000 acres purchased has been set aside for environmental conservation. That leaves nearly 14,000 for new parks & resorts. 1,000 acres for all 4 parks, 120 for Downtown Disney, can't find figures for both water parks and the resorts? I'm thinking at least 8,000 acres left for parks & resorts. That much space can make nice Star Wars & Pixar lands. Disney isn't going to be able to do much more within the existing footprints of the parks. So it's time to spend some money and build us a Star Wars Land.
COrunner
Well-Known Member
I could see an expansion in hollywood studios for all the Lucasfilm properties, I may be spouting rumors but isn't 'Lights, Camera, Action' going away?
'Pixar Place' just seems like a fit for a Disney park. But Mrs. CORunner pointed out that there is so much Pixar across all the parks that the creation of an entirely new park would really take too much out of the parks right now.
Also I might be misjudging the popularity but is anyone really excited for the 'Avatar' land? I see it bringing people to the park but don't see Avatar as the draw the the HP franchise did for Univeral.
'Pixar Place' just seems like a fit for a Disney park. But Mrs. CORunner pointed out that there is so much Pixar across all the parks that the creation of an entirely new park would really take too much out of the parks right now.
Also I might be misjudging the popularity but is anyone really excited for the 'Avatar' land? I see it bringing people to the park but don't see Avatar as the draw the the HP franchise did for Univeral.
wdwfan4ver
Well-Known Member
I assume you mean Lights, Motors, Action!. There was rumor of it going away last year, but the last I heard there was new contracts signed from a thread on this forum, but I forgot the length of it.
DHS actually has more space to do an expansion Pixar Place where the Backlot Tour is.
In the past, the Star Wars Expansion mentioned is where Sound Dangerous Building, American Idol Experience Building, Backlot Express counter Service (located in Echo Lake), and Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular is.
You now OWN one of the biggest movie franchises in history, in fact, the one that started it all with product marketing. So why would you NOT consider a stand alone park? You have the land, there are enough Star Wars geeks (me included) that would be in Star Wars nirvana if we had a park devoted to our obsession, so Disney, start planning. There's a Lego Land, so why not SW Land?
Mr. Moderate
Well-Known Member
It's pretty clear to people like me who went to MGM studios when the park was in it's infancy, to later as the park lost it's original direction from a working studio to the DHS hodgepodge mess it is now, the place needs a big makeover and like yesterday. For Disney management not to have capitalized the success of SW and Pixar, by greatly increasing their presence in DHS, is really shortsighted, extremely poor management on their parts, and almost a sign of contempt for the untold amount of fans who love their parks. Something should have been announced long ago and construction should be in progress. Instead all we see is nothing and a lot of it. Same goes for TL in Disneyland which is and has been for a long time, a shell of it's former self. They really could make TL jaw dropping by adding more SW attractions and theming to the area and it would be a welcome change from seeing the old people mover tracks just rotting away.
The company has the funds to do it, they own franchise, have the designers with vision to properly plan it, and the room to make DHS, and TL in DLR really great with SW and Pixar as well. Give the visitors the same awe inspiring experience the company was known for when it came out with rides like HM and the original POTC.
I'm just thankful these past years that Universal has expanded and updated their parks because if they were still like they were just a decade ago, Disney management would have likely still have done nothing and the FLE would still be just rumors. For long time Disney theme park fans like me, it is a very frustrating time and I'm tired of the company abandoning the principals and standards they themselves set long ago.
The company has the funds to do it, they own franchise, have the designers with vision to properly plan it, and the room to make DHS, and TL in DLR really great with SW and Pixar as well. Give the visitors the same awe inspiring experience the company was known for when it came out with rides like HM and the original POTC.
I'm just thankful these past years that Universal has expanded and updated their parks because if they were still like they were just a decade ago, Disney management would have likely still have done nothing and the FLE would still be just rumors. For long time Disney theme park fans like me, it is a very frustrating time and I'm tired of the company abandoning the principals and standards they themselves set long ago.
COrunner
Well-Known Member
I agree,
The success of Harry Potter and the 'thrill ride' aspects that Universal added pushed Disney to modify their approach somewhat. I'm in the camp that doesn't think an Avatar themed land is going to come close to matching Harry Potter. I would think that the addition of Star Wars and the long established Pixar franchises would serve much better for large scale expansion.
Imagine these coming attractions:
1. World of Star Wars including Rebel bases, Imperial Star Ship sets and Cantinas
2. A true Pixar Place that includes 'The Incredibles' more 'Toy Story' 'Brave' 'Cars' and Wall-E
If you want to go the retrofit route I could easily see both finding homes in the Magic Kingdom in a redesigned Adventureland or just straight expansion somewhere on the property.
Blackburn23
Well-Known Member
A large Pixar place addition would go a very long way!
DC0703
Well-Known Member
I just signed up to post this very same idea. If Disney was going to make a 5th gate at some point, a Star Wars themed park would be the closest thing to a slam dunk that you could get. Especially with all of the new movies, TV shows and other media that they have planned down the pipeline. Star Wars has a huge fanbase that will likely get bigger going forward, it will be a nice counterpoint to all of the princess stuff, and would be certain to draw crowds away from focusing on MK. They could even add an educational component by having exhibits themed after space/astronomy.
Regarding Hollywood Studios, I'd rather they increased the Pixar presence there.
They're building an Avatar Land. If they're gonna build and entire Land devoted to movie series, I would choose SW any day over avatar. Star wars is a proven winner at least. I could care less about how much money Avatar made. With the prices of 3D and Imax movies nowadays it's easy for a movie to gross insane numbers. I just paid $30 something dollars for 2 people to see X men. Awesome by the way. Quicksilver is 'effing hillarious
I agree. The fan base for SW vastly exceeds Avatar. Just think of the stampede if you authoritatively announced that Disney will be releasing the 3 original films, in their original theatrical release format, on Blu-ray next December, to coincide with SW VII and Christmas (hint, hint, Disney). I wouldn't want to be the employee assigned to open the doors at Walmart.....
DC0703
Well-Known Member
Actually, in this case it was the theme, not the rides. The rides were already there pre-Potter. The big rollercoaster used to be Dueling Dragons, the Hogwarts castle was the queue for that coaster and the smaller coaster was the old Unicorn-themed family coaster. They actually just re-themed the old attractions.
I also think that you may be underestimating the draw of Star Wars. It's arguably the most popular IP in movies. I know people that have spent half they day near Star Tours building lightsabers in the shop. Trust me, if they build it, people will definitely come, whether it is an expanded version of Hollywood Studios or a new park.
