Monsters Inc coaster greenlit and Spain coming to world showcase?!?

BrerFrog

BrerFrog

Active Member
MarkTwain said:
I've been a major advocate for a Brazil pavilion as well, I've thought that since Brazil is a nation most particularly famous for its natural beauty, perhaps a "natural" icon might be more appropriate. I'm thinking perhaps a replica of Sugarloaf Mountain from Rio de Janeiro. It could even hold a showbuilding for a ride inside - a skyway-type dark ride, perhaps?

2732379404_ab4f48d7d0_o.jpg


Then you could have a charming Brazilian seaside village at its base, or a jungle walkthrough representing the Amazon rainforest, with waterfalls, lush jungle landscaping, and sounds of wildlife.
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For obvious reasons, I really like this post. :D

They could either go for a tropical theme with Rio de Janeiro as the main background, or focus on the Amazon forest. Or maybe do a nice blend of those, even if the forest is quite far away from Rio.
 
MiklCraw4d

MiklCraw4d

Member
Giraffe Lounge said:
Probably looking at $50 million for the pavilion and another $50 million for a small-medium attraction. But it could be much more than that.

$20 million in a theme park doesn't go very far.
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It would be way more than that, most likely. I was reading an old interview over the weekend with someone who worked on EPCOT. The China pavilion itself, in 1982, cost about $100M.
 
MiklCraw4d

MiklCraw4d

Member
CaptainWinter said:
Fact check. My impression is that most of the WS countries were paid for, at least in part, by corporations, e.g. Norway (a blob of Norwegian companies + SAS) and Japan (Mitsukoshi). On the other hand there was Moroccan gov't involvement in Morocco, for example.

Can someone provide some info on the WS sponsorship model?
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It's kind of a mess. Originally, when EPCOT was in development, host nations were to pay for their pavilions. They had problems getting nations to commit, though, and with government dollars came government interference with the stories that would be told. So for the final park, Disney decided to switch to having corporations from the different nations foot the bill (Goebel, of the Germany pavilion, was the very first sponsor to sign on for the park).

Exceptions were made for nations that Disney felt *had* to be included. Mexico and Canada were mandatory. Also, Disney decided at the last minute to foot the bill for a China pavilion because they felt it was important to include that. And, of course, the King of Morocco paid for that pavilion. Norway was partially funded by a consortium of companies and the Norwegian government.

Basically, the model was "get money wherever you can". I believe the contracts were the standard 10-year deal, but we've seen so many sponsors drop off over the years. The prohibitive up-front costs (to build a pavilion the nations have to pay for the construction, pay the contract, AND pay the international CMs) are why we haven't seen a lot of expansion.

Of course, so much has changed over the years I don't know what the current deal is if you show up and want to sponsor a pavilion.
 
CaptainWinter

CaptainWinter

Active Member
MiklCraw4d said:
It's kind of a mess. Originally, when EPCOT was in development, host nations were to pay for their pavilions. They had problems getting nations to commit, though, and with government dollars came government interference with the stories that would be told. So for the final park, Disney decided to switch to having corporations from the different nations foot the bill (Goebel, of the Germany pavilion, was the very first sponsor to sign on for the park).

Exceptions were made for nations that Disney felt *had* to be included. Mexico and Canada were mandatory. Also, Disney decided at the last minute to foot the bill for a China pavilion because they felt it was important to include that. And, of course, the King of Morocco paid for that pavilion. Norway was partially funded by a consortium of companies and the Norwegian government.

Basically, the model was "get money wherever you can". I believe the contracts were the standard 10-year deal, but we've seen so many sponsors drop off over the years. The prohibitive up-front costs (to build a pavilion the nations have to pay for the construction, pay the contract, AND pay the international CMs) are why we haven't seen a lot of expansion.

Of course, so much has changed over the years I don't know what the current deal is if you show up and want to sponsor a pavilion.
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Thanks for answering. It seems the notion that the government of Spain is going to pony up hundreds of millions for a Spain pavilion can be put to rest.
 
MiklCraw4d

MiklCraw4d

Member
CaptainWinter said:
Thanks for answering. It seems the notion that the government of Spain is going to pony up hundreds of millions for a Spain pavilion can be put to rest.
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Yeah I hadn't even considered the fact that Spain is kind of in an economic crunch lately. Still, they were planning a pavilion as recently as 2002. I doubt it's on the docket now but it would be very nice.
 
Spirit of 76

Spirit of 76

Member
Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I'm not doubting any PP's estimate of what it costs to build a pavilion. I personally have no idea, but considering how much things cost, it doesn't surprise me in the least.

However, I'm thinking the new Italy restaurant, Via Napoli, seemed to be a fairly large building in the plaza area. Just from an observational standpoint, the building looked to be an eighth or so the size of the rest of the buildings there. Could we assume then, it cost $12.5 million to build that new restaurant (assuming $100 million average for a whole new pavilion)? And would Disney not pay the CM's who work there, not the host country? Where are the costs of construction the greatest, since a good portion of the pavilion would be "back areas" that wouldn't necessarily need to be finished out to the detail of the public areas?

Question then also becomes, what is really the prohibitive reason for not upgrading or adding countries? Does TDO not think a new country would bring additional guests to justify the cost outlay for the new country? I wish these guys had Walt's vision to just to make new and great things simply because he could make people happy. Why does everything have to make a profit to be created? (I'm speaking rhetorically, btw).

Sorry to whine. Just want EPCOT to be all that it has the potential to be, and more.
 
M

Mrs.Toad

Well-Known Member
I'd love to know historically more about the planning, estimating, and bugeting of each existing pavillion and how it went down in more detail.

Any good book recommendations? Barnes and Noble is my second home.

Going beyond the total pricetag of a pavillion as a whole, and breaking it up into smaller parts like: stone, roofing, metal fixtures, woodwork, moulding, landscaping, etc.

Would love to know how much money was budgeted for each and what got cut if anything in the building of each pavilion.

Well, some stuff is common knowledge. For example, Germany's boat ride, yet the queue is still visible.

Particularly I am interested in the landscaping budget for China, Japan, England, etc.

Installation and maintenance.

Those 3 have beauftiful gardens and are so scenic! Lily ponds, koi ponds, shrubs, trees, flowers, plants, etc.

And I could rave about the other 8 too, but I would make for a very long thread.
 

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