Tower of Terror better at DCA... uggghh!?

[paulcmartens]

as per cost of AK...

I heard they imported dirt for that park (or at least a very large attraction). Maybe that explains some cost issues.

Also, Joe R. has a maintenance team for his earring...that adds up over the years.

 

[tomm4004]

Now this guy wasn't an idiot...I just thought it was amazing. Anyone bin on TD SM?

Yes. It has a cooler line up but the ride seemed the same with one big difference- everything worked as I recall. I rode WDW Splash a couple weeks ago and it disappointing that some of the effects were not working. As for costing 1 billion - that's probably YEN, certainly not dollars!

I heard they imported dirt for that park (or at least a very large attraction). Maybe that explains some cost issues.

Well, it is built on reclaimed land. I think the costs for TDS can be summed up with one word - Amazing. Amazing theming, shows, restaurants and attractions - including several serious e-tickets.

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by tomm4004
But I don't see where $800 million went. Landscaping can't be that expensive.

A lot of it went into building the Tree of Life. They actually started work on the tree several years before the park was even publicly announced! Seriously, I know a lot of money went into the tree, but I doubt that that's where most of the money went into. I bet buying all those animals wasn't cheap either! Countdown to Extinction (now Dinosaur), being a ride system clone of Indiana Jones, probably cost the same as DL's Indy, so that one ride alone was probably $100 million (the largest AA figure in Disney history is included in this ride too and that one AA figure a lone wasn't cheap). Its Tough to be a Bug was outsourced to Pixar, and Disney probably paid Pixar a lot of coinage to produce that film for them as well!

 

[PeterAlt]

Re: jealous...

Originally posted by paulcmartens
when I spoke with an imagineer (and I don't believe this by the way, I thought his figures were wrong) but he also said how well funded TDR is. For splash mountain, he was saying one billion was spent on that attraction, infrasturcture was included in that.

Now this guy wasn't an idiot...I just thought it was amazing. Anyone bin on TD SM?

He probably meant a billion YEN!!!!!! Seriously, $100 million is about the most any company would spend on a single attraction, though I've seen reports that Mission: Space actually costed Disney $200 million, making that one ride the most expensive ride in history, though it wouldn't look like that spent that much, but in actually it was the centrifuge and the 3D animation on the simulated that made the ride cost so much.

 

[tomm4004]

though I've seen reports that Mission: Space actually costed Disney $200 million,

How much of that tab was picked up by the sponsor HP? Also, I believe an outside company invented this simulator. Is this true? I could see the development and R&D costs taking up a lot of funds. I've also read that Disney had plans to clone this into other resorts but that plans were scrapped due to the nausea factor. Time will tell.

 

[The_CEO]

Originally posted by tomm4004
I wrote that Tokyo Disney Sea cost over $2 billion. Not TZTOT!

I read it wrong. I appoligize.

 

[paulcmartens]

one BILLION dollars

One BILLION dollars :drevil:

Oh, no...I made sure of that...I said, well, you mean, YEN...he was like, No, as in , American Dollars. So, that's what he said (at the time, he was working on designs for HK SPACE M.

I heard Mission Space was approaching the 4 mark...like three fitty or something total cost.

Yes centrifuge was made by a different company...they have a website that shows the system. And I'm too lazy to look that up right now.

Splash is looking pretty tattered here in Disneyland...the repaint looks way too intense, and the speaker grills were shoddily done.

All the wooden planks that make the water look 'rough' on the way down weren't all put back together...that was sloppy...and the characters full range of motion isn't there (WDW's is still nicer, more kept up when I rode it in JAn).

Also...the lighting...I mean, I could have just turned up all the light a lot brighter on everything too and make it look like the way it is now...but the subtlety is all gone...the lighting is really bad right now...bright green, or purple.

One last whine: fix the blue bird for crying out loud...sometimes its head is backwards, then its beak snaps shut like a moustrap with clak clak clak....

 

[tomm4004]

Obviously, Splash did not cost a billion dollars. However, imagine a TZTOT for $2 billion. It could be 130 stories high. That would be quite a drop.

 

[Lee]

I'm not gonna get into what the parks cost, but I will say this:

In Tokyo, OLC will pay whatever it takes to get the best rides. Money is no object. Seriously. And the attendance is high enough to make it work.

Disney doesn't understand that here in the US.
They don't understand "If you build it, they will come."

Well, except for Everest. That is an exception.

 

[andre85]

Originally posted by Lee


Well, except for Everest. That is an exception.

What about Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller Coaster, Test Track, Mission: Space, Dinosaur, Splash Mountain, etc. All those are pretty damn expensive, and their quality is reflective of that. Those are just the relatively recent attractions as well.

 

[AviMM]

Originally posted by tomm4004
How much of that tab was picked up by the sponsor HP? Also, I believe an outside company invented this simulator. Is this true? I could see the development and R&D costs taking up a lot of funds. I've also read that Disney had plans to clone this into other resorts but that plans were scrapped due to the nausea factor. Time will tell.

I read that Disney stopped the plans for now because they got into a lawsuit with the company that made the simulator. Something about Disney having a contract that for up to five years if they want to clone it they have to use that company to get the simulator and Disney wanted to use a cheaper company.

 

[xfkirsten]

Originally posted by Lee
I'm not gonna get into what the parks cost, but I will say this:

In Tokyo, OLC will pay whatever it takes to get the best rides. Money is no object. Seriously. And the attendance is high enough to make it work.

Yup, that's exactly what I meant by my last post. and the Imagineers here in the states are very jealous of that fact. :lol:

-Kirsten

 

[s25843]

You also have to remember that at DAK most of the plants were imported, and they had several design teams to go to various places to capture the "Spirit" of the areas.

 

[paulcmartens]

bad themeing...

I'm personally tired of the cutbacks that DCA gets...its such a bad theme park...I mean, what's the theme...California? OH yah, that just transports me out of ....California. I heard Eisner came up with that theme himself at a weekend charet (talk about not knowing your strengths...stick to business, not creative ideas).

All the imagineers roll their eyes at the concept of DCA, because they all know the reason WHY disneyland was created because Walt didn't like the Amusement parks that existed. He didn't like the fairs, the unthemed rides....DCA is just an expensive midway...and guess what...that's the most anti-Disneyland thing there is.

I personally think that park SUCKS and it got major cutbacks in funding half way through development (probably because your idea sucked, Eisner, and you started to realize it). I have very few hopes for DCA's TOT. I mean, when I first walked to TOT in WDW I was like...yah, this is more imposing...my wife, not a Disney nut like me even thinks Florida's version just looks on the outside as more menacing...DCA's in her opionion is too cartoony.

 

[AviMM]

Re: bad themeing...

Originally posted by paulcmartens
I'm personally tired of the cutbacks that DCA gets...its such a bad theme park...I mean, what's the theme...California? OH yah, that just transports me out of ....California. I heard Eisner came up with that theme himself at a weekend charet (talk about not knowing your strengths...stick to business, not creative ideas).

All the imagineers roll their eyes at the concept of DCA, because they all know the reason WHY disneyland was created because Walt didn't like the Amusement parks that existed. He didn't like the fairs, the unthemed rides....DCA is just an expensive midway...and guess what...that's the most anti-Disneyland thing there is.

I personally think that park SUCKS and it got major cutbacks in funding half way through development (probably because your idea sucked, Eisner, and you started to realize it). I have very few hopes for DCA's TOT. I mean, when I first walked to TOT in WDW I was like...yah, this is more imposing...my wife, not a Disney nut like me even thinks Florida's version just looks on the outside as more menacing...DCA's in her opionion is too cartoony.

Well...Eisner came up with the first Tower of Terror

 

[PeterAlt]

Re: bad themeing...

Originally posted by paulcmartens
I'm personally tired of the cutbacks that DCA gets...its such a bad theme park...I mean, what's the theme...California? OH yah, that just transports me out of ....California. I heard Eisner came up with that theme himself at a weekend charet (talk about not knowing your strengths...stick to business, not creative ideas).

All the imagineers roll their eyes at the concept of DCA, because they all know the reason WHY disneyland was created because Walt didn't like the Amusement parks that existed. He didn't like the fairs, the unthemed rides....DCA is just an expensive midway...and guess what...that's the most anti-Disneyland thing there is.

I personally think that park SUCKS and it got major cutbacks in funding half way through development (probably because your idea sucked, Eisner, and you started to realize it). I have very few hopes for DCA's TOT. I mean, when I first walked to TOT in WDW I was like...yah, this is more imposing...my wife, not a Disney nut like me even thinks Florida's version just looks on the outside as more menacing...DCA's in her opionion is too cartoony.

Here we go again.... First off, while the idea for the park came about during a weekend retreat at one of Eisner's homes, Eisner fell in love with the idea, which came from Paul Pressler, who was also present at Eisner's home at the time.

I want to point out that DCA has more to it than Disney-MGM had when it first opened. Several years later, MGM has lots of bang for your buck. With Tower of Tower opening soon, DCA will some day be a "complete park".

Yes, it is true that DCA has carni rides as one of its themes, and that Walt Disney was trying to move away from all of that. That was 1955. Fast Forward to 2001. The kind of carni Walt was talking about is now nostalgic and has been replaced by everyone trying to copy Disney. So the old fashion carni that Walt Disney was trying to move away from is now an endangered species. And DCA's attempt to bring is back is nothing but nostalgic and historial preservation. So Disney has done good.

 

[andre85]

Re: Re: bad themeing...

It’s like you articulated everything I was thinking.

I, for one, also find DCA to be a beautiful park. Ever seen the boardwalk at night? Gorgeous.

I think DCA was actually a pretty clever use of the land they had available.

 

[paulcmartens]

...disney done bad....

I'm not trying to moralize here saying Disney is a 'bad' company...its just really shifted gears in the last 30 odd years.

I don't know what kind of place you grew up...but where I come from, the midway is still alive and very well (think midwest, farm expositions etc.). If you are from the midwest, you'd understand, if you are a coaster...I think things are different here now that I've lived here for a few years. Even still, the O.C. fair packs them in. DCA is hardly a nostalgic twist...its, suits thinking they are actually creative, when they are not.

DCA is my opinion needs a lot more than just TOT...it needs RNR and one other major E ticket to become a complete park.

But there are design issues as well...which you'd have to like tear down major sections of the park with which is a wholenother thread.

 

[andre85]

Re: ...disney done bad....

Originally posted by paulcmartens

DCA is my opinion needs a lot more than just TOT...it needs RNR and one other major E ticket to become a complete park.

MGM didn't have any of those when it first opened, yet shortly after DCA's 3rd birthday it already has a Tower of Terror. DCA's still in its infancy; it's not fair to compare a park over a decade old to one that just past the terrible twos.

What I don't understand is you being an advocate of DCA requiring "RNR and one other major E ticket to become a complete park", while in the Space Mountain thread, you cite the segregation of the younger audiences as a reason to why you're opposed to thrill rides (RNR being a specific example). Fascinating.

 

[paulcmartens]

DCA is an adult park...so its too late to go back and create it in the image of the original Disneyland originally intended it to be.

May as well let it run on its own course...give it enough rope.

It will just continue to be one step between SFMM and Disneyland.

MGM and DCA are two different animals. At least MGM is navigable.