News Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[TrainsOfDisney]

When big decisions are made in any capacity (life, theme parks, etc) there's a practical side and an emotional side.

The emotional side here is that we don't want to see Muppet*Vision go away.

There is no practical reason to ever visit a Disney theme park - the only reason to visit is emotional.

 

[Coaster Lover]

I hear you my only question is: where?

As far as I can see, Hollywood Studios is probably the most landlocked park out of the current 4.
Theres a few places you can go but a lot of it is backstage that needs to be moved somewhere and thats not cheap either.

A parking garage would be a one time cost that could yield new expansion land for 15-20 years (maybe more if you expand beyond the land the current parking lot to the south of the park occupies). I realize it's not a huge cost savings, but a parking garage would also result in the cost savings of not needing to run a parking lot tram. The massive Mickey & Friends parking garage at Disneyland cost about 110M USD (from what I can find) to build. I don't think DHS would need a parking garage quite that large, but even if a garage in 2025 cost 150M UDS, that would seem like a drop in the bucket when they spend 500M to guild Cosmic Rewind and 1B for Galaxy's Edge.

Alternatively, I believe @marni1971 at one point indicated that they were looking at expansion to the west (across World Drive). Again, the one time cost of building themed/"hidden" bridges and relocating the firework launch site wouldn't be insignificant, but again, it's a one time cost that would yield new land for expansion decades into the future. Just need to make that commitment for the first step...

 

[doctornick]

If I remember correctly from when the marathon ran us back that way, Those two behind animation and the one next to rock and roller are park operations buildings, the offices for the leaders in the park. Unlike the offices in the animation building, those can’t just be moved to Celebration.

Move the functions of the building I outlined in blue to the location of the parking deck and the entire area in red is opened up for expansion.

You could also move it to backstage next to the parade building or elsewhere to the south beyond Galaxy's Edge or Muppets, but this is just for illustration. Or you could build it on the far side of World Drive which is "suitable for building" land and put in a walkway over the road.

 

[danlb_2000]

Its big but demolishing 3 buildings (1 huge one) and a parking garage and just "moving them" is not necessarily an easy task. I'm not 100% sure whats in that building but I'm sure atleast something in there is pretty essential to Hollywood Studios as a whole. Moving the other buildings would even further complicate this as we're basically taking all of the backstage of Hollywood Studios and moving it... somewhere?? (Would most likely have to be less than 1 mile away) so really in Disney's terms 'a few feet away'


And people called me crazy for wanting them to move Muppetvision. This project would be insanely expensive and not have any real benefits to the guest for years as I'm sure they will have to build the new buildings first, then begin tearing down these and clearing the area, THEN they can start making it presentable

They aren't going to move Muppetvision. The decisions as to where to put Monsters isn't just about finding space for it, but also about what they want to get ride of. If they put Monsters where Muppets is then it's as much about getting rid of Muppets as it is making space for Monters.

 

[marni1971]

I got from @marni1971 so he can comment if I am incorrect. See for example this post.

Pretty accurate!

Isn't one of those literrally just the walkway to Fantasmic…..

Nope. Off the walkway.

Then we have the area where they have a good portion of the Indiana Jones show

Nope. Behind the Indy infrastructure. 3.5 acres.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Nope. Behind the Indy infrastructure. 3.5 acres.

When they were going to do Star Wars there was Indy going to close or stay? I heard multiple things and was never sure.

 

[Gusey]

I know it was joked about, but any chance the starcruiser building could be adapted into office space?

 

[erasure fan1]

A parking garage would be a one time cost that could yield new expansion land for 15-20 years (maybe more if you expand beyond the land the current parking lot to the south of the park occupies)

Or in Disneys case, 125yrs at the rate they expand the parks.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I know it was joked about, but any chance the starcruiser building could be adapted into office space?

It's being converted into a Pigs in Space RPG

 

[MagicEye99]

I hear you my only question is: where?

As far as I can see, Hollywood Studios is probably the most landlocked park out of the current 4.
Theres a few places you can go but a lot of it is backstage that needs to be moved somewhere and thats not cheap either.

It's pretty interesting when you step back and think about why it might be so landlocked, relative to the other parks. The park was purpose built as a working studio theme park - my belief is that the original Imagineers on the project probably did not anticipate it being anything other than that (but maybe they did, idk). Therefore, they felt comfortable keeping the park within its original borders as much as possible, even to the point where backstage, offices, etc. were built nearly on top of it. So to your point, they're in a pickle.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's pretty interesting when you step back and think about why it might be so landlocked, relative to the other parks. The park was purpose built as a working studio theme park - my belief is that the original Imagineers on the project probably did not anticipate it being anything other than that (but maybe they did, idk). Therefore, they felt comfortable keeping the park within its original borders as much as possible, even to the point where backstage, offices, etc. were built nearly on top of it. So to your point, they're in a pickle.

In the case of the Feature Animation building the building and some of its office space was also part of the theme park experience.

 

[doctornick]

Move the functions of the building I outlined in blue to the location of the parking deck and the entire area in red is opened up for expansion.

You could also move it to backstage next to the parade building or elsewhere to the south beyond Galaxy's Edge or Muppets, but this is just for illustration. Or you could build it on the far side of World Drive which is "suitable for building" land and put in a walkway over the road.

View attachment 812426

Or to piggie back on my own post, if they really want to do long term planning, they could move back of house stuff to the other side of World Drive which would free up not only backstage but allow flexibility in the future to use some of the parking adjacent to the park to the South or Southeast for future expansion. The land across World Drive is considered "suitable for development" and could be used more easily and cheaply than a lot of the undeveloped land on the WDW property. But it is not ideal for any in park expansion given the large roadway in between.

So something like this where the orange building and red parking deck move are replaced across the road. the Blue is an elevated walkway backstage for CM to get from parking into the park. all the area in yellow then can be used for expansion.

 

[marni1971]

When they were going to do Star Wars there was Indy going to close or stay? I heard multiple things and was never sure.

2 proposals ; one to remove Indy and the other to go behind it via the service road

 

[erasure fan1]

It's being converted into a Pigs in Space RPG

Don't you toy with my emotions!

 

[LSLS]

Well, unfortunately that gets thrown around. Here's what one of our resident muppet haters says

So for some, they'll find any reason to get rid of them.

Boy, wait til this guy hears about Marvel movies.....

 

[Coaster Lover]

I know it was joked about, but any chance the starcruiser building could be adapted into office space?

Most people who work in an office want (demand?) windows/natural light. It wouldn't be cheap/easy to add windows to a windowless building.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Most people who work in an office want (demand?) windows/natural light. It wouldn't be cheap/easy to add windows to a windowless building.

It’s not a windowless building. There’s just a wall that separated the rooms from the windows.

 

[Figments Friend]

Gotta be the AC area.
Such a wasteland now, with a lot of empty space.
We all know at this point how much could be developed back there….we have talked about it for years here on this very Forum.

Would also make a lot more sense to utilize that huge lot of land for not just this proposed project, but for future expansion in the years to come.
Cannot really do that kind of expansion with the narrow spacing over in the Muppets area.


-

 

[cjkeating]

It’s not a windowless building. There’s just a wall that separated the rooms from the windows.

But converting the Starcruiser to offices is highly impractical on so many levels.

Quicker/cheaper/easier to just get some trailers in.

 

[Tha Realest]

Most people who work in an office want (demand?) windows/natural light. It wouldn't be cheap/easy to add windows to a windowless building.

If it’s good enough for guests, it’s good enough for them.