Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[MickeyMinnieMom]

If you look at the TEA numbers, it drove record attendance to DAK, which in turn helped maintain the WDW resort's top numbers, However MK attendance which had been steadily growing went negative in 2016 and leveled off in 2017. DHS was negative and EPCOT was flat to positive.

My point was, while Pandora boosted DAK, it halted growth at 2 of the four other gates, which had been steadily growing. Of course there are other factors such as construction and price increases, but again a hot new expansion should have been able to drive attendance substantially higher at the other parks, but didn't.

Would you agree that SW is a bigger IP draw than Avatar, though? Would you expect any differences as compared to the Pandora experience? I can't help but think there will be a surge at DHS and some bump at other gates...

 

[monothingie]

Would you agree that SW is a bigger IP draw than Avatar, though? Would you expect any differences as compared to the Pandora experience? I can't help but think there will be a surge at DHS and some bump at other gates...

Collectively the SW franchise is. However its an apples to orange comparison as AVATAR is only one film at the moment. Cameron has plans to build the franchise, but will it be as big as the original?

Again I personally think SWGE will break all records for DHS, but I think the crowds and steep price hikes (especially for APs) which are coming because of SWGE is going to really affect a lot of people. Just remember WDW is bigger than a single IP and not everyone cares about SW.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Collectively the SW franchise is. However its an apples to orange comparison as AVATAR is only one film at the moment. Cameron has plans to build the franchise, but will it be as big as the original?

Again I personally think SWGE will break all records for DHS, but I think the crowds and steep price hikes (especially for APs) which are coming because of SWGE is going to really affect a lot of people. Just remember WDW is bigger than a single IP and not everyone cares about SW.

I'm not making a case about which IP will be bigger at some point in the future. Right now, I think SW is undeniably a bigger draw than Avatar was when Pandora opened. So in trying to extrapolate anything from the Pandora experience, I expected the effect with SWGE to be greater -- both to DHS (vs. AK), and some resort-wide. Then add in however many people have been putting off trips until SWGE opens (anecdotally it seems like it may be a lot).

But I agree -- crazy crowds may well have an attenuating effect on attendance -- lower attendance than it theoretically could be... but I'd still guess higher than with Pandora.

 

[iowamomof4]

And here I was hoping things would die down a bit by April/May of 2020. Guess not. Glad I'm only planning for myself and dh and not the whole family!

 

[monothingie]

Then add in however many people have been putting off trips until SWGE opens (anecdotally it seems like it may be a lot).

See I'm in the opposite opinion, I'm going to try my hardest to avoid 2020. Every couple of years we need a year off to replenish DVC points and 2020 may be the year. Which probably means we won't be renewing our APs as well.

 

[drod1985]

Collectively the SW franchise is. However its an apples to orange comparison as AVATAR is only one film at the moment. Cameron has plans to build the franchise, but will it be as big as the original?

I don't think the number of films is the metric to judge which IP is stronger: it's relevance and awareness to the general public. Stop anybody walking down the street and odds are they won't be able to tell you a single character's name from Avatar, but they'll have heard of Luke Skywalker. In that regard Star Wars is exponentially more popular, and that's what's going to influence park attendance.

I do agree about WDW being bigger than one IP though, Star Wars isn't for everybody. It's just a piece of the puzzle, but it's going to be a enormous piece next year, and it's going to affect everything else.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

See I'm in the opposite opinion, I'm going to try my hardest to avoid 2020. Every couple of years we need a year off to replenish DVC points and 2020 may be the year. Which probably means we won't be renewing our APs as well.

I totally understand that thinking. I hardly ever hear it though. Just anecdotal so I don’t want to bet the farm on it (!!), but I see way more people saying they’re waiting for it to open to go back.

 

[ppete1975]

Would you agree that SW is a bigger IP draw than Avatar, though? Would you expect any differences as compared to the Pandora experience? I can't help but think there will be a surge at DHS and some bump at other gates...

apples to oranges.... When has avatar been considered someones favorite movie, who had bed sheets growing up of Pandora, how many toys do you have that are from Pandora, do nerds have a Monday night football party just to watch the trailer for the new avatar movie, does anyone even care when the next avatar movie is? Is its backstory talked about on end and its mythology? Have there been hundreds of books, comics video games or tv shows based on it?
Avatar people do because of the ride and the lands beauty, star wars is for the rides the land and more importantly the huge ip that regardless of what many people try to spin, has popularity that will not wane for at least another 20-40 years.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

apples to oranges.... When has avatar been considered someones favorite movie, who had bed sheets growing up of Pandora, how many toys do you have that are from Pandora, do nerds have a Monday night football party just to watch the trailer for the new avatar movie, does anyone even care when the next avatar movie is? Is its backstory talked about on end and its mythology? Have there been hundreds of books, comics video games or tv shows based on it?
Avatar people do because of the ride and the lands beauty, star wars is for the rides the land and more importantly the huge ip that regardless of what many people try to spin, has popularity that will not wane for at least another 20-40 years.

I agree. Not everyone appears to.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Back to Star Wars, did someone report they forgot to include meet and greet areas in the blueprints for the new land?

 

[Movielover]

Back to Star Wars, did someone report they forgot to include meet and greet areas in the blueprints for the new land?

I figure the First Order outpost section of the villiage with the Tie Fighter would be a M&G area, also the fact that most of the actual named characters will not be in the land means their M&G will be elsewhere in the parks

 

[drod1985]

Yeah, I don't think they'll bend the immersion rules for M&Gs unless they could somehow make sense story wise. If anything it'll be more like the Stormtroopers outside of Launch Bay, where they do their own thing and don't really stop to take pictures with everybody.

I expect the immersion to be sacrificed wherever there's guest convenience needed or money to be made though - example being the build-your-own-lightsaber shop.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It was certainly an option. The IP side of things wasn’t an issue.

It all came down to short term cost. And now they’re scrambling to spend even more money to fix the capacity mistake.

I don't understand how a company that has made a mint on the backs of theme parks is full of people that don't know how to run a theme park.

Martin, myself and countless others called attention to this problem before the official announcement. It's no different than the Frozen Ever After problems or the Next Gen problems. Common sense fans see these issues immediately, why can't they? It is inexcusable.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The capacity of SWL is not as huge as some think. Add to that an... issue... with the design of both versions and they expect the area to be at capacity for quite a while.

Do you mean a layout design of the land or a restriction to the operational capacity of the rides?

 

[twebber55]

I would expect them to be truthful in an investor call. It wasn't said in some PR hype-drivel. I know what you're getting at but no. It's illegal to lie about something like that in a prepared statement.

ive seen several people on different message boards claim disney lies to investors
what it really is, is people have an opinion and will do anything to try and prove that opinion right
you are absolutely correct, they had record attendance

 

[MisterPenguin]

My point was, while Pandora boosted DAK, it halted growth at 2 of the four other gates, which had been steadily growing.

How did Pandora stunt the growth of MK the year before in 2016 when it wasn't completed yet?

 

[CalebS]

Not between the two per se, but there is a proposal for some of the backstage area there. Nothing definite by a long shot.

Soo... is this proposal new or something that has been discussed before?

 

[monothingie]

How did Pandora stunt the growth of MK the year before in 2016 when it wasn't completed yet?

Same reason why people aren’t going now? Put off their trips to wait for Pandora?

 

[marni1971]

Soo... is this proposal new or something that has been discussed before?

New-ish.

 

[monothingie]

I don't understand how a company that has made a mint on the backs of theme parks is full of people that don't know how to run a theme park.

Martin, myself and countless others called attention to this problem before the official announcement. It's no different than the Frozen Ever After problems or the Next Gen problems. Common sense fans see these issues immediately, why can't they? It is inexcusable.

Because the people in charge see parks as a steppingstone to bigger and better things. The only thought is, is how can they make their mark and get noticed so they can go somewhere more glamorous than P&R. Which of course only leads to good things when you have someone in charge whose only aspiration is to get out of what they are doing and move to something else.