Toy Story Hotel Planned to replace Paradise Pier Hotel?

[DavidDL]

We watched a video for this one last night (at least what's been completed so far) and we both agreed it looks just.. awful. It was the first time I'd ever heard my wife use the word "corporate" to describe something Disney's built in my entire life. "Where is the color? Where is the life? This isn't what I think about when I think of Pixar."

The fact that a Great Maple, of all things, is taking up the resort's dining real estate sends me for a loop, too. No colorful, fun dining options with the Pixar characters. Just a restaurant chain that'd feel more at home in Downtown Disney that I could have driven to Hillcrest or La Jolla for.

Actually, the La Jolla location closed down.. maybe they packed up shop and headed up to the new hotel?

 

[PiratesMansion]

We watched a video for this one last night (at least what's been completed so far) and we both agreed it looks just.. awful. It was the first time I'd ever heard my wife use the word "corporate" to describe something Disney's built in my entire life. "Where is the color? Where is the life? This isn't what I think about when I think of Pixar."

The fact that a Great Maple, of all things, is taking up the resort's dining real estate sends me for a loop, too. No colorful, fun dining options with the Pixar characters. Just a restaurant chain that'd feel more at home in Downtown Disney that I could have driven to Hillcrest or La Jolla for.

Actually, the La Jolla location closed down.. maybe they packed up shop and headed up to the new hotel?

This is all true, but was there EVER a day of its entire existence that the Pan Pacific/DL Pacific/Paradise Pier/Pixar Place Hotel didn't look like an ugly corporate product inside and out?

 

[TP2000]

Actually, the La Jolla location closed down.. maybe they packed up shop and headed up to the new hotel?

Spot on regarding Great Maple not making any sense in this Pixar hotel.

The La Jolla one closed because La Jolla is a tough town to do business in, and not just because the rents are high and parking is scarce; the locals are very faithful to their long-term favorites (I know a few that are downright ornery about it), and the tourists just want SoCal Beach Scene stuff or "Seafood!" instead of hipster coffee shops.

The Hillcrest location was the first one, and I think it's still the best. I have no idea what they were doing by putting a Great Maple in the Pixar hotel, but then judging by the aesthetics of this Pixar hotel I don't think anyone on the project knew what they were doing.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

Yeah this whole thing looks so sterile and horrible. I actually liked the beach theme a lot and miss my stays at the PPH, especially when we had a view of PP. I will say the remodeled outdoor deck area by the pool and water slide looks like a huge win in the concept art. That area needed life for a while and as a “resort” I’m glad to see a lively area for guests to sit around, play games, or enjoy the hotel under the sun.

The worst part is how this looks from Pixar Pier now. Before it looked like a skyscraper building that at least tried to match the pier in color. Imposing but muted a bit by its paint job. Now it looks like the hospital building Jack Jack gets sent to everyday so he can remove those sticks from his back.

 

[jmuboy]

I’m really hoping the artwork they adding ( please tell me they are adding art ) in the common spaces will be of a bright and vibrant nature. Which would explain why the base coloring is so sterile. Overall it’s not going to fully overcome the sterile look. But hoping there is some improvement.

After seeing Art or Marvel in Paris this place is laughable

 

[Adventureland Veranda]

I know there's not much you can really do with this building but I preferred the beach theme which felt more welcoming. I would have updated that look rather than the sterile space they chose.

The new roof deck is an improvement but the theming is odd with all the random Pixar references clumped together there.

 

[DavidDL]

This is all true, but was there EVER a day of its entire existence that the Pan Pacific/DL Pacific/Paradise Pier/Pixar Place Hotel didn't look like an ugly corporate product inside and out?

Touché.

-and who am I kidding, even if Disney did try and go full-on "whimsical" with this transformation, at best we'd probably just get another Pixar Pier in hotel form. Which they also did an awful job with.

It's not like doing a good job with Pixar properties is an impossible task for them, either. But lately it's felt really hit or miss. Looking at individual attractions like Astro Blasters, It's Tough to be a Bug, Ratatouille or full on areas like Cars Land and Toy Story Land make what we're seeing with things like the Pixar Place and Contemporary hotels all the tougher to stomach.

 

[disneyC97]

This is ugly. But so are the blue glass DL Hotel towers...though you don't see those from one of the parks and the grounds at the DL Hotel are...well, they actually have some.

 

[TP2000]

I’m really hoping the artwork they adding ( please tell me they are adding art ) in the common spaces will be of a bright and vibrant nature. Which would explain why the base coloring is so sterile. Overall it’s not going to fully overcome the sterile look. But hoping there is some improvement.

After seeing Art or Marvel in Paris this place is laughable

Yeah, you can tell there are blank walls where clearly they're going to add art or pictures or something. But even then, it's very sterile and corporate looking.

Today they added some cartoon sketches to a white wall in the bar area. Um... okay?

I think my favorite element of this retheme is that the hotel gift shop is called "Hotel Gift Shop". I'm immersed in magic.

 

[NobodyElse]

Yeah, you can tell there are blank walls where clearly they're going to add art or pictures or something. But even then, it's very sterile and corporate looking.

Today they added some cartoon sketches to a white wall in the bar area. Um... okay?

I think my favorite element of this retheme is that the hotel gift shop is called "Hotel Gift Shop". I'm immersed in magic.

Please tell me "Hotel Gift Shop" is a temporary sign. Otherwise, they need to add a blue stripe to complete the theme.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Who are they trying to attract with this retheme? People who have a infatuation with Pixar as a brand, but hate the idea of staying in a themed hotel?

 

[TP2000]

Who are they trying to attract with this retheme? People who have a infatuation with Pixar as a brand, but hate the idea of staying in a themed hotel?

I think the market they are after with this retheme is people who have an infatuation with corporate chain airport hotels, but promised they'd take the kids to Disneyland instead of just staying at the airport for a week.

So this feels safer and more comforting to them to stay in a "Disney" hotel that looks/feels like an airport Marriott.

Oklahoma City Airport Aloft by Marriott hotel lobby - You are immersed, but you don't have to worry about Lightning Lane!

 

[PiratesMansion]

Who are they trying to attract with this retheme? People who have a infatuation with Pixar as a brand, but hate the idea of staying in a themed hotel?

I think the decision to do this retheme is a combination of several things:
1. They're stuck with this dog of a property that they can't make any real changes to, with some sort of complicated financial stake in place that ties the land the property sits on to the original owners of the hotel.
2. Paradise Pier Hotel was failing to draw guests to the point that it had no operating restaurants.
3. Modern Disney can only think of things through the lens of half-a$$ed IP makeovers.
4. It overlooks the crowing achievement that is Half-A$$ed IP Makeover: The Land.
5. Desperation
6. Realistically, what else could they do with this hotel as is that might draw people?

So may as well do this and maybe get the bookings from some gullible family types who don't know any better. I mean, there were a few crying fanbois over the changes, so clearly even this ugly building and embarassment of a Disney hotel can attract nostalgia somehow. Why not make it even more potent by tying it to brands? It will surely make people feel scammed and ripped off be a winning combination of a superlative hotel experience, made even better by the presence or even just the implication of beloved characters!

 

[chadwpalm]

It's a good thing Pixar is currently at the top of their game.

‘Elemental’ Projected to Earn $40 Million Box Office Opening, Ranking Among Pixar’s Lowest

Only two of Pixar's 23 theatrically released films have ever opened to less than $40 million

www.yahoo.com

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I agree it’s a boring theme for a Disney resort but as I’ll likely never stay there at $500+ a night I’m just happy the exterior looks so much better from inside DCA. From the park it’s a huge improvement.

Unfortunately the new DL Hotel paint scheme now makes it stand out from inside DCA, I’d never noticed it before but now it stands out and looks horrible from inside the park.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Yeah, you can tell there are blank walls where clearly they're going to add art or pictures or something. But even then, it's very sterile and corporate looking.

Today they added some cartoon sketches to a white wall in the bar area. Um... okay?

I think my favorite element of this retheme is that the hotel gift shop is called "Hotel Gift Shop". I'm immersed in magic.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

This really could have been Art of Animation - West - just using the Pixar parts of that absolutely charmingly-themed value resort.

But... so far... it's not.

 

[Suspirian]

It's a good thing Pixar is currently at the top of their game.

‘Elemental’ Projected to Earn $40 Million Box Office Opening, Ranking Among Pixar’s Lowest

Only two of Pixar's 23 theatrically released films have ever opened to less than $40 million

www.yahoo.com

I think this is still decent money but it's so strange seeing Disney kinda side line its animated properties.

 

[chadwpalm]

I think this is still decent money but it's so strange seeing Disney kinda side line its animated properties.

Elemental has a $200M production budget. A movie needs to make about 2.5x that to break even and about 3 to 3.5 times that to be successful. This is due to the portion the theaters keep and marketing budget which is not included in the production budget. This is also the total needed internationally.

So lets estimate this movie needs to make about $500M to break even (possibly more since studios don't usually release their marketing budget values) and about $600M-$700M to turn a decent profit.

In comparison, Lightyear opened to about $50.5M domestically and only made $226M internationally. If Elemental is due to only make $40M domestically, then it could potentially make less than that. This movie isn't as controversial as Lightyear was (or that we know of so far), but it is going up against The Flash and Transformer's second weekend, so it is hard to say. Elemental will most likely be another huge loss for Disney.

To me the story looks bland and it comes across as just another anthropomorphic outing which we see so much of now. If I had to guess, the moral of the story will be that everyone is prejudice against people (elements in this case) that are different from them until they get to know them better and that diversity is key blah blah blah. It's modern Disney, so it will preach something.

 

[TP2000]

Elemental has a $200M production budget. A movie needs to make about 2.5x that to break even and about 3 to 3.5 times that to be successful. This is due to the portion the theaters keep and marketing budget which is not included in the production budget. This is also the total needed internationally.

So lets estimate this movie needs to make about $500M to break even (possibly more since studios don't usually release their marketing budget values) and about $600M-$700M to turn a decent profit.

The story here is the hugely bloated budgets Pixar and Disney waste on these films. Universal spends less than half what Disney/Pixar does on their animated family films, and then Universal does five times or more of the box office. That's not sustainable for Burbank and Emeryville.

Elemental will most likely be another huge loss for Disney.

Which is a shame, because it has the always-fabulous Catherine O'Hara voicing the mother, and the plot was explained as Pixar does Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?, which is one of my all-time favorite movies I have on Blu-Ray and watch once per year.

How you screw that up is hard to say, but it sounds like modern Pixar is going to find a way.

I wonder if they'll put in an Elemental display or artwork in this new hotel lobby when the film opens in two weeks? It can't hurt.