News Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[GoofGoof]

Let’s see what happens. I personally have no faith they can to anything in a timely manner, I remember it felt like it took forever for Pandora and of course we all know how long it took for the EPCOT mistake to be completed ( I know, pandemic, bla, bla, bla)

I am happy to be wrong on this one. It’s going to take at least three years from (starting some time in 2025?) to find out.

I think most of the time the delays are not an accident. They delay things to spread out costs. However, in this case the money has been “spent”, meaning Wall Street already has that cash outflow factored in to results for at least the next 5 years which of course includes the other parks and cruise ships but WDW will have some new competition down the road so they have good incentives to follow through. The stuff after Villians that hasn’t been formally announced is much less likely to happen. Not saying it won‘t but there’s a lot of time. Obviously any plans can change or be cancelled if there’s a major economic downturn or something as disruptive as covid again. Potential labor shortages could delay some of this work too, but Disney has to be preparing for that.

As far as Pandora, there was a long delay between announcement and open of the land but the construction phase was the standard 3+ years from ground break to open. Disney entered into the licensing agreement with Fox and Cameron in September 2011 for the theme park rights to Avatar. Since this was a substantial agreement between 2 public companies it had to be disclosed publicly in SEC filings at the end of that quarter anyway (9/30/11) so they went public with the news long before any design was complete. It wasn’t until January 2014 that they broke ground on the land and it opened in May 2017 so 3 years and 4 months of actual construction. Time from announcement until opening was just short of 6 years but there were reasons for that.

If they don’t break ground on these projects in the next year then I’d say the timeline is almost certain to slip. I don’t see any of them taking less than 3 years to build.

 

[GoofGoof]

So...assuming Mama Melrose becomes Harryhausen's....

Considering all the rumours flying around, for my recent trip a month ago I made a point of grabbing a reservation at Mama Melrose as it was somewhere I hadn't got to yet. I thought it was a lovely restaurant and I had a great meal.

I'm not familiar with the movie franchise, so I looked it up and apparently Harryhausen's is a sushi restaurant, pan-Asian generally.

So are we expecting this in the new Monstropolis land, that what was Italian before now becomes Asian?

That is the theory most here believe will be true. Disney didn’t officially announce it but I can’t see them keeping the menu Italian. I do wonder if they will re-imagine a different restaurant in the park to Italian since it’s generally pretty popular. If you are looking for a good Italian meal nearby the place on the board walk is pretty good. It’s a short boat or skyway ride away.

It‘s also unknown what will happen to the quick service location that is currently Pizza Rizzo. That could stay pizza and just get rethemed to Monsters. It’s gone from Toy Story Pizza Planet to Muppets so a re-theme is possible. It’s also possible they redo it to something completely different. Kids and Pizza are always a winning combo but that is some below average pizza for sure. I’m hoping for a menu upgrade.

 

[flyerjab]

I am not sure it will be that that long. When the original announcement was made the expectation was that construction for Monsters would begin in 2025. I have not seen anyone suggest otherwise more recently.

The Future of Disney Parks: Everything You Need to Know from D23 2024

The Future of Disney Parks: Everything You Need to Know from D23 2024

www.wdwmagic.com

I cannot imagine Monsters Land takes more than 3 years to build since there is not a lot of demo to do (1 gift shop and some backstage stuff) and only 1 new ride. So that puts Monsters into 2028 maybe 2029 if they really stretch things. I was assuming Tropical Americas 2027, Monsters 2028, Cars 2029 and Villians 2030. The last 2 have substantial demo and a lot more moving parts so could easily slip. Monsters should be next after AK. The Muppet overlay of RNRC shouldn’t take very long either. Depends on whether they do it before or after Monsters opens but either way everything related to Monsters/Muppets will be done sooner than 5-7 years from now.

The future, unannounced project for AC area could be 5-7 years out or could never get greenlit. Who knows. It’s all speculation right now.

What I like about this is the similarity it has to 2009 up to the pandemic. There is a plan in place for new offerings each year, with new lands, rides and experiences to drive both new and repeat attendance.

2025 has the news parade, ToL show, new Little Mermaid show and Test Track 3.0. I would their the new Poly tower in there also.

2026 - I have no idea, aside from maybe the Lakeside Lodge DVC.

But between 2027 through 2029, we have Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, Cars Land and Villians Land. Add in a fully refurbed BTM and I am assuming a new drone show somewhere, along with new dining/shopping in DS as places close.

I love the schedule of new experiences spread out over multiple years. I remember back in 2014 through the end of 2019, it seemed like there was a constant string of new offerings. We started going so frequently that we added on to our DVC during that time and purchased our annual passes. Looking forward to all this new stuff again. And with Epic Universe opening, that will have us going to Florida even more. Fun times!

 

[GoofGoof]

What I like about this is the similarity it has to 2009 up to the pandemic. There is a plan in place for new offerings each year, with new lands, rides and experiences to drive both new and repeat attendance.

2025 has the news parade, ToL show, new Little Mermaid show and Test Track 3.0. I would their the new Poly tower in there also.

2026 - I have no idea, aside from maybe the Lakeside Lodge DVC.

But between 2027 through 2029, we have Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, Cars Land and Villians Land. Add in a fully refurbed BTM and I am assuming a new drone show somewhere, along with new dining/shopping in DS as places close.

I love the schedule of new experiences spread out over multiple years. I remember back in 2014 through the end of 2019, it seemed like there was a constant string of new offerings. We started going so frequently that we added on to our DVC during that time and purchased our annual passes. Looking forward to all this new stuff again. And with Epic Universe opening, that will have us going to Florida even more. Fun times!

For theme park fans agnostic to brand the rest of this decade will have a ton of new stuff to do in Orlando between Epic in 2025 and the potential Epic phase 2 later this decade plus all of the Disney additions between 2027 and 2030. Should be a fun time assuming no major economic downturns derail things. I am also looking forward to getting out to DLR to see all the new stuff there as well.

 

[Ice Gator]

I feel like adding Alien and Planet of the Apes to DHS would be a great way to set it apart from MK

I wouldn’t be opposed to this in the future. It would set DHS apart from the other parks and it kind of already is the “thrill ride” theme park with IP themed lands. We already had Alien in GMR, so why not? Anything but more Star Wars, Frozen, Moana, etc.

 

[flyerjab]

For theme park fans agnostic to brand the rest of this decade will have a ton of new stuff to do in Orlando between Epic in 2025 and the potential Epic phase 2 later this decade plus all of the Disney additions between 2027 and 2030. Should be a fun time assuming no major economic downturns derail things. I am also looking forward to getting out to DLR to see all the new stuff there as well.

Agreed. My wife and I finally took a west coast trip this summer. We did Aulani, Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland was pure, unadulterated magic. And we had the best time exploring Downtown Disney and DCA.

We are now including the Disneyland area in our annual travel plans now. I am just as excited for the expansion plans out West.

To use your term, I am not a legacy fan, so nostalgia of a company from the 50s through the 80s doesn’t impact my expectations of the parks. It ceased being Walt’s concepts a long time ago It would seem. I guess these forums have become a place for commiserating for some. For me, I am still wowed but what they do and can’t wait to see beyond 2030.

 

[Jrb1979]

Agreed. My wife and I finally took a west coast trip this summer. We did Aulani, Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland was pure, unadulterated magic. And we had the best time exploring Downtown Disney and DCA.

We are now including the Disneyland area in our annual travel plans now. I am just as excited for the expansion plans out West.

To use your term, I am not a legacy fan, so nostalgia of a company from the 50s through the 80s doesn’t impact my expectations of the parks. It ceased being Walt’s concepts a long time ago It would seem. I guess these forums have become a place for commiserating for some. For me, I am still wowed but what they do and can’t wait to see beyond 2030.

I grew up on the parks in the 80s and 90s. For my family a lot of the older attractions we personally find much better than a lot of the newer stuff. Some of that is the IP as we have no attachment to a lot of it. The main one is they have gone from being a immersive dark ride focused company to one that adds thrills to a lot other new attractions. The problem is at least for us is those thrills just can't compete with Universal or most regional parks.

We go to Disney for attractions like Haunted Mansion, Living with the Land, and Tiki room type attractions. Heavily themed AA attractions. We don't go to Disney for thrills as many other parks do it a lot better.

 

[GoofGoof]

Agreed. My wife and I finally took a west coast trip this summer. We did Aulani, Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland was pure, unadulterated magic. And we had the best time exploring Downtown Disney and DCA.

We are now including the Disneyland area in our annual travel plans now. I am just as excited for the expansion plans out West.

To use your term, I am not a legacy fan, so nostalgia of a company from the 50s through the 80s doesn’t impact my expectations of the parks. It ceased being Walt’s concepts a long time ago It would seem. I guess these forums have become a place for commiserating for some. For me, I am still wowed but what they do and can’t wait to see beyond 2030.

It’s a longer flight for us but that’s offset by the favorable weather. Have not been to DLR since 2019. I will likely be back before WDW. I will probably avoid Orlando in 2025 until the Epic crowds die off. I’m a patient park fan so I’ll see it eventually.