Disney-MGM did.
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Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios
- Thread starter CheekBoys
- Start date
Mike S
Well-Known Member
I'd say DHS has just as much if not more incentive. It's easily the worst stateside park right now.
Kman101
Well-Known Member
Completely agree. DHS should have more incentive to get it done sooner and open ASAP. Their delay makes no sense to me. Why does Disneyland get to open it first? (They also should have at least aimed to open them at the same time, like they once stated they would). Because it's next door to the bigwigs in Burbank? DHS and the other parks can also handle the insane crowds a lot better than Disneyland can. Did anyone see the latest Micechat update with Disneyland pictures over the holidays? Horrific crowding.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
Disneyland is better equipped to handle crowds though with all the attractions it has over DHS. SWL will be insane no matter which park it opens first in. The best way they could've handled it is by opening it in both parks on the same day to split opening day crowds as best they can.
Kman101
Well-Known Member
Go take a look at the pictures over New Years. Gridlocked crowding. The Pirates queue was all the way towards the Rivers of America, where Fantasmic crowds usually gather. I was mortified.
I agree they have more to do but there's no way it's not a complete nightmare. They have very narrow walkways. They are not equipped for the crowds. JMO. Maybe the new entryways can hold enough of the people but I just predict a disaster with the crowding.
Either way, DHS still should have been the one to open it first and they should be the ones rushing to get this complete.
Nothing has gone vertical yet. That's the sign it will be built.
Until then, as far as we know, the construction over the old SoA could simply be a large sandbox for an expansion of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground.
Remember Potterlands when they opened? Huge crowds lining up for hours just to get into the 'land', nevermind ride any of the attractions.
I wonder if this has to do with the Disney questionnaires about the acceptability of black-out dates for new attractions. They may be anticipating not creating that Potter mess.
In addition to simultaneous openings, they could aim for early September or mid January to open to take advantage of off-peak times.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
As you note, amusement park attendance historically dips in the year before a major addition. With the shovel already in the ground, delaying construction in Orlando is only going to boomerang.
Decades ago, Disney used to capitalize and amortize project-related pre-opening costs over 5 years. They changed that in 1994 so that these costs hits the books immediately. (Capex is still be depreciated normally.)
Disney executive leadership is smart with the company's money. They know they are sinking gobs into the parks on both coasts, and that they need to keep construction moving rapidly in order to realize expected returns. Remember, "Star Wars Land" is a project that Wall Street has been hounding Iger about for years. More than any theme park investment in recent memory, Wall Street wants this.
Money, big money, is being spent in Orlando, more than we've ever seen Iger spend at WDW. With the money already being sunk into these projects, Disney does not want to slow-play their completions.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yes. There is absolutely no reason to believe this will open more than 9 months after DL.
Slowjack
Well-Known Member
I know it had a few capacity days soon after opening, but that was parking lot capacity, not necessarily park capacity. Imagine visiting a packed Studios that didn't even have Star Tours (or Muppets) yet! Whee!
Quite true, but they have 3 other parks doing just fine and people are still showing up to DHS. DL on the otherhand as a pretty good size chuck of their flagship park behind construction walls.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
I said it'll still be insane. Doesn't change the fact that they're better equipped with more to do other than waiting in the SWL line than DHS is.
If they go through with that there better be previews open to us rather than just "sorry, we're not letting you in to see the cool new stuff unless you buy day tickets and fork over even more money in addition to the loyal years of business you provided us with by holding an AP. The Rat out front should've told you."
This is exactly why I don't really see that Disney has changed. Avatar and Star Wars will both be amazing but not because of Disney putting their focus back on quality, but because of James Cameron's ego and Wall Street. When we stop seeing things like Frostrom, Guardians of the Tower, Toy Story Land, and possibly replacing GMR in an already gimped park, then I'll believe in a true change. A fixed Yeti would help too.
Kman101
Well-Known Member
Having more things to do at Disneyland is great. I get the point being made, but look at Potter's lines. They were there for one thing. It doesn't matter what there is to do. That's all I was trying to say. I firmly believe DHS should have opened this first, for numerous reasons.
flyerjab
Well-Known Member
Good points. I will counter with you on one point though @Mike S. And of course it has to do with DAK. They aren't just plunking down Pandora and calling it a day.
Prior to Pandora, improvements and enhancements were done park wide to improve the overall quality. The ToL roots area was added, the space in front of the ToL was expanded, a small stage was added to the store front on the path towards Dinoland (have you heard the harpist there, the dude is crazy talented), the ToL itself was refurbed allowing the ToL Garden Trail to open again, a new store was added, Tiffins and the Nomad Lounge were added, the Tamarin exhibit was added, etc. And this is just on Discovery Island. Add in the new covered areas at Flame Tree and the overall color scheme changes. These types of things are quality changes that didn't need to happen necessarily but they did. And DAK is so much the better for them. I know there is some relationship between an expected attendance bump from Pandora, but all of these things didn't need to happen. I still believe that there is some attention to quality in Disney, just not as much as we would like resort wide. It also helps to have Rohde as the lead creative for DAK as he clearly cares for his park.
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Kman101
Well-Known Member
Exactly. There's tons to do at AK. I agree it can use more but not every park needs ride after ride. It's not going to appeal to everyone, so they have other parks they can visit. It's their loss. As I've said in another thread, let's worry about DHS getting into double digits in terms of rides. DHS is the park that's hurting the most and doing about the least it can do. No I'm not negating two major E-tickets and Toy Story Land and the Mickey ride, but the Mickey ride won't be a new build and this park badly needs a TRUE refresh. How could they end up getting this wrong when AK is doing so many things right?
Mike S
Well-Known Member
Without Joe Rhode Animal Kingdom would probably go the way of EPCOT Center. A truly sobering thought.
Rodan75
Well-Known Member
100% agree. I just don't think that there was ever really a 'goodness of their hearts' quality argument, where some folks think that suddenly Disney is a cut throat business, I think they have always been that. What I think is new in the parks is this Coach/First Class separation that is rapidly spreading across the parks (which is a topic for elsewhere and which I believe can be both good and bad).
There is a fear of Wall Street and TWDC knows that P&R is going to get a lot of attention because of Shanghai opening, ESPN seeing growth challenges and Comcast is reporting stellar results from their P&R division, I trust fear more than any conspiracy or internal politics and for that reason alone I can't see @WDW1974 being correct on a more than a 1 year separation between SWE at DL and WDW.
Rodan75
Well-Known Member
That is true. But if the business saw an opportunity to exploit DAK the same way they do Epcot, they would do so in a heartbeat...and Joe would likely lead the charge. ToT proved that.
It's coming.