Transformative Multi-Year Expansion Announced for WDS Paris

[Supersnow84]

Oh, they can afford it now if they wanted to. But attendance says they don’t have to yet.

Disney is probably the only park chain that I think more often than not will expand a park even if the attendance doesn’t warrant it because of the brand maintenance (explains HK and almost all the second gates except TDS which doesn’t count anyway)

I do think Disney would be hard pressed to afford the 2030 vision of WDS right now especially with the expansions going on at 4 other resorts (only DLR is kinda stable right now) but it doesn’t really have to because people will still flock to the half finished expansion because it’s still a drastic improvement on old WDS

 

[marni1971]

Disney is probably the only park chain that I think more often than not will expand a park even if the attendance doesn’t warrant it because of the brand maintenance (explains HK and almost all the second gates except TDS which doesn’t count anyway)

I do think Disney would be hard pressed to afford the 2030 vision of WDS right now especially with the expansions going on at 4 other resorts (only DLR is kinda stable right now) but it doesn’t really have to because people will still flock to the half finished expansion because it’s still a drastic improvement on old WDS

They have the money. They don’t have the resources currently. Not that something already planned needs more R&D mind.

To be quite honest just turning the lasers on in FF would be a good day for WDSP for now.

 

[Supersnow84]

They have the money. They don’t have the resources currently. Not that something already planned needs more R&D mind.

To be quite honest just turning the lasers on in FF would be a good day for WDSP for now.

Yeah fair the problem is more resources, I just kinda lump “resources” in as money, so actual cash, workers and resources all together

There is little that wouldn’t improve WDS right now with how comically bad the park is right now

 

[marni1971]

Yeah fair the problem is more resources, I just kinda lump “resources” in as money, so actual cash, workers and resources all together

There is little that wouldn’t improve WDS right now with how comically bad the park is right now

Is it wrong to be marginally happy that it’s “not as bad as it was” ?

 

[Supersnow84]

Is it wrong to be marginally happy that it’s “not as bad as it was” ?

Of course not

 

[cjkeating]

There is little that wouldn’t improve WDS right now with how comically bad the park is right now

This will shock you but I took a group of three adults who’d never been to Disney before and we did our first day at DL Park and the second day at WDSP. We did every ride, every show, witnessed the streetmosphere, ate at Remy’s, snacked at the Christmas market stalls and saw the drone show…. Guess which park they preferred? WDSP!

They said it felt more modern, was easier to navigate, less walking, more thrilling, more relaxed.

I obviously don’t agree but I think for people who are first time visitors or just like to pick and choose attractions based on relevancy to them and what they perceive as Disney they don’t see all the flaws fans do and enjoy WDSP.

 

[Kev1982]

This will shock you but I took a group of three adults who’d never been to Disney before and we did our first day at DL Park and the second day at WDSP. We did every ride, every show, witnessed the streetmosphere, ate at Remy’s, snacked at the Christmas market stalls and saw the drone show…. Guess which park they preferred? WDSP!

They said it felt more modern, was easier to navigate, less walking, more thrilling, more relaxed.

I obviously don’t agree but I think for people who are first time visitors or just like to pick and choose attractions based on relevancy to them and what they perceive as Disney they don’t see all the flaws fans do and enjoy WDSP.

I think for most people, they go to Disney to see Disney. Point.
While i really appreciate the themes and placemakings, more than the rides I can understand it

 

[Supersnow84]

This will shock you but I took a group of three adults who’d never been to Disney before and we did our first day at DL Park and the second day at WDSP. We did every ride, every show, witnessed the streetmosphere, ate at Remy’s, snacked at the Christmas market stalls and saw the drone show…. Guess which park they preferred? WDSP!

They said it felt more modern, was easier to navigate, less walking, more thrilling, more relaxed.

I obviously don’t agree but I think for people who are first time visitors or just like to pick and choose attractions based on relevancy to them and what they perceive as Disney they don’t see all the flaws fans do and enjoy WDSP.

I’m not gonna berate another’s opinion but WDS problems to me don’t really stem from it being a bad Disney park, it stems from just being a bad park in general

It has what…. 11 rides total if you count all three of its TSL rides individually, there are regional theme parks in far flung places like Australia with a better lineup than WDS, it’s streetscape is fine I guess, the right side of the park is definitely better on this front but I’m neither here nor there on it (though given Disneyland Paris’s main advantage over the other 5 is it is probably the most beautiful of the magic kingdoms so it has stiff competition), I feel it also strongly suffers from being a second gate, like most second gates do

In everything else it’s just kinda……there, it really doesn’t have a theme anymore (unless you count dumping ground for IP’s that don’t fit in Disneyland parc as a theme)

Just in general the park is unbalanced and messy, though that’s just my opinion

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

This will shock you but I took a group of three adults who’d never been to Disney before and we did our first day at DL Park and the second day at WDSP. We did every ride, every show, witnessed the streetmosphere, ate at Remy’s, snacked at the Christmas market stalls and saw the drone show…. Guess which park they preferred? WDSP!

They said it felt more modern, was easier to navigate, less walking, more thrilling, more relaxed.

I obviously don’t agree but I think for people who are first time visitors or just like to pick and choose attractions based on relevancy to them and what they perceive as Disney they don’t see all the flaws fans do and enjoy WDSP.

Unfortunately, "modern" goes out of date. The first park is "timeless"- and I much prefer that. But I can certainly appreciate other's differing opinions.

 

[DonniePeverley]

I can at least understand this expansion is more of a transformative tool, the lake is supposed to become the new centre of the park and they can expand into new lands from there without having the slightly wonky arrangement of the front half of the park get in the way

It’s like a rebirth expansion but they kinda have only put in the bare minimum to make the current expansion worth it

So it’s kinda changed the park from “actively bad” to “tolerable 3/4 day park with a good future if they deliver” which I mean is a massive improvement for WDS

So to clarify what you mean to say is they have cleared lands, tidied everything up - and all they are missing is the 'actual attractions'.

I don't know but i would have thought after so many years the main issue should have been putting in attractions rather than tidying up.

 

[mrflo]

They have the money. They don’t have the resources currently. Not that something already planned needs more R&D mind.

Could you elaborate on your comments, please? Didn't Forbes just recently declare that Imagineering staffing & funding in Paris are at a record high? Wouldn't the actual construction heavily rely on 3rd party companies anyway?

 

[Supersnow84]

So to clarify what you mean to say is they have cleared lands, tidied everything up - and all they are missing is the 'actual attractions'.

I don't know but i would have thought after so many years the main issue should have been putting in attractions rather than tidying up.

Well yes and no, the park looks better than when it launched, though that isn’t really saying much, some of the new mini lands don’t look half bad (specifically the ratatouille one) though the park still lacks a lot of thematic cohesiveness and a lot of the legacy problems (like how 90% of the original parks design budget went into studio 1) still are present on what remains of the legacy lands

And like you said for all the changes and stuff that have already happened they still haven’t moved the needle on rides, cars replaced the old studio tour ride, the marvel coaster replaced rock n roller coaster and even if you take the boat ride across the lake as a “ride” at the end of the expansion the park will have a whopping 13 rides of which 5 are generic flat rides, 1 is horrible retheme of an existing barely okay ride

For all the “land cycling” they are doing the park just really isn’t getting any better, every plus comes with a minus, arendelle is the only true no strings attached addition to the park and even it’s barely half a land

But if the plans do come to fruition that they will add 3 more full lands around the lake that will be something to consider

 

[marni1971]

Could you elaborate on your comments, please? Didn't Forbes just recently declare that Imagineering staffing & funding in Paris are at a record high? Wouldn't the actual construction heavily rely on 3rd party companies anyway?

Recent staff cuts hit a lot of places

 

[mrflo]

Recent staff cuts hit a lot of places

I see. Thank you for the clarification. I had assumed that mainly the media business was impacted by the layoffs.
Makes you wonder how this will impact any expansion plans beyond the current phase if they are already struggling at the current one.

 

[Rush]

WDS has modern I.P's. The actual park is not modern. In fact, it's quite uninspiring and has sections that are far more outdated than anything found in Parc.

 

[DonniePeverley]

So to clarify in metaphorical format - They have cleaned up the bedroom, removed all the junk, and made it clean. But they haven't put a bed in, no desk, no tv, and no lights. But they have put a small plant pot in the far side of the room.

Would that be about correct ?

 

[MisterPenguin]

So to clarify in metaphorical format - They have cleaned up the bedroom, removed all the junk, and made it clean. But they haven't put a bed in, no desk, no tv, and no lights. But they have put a small plant pot in the far side of the room.

Would that be about correct ?

You're trying to state an opinion but couching it in the form of a question.

It's OK to state your opinion.

Just don't pass it off as fact. And be cool if people have a different opinion.

 

[Supersnow84]

Though it is fair to say it’s the majority opinion

No matter how many times the park “reinvents” it’s lands it’s core problem is (and has always been) the fact that it’s ride count equals 11 of which 5 are generic flat rides and with its 2.0 expansion that will expand to a whopping 13 (if you count a means of transport as a ride otherwise it’s 12)

For reference the next smallest park is HK at 16(18) and plans for 17(19) and people deride HK for also being too small (DAK and EPCOT are too hard to characterise here)

The park is simply too small

 

[Jordan dby]

The existence of the lake is promising as it shows the park will be big enough to be compared with other disney parks at some point in the future. 3 clear expansion pods which when full will have nearly doubled the park.

But then the actual new stuff we are getting, still 2 years from now apparently, is underwhelming. It's even less than what disney announced 5 years ago now.

So yeah, reasons to be optimistic and a little ed off.

 

[Supersnow84]

The existence of the lake is promising as it shows the park will be big enough to be compared with other disney parks at some point in the future. 3 clear expansion pods which when full will have nearly doubled the park.

But then the actual new stuff we are getting, still 2 years from now apparently, is underwhelming. It's even less than what disney announced 5 years ago now.

So yeah, reasons to be optimistic and a little ed off.

Yeah if we went blue sky and said that they would add 3 full sized lands to the new expansion pads and each land had 2-3 attractions and one was an e ticket that would give the park

20 total rides and 6 (7 if you count ratatouille) e ticket attractions

That puts it solidly in castle park territory

But as it stands the current expansion is topping out at 12(13) so it’s kinda “bright future if they can pull it off but the current confirmed plans only really put it in the not actively horrible anymore territory”