Disneyland Construction Projects on Hold/ Info on Projects

[Darkbeer1]

Really any screen based attraction that's gone to yesterland should get a compilation Bluray release. 1987 Star Tours, Eo, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Muppetvision.

Golden Dreams

 

[Disney Irish]

You used to have Space Place, Mission to Mars, Eo, Space Mountain in a space that's now Pizza Planet, Space Mountain, film trailers.

Not to mention Starcade being used as a store/queue space.

Or the most egregious offender: The old Carousel Theater, now an over sized gift shop.

Or the Peoplemover. Or the old Rocket Jets being a static structure with it's replacement occupying prime real estate on the hub that's the most egregious choke point in the park.

So much wasted space over there right now. Maybe one day they’ll actually get to do something with it.

 

[BayouShack]

I've also heard the kitchen for the old Town Square cafe exists still. I'd absolutely love to explore and see how true these are... but I'm reminded of the rumors that one CBJ theater remained after Pooh was built- which was obviously not true.

I’m not sure. You’re probably referring to the Egg House / Town Square Cafe, which was between the Mat Hatter and Disneyland Showcase. There is a backstage building titled the Egg House right between the eastern corridor entrance that is used for pedestrian traffic during parades, and the gates the parade enters and exits on stage from. It’s hard to say if today’s “Egg House” was ever part of the original.

 

[NobodyElse]

Golden Dreams

And Seasons of the Vine (featuring seamless branching so you can start it in the appropriate season).

 

[TP2000]

So, not that this is possible to happen in 2022 now or whenever, but with the alleged layoffs coming to Imagineering, is it possible that, with the exception of Avengers Campus, nothing will be coming to the Disneyland Resort now?

I can't imagine that they would continue to build and plan to build new rides once the parks can reopen.

I'd imagine there are a few rides around the world, DCA's Marvel Land and Spiderman Mania or Epcot's Ratatouille for example, that are so close to completion that it would be cheaper to just finish them up and get them open later this year.

But then there are likely a whole bunch of rides that had begun construction but are still early in that process, like WDW's Tron Coaster and Guardians or Disneyland's Runaway Railway, that it's still going to be cheaper for them to just mothball those projects for now. The DVC Tower at Disneyland and the Star Wars Hotel at WDW would also seem to be easy to cease building. And you can bet new stuff won't be moving off the drawing board for a couple years.

Massive layoffs must surely be coming to WDI in a few months, there's just no good business case for them not to layoff huge amounts of Imagineers. And then you can expect some clever marketing campaigns and Instagrammable Cupcake Parties to replace new attractions and new park expansion for at least the next few years at both WDW and Disneyland Resort.

I just don't see how they can do otherwise.

 

[mharrington]

I can't imagine that they would continue to build and plan to build new rides once the parks can reopen.

I'd imagine there are a few rides around the world, DCA's Marvel Land and Spiderman Mania or Epcot's Ratatouille for example, that are so close to completion that it would be cheaper to just finish them up and get them open later this year.

But then there are likely a whole bunch of rides that had begun construction but are still early in that process, like WDW's Tron Coaster and Guardians or Disneyland's Runaway Railway, that it's still going to be cheaper for them to just mothball those projects for now. The DVC Tower at Disneyland and the Star Wars Hotel at WDW would also seem to be easy to cease building. And you can bet new stuff won't be moving off the drawing board for a couple years.

Massive layoffs must surely be coming to WDI in a few months, there's just no good business case for them not to layoff huge amounts of Imagineers. And then you can expect some clever marketing campaigns and Instagrammable Cupcake Parties to replace new attractions and new park expansion for at least the next few years at both WDW and Disneyland Resort.

I just don't see how they can do otherwise.

I thought the rumor was that they would at least finish the Tron and Guardians roller coasters, since they had made progress on them anyway.

 

[TP2000]

I thought the rumor was that they would at least finish the Tron and Guardians roller coasters, since they had made progress on them anyway.

Perhaps. But if they lay off thousands of CM's on each coast, that would be a good indication that Burbank is trying to slash costs quickly. I can't imagine how they keep building new roller coasters when they are bleeding money like this.

 

[Disney Irish]

I thought the rumor was that they would at least finish the Tron and Guardians roller coasters, since they had made progress on them anyway.

Nobody really knows yet, these are all opinions based on past activities by Disney.

There is a different CEO in charge now so we'll have to see how he reacts once things get opened back up again. He may decide to slash all projects until it gets back to normal profit levels. Or he may decide to do the opposite and spend his way out of the dark. Or maybe he'll do something in-between like finish only certain projects and slash the rest.

Point is we don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Perhaps. But if they lay off thousands of CM's on each coast, that would be a good indication that Burbank is trying to slash costs quickly. I can't imagine how they keep building new roller coasters when they are bleeding money like this.

The coasters are built...

 

[TP2000]

The coasters are built...

The track may be there, but the attraction is far from done. For example, here's the Tron Coaster at WDW just before construction stopped in March.

Someone far smarter than me will have to pencil out if it's going to be cheaper for them to just finish the darn thing, or if they can save money and amortize costs by keeping the construction in mothballs for another fiscal year or two before they restart construction.

I imagine there are some interesting decisions being made in Burbank this month.

 

[TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives]

The track may be there, but the attraction is far from done. For example, here's the Tron Coaster at WDW just before construction stopped in March.

Someone far smarter than me will have to pencil out if it's going to be cheaper for them to just finish the darn thing, or if they can save money and amortize costs by keeping the construction in mothballs for another fiscal year or two before they restart construction.

I imagine there are some interesting decisions being made in Burbank this month.

My only thing is leaving that as is will be an eyesore and I would hate to imagine what one good hurricane does to it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

My only thing is leaving that as is will be an eyesore and I would hate to imagine what one good hurricane does to it.

Even without the shutdown it would still be incomplete during the 2020 hurricane season that starts in June. Disney has paid for the building envelope materials, so even if the project was delayed it would make sense to finish the building envelope and protect the interior and equipment that has been installed.

 

[BrianLo]

The track may be there, but the attraction is far from done. For example, here's the Tron Coaster at WDW just before construction stopped in March.

Someone far smarter than me will have to pencil out if it's going to be cheaper for them to just finish the darn thing, or if they can save money and amortize costs by keeping the construction in mothballs for another fiscal year or two before they restart construction.

I imagine there are some interesting decisions being made in Burbank this month.

Even though the majority of the attraction is not finished, the majority is actually paid for. There are certainly savings to be made by postponing it - but they are minor and short lived. Versus the opportunity cost that is lost by not opening something to market.

Attractions (especially Tron and Guardians), will both be 2021 showpieces for Florida. We basically assume that's a prime time that the parks will be having trouble IF things are economically going the way we think they are.

Hotels on the other hand there is limited opportunity lost if you aren't forecasting you can actually fill them. Reflections (DVC) would be a prime target to be at the very least delayed to give Riviera more breathing room to sell out its inventory. The Star Wars Hotel is going to be a pretty premium product so again that makes sense for them to mothball if they can't fill it like they were projecting.

Disneyland DVC is pretty questionable to me as there is not something on the market for Anaheim and it's literally so far down the road that presumably we'll be out of this all. DVC also holds its own kind of weird intrinsic financing. At the same time it is only going to be positive revenue for years down the line and not help in the short or medium terms. Long term stuff definitely is all being mothballed.



I think Walt Disney Studios Paris is a key target for being really sidelined to save money.

 

[truecoat]

Even though the majority of the attraction is not finished, the majority is actually paid for. There are certainly savings to be made by postponing it - but they are minor and short lived. Versus the opportunity cost that is lost by not opening something to market.

Attractions (especially Tron and Guardians), will both be 2021 showpieces for Florida. We basically assume that's a prime time that the parks will be having trouble IF things are economically going the way we think they are.

Hotels on the other hand there is limited opportunity lost if you aren't forecasting you can actually fill them. Reflections (DVC) would be a prime target to be at the very least delayed to give Riviera more breathing room to sell out its inventory. The Star Wars Hotel is going to be a pretty premium product so again that makes sense for them to mothball if they can't fill it like they were projecting.

Disneyland DVC is pretty questionable to me as there is not something on the market for Anaheim and it's literally so far down the road that presumably we'll be out of this all. DVC also holds its own kind of weird intrinsic financing. At the same time it is only going to be positive revenue for years down the line and not help in the short or medium terms. Long term stuff definitely is all being mothballed.



I think Walt Disney Studios Paris is a key target for being really sidelined to save money.

You need more than Ratatouille to bring guests in for the 50th Anniversary next year.

 

[PostScott]

Like I said, I hope that's the case for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, that it's only on hold and not canceled.

Yeah I haven't heard any talks of Disney canceling it. My prediction is that it'll be delayed (of course) and maybe some elements might be scaled back to reduce the cost but they already excavated the land and started with the foundation and even brought cranes in during the last few days of operation at the park.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Yeah I haven't heard any talks of Disney canceling it.

Are you someone that would be in the know?

I mean I haven't heard any talks either but the closest thing I have to a 'connection' in the company is my friend that takes out the trash around Toontown two days a week.

 

[PostScott]

Are you someone that would be in the know?

I mean I haven't heard any talks either but the closest thing I have to a 'connection' in the company is my friend that takes out the trash around Toontown two days a week.

I occasionally connect with my friend in the company who usually knows whats going on

 

[Disney Irish]

The one thing I wonder is if just like Hollywood productions will get smaller, if Disney Parks projects will get smaller as well. Now by this I don’t mean cheaper in terms of quality but rather streamlining budgets to get rid of the bloat. We all know that WDI budgets are very bloated. So would be interesting to see if Disney decides to tell WDI they need to rebudget projects to streamline them, instead of just slashing everything. In turn this causes WDI to find more interesting ways to produce projects, similar to the early days of WED when they just made things work no matter what.

Anyways an interesting thought.

 

[Phroobar]

The one thing I wonder is if just like Hollywood productions will get smaller, if Disney Parks projects will get smaller as well. Now by this I don’t mean cheaper in terms of quality but rather streamlining budgets to get rid of the bloat. We all know that WDI budgets are very bloated. So would be interesting to see if Disney decides to tell WDI they need to rebudget projects to streamline them, instead of just slashing everything. In turn this causes WDI to find more interesting ways to produce projects, similar to the early days of WED when they just made things work no matter what.

Anyways an interesting thought.

Monorail hallways don't come cheap.

 

[Disney Irish]

Monorail hallways don't come cheap.

After the Great Pandemic of 2020 don't bet on WDI getting another monorail hallway anytime soon.