Originally posted by Pat571
its the parks that they are planning. interesting huh. i dont htink any of the parks where built on the cheap at all.
Not cheap in the sense of total budget ($1 Billion is large number!) but in the way they choose to spend it.
DCA was supposed to make the Disneyland resort a destination for tourists. They made a tortilla baking parlor an "attraction". They chose to build lower-than-Six-Flags level rides. (not saying that Six Flags is bad, but they are well below six flags level of theme) They chose to take attractions that once made Orlando unique and copy them on the East coast IN A NEW PARK, NOT DISNEYLAND, therefore contradicting the original purpose. Why would I, a person who goes to Disney World, want to go to Disneylands "resort" if the new park is not only a cheap replica of places in California that I can visit on my own, but also has a bunch of Disney World attractions? Grizzly River=Kali River, Tough to be a Bug, Animation Tour, Tower of Terror, etc. There are only several original rides in the park, them being the Whoopi Goldberg film, Soarin over California, and Superstar Limo (which is now closed) excluding the carnival area. Even if it supposed to be "a themed seaside carnival", its still a poor choice to put it in a Disney park. The California theme itself is very limited.
How can a company with so many original and unbuilt ideas (D. Tracy's Crimestoppers, Western River Expedition, Discovery Bay, Beastly Kingdom) come up with so little? You've spent the money to develop these attractions, and they're hiding in some backroom waiting to be used!!!
(ok, so maybe D.T's Crimestoppers is not the strongest one, but I need to illustrate a point here!!!)
Disney Studios Paris is nice, but it has about 10 attractions. Sure, Disney Studios Orlando opened the same way, but it still has fewer attractions than the Magic Kingdom (56). Even with the limited # of attractions in the Disney-MGM park, they still go out and do Animal Kingdom which is also a half day park!!!
I will give them credit for trying to expand with ToT, RnRC, and Fantasmic. Quality attractions are better than a whole half-made area (like Paradise Pier)
The entrances to the rides in Paris are cutouts and there's no intricate detailing on the level of the one in Orlando. Its funny, because that's what Disneyland Paris was all about: Intricate detailing.
Hong Kong park, as I said, will have three lands plus main street. They can't afford to shell out some cash and make it a complete Disneyland? Even when they change Disneyland's outline for foreign taste, they at least keep all the lands together.
And why must they continue to make copycat parks? I know that they must rely on successful formulas, but have some imagination! Give it a new twist (like the Jazz age version of Main Street) They have the power to build original parks (like Tokyo DisneySeas). Why not do that?
Instead, they say American's tastes are different, and that the Oriental Land Co. which owns Tokyo Disney Seas does what they want with their money.
That basically says that "we don't want to spend the money on a quality park". Yes, maybe I'm overreacting, but the Disney co. can do things to help finance a park like this in the states.
Any business majors you can side with me on this one? I'm no lawyer, but I think from my angle these are not good decisions.
While there is a lot more to running a company then just having a theme park, and understanding the basic operating procedures and financing, etc. etc., I still don't understand how a company that employs thousands of undergrads in minimum wage positions, charges $7 for a burger (no fries, no coke) and $45 dollars for half-day parks cannot afford to build Tokyo Disney Seas.
So Eisner's lost his taste for big projects? How could that happen? Even Disneyland Paris, which had the roughest start any park could have, is on its feet! Its the most visited attraction in Europe, and its the best looking Magic Kingdom I've seen.
I'm all about a new park if it can be done right and if they can first get the other parks up to speed as well. Until then, I'm hard pressed to see them do a good job on the next one.