More closures confirmed for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[WDWVolFan]

Why all the concern over "What is the icon?" Does it matter? First the BAH was put up 14 years after the park opened. It was an eyesore. But somehow it had to become the "icon" in many people's view, especially those who never saw the view as first intended. I personally think the view down Hollywood Blvd. of the Chinese Theatre is a great view. Does it mean that it's the icon? No. Who cares? If you walk down Sunset Blvd., ToT provides a great view. Is it the icon? Who cares? I'll miss Earful Tower but now we know why we haven't seen it on any promotional material since the BAH was taken down.

I couldn't care less about the icon...I just wanted to pose the question. But from a Marketing standpoint, they will choose one sooner or later to market the park. What it is, is yet to be seen.

 

[donsullivan]

I couldn't care less about the icon...I just wanted to pose the question. But from a Marketing standpoint, they will choose one sooner or later to market the park. What it is, is yet to be seen.

It seems that most of the 2016 merchandise is using Tower Of Terror, at least for WDW merchandise that references all 4 parks. That may not be it for the long haul but that seems to be what they are using for now.

 

[donsullivan]

I have found the Ingore User feature on these boards to be of great value in keeping my blood pressure down, and limiting the arguing in which I might otherwise have been engaged. It also prevents a lot of...

I have found myself needing to use that feature a lot more recently as well. A couple more will likely be added this week.

I've often wished there was a way to see who is using it to ignore me. Not anything I could do about it, just curious.

 

[WDWVolFan]

It seems that most of the 2016 merchandise is using Tower Of Terror, at least for WDW merchandise that references all 4 parks. That may not be it for the long haul but that seems to be what they are using for now.

Exactly hence why I asked the icon question because they will need one for marketing purposes no matter if we care about it or like it.

 

[Ransom]

According to the news announcement on the homepage it's closing.

True, but there's been nothing official about it from Disney yet.

 

[note2001]

Just my 2 cents on this one.
I believe that DHS will be "expanding" in 2 ways.
1) Expanding the footprint of the on stage area of the park
2) Increasing the capacity to handle the volume of guests who visit the park

As a manufacturing engineer we often use the words expansion / capacity increase to describe the ability for a site to produce more product. In the case of DHS the increase here will be a higher capacity of customers by expanding the footprint and re-purposing areas to attract and service more guests per day.

Either way you slice it DHS will be better in the long run.
However in the short term I would be hesitate to pay full price to go to a park in the anticipated condition that is being discussed.

Max

I pray that during this expansion Disney is addressing not only the capacity of the park, but of the flow throughout it. The park was initially designed as a reverse mullet. Party in the front, business in the back. It was a cute idea to bring a bit of Hollywood to Florida, but the design also caused a lot of confusion and congestion on those paths, and has never worked well as a theme park.

While humans are not machines, we can be tricked into moving in a fairly predictable manner. The goal should be to keep masses moving, and intuitively navigating their way around, with a new visual draw around each corner to do so. I can't wait to see Disney's initial maps of the redesigned park as a whole to see how this will work.

 

[ULPO46]

I agree with @raven it's not at this point simply adding like said Avatar land in Animal Kingdom or taking half of Lost continent to build Harry Potter or jaws and amity harbor to build a diagon alley. This is a multi stage closure of hal a theme park to build new lands. It's not in phases it's all coming up at once. In my point of view as a Imagineer as this point, it's becoming a little bit of a joke. I like doing in phases because can jack the the price up of admission on a business point of view. But as a guest it allows for more attractions to stay open giving a full experience. I get it there are one to two shows left. But please don't tell me that TSMM, TOT, Rockin Roll, and TGMR are worth 90 dollars or more a day. Not even cedar point is worth that much, and look at all the rides available. I get it the theme park experience has and never will be about the rides themselves. Rather they be about our minds giving the guest an amazing world to explore. But to keep a park open during a major overhaul is a little out of nerve in my opinion. We have money to shut one theme park down while we tear down everything and rebuild it. But the poor planning and management at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is baffling me, this is not the Disney I grew wanting to work for. So many of my friends and collegues have left to Cedar, Universal, Merlin, and Seas just because of management. I will remain loyal and anonymous until the end, but i'm just disgusted that anyone would think that Walt would leave the park open during this overhaul.

 

[Chris82]

I pray that during this expansion Disney is addressing not only the capacity of the park, but of the flow throughout it. The park was initially designed as a reverse mullet. Party in the front, business in the back. It was a cute idea to bring a bit of Hollywood to Florida, but the design also caused a lot of confusion and congestion on those paths, and has never worked well as a theme park.

While humans are not machines, we can be tricked into moving in a fairly predictable manner. The goal should be to keep masses moving, and intuitively navigating their way around, with a new visual draw around each corner to do so. I can't wait to see Disney's initial maps of the redesigned park as a whole to see how this will work.

Oh yeah - I love getting new maps! I've been browsing the Shanghai Disneyland map on the official site lately... makes it feel significantly more real.

 

[Ralphlaw]

My take, for what it's worth:

Studios was originally a quick reaction to Universal opening up down the road. A reaction is rarely as inspired and thought out as an original idea, and it indeed was slapped together more quickly and less deliberately than Disneyland, MK, or Epcot. When it opened, it had Great Movie Ride, the Back Lot tour (with Catastrophe Canyon), and almost nothing else.

It was also supposed to be a working studio, where guests could appear in skit-like productions or even as extras in movies and shows. As far as I know the only things produced there were Golden Girls, From the Earth to the Moon, and Disney promotional videos. In short, nice idea, but not good enough to be sustainable because Hollywood types don't want to be away from Hollywood. It all closed years ago. And with it, all the production space, warehouses, and sets (like Streets of America) became unused, for the most part.

Along the way came the thrillier rides: Star Tours, ToT, R&R, and shows like Indy, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Muppets, LMA and Fantasmic. Special stuff, like Star Wars and Soap Opera Weekends and Osborne, brought in people. But it was still a hodgepodge, which was part of its charm. Yet it always lacked an overall identity compared to the other parks.

Now, they're taking wasted and/or under-used space and are turning it into something much better and more focused. Hooray! Keeping the underused stuff, like the very expensive to run LMA, makes no commercial sense. It's day is done. Similarly, SOA is underused walk-through space that's kind of a downer when it's not filled with Christmas lights, and that land within an existing park footprint is very valuable. Put something better there. And, put something cool like Star Wars within walking distance of the entrance instead of a mile away. After all, that extra distance kills things, which is probably one reason why LMA wasn't as popular.

I've been going to Disney since 2003, and I only did the Back Lot tour once, and LMA thrice. The only time I moderately enjoyed SOA was when the Osborne lights were there. No business person would keep this stuff when something so much better can replace them. Plus, that underused stuff is both expensive to run and/or gets in the way of something great. Why dilute the park with mediocre?

 

[Andrew C]

But please don't tell me that TSMM, TOT, Rockin Roll, and TGMR are worth 90 dollars or more a day.

Who is arguing that?

We have money to shut one theme park down while we tear down everything and rebuild it.

''

Who is we? And who says this is true?

i'm just disgusted that anyone would think that Walt would leave the park open during this overhaul.

Walt isn't here so who knows what he would have done. Just a few ramifications of closing an entire park:

-Lost CM jobs
-Shortened guest stays
-Lost park revenue
-Lost resort stay revenue
-Angry guests who already booked well in advance that were under the impression there are 4 parks at WDW.
-Cutting off many headliner attractions
And who knows how the shareholders and the market would react.

Long story short, worst idea ever...

 

[ULPO46]

Who is arguing that?

''

Who is we? And who says this is true?



Walt isn't here so who knows what he would have done. Just a few ramifications of closing an entire park:

-Lost CM jobs
-Shortened guest stays
-Lost park revenue
-Lost resort stay revenue
-Angry guests who already booked well in advance that were under the impression there are 4 parks at WDW.
-Cutting off many headliner attractions
And who knows how the shareholders and the market would react.

Long story short, worst idea ever...

over 90% of returning guest, 45% of new guest. We, the Walt Disney Company & Shareholders. Shareholders would not flip a park got sown or a renovation. A majority of employees at the WDWR are part timers, who earn a dismal saary as is already. Indeed it would shorten revenue and est stays but it would be better for guest who would be complaining about limited exeriences. But the grand majority of people on this forum aren't your average guest so I guess, I wont win the fight there because you will continue to visit a park even if only one attraction was open, I know that's not the case, but at this point start breaking ground or leave attrctions open only until omethng is finished.

 

[Andrew C]

A majority of employees at the WDWR are part timers, who earn a dismal saary as is already.

So you are denying part timer hours would be cut if they shut down an entire park?

it would be better for guest who would be complaining about limited exeriences.

Just imagine how many would be complaining if they completely shut down DHS.

I wont win the fight there because you will continue to visit a park even if only one attraction was open

You won't win this fight because your argument is a bit naive.

 

[ULPO46]

So you are denying part timer hours would be cut if they shut down an entire park?



Just imagine how many would be complaining if they completely shut down DHS.



You won't win this fight because your argument is a bit naive.

It's denying them, their contract states that they could be terminated or transferred to another position of same or lesser stature. Indeed people will and always have complained. H*** people will complain that SWL and TSL aren't enough for them. But hey, at least something is changing. I'm not naïve. My job description tells me I have to think like the average guest. What does little Sally or Timmy want and what do Mr. & Mrs. Doe want out of their experience. Plus those, so called annoying guest surveys, provide us with countless hours of valuable information as to what makes our guest experience better. We can't just really on our family members telling us oh yeah, this ride will be cool. It's just the business of working in the Hospitality Industry.

 

[lentesta]

I don't think there's a business case for closing the park. Even in its current state, it'll get close to 10MM visitors in 2016. There's no way that attendance will go to 20MM when Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land opens, even if they could shave a year off of construction by having the park closed.

 

[ULPO46]

I don't think there's a business case for closing the park. Even in its current state, it'll get close to 10MM visitors in 2016. There's no way that attendance will go to 20MM when Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land opens, even if they could shave a year off of construction by having the park closed.

The MK did not receive 20 million last physical year, it made it close, just not hit that mark. I don't ever think DHS will beat EPOCT in terms of guest volume, and no one in the world yet, will be able to beat the MK's popularity and attendance numbers. In terms of duplication even if you duplicated the MK and made MK II, the original would still be as popular or have even more guest.

 

[Andrew C]

My job description tells me I have to think like the average guest.

I am sure an average guest would be thrilled about a park closing...

 

[JohnD]

I couldn't care less about the icon...I just wanted to pose the question. But from a Marketing standpoint, they will choose one sooner or later to market the park. What it is, is yet to be seen.

Then it would be ToT. It's the main symbol on the WDW website and on merchandise.

 

[raven]

I don't ever think DHS will beat EPOCT in terms of guest volume, and no one in the world yet, will be able to beat the MK's popularity and attendance numbers.

They missed the mark by putting the Frozen ride at Epcot not DHS (which in my opinion, would fit schematically and theme-wise better there than Epcot). This would most definitely boost attendance over there.

 

[Jon81uk]

They missed the mark by putting the Frozen ride at Epcot not DHS (which in my opinion, would fit schematically and theme-wise better there than Epcot). This would most definitely boost attendance over there.

Sorry but they've decided to go with Toy Story and Star Wars rides at DHS instead and Star Wars wouldn't fit in at Epcot.

 

[raven]

Sorry but they've decided to go with Toy Story and Star Wars rides at DHS instead and Star Wars wouldn't fit in at Epcot.

I'm talking about Frozen.