News New Theater to be built at the Magic Kingdom - now cancelled?

[Kman101]

Have you seen Aladdin on Broadway or the tour? It doesn’t have as many pop culture references but Genie is still hilarious and “Friend like Me” is the greatest spectacle I’ve seen on Broadway. The rest of the show actually pales a bit in comparison with that one song.

I second this. Aladdin on broadway is amazing and very well done. I unfortunately didn't get to see the opening cast but the cast I saw in April 2017 was just as great. I'd see it again in a heartbeat. And I also saw Aladdin at DCA. It was a good show but Aladdin on broadway is something else. But, of course, there's a lot of similarity, but it's more impressive on broadway.

 

[danlb_2000]

Could one of the reasons be from a traffic flow perspective? say the theatre could hold 2000 people and the show ends during a move it shake it/3 o clock parade/fireworks and all of a sudden 2000 people at once let out onto Main Street or the Hub Plaza. I’m just picturing the show dumps from FOLK BatB fantamic, even when O Canada lets out is can disrupt flows. Maybe that was part of the thinking? I can’t really think of a place in MK that could remain enjoyable with an extra 2000 people being dumped into at once, where as an attraction with the same hourly capacity can keep the flow balanced.

You would think that would have come up long before construction was ready to begin. I doubt the cancelation had anything to do with the theater itself, but instead it was a change in direction in how funds will be used.

 

[larryz]

Lightning rarely strikes twice.

Have you seen the steel support towers for the Skyliner system? That phrase will soon be obsolete.

 

[rreading]

A Broadway style show and an ACTUAL Broadway show are very different fyi...

Not sure what you’re getting at. An actual Broadway show is performed in New York.

If you’re just wanting to say that shows at WDW aren’t the quality of an actual Broadway show, then I’d have to say that you’re right....

1. You get what you pay for
2. I would go to Broadway to see a Broadway show (though Broadway-quality touring shows can be great)
3. If I want to see Disney’ The Lion King production, I can also wait until it comes to town, but I’m not paying to see it again.

Free to stop in for 30min as a break in the parks is different from $300/four tickets plus taking an entire evening of our trip. We’ve done it for cirque a couple of times but that was a cirque experience unique from anything in the parks. My .02. ymmv

 

[brb1006]

Aladdin was amazing. I miss that show so much. The genie was everything. He kept the show relevant with jokes based off current events. This is why a majority returned. Isn't it time to let it go and bring back Aladdin?

The Genie was so popular that there are a couple video collections that each had a different joke for each show. He even encouraged audience interaction during the final showing.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Not sure what you’re getting at. An actual Broadway show is performed in New York.

If you’re just wanting to say that shows at WDW aren’t the quality of an actual Broadway show, then I’d have to say that you’re right....

1. You get what you pay for
2. I would go to Broadway to see a Broadway show (though Broadway-quality touring shows can be great)
3. If I want to see Disney’ The Lion King production, I can also wait until it comes to town, but I’m not paying to see it again.

Free to stop in for 30min as a break in the parks is different from $300/four tickets plus taking an entire evening of our trip. We’ve done it for cirque a couple of times but that was a cirque experience unique from anything in the parks. My .02. ymmv

We're talking about a theatre which puts up broadway shows... Broadway is not restricted to New York... Many of the biggest shows tour around the world. I have seen Wicked several times outside of New York, Lion King, Book of Mormon, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom etc.

If Disney built a broadway theatre at DS, they could not only do a multi month sit-down production of Aladdin or some other Broadway production they are working on/have already produced, they could book it for other tours, use it for Pre-Broadway tryouts etc.

 

[disnyfan89]

Y'all are being a little too literal, in this case I mean a large scale Professional Theatre Presentation as developed/Produced/staged by Disney Theatrical Productions and not by Creative Entertainment

 

[Magenta Panther]

Wow. So if I understand this right, the Main Street Theater is being cancelled and its budget directed elsewhere, possibly to Adventureland, and what is being considered for that land is possibly a clone of...something.

Could the clone have anything to do with Pirates?

 

[Kman101]

To be considered anything Broadway the show has to be in New York, New York, and is only considered "On Broadway" while being performed in New York city, and have 499 seats or more. Anything touring the nation or internationally is considered a national tour or World tour, and not considered on Broadway.

You're being too literal. A Broadway caliber show can exist outside of New York City. But I see what you're trying to say.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Wow. So if I understand this right, the Main Street Theater is being cancelled and its budget directed elsewhere, possibly to Adventureland, and what is being considered for that land is possibly a clone of...something.

Could the clone have anything to do with Pirates?

Two pirates rides next to each other? Could be pretty cool. Love the current ride at a WDW and the new one looks great too.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Two pirates rides next to each other? Could be pretty cool. Love the current ride at a WDW and the new one looks great too.

I wasn't thinking a ride so much as perhaps a live show...or maybe a dinner theater. Imagine a restaurant that looks like The Black Pearl, and imagine it staffed with wenches and cabin boys as waiters, and a live show featuring pirates. That would rock!

 

[disnyfan89]

Personally id rather they take the tech from the pirates ride and create a new experience with it. I think someone already mentioned this idea but a Moana ride with that tech could be amazing and has a lot that they could draw from with Moana leaving the reef, a journey through the valley of monsters and a battle with Taka.

 

[Disney Analyst]

To be considered anything Broadway the show has to be in New York, New York, and is only considered "On Broadway" while being performed in New York city, and have 499 seats or more. Anything touring the nation or internationally is considered a national tour or World tour, and not considered on Broadway.

Broadway across America would disagree... the broadway national tour of Wicked which is basically an exact replica would disagree...

 

[Fantasmicguy]

Personally id rather they take the tech from the pirates ride and create a new experience with it. I think someone already mentioned this idea but a Moana ride with that tech could be amazing and has a lot that they could draw from with Moana leaving the reef, a journey through the valley of monsters and a battle with Taka.

An Indiana Jones ride with Shanghai Pirates tech was something I was thinking about that could be epic.

 

[disnyfan89]

If they did ever add it though it would make adventureland very boat heavy... actually that side of the park would be almost all boats... Pirates, Jungle, New Boat Tech, Splash, River Boat, TS Rafts, Small World...

 

[phi2134]

How much did world of color cost and would this be an acceptable exchange instead of the main Street theatre? Backdrop of Tom sawyers island instead of pixar pier...and permanently docking the boats?

 

[disnyfan89]

How much did world of color cost and would this be an acceptable exchange instead of the main Street theatre? Backdrop of Tom sawyers island instead of pixar pier...and permanently docking the boats?

Unless you planned to remove TS Island with the boats there isn't enough room for it to fit in the rivers of america

 

[peter11435]

How much did world of color cost and would this be an acceptable exchange instead of the main Street theatre? Backdrop of Tom sawyers island instead of pixar pier...and permanently docking the boats?

Not something the park needs

 

[Kman101]

With nothing to base this on, it does feel like we'll either get the Moana show or the Pirates show in place of the Main Street Theater. I guess the only bright side to a theater, especially if it's Moana, is that it can be demoed for something better in the future. But I don't know if I like them limiting the theaters to specific areas like Adventureland. I guess even Main Street could have been slightly restrictive but not nearly as much. Look at the theaters in Disneyland Paris.

(Again, this is just baseless speculation on my part)

 

[Captain Barbossa]

I wasn't thinking a ride so much as perhaps a live show...or maybe a dinner theater. Imagine a restaurant that looks like The Black Pearl, and imagine it staffed with wenches and cabin boys as waiters, and a live show featuring pirates. That would rock!

A Black Pearl restaurant would be lit. I would love to have some sort of Pirates attraction that focuses on nothing but the movies, whether it be a ride or a show. I just don't think that putting another Pirates ride that close to POTC is a good idea. Now a show is different. I would be satisfied if there was a Pirates stunt show (like Indy) that could replace Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial. Another restaurant idea could be something similar to Barbossa's Bounty, kind of like what they have in Shanghai.