Studio Backlot Tour Closing on September 27, 2014

[Jon81uk]

I haven't read the whole thread but thinking about all the Pixar rumours, am I one of the only people NOT to want to see a replication of Cars Land. Why should I travel to both the CA and FL parks when there are the same rides in both places? They could easily fit a unique Pixar coaster, unique Pixar dark ride and some of the smaller Cars or Toy Story rides that are already in CA, Paris and Hong Kong into FL WDW. Making a nice mix of replicated kids rides, original family ride and original thrill ride.

There is a HUGE amount of land where the old studio stuff was, LMA can stay and they can still do Pixar land and Star Wars land.

 

[Ethan23]

Here's my idea for what will happen to the Tram Tour area. I don't think Cars Land would fit, and Star Wars will end up where American Idol and Indiana Jones is.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/pixar-studios-idea-for-hollywood-studios.890583/

Let me know what you think.

 

[flynnibus]

also, why not use technology to the advantage here, to build new attractions but in such a way that drastic increases in staff aren't needed, or rides that can be "capacity flexible" ie where cars/trains etc can be taken off line when not needed.

That is optimization - but doesn't fundamentally change the problem. Running two attractions is going to be more expensive than running one. Facilities upkeep of more buildings is going to be more expensive than less buildings. Utilities costs for more buildings will be higher than less buildings. You can't tech your way out of safety requirements on staff.. and ride vehicles not running still cost to own and maintain.

When you do all that and attractions are under performing - its obvious why a company would prefer to recycle or decommission attractions that aren't performing vs keeping dead weight perpetually.

 

[flynnibus]

Why should I travel to both the CA and FL parks when there are the same rides in both places?

Simple.. Disney doesn't need you to visit both parks.. they'd be happy for you to visit WDW twice. The percentage of those people who do visit multiple parks isn't drastic enough to shape your overall strategy around.

 

[AEfx]

But this goes against the original intention of Disney-MGM, er, Disney Hollywood Studios! How dare they! This is a SLAP IN THE FACE! Every theme park Disney builds MUST stay exactly as it was when it was opened, and any new additions or changes should meet MY approval! Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply Disney's lap dog and sniffing pixie dust!

Oh...hold on a sec...just got the memo - these rules only apply to parks built in 1982 or before. This is 1989 - we're safe folks. Crisis averted. They can do whatever they heck they want.

 

[CDavid]

We should play attraction closure bingo. You know every week at WDW something is going to shutter without a replacement announced, but what will it be next?

I suspect that will probably be it for the closures for now until after Christmas.
Then January, LMA will be driving off for the last time.
February, Indiana Jones will go.
March, GMR.

Echo Lake area and LMA will probably then sit abandoned for years, with Indy becoming an events theater like Premier or Wonders of Life, but the Toy Story playland and Mania expansion will happen quite swiftly by Disney standards (Christmas 2016).

There's no way Disney can close that much of the park all at once. Too much attraction capacity would be lost, and despite how Disney executives often appear clueless, they are at least aware of that metric.

Agreed 100 percent. How can you say WDW is stagnant, when each park and downtown disney will all get major attractions by the decades end?

Again, as others have asked, just what major attraction is coming to the Magic Kingdom between now and 2020?

 

[mm121]

That is optimization - but doesn't fundamentally change the problem. Running two attractions is going to be more expensive than running one. Facilities upkeep of more buildings is going to be more expensive than less buildings. Utilities costs for more buildings will be higher than less buildings. You can't tech your way out of safety requirements on staff.. and ride vehicles not running still cost to own and maintain.

When you do all that and attractions are under performing - its obvious why a company would prefer to recycle or decommission attractions that aren't performing vs keeping dead weight perpetually.

Im sure disney and Hollywood studios isn't hurting for money like you make it seem though, they are just obsessed with charging the public the highest prices the market will support while eliminating value, and maximizing shareholder stock prices, at the expense of the guest experience, as the majority of disney shareholders, are not regular park guests, so they only care about the stock price, not the guest experience.

so what if people have to wait 2 hours in line, the shareholders will just shell out money for the vip experience, oh hey another way to make money.

Simple.. Disney doesn't need you to visit both parks.. they'd be happy for you to visit WDW twice. The percentage of those people who do visit multiple parks isn't drastic enough to shape your overall strategy around.

it may not be drastic, but why should everything be copies?

there are many new attractions being built in parks outside of the USA, that the chances people would make it to are even slimmer.. I have no issues with copying attractions from other countries, just at times it definitely shows and proves a lack of will to innovate or that they've simply stretched themselves too thin.

 

[TeriofTerror]

I'm having trouble understanding the Sept 27 closing date for BLT. Maelstrom was announced awhile ago, with a certain date for an Oct. 5th closing. We were also advised of the reasoning for its closure due to 'Frozen' coming as it's replacement.

Now we have BLT closing this coming week, with no 'official' announcement, or any clue as to what might take its place.

What's the rush?

Couldn't you just see them instead making the official announcement that the Tour was going into "seasonal status" to try to avoid some of the backlash, and then they'd just hope that no one would ever notice that its "season" never returned?

 

[FigmentJedi]

But this goes against the original intention of Disney-MGM, er, Disney Hollywood Studios! How dare they! This is a SLAP IN THE FACE! Every theme park Disney builds MUST stay exactly as it was when it was opened, and any new additions or changes should meet MY approval! Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply Disney's lap dog and sniffing pixie dust!

Oh...hold on a sec...just got the memo - these rules only apply to parks built in 1982 or before. This is 1989 - we're safe folks. Crisis averted. They can do whatever they heck they want.

And really, the goal of both Orlando Studios parks of bringing film and television production to central Florida ended up failing because of how insular the Hollywood machine is. And that even extends to the shutdown of Feature Animation Florida what with it not just being "KILL ALL 2D CARTOONS", but Eisner also wanting to keep film production back in California where the execs could keep a better eye on it.

 

[flynnibus]

Im sure disney and Hollywood studios isn't hurting for money like you make it seem though, they are just obsessed with charging the public the highest prices the market will support while eliminating value, and maximizing shareholder stock prices, at the expense of the guest experience, as the majority of disney shareholders, are not regular park guests, so they only care about the stock price, not the guest experience.

Now you're just ranting and just closing your eyes to the realities of running a business... instead stomping your feet 'give me what I want'. If you want to talk about the realities of the parks - you must accept all realities, not just the ones that suit you as a customer.

You don't keep making money by ing it away and building up a operational model that you can't sustain.

 

[mm121]

There's no way Disney can close that much of the park all at once. Too much attraction capacity would be lost, and despite how Disney executives often appear clueless, they are at least aware of that metric.



Again, as others have asked, just what major attraction is coming to the Magic Kingdom between now and 2020?

Disney doesn't seem to care about the guest experience anymore, have you seen the mess that is Poly, while still charging 500 bucks a night. and the mess that is Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life area.

Thats a really good question, nothing is on the drawing board for MK for 2020, at the snales pace they build they better start tommorrow if they had any hope.

After current projects are finished accross the board, they really really need to evaluate their construction timing and strategies, as it would be much better to constantly be doing one or two projects all the time, rather than neglecting things for so long and then having to play catch up

as i'm sure playing catch up and having to find additional construction companies, drives up costs majorly.

 

[CDavid]

Every theme park Disney builds MUST stay exactly as it was when it was opened, and any new additions or changes should meet MY approval!

Neither Disneyland nor the Magic Kingdom have stayed exactly as they were the day they opened, and nobody has actually suggested they should. However, what those parks largely have done (sometimes more successfully than others) is generally remain true to their established theme, mission, and reason for being. That stands in sharp contrast to Epcot, which seems to have lost its way through years of benign neglect, lack of investment, and taking the quick, easy, unimaginative way out with what additions and updates were made. It literally has nothing to do with my opinion or yours, but rather the objective standards and formula which Disney itself once aspired to.

 

[Andrew C]

Couldn't you just see them instead making the official announcement that the Tour was going into "seasonal status" to try to avoid some of the backlash, and then they'd just hope that no one would ever notice that its "season" never returned?

There has been backlash with the tour closing???

 

[PhotoDave219]

But this goes against the original intention of Disney-MGM, er, Disney Hollywood Studios! How dare they! This is a SLAP IN THE FACE! Every theme park Disney builds MUST stay exactly as it was when it was opened, and any new additions or changes should meet MY approval! Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply Disney's lap dog and sniffing pixie dust!

Oh...hold on a sec...just got the memo - these rules only apply to parks built in 1982 or before. This is 1989 - we're safe folks. Crisis averted. They can do whatever they heck they want.

Exactly. It's only about what the Epcot fanboys want. Even removing classic and original entertainment from that park, 33-year-old shows, doesn't mean a thing to them.

But if you dare take out a second rate boat ride…

 

[TeriofTerror]

There has been backlash with the tour closing???

I'm just saying they might fear one.

 

[mm121]

Now you're just ranting and just closing your eyes to the realities of running a business... instead stomping your feet 'give me what I want'. If you want to talk about the realities of the parks - you must accept all realities, not just the ones that suit you as a customer.

You don't keep making money by ing it away and building up a operational model that you can't sustain.

I'm not ranting and i do understand the realities of running a business.

When your saying they can't increase operational budgets that would imply that park attendance has stagnated, and/or decreased. When in reality park attendance has been increasing, and is projected to continue to do so.

The parks are seeing more people than ever before, as such attraction capacity needs to increase.

When i suggested adding a bunch of new attractions on the expanded park boundaries, I didn't mean just go crazy and build it all at once, I meant plan for the continued growth of park attendance and just make a true future master plan, and bring attractions (aka operational expenses) online proportionally to the growth in attendance to maintain a certain standard.

as theres no way people should be paying 100 bucks a day to go stand in lines for 2 hours.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It's mostly an "if" thing that I could actually see happening. Plus there were some rumors but no one here has verified them........ Yet. Right now I'm not worried.

I really worry about where some of you get your information from…

 

[mm121]

But if you dare take out a second rate boat ride…

The Frozen change isn't so much about taking out the boat ride, it is about it being a FUNDAMENTAL shift in the way things have been done in the World Showcase, and the entire mission of the world showcase, and in what it could mean for the future.

Aladdin ride in Morrocco, Lion King for Africa, etc etc,

changing the focus from the countries themselves, to being a focus on whats hot now.

 

[Mike S]

I really worry about where some of you get your information from…

I was talking about the Jim Hill thing but since no one else has said that GMR is definitely leaving I'm not worried yet. Just that I could see it happening based on all the closures and cuts recently and over the years.

 

[TalkingHead]

But this goes against the original intention of Disney-MGM, er, Disney Hollywood Studios! How dare they! This is a SLAP IN THE FACE! Every theme park Disney builds MUST stay exactly as it was when it was opened, and any new additions or changes should meet MY approval! Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply Disney's lap dog and sniffing pixie dust!

Oh...hold on a sec...just got the memo - these rules only apply to parks built in 1982 or before. This is 1989 - we're safe folks. Crisis averted. They can do whatever they heck they want.

You don't understand. Disney-MGM Studios was a mere theme park. About movies. Sure, there might've been some learning involved. But it was about movies. Pshh. Total crap.

EPCOT Center, on the other hand, was more like a Harvard seminar or an MIT research lab than a theme park. My gosh, to say EPCOT was a theme park -- why, that's only a step removed from an amusement park. That'll never do.

EPCOT wasn't a theme park. It was a brilliant research and educational space all about the intellectual drive of the human being (sponsored and funded by greedy slave-driving corporations -- but ignore that for the moment). Spaceship Earth was the equivalent of a Noam Chomsky lecture about communication complete with robots dressed in historical costumes. The profundity of it all...