Studio Backlot Tour Closing on September 27, 2014

[flynnibus]

Yeah, I find it hard to see them get rid of H&V and Prime Time Cafe. And the lake not only provides a needed water feature, but acts as a physical barrier between Hollywood Blvd and the land that would potentially be Star Wars

The disjointed 'dead spots' are certainly exciting challenges for designers if given enough lattitude to redesign the park. This area of the park is laid out given the day 1 design of the park which is obviously long dead and has been hacked a few times already. Time to wipe the slate and do it right.

One concept could be to preserve the resturant side of the lake area... by removing the lake and making the old lake boundary line a fascade or backside of another new building that sat where the lake does now. That way the alley from hollywood blvd could remain, and that nook stay in its original street theme... then use the access from the hub side to be your transition to whatever lays beyond.

 

[flynnibus]

Death to the Streets of NY I say... serves no purpose anymore.

So much space potential when you look down the swath of Streets of NY and the spaces leading up to it from the Hollywood side. The question is only 'what is worth keeping'

 

[note2001]

The Disney of today is not the same one Walt started many years ago. His plan for Florida was to have the space to expand and grow, as well as to buffer the parks from reality. Now days, Disney seems to look at dollar signs first, followed by aesthetics. They're selling off land that Walt bought, all for the sake of making money. They're building right on the edge of the real world. If building a parking garage is what is needed to bring in $$$ for a SW expansion, they'll make the decision to do it in a heartbeat. (And quite honestly, wouldn't it be nice to park in the shade?)

 

[flynnibus]

Neither costuming nor cast parking are "incredibly important pieces of infrastructure." Yes, those things need to exist, but they can exist literally anywhere.

1) can you operate without them? No... sounds important to me
2) can they be anywhere? No, they need to be near where people work.. which means contention for location
3) will Disney spent millions to rebuild what already exists? Doubtful

Sounds pretty important to me

 

[CaptainAmerica]

1) can you operate without them? No... sounds important to me
2) can they be anywhere? No, they need to be near where people work.. which means contention for location
3) will Disney spent millions to rebuild what already exists? Doubtful

Sounds pretty important to me

You missed the point. Yes, it is important to have a costuming building, but there is zero importance in having "costuming" being that exact very building that exists today in that precise location. Hell, costuming could be in a series of trailers, like a great deal of the office space on property.

Yes, Disney will spend millions to rebuild what already exists if the alternative is to spend more millions rebuilding something different. It's also way easier to demolish and rebuild a back-of-house building than it is to do the same in an "on stage" location with theming, water, and (presumably) complicated structural issues.

 

[flynnibus]

You missed the point. Yes, it is important to have a costuming building, but there is zero importance in having "costuming" being that exact very building that exists today in that precise location. Hell, costuming could be in a series of trailers, like a great deal of the office space on property.

Yes, Disney will spend millions to rebuild what already exists if the alternative is to spend more millions rebuilding something different. It's also way easier to demolish and rebuild a back-of-house building than it is to do the same in an "on stage" location with theming, water, and (presumably) complicated structural issues.

You skipped the points about timing and location... and your assumptions that back of house is simple...ignores that these BOH often serve many purposes and are stacked themselves because of their location. None of us have the details, but your assumptions seem overly optimistic to your predetermined answer.

And as for 'spending more' - tearing down an attraction and building a new one... is still only building once... vs your demo, setup TWO new sites, build your new stuff AND the relocated stuff.

 

[Brad Bishop]

Level Indy. Expand SW into the Indy area, and parking lot. LMA to Pixarland

It always seemed to me that they could move the entrance road (S. Studio Dr above) where I've place the orange line to move/expand the parking (the orange box) and then expand the park in the green area, not to mention the backlot area which is unused right now. I left half of the parking lot in place above so that the entrance to the park would be the same.

Hopefully they'll get to work on this, soon, because the park needs help. I used to get FP (not FP+) when I was there and would find myself just waiting around for those times to finally arrive. Yeah, there are shows but I've gone through those several times. Waiting around in a theme park for a FP time to arrive isn't a good sign. I don't experience that in AK, MK, or Epcot.

I really hope that the expansion dumps the Ave of the Americas area which just seems dumb to me. I'd be fine with it if they actually filmed things there but, as it is, it's just a dumb facade. It, to me, is like if Main St. in the MK were just a dumb facade and you couldn't go into any of the shops.

 

[jensenrick]

View attachment 81523 Saw these pics on Hoot Wilson's FB today
Says he saw them in a scrap yard
View attachment 81522

Yeah! Finally!

 

[FigmentJedi]

Yet in Cali they have said muppets maybe gone for good since its been temp reskinned for frozen and has been playing other things more than the muppets over the last few years.

Well Muppets was never that popular in California Adventure. There's a reason they kept doing movie preview junk in there over the years.

 

[marni1971]

This isn't happening.

Don't be so sure. It has been mooted.

And costuming was always planned to be moved around.

Guess it's time to dig this out again. Note - it's old. Nothing to do with Star Wars.

 

[dstrawn9889]

View attachment 81580

It always seemed to me that they could move the entrance road (S. Studio Dr above) where I've place the orange line to move/expand the parking (the orange box) and then expand the park in the green area, not to mention the backlot area which is unused right now. I left half of the parking lot in place above so that the entrance to the park would be the same.

Hopefully they'll get to work on this, soon, because the park needs help. I used to get FP (not FP+) when I was there and would find myself just waiting around for those times to finally arrive. Yeah, there are shows but I've gone through those several times. Waiting around in a theme park for a FP time to arrive isn't a good sign. I don't experience that in AK, MK, or Epcot.

I really hope that the expansion dumps the Ave of the Americas area which just seems dumb to me. I'd be fine with it if they actually filmed things there but, as it is, it's just a dumb facade. It, to me, is like if Main St. in the MK were just a dumb facade and you couldn't go into any of the shops.

your problem is that the orange you outline is marginal wetlands, meaning Disney does not want to build there if possible, because it is a quagmire that would run the costs of anything built there by multiples.
(see swamp castle scene in monty pythons holy grail)

 

[marni1971]

I wouldn't count on it. If you look at the history of WDW, they've done this sort of thing MANY times over.
However, I'm not sure if that is a "natural" pond though. It appears to have a concrete bottom, which would categorize it like a pool or decorative feature they built, meaning they can pretty much do whatever they want with it.

Echo Lake was indeed built for the park.

 

[dstrawn9889]

they would only have to allocate more runoff ponds offstage to offset the volume that the lake would capture during rainfall...

 

[SpaceMountain75]

Death to the Streets of NY I say... serves no purpose anymore.

So much space potential when you look down the swath of Streets of NY and the spaces leading up to it from the Hollywood side. The question is only 'what is worth keeping'

I totally agree about Streets of America. My favorite idea I've heard on these boards is to turn the streets into a Monstropolis theme.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I totally agree about Streets of America. My favorite idea I've heard on these boards is to turn the streets into a Monstropolis theme.

Anything but Arendelle

How about a villians section of the park - dark rides, etc. - so much potential for villains IMO and for the older (non-princess pre-teen) crowds as well

 

[SpaceMountain75]

Tell me about it.
I've alway thought a villain's section would be amazing!

 

[Kman101]

I'd imagine costuming would be easy to relocate and I'm sure they have a plan for the parking. It's been said by numerous people there's a "parking issue" plan.

 

[Kman101]

Well Muppets was never that popular in California Adventure. There's a reason they kept doing movie preview junk in there over the years.

Exactly.

Not that it would stop them from leveling it or re-using the buildings at DHS, but Muppets also was just a theater in the Hollywood Land section of DCA and easier to replace. It has it's own area in DHS and haven't there been some rumors of a new Muppet 3D movie. At some point. Maybe. (like most rumors). So I really can't see them doing anything there, but with the possibility of cementing over Echo Lake, who knows what they'd really do.

I'm ready for some information on the DHS re-do. It's been rumored for many many years now.

 

[roj2323]

View attachment 81580

It always seemed to me that they could move the entrance road (S. Studio Dr above) where I've place the orange line to move/expand the parking (the orange box) and then expand the park in the green area, not to mention the backlot area which is unused right now. I left half of the parking lot in place above so that the entrance to the park would be the same.

Hopefully they'll get to work on this, soon, because the park needs help. I used to get FP (not FP+) when I was there and would find myself just waiting around for those times to finally arrive. Yeah, there are shows but I've gone through those several times. Waiting around in a theme park for a FP time to arrive isn't a good sign. I don't experience that in AK, MK, or Epcot.

I really hope that the expansion dumps the Ave of the Americas area which just seems dumb to me. I'd be fine with it if they actually filmed things there but, as it is, it's just a dumb facade. It, to me, is like if Main St. in the MK were just a dumb facade and you couldn't go into any of the shops.

Both areas you have marked are marked as conservation areas (wetlands) The red areas are considered suitable for development.

 

[roj2323]

Neither costuming nor cast parking are "incredibly important pieces of infrastructure." Yes, those things need to exist, but they can exist literally anywhere. The roads and parking at DHS are being reworked independently of Star Wars or anything else for two main reasons.

1. Capacity- Busy days have guests parking at Epcot and getting shuttled over and that's not a viable long-term solution if and when the park expands and attendance increases.

2. Efficiency- The left turn from Buena Vista Drive into Studio Drive and the DHS parking kiosk is a nightmare. They can't get cars through fast enough in what was not really intended to be the park's main entrance. For safety reasons, they often have to wave cars through the kiosk without paying because they can't have traffic backed up onto Buena Vista when the lights change.

1. it's cast that's getting shuttled from/to epcot's wonder parking lot but I agree it's not a long term option.

2. I agree the parking lot has to change and I look forward to them redeveloping the parking infrastructure to fix the pile of issues it currently has. Realistically this will likely be a few flyover ramps from Buena Vista Drive going over World Drive directly to the Main parking entrance and a New exit configuration on Buena vista Drive which would add lanes all the way to Epcot center drive. It's not a cheap option but it's probably the most likely as they can get RCID to pay for most of it.