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Miceage Update - Buh-bye Bug's Land?!?
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
yeti
Well-Known Member
So where is this new hotel going to be? I also wonder if we're being led to believe the Marvel expansion into the dead zone north of Hollywoodland (including expansion into the bus depot) has been put off in favour of A Bug's Land and the lot south of Mission Breakout.....and whatever happened to Frozen? Interesting times 
Judging by some of the artwork that has been floating around for the WDW version of this concept, I could see them make this work with 50 to 75 rooms. With a separate lobby/check-in process and separate public spaces and a dining/bar option available only to Star Wars hotel guests.
It wouldn't (and shouldn't) be a place that overheated bloggers could PLOP! down in the lobby for hours every Sunday afternoon and nerd-out on the Star Wars swizzle sticks in their mocktail. It would need to be restricted to Star Wars hotel guests only.
I've stayed at some very high concept boutique hotels that work beautifully with 20 rooms or less, but Disney probably wouldn't do this with less than 50 rooms available. Maybe 75.
D
Deleted member 107043
Wait, did I miss something? DLR is getting a SW hotel too?
flynnibus
Premium Member
Just the hotel... people are speculating if Disney would add Star Wars to it.
Just speculating. But Disney is considering it at least in WDW. And since they are building a new hotel across the street from Disneyland's Star Wars Land, it's easy to extrapolate that it may be an option for Anaheim too.
nevol
Well-Known Member
The star wars hotel rumors for florida clock in at 400 rooms, which is a fraction of the number at grand floridian, for example. Disneyland's new hotel is supposed to be 700, so I could see about half of them going to star wars and hopefully the other wing nearer to DTD is given grand floridian/disneyland hotel (paris) treatment in victoriana style. While it would clash against SWH, I doubt they'll be able to make it invisible from within the park as the concept art shows people on a rooftop pool deck watching fireworks, and Disneyland resort went contemporary/urban because it was cheap (postmodern downtown disney and lazy DCA 1.0 and tons of surface level parking, simple exterior renovation of the Disneyland hotel to make it retro modern a la palm springs) not because it was what would best make the resort FEEL like a resort. They need more landscaping and victoriana, so I'm hoping for that. The hotel is supposed to go in the DTD parking lot just south of mickey and friends tram loading and east of Disneyland Hotel parking, westof disneyland drive. So the resort would actually be behind haunted mansion and splash. This makes it difficult for them to do a star wars land mountain range extension or any other theme visible from within the park, so unless its neutral like the flagship disneyland hotels/coronado-style victoriana or low enough in height so as to be invisible from within the park, I seriously doubt itll be a visible extension of star wars land.
They had a plan during the westcot planning phases of building a tall coronado-style hotel called the disneyland grand hotel, and it was in this exact location. It would be a personal dream come true to see this happen, frankly, with SWH rooms just being fully enclosed on the northern end with no exterior theming. It looks like the hotel rooms wont even have windows for star wars land, or they'll be optionally augmented with video screens that set you in a far-off planet.
Nobody said anything about antman, save for some rumor weeks ago. HKDL's antman is going to be a reskin of Buzz lightyear astro blasters. Do we really need that? and they can't clone HK's because they have 5 years of exclusivity. This could also mean Iron Man Experience with the old star tours cars, or a mystic manor type attraction for dr strange or some other property. we really have no idea, but I don't think a cheap preservation/work-around of the god-awful bug's land will work. They need to go all out to make the approach to guardians convincingly a marvel universe and not an amusement park, and exra-diegetic flat rides everywhere will kill that. They ought to aim for sunset boulevard DHS-quality approach to Guardians. Heck, nowhere in disneyland can I think of an area that isn immersive first and theme-parky second, and that's including fantasyland, and disneyland is undeniably for all ages. The tower, animation, bugs land, and hyperion were all shoehorned together in a grid and it kills immersion. THink about how hard it is to get a good view of the facade of Tower/GOTG. the best view would be right behind the fastpass machines but youd walk into a wall. Or if you are in the plaza in front of tower and feeling the suspense/energy of that placemaking and storytelling and somebody in your party wants to hit the restrooms up before gettin in line, you walk directly into a bus land to use the restroom and the vibe is completely destroyed. Preserving any aspect of this cluster, which is the result of the darkest times in Disneyland, P+R, and imagineering HISTORY, would be immediately and forever regretful.
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nevol
Well-Known Member
The disneyland grand hotel, which would have been roughly where the new hotel will be. labeled #1 in the site plan. I think what would happen now is the hotel would go a little further north and not bisect DTD, as the east-west road shown on that map runs latitudinally into the pirates show building and what actually happened with Magic way (between dl hotel parking and M+F parking garage) runs into the pooh show building, much further north.
Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
Actually I believe the Grand would have been a total rebuild of the Disneyland hotel and with a larger footprint. The new hotel property would only be the upper right quadrant of that property.
From the #1 up and east cradled by the two roads. On the north and east and a new parking structure on the west side where the Disneyland hotel parking is now
D
Deleted member 107043
nevol
Well-Known Member
That whole resort and parking area didn't end up as it was planned in these maps. Extension of the DL hotel or not (it is labeled the new disneyland hotel), that isn't the disneyland hotel building shown. The existing dl hotel buildings are the ones southwest of that. The original disneyland hotel was to get a northern extension, also visible in that site plan. The boxy DL hotel buildings were shown to get a post-modern reskin and looked like the Michael Graves Swan + Dolphin resorts in some of the concept art. The coronado looking hotel here is clearly curved and clearly east of disneyland hotel. I had a massive jpeg of the resort with the labels around the perimeter saved somewhere; hope I can locate it!
nevol
Well-Known Member
Yes and no. We're all correct but not precicely. Because the east-west road that divides the new disneyland hotel from the magic kingdom hotel is further north now. So longitudinally we are both correct, it is between Disneyland hotel and disneyland drive. However, Magic way is further north, and this hotel will not be north of the road dividing the disneyland hotel plot from the parking garage plots; that's where mickey and friends tram loading is. so it'll be closer northa la this site plan, but still in the vicinity of disneyland hotel and directly adjacent to downtown disney.Correct. The new hotel will go where The Magic Kingdom Hotel was planned (#5)
Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
Take a closer look, not arguing I was just very familiar with that design.
Notice that in the picture you posted you can still see the Paradise Pier hotel. That's because that hotel was not theirs at the time. The large property around it was going to be another large hotel and dining experience with lakeside viewing. Just above that would have been a rebuilt of the Disneyland hotel with a much larger footprint which is the hotel marked with a #1. Even though that was not built the hotel still exist although it doesn't use as much property as the picture.
Another point of reference is the Pirates of carribean show building.
The new hotel property is aligned from the southern tip of the Pirates show building to the southern tip of the Winnie the Pooh building.
The property marked #1 is too far south.
Note that when this concept was proposed Magic way would have moved to allow the large footprint of the hotels as well as the proposed parking structures which would have been built north to south at the back of the properties hidden behind the hotels. Access to those parking structures would have been elevated transportation system
D
Deleted member 107043
In the final plan the parking garage was realigned to the northwest corner of the property and DTD was extended across DL Drive. That slightly changed the location of the "expansion pad" for a future hotel.
Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
Yes that's correct, I was about to post the same thing
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
Though the Bugs Land news is welcome, two things from the article linger on my mind. First, why would the Mission Breakout ride (which I haven't yet ridden) be experiencing such drastic issues? Doesn't each elevator go through a series of drops, hops, and stops just as it did before? What's changed about it that seems to be stressing the ride system?
Second, I am intrigued by this 'No Signs' approach to Star Wars Land and the attempt at total theme immersion. This would really be unprecedented and rewrite the book on theme park design...if it works. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see this in practice. However, Disney is betting on people who are armed with 60 years knowledge of how Disneyland works to be willing, in the middle of their trip, to dramatically shift gears. An app guides you around the land? This is all well and fine for AP's (ideal in fact), but is the day tripper or out of state vacationer really going to be on board with this paradigm shift?
The Micechat article claims that after nearly twenty years the Fastpass system still goes over a lot of tourist's heads. If that's true, then adding this learning curve to Star Wars Land isn't a wise choice. This would have been better experimented on in a new theme park (Disney's Strawberry Field Adventure?). I admire the balance that World of Harry Potter found between 'theme park' and 'theme immersion,' and while there's some room for improvement I think it's just about right. Change the established rules too much for your average visitor, and it will likely breed confusion, frustration, and less fun overall.
Second, I am intrigued by this 'No Signs' approach to Star Wars Land and the attempt at total theme immersion. This would really be unprecedented and rewrite the book on theme park design...if it works. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see this in practice. However, Disney is betting on people who are armed with 60 years knowledge of how Disneyland works to be willing, in the middle of their trip, to dramatically shift gears. An app guides you around the land? This is all well and fine for AP's (ideal in fact), but is the day tripper or out of state vacationer really going to be on board with this paradigm shift?
The Micechat article claims that after nearly twenty years the Fastpass system still goes over a lot of tourist's heads. If that's true, then adding this learning curve to Star Wars Land isn't a wise choice. This would have been better experimented on in a new theme park (Disney's Strawberry Field Adventure?). I admire the balance that World of Harry Potter found between 'theme park' and 'theme immersion,' and while there's some room for improvement I think it's just about right. Change the established rules too much for your average visitor, and it will likely breed confusion, frustration, and less fun overall.
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Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
I knew people that worked on that project, that is why I was familiar with it. Never understood why they at least didn't go with the idea of the parking structures towards the back of the property instead of how they ended up building it.
Even if they did not want to spend the money on the elevated transportation system they could have still built the at ground level tram route in the north side of the property. That designed would have allowed them for a more balanced expansion sites. Now they are trying to figure out a way of squeezing in hotels and deal with site lines
Even if they did not want to spend the money on the elevated transportation system they could have still built the at ground level tram route in the north side of the property. That designed would have allowed them for a more balanced expansion sites. Now they are trying to figure out a way of squeezing in hotels and deal with site lines
D
Deleted member 107043
I going to call BS on their reporting. Sure, a casual guest who has never been to DLR or is an infrequent visitor might not get it, but I have personally never met a non-local visitor (and I know plenty) who doesn't get how FP works.