Possible Frontierland expansion

[MerlinTheGoat]

Who is this AnotherVoiceDIS person spreading this info around and what sort of track record does he have? There are tons of twitter trolls posing as Disney insiders with no actual credibility (there was one infamous example a few years ago called ThemeParkOne suckered a lot of people in with fake rumors). I've never heard of this person, unaware of his reputation.

Magic Kingdom would suffer immensely from the loss of even more of its small roster of rides and attractions, especially when the park and especially Frontierland has PLENTY of unused expansion land to spare. The park is packed and in desperate need of additional rides, not replacements for existing ones And on top of that, there's no way in hell i'd trust the current leadership to replace the Riverboat or TSI with something actually worthy of legitimate Disney quality.

Again i'll repost this image where I marked the potential plots of land that can (with enough money and ambition) be used for actual expansion, and it doesn't even include the area next to Big Thunder that was being discussed earlier in the topic-

I asked Martin recently about the large plot of land above the Rivers of America, and he said it's a long term expansion area. Presenting potential challenges but not impossible.

 

[SpaceMountain75]

Who is this AnotherVoiceDIS person spreading this info around and what sort of track record does he have? There are tons of twitter trolls posing as Disney insiders with no actual credibility (there was one infamous example a few years ago called ThemeParkOne suckered a lot of people in with fake rumors). I've never heard of this person, unaware of his reputation.

Magic Kingdom would suffer immensely from the loss of even more of its small roster of rides and attractions, especially when the park and especially Frontierland has PLENTY of unused expansion land to spare. The park is packed and in desperate need of additional rides, not replacements for existing ones And on top of that, there's no way in hell i'd trust the current leadership to replace the Riverboat or TSI with something actually worthy of legitimate Disney quality.

Again i'll repost this image where I marked the potential plots of land that can (with enough money and ambition) be used for actual expansion, and it doesn't even include the area next to Big Thunder that was being discussed earlier in the topic-

I asked Martin recently about the large plot of land above the Rivers of America, and he said it's a long term expansion area. Presenting potential challenges but not impossible.

Great image of all the potential land. I forget just how much space Magic Kingdom was blessed with.

 

[MaxW]

disney world actually expanding? what a marvel idea!

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Great image of all the potential land. I forget just how much space Magic Kingdom was blessed with.

It sounds like the only two areas I marked that haven't been seriously considered for use are the two above Fantasyland. Though they probably could still be used if Disney were willing to put the money and effort into it (as Martin said in the other topic, there are service roads and utilidors to work around apparently). The other areas all sound like they are designated expansion plots to varying extents, all considered for use at different points in Magic Kingdom's history. Plenty of space to work without without closing more attractions.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

You can't be serious?!?! Can you elaborate any if so?

Just afraid this could happen if the Disneyland project is successful. ROA is a very relaxing attraction that people overlook along with TS island. Merlin just put up a picture of possible land that could be used.

 

[GhostHost1000]

disney world actually expanding? what a marvel idea!

a "marvel" idea...well played

 

[doctornick]

disney world actually expanding? what a marvel idea!

I'm never one to hesitate in criticizing Disney for replacing rather than expanding, but to be fair there has been or will be a good bit of actual expanding going on at WDW:

* new areas being built at DAK: the FOTLK area and Harambe marketplace in Africa, Pandora (yes, it is replacing CMM, but is a far larger footprint) plus even some new builds like Riverside Depot and Tiffins on Discovery Island.
* In DHS, Toy Story Land will be in mostly formerly backstage area, Star Wars is going to take over some of the current parking lot and backstage. The new flex theater was an addition to the guest areas
* In MK, most of the FLE was reusing old space but the BatB area was previously backstage
* while most of us agree that it doesn't fit in Epcot, the M&G hall addition to Norway is developing new space

 

[MotherOfBirds]

I'm assuming that TDO would want this expansion completed in time for the 50th in 2021. If we take into account the 2-3 year construction time that has become the norm, add in the year-ish of faffing-about between the announcement and breaking ground, then we could expect an announcement sometime 2017, maybe 2016? I'm sure this isn't the only MK expansion plan on the table, so a similar timetable could apply to whatever gets greenlit.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Just afraid this could happen if the Disneyland project is successful. ROA is a very relaxing attraction that people overlook along with TS island. Merlin just put up a picture of possible land that could be used.

The decision on placement for our new ride will come before Disney knows if the placement of Disneyland's Star Wars Land is "successful" (whatever the metric for such a measure is).

 

[bjm72385]

The decision on placement for our new ride will come before Disney knows if the placement of Disneyland's Star Wars Land is "successful" (whatever the metric for such a measure is).

This is what scares me, and tells me that it sounds very possible that they would do away with the RoA, even with all the expansion areas that @MerlinTheGoat just re-posted that could be used instead. I never thought about the whole non-ADA compliant issues with TSI until it was mentioned here recently, and I can only imagine the headaches and costs it would take to make it ADA compliant if they want/need to do so, but I'd hate to see this be a reason to just get rid of it all together.

I don't think anyone could disagree that MK needs future expansions that will extend guest areas/walking areas to help spread out crowds more. Worst case, I hope if they have to do anything to RoA that they only modify the backside, similar to what's being done in DL, which could help to expand one or both of the expansion pads north of this area.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This is what scares me, and tells me that it sounds very possible that they would do away with the RoA, even with all the expansion areas that @MerlinTheGoat just re-posted that could be used instead. I never thought about the whole non-ADA compliant issues with TSI until it was mentioned here recently, and I can only imagine the headaches and costs it would take to make it ADA compliant if they want/need to do so, but I'd hate to see this be a reason to just get rid of it all together.

I don't think anyone could disagree that MK needs future expansions that will extend guest areas/walking areas to help spread out crowds more. Worst case, I hope if they have to do anything to RoA that they only modify the backside, similar to what's being done in DL, which could help to expand one or both of the expansion pads north of this area.

One would hope they would never FULLY remove the Island/Rivers.

 

[ryguy]

To me a win-win would be to keep the front part of the river as well as TSI, than expand behind TSI to the railroad tracks. But if I was planning things I would expand in Tomorrowland ripping out the speedway and using the land behind it. That seems like the best place to start, especially from a cost perspective.

 

[ToTBellHop]

To me a win-win would be to keep the front part of the river as well as TSI, than expand behind TSI to the railroad tracks. But if I was planning things I would expand in Tomorrowland ripping out the speedway and using the land behind it. That seems like the best place to start, especially from a cost perspective.

How about an expansion that requires no significant removal (other than things like moving a restroom)?

 

[jbolen2]

It seems to me if they added a ride and made the loop around the roa from splash to haunted it would actually help with traffic in this area even with the added traffic from the new ride.

 

[tokengator]

Who is this AnotherVoiceDIS person spreading this info around and what sort of track record does he have? There are tons of twitter trolls posing as Disney insiders with no actual credibility (there was one infamous example a few years ago called ThemeParkOne suckered a lot of people in with fake rumors). I've never heard of this person, unaware of his reputation.

Magic Kingdom would suffer immensely from the loss of even more of its small roster of rides and attractions, especially when the park and especially Frontierland has PLENTY of unused expansion land to spare. The park is packed and in desperate need of additional rides, not replacements for existing ones And on top of that, there's no way in hell i'd trust the current leadership to replace the Riverboat or TSI with something actually worthy of legitimate Disney quality.

Again i'll repost this image where I marked the potential plots of land that can (with enough money and ambition) be used for actual expansion, and it doesn't even include the area next to Big Thunder that was being discussed earlier in the topic-

I asked Martin recently about the large plot of land above the Rivers of America, and he said it's a long term expansion area. Presenting potential challenges but not impossible.

If they filled in RoA and expanded over it, would that block off the entire area behind you have highlighted from any future expansion?

If so that seems like a very short-sighted move

 

[aladdin2007]

If they filled in RoA and expanded over it, would that block off the entire area behind you have highlighted from any future expansion?

If so that seems like a very short-sighted move

tends to be what they do nowadays unfortunately, Norway at Epcot?

 

[Magenta Panther]

As congested as it gets by Splash/BTMR, I'm not looking forward to another big pull to the area. Bulldoze HM's netxtgen queue and I'll get over it.

Agreed. That queue is really awful. Claustrophobic, cluttered, ugly, and many of the items, especially the Ghost Writer, are ignored by guests. An utter failure, and too bad too, since a lot of work went into it. But it just doesn't work, and actually detracts from the Mansion IMO.

 

[aladdin2007]

Agreed. That queue is really awful. Claustrophobic, cluttered, ugly, and many of the items, especially the Ghost Writer, are ignored by guests. An utter failure, and too bad too, since a lot of work went into it. But it just doesn't work, and actually detracts from the Mansion IMO.

not to mention really slows down the line big time, just unnecessary

 

[Magenta Panther]

not to mention really slows down the line big time, just unnecessary

The last time I visited HM, I made a point of standing in front of the Ghost Writer and answering her questions, in as loud a voice as I could manage. And a few people did stop and look and realize what the thing was for. And they'd say things like "cool", but they moved on without interacting with it. And everyone else just passed it by. What a waste! I think the Writer and the tomb with the musical instruments ought to be taken out and placed near Memento Mori, as lures (as if the store really needs any). THEN maybe they'd get noticed and enjoyed. As it is, they're dead (no pun intended) space as far as guests are concerned.

It's really hard to criticize TDO for the queue, as obviously a lot of thought and work went into it. But it's a misfire just the same.

 

[dgp602]

Regardless of what happens, they will absolutely not fill in all of Rivers of America. Never gonna happen.

I hope you are right. That area around the River is one of my favorite places in MK..