Transformative Multi-Year Expansion Announced for WDS Paris

[mrflo]

I was hoping for DLP to finally reveal the full details with new concept art about the new "theme" and storyline of WDS. Considering we have been shared almost all of those changes and teased about the plans by insiders more than a year ago, an official announcement was long overdue. At least I want to give DLP credit for providing those infos now.

While I had a hard time translating those insider scoops over the last years into a park theme that made sense to me , I was hoping for the official announcements to fill that gap. However, especially with the new generic name it is clear now that there is not much to make sense of and DLP creatively went the laziest way possible - with some very questionable decisions. Even Universal's Epic Universe - which hardly disguises to be an IP park - is way more elaborate just from a conceptional point of view. This has nothing to do with limited budget or the other usual constraints. Whoever has been or is driving those creative decisions for WDSDAW/DLP either does not care about Disney standards or is just not fit for the task. Seeing similar negative feedback on the official social media channels just on the name itself, I hope DLP is reflecting on those and going back to the drawing board.

With lots of additional funding supposedly coming to DLP over the new couple of years, I am getting worried again that this money would not be in the best hands.

 

[Gusey]

The new name isn't terrible, but it isn't brilliant either. I do understand that the park's concept is that you are entering the worlds of various movies and IPS (Pixar, Marvel Frozen, Lion King). This park will ultimately be seen as Disney's response to Epic Universe because they'll both open in 2025 and DAW is almost like a new park, adding three new lands to the park (World Premiere Plaza, World of Frozen and Adventure Way) to be added to Avengers Campus and Worlds of Pixar

 

[BrianLo]

I too think the new name is kind of dumb, though sitting on it and hearing it, it’s softening.

I mean we’ve all basically accepted Universal’s Epic Universe now… which is so nice we named it twice levels of dumb. Including the fact ‘Epic’ runs a major risk of not aging well as a synonym. But it fits and is fine.

I think I would have picked Disney Studios Adventure though or Disney Adventure Kingdom

 

[Indy_UK]

Actually i think they should have now gone with Disneys Fantasy Parc

 

[mrflo]

Telling your kids that when walking down Adventure Way in Adventure World you will encounter Adventure Bay might lead to some major wrong expectations.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I too think the new name is kind of dumb, though sitting on it and hearing it, it’s softening.

I mean we’ve all basically accepted Universal’s Epic Universe now… which is so nice we named it twice levels of dumb. Including the fact ‘Epic’ runs a major risk of not aging well as a synonym. But it fits and is fine.

I think I would have picked Disney Studios Adventure though or Disney Adventure Kingdom

I don't love the random collection of IP-based lands model for the parks, but I will give Universal credit for at least trying to tie the connective tissue of the park together in a way that suggestions a 'universe' through celestial gardens and the portals.

A lot of us have been asking how all the new additions were supposed to hang together and this rename suggests Disney has just given up on the idea that they should. The front part will continue having a vague studios/Hollywood theme because that's what is already there. The new gardens featuring beaux arts architecture will all be there because they think that will look nice and the individual lands will just be based whatever IPs they want to put in the park.

What I will say is that it moves away from how Disney (and really everyone) has designed parks since Disneyland around a central theme back to the Disneyland model of a park that does not have a central theme. The problem is that the end result seems to just weld random lands onto a park based around the former model in a way that seems kind of odd. I'm glad cooler heads prevailed regarding renaming Disney's Hollywood Studies because I think in both that and this case it is better to just keep the studios/Hollywood conceit as setting the stage for attractions and lands based on movies and television using what is by now the well-established model of the studio theme park.

Everything from the name to the logo of this new park just reads as generic regional park.

 

[nickys]

Telling your kids that when walking down Adventure Way in Adventure World you will encounter Adventure Bay might lead to some major wrong expectations.

The makers of Paw Patrol might have something to say about this.

 

[nickys]

It feels to me like a cross between a studios park and World Showcase - only with fictional lands rather than real ones.

I don’t mind that, but the name is total garbage.

 

[ChrisFL]

It will also be fun when tourists ask for certain attractions and will be confused as to which are in Adventureland and which are in Adventure World

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

A theme park by that name already exists too.

Adventure World

Escape to Adventure World, awesome rides for the whole family. With roller coasters, water park, wild life experiences & events. Get ready for an AWesome day!

adventureworld.net.au

Yeah I bet it has a merry go round that is activated with a quarter, we have an Adventureland here on Long Island that’s probably the size of it so Epcot country pavilions put together.

 

[RoyalFool]

New name is uninspired and generic, which to be blunt, will probably suit the park given how they are basically throwing a bunch of cloned attractions at it for the next few years.

The main park is already an E-ticket or two short given it's size, and lacking water rides, so Frozen Ever After going into Fantasyland would have been perfect, then they could have expanded Marvel + Avatar into studios park which would have kept the "movie" rides in one park, and character rides in the other park. Alas, that makes way too much sense.

 

[nickys]

Water rides aren’t necessary. Any chance of guests getting wet on a ride is a bad idea in a park that’s open year round in the climate.

Legoland Windsor had to install giant air dryers at the end of Viking River Splash where you get as wet as some do on Kali. And it’s only open 7 months of the year.

But yes, both parks could do with a couple more E ticket rides plus some newer dark rides.

 

[BrianLo]

I don't love the random collection of IP-based lands model for the parks, but I will give Universal credit for at least trying to tie the connective tissue of the park together in a way that suggestions a 'universe' through celestial gardens and the portals.

A lot of us have been asking how all the new additions were supposed to hang together and this rename suggests Disney has just given up on the idea that they should. The front part will continue having a vague studios/Hollywood theme because that's what is already there. The new gardens featuring beaux arts architecture will all be there because they think that will look nice and the individual lands will just be based whatever IPs they want to put in the park.

What I will say is that it moves away from how Disney (and really everyone) has designed parks since Disneyland around a central theme back to the Disneyland model of a park that does not have a central theme. The problem is that the end result seems to just weld random lands onto a park based around the former model in a way that seems kind of odd. I'm glad cooler heads prevailed regarding renaming Disney's Hollywood Studies because I think in both that and this case it is better to just keep the studios/Hollywood conceit as setting the stage for attractions and lands based on movies and television using what is by now the well-established model of the studio theme park.

Everything from the name to the logo of this new park just reads as generic regional park.

Absolutely and you are right. Epic isn’t entirely the problem. Though they often start with some positive intentions and parks move backwards with time.

IOA is the problem. No matter the massaging about literature or supposed ‘nautical’ themes, it’s really just a collection of IPs around the lagoon these days. IOA’s popularity has caused a lot of damage to theme park trends. That doesn’t mean I dislike IOA, quite far from it. But it has had perhaps the biggest influence on both companies. From IP lands, anemic themes… I’m just hoping neither company feels its hours or dearth of entertainment (going exclusively in on big ticket rides) are the solution either.

At least DAW has always, even in its worst former days, had entertainment. But its goal is clearly to capture what the public loves about IOA.

 

[ChrisFL]

Absolutely and you are right. Epic isn’t entirely the problem. Though they often start with some positive intentions and parks move backwards with time.

IOA is the problem. No matter the massaging about literature or supposed ‘nautical’ themes, it’s really just a collection of IPs around the lagoon these days. IOA’s popularity has caused a lot of damage to theme park trends. That doesn’t mean I dislike IOA, quite far from it. But it has had perhaps the biggest influence on both companies. From IP lands, anemic themes… I’m just hoping neither company feels its hours or dearth of entertainment (going exclusively in on big ticket rides) are the solution either.

At least DAW has always, even in its worst former days, had entertainment. But its goal is clearly to capture what the public loves about IOA.

It opened with Dr. Seuss, Marvel, Jurassic Park and Toon Lagoon...so yeah, always been IP. The one unique area was Lost Continent.

I don't think the term "islands" necessarily meant "nautical" themes as much as a different thing to refer to than just "lands", especially with a big lagoon in the middle of the park. There's only so many ways to call different areas right? Lands, worlds, ports, islands...um...

 

[BrianLo]

It opened with Dr. Seuss, Marvel, Jurassic Park and Toon Lagoon...so yeah, always been IP. The one unique area was Lost Continent.

I don't think the term "islands" necessarily meant "nautical" themes as much as a different thing to refer to than just "lands", especially with a big lagoon in the middle of the park. There's only so many ways to call different areas right? Lands, worlds, ports, islands...um...

Yes I agree. I’ve just seen some past arguments that IOA has a thematic thread and really it does not anymore. They were not my arguments.

I’m actually ‘fine’ with one park in a collection of parks being a menagerie of IP worlds, but every park doesn’t need to go that way.

 

[celluloid]

Both names describe what it is and what it means

Studios themes are just excuses to be cheap and they’re thankfully moving away from that.

Universal has never moved away from that.

Disney's laziness and lackluster product neglect moved them away from that.

 

[celluloid]

It opened with Dr. Seuss, Marvel, Jurassic Park and Toon Lagoon...so yeah, always been IP. The one unique area was Lost Continent.

I don't think the term "islands" necessarily meant "nautical" themes as much as a different thing to refer to than just "lands", especially with a big lagoon in the middle of the park. There's only so many ways to call different areas right? Lands, worlds, ports, islands...um...

It literally had an overreaching theme of such. Each Island had something to do with the fact it was an Island. Toon Lagoon, obviously water rides and SweetHaven. Jurassic Park should be obvious. Suess is not called Suess Land, but Suess Landing with Sneech Beach and other thematic elements.

Why do you think the one unique greek themed area was chosen to be Lost CONTINENT and focus on Atlantis and the Middle Eastern stories of Sindbad the Sailor?

Port of Entry as the entry and exit point of your adventurers is themed to a port where adventures often stop at a small ficitonal town.

Each Island has lower path landings you can go to and explore details. Some of these have vanished a bit over the years.But it was alays a part of it since Day one.

Luckily, the two things added. Potter, even with its lack of focus on it is an Island and Hogwarts is meant to be seen from water to an extent.

Skull Island...obvious.

There was working it into context, but the point is. IOA had a throughline.

Hence why the icon is a lighthouse.


Theming what is already in Paris to be "Adventure!" is generic, as ....most things worth an attraction are based on adventure.

 

[Gusey]

Disney Adventue Worlds would make slightly more sense as each land is essentially becoming a "world" (World Premiere Plaza, World of Frozen, Worlds of Pixar). You enter through the movie theatre facade at the end of World Premiere into the worlds of your favourite movies.

A side note: Avengers Campus is not allowed to be called World of Marvel as Disney aren't allowed to use the word Marvel in the name of any land/attraction they create worldwide due to the Marvel theme park contract with Universal, so they had to settle with Avengers Campus (and Worlds of Marvel is the name of one of the restaurants on the Disney Wish and Treasure cruise ships).

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Absolutely and you are right. Epic isn’t entirely the problem. Though they often start with some positive intentions and parks move backwards with time.

IOA is the problem. No matter the massaging about literature or supposed ‘nautical’ themes, it’s really just a collection of IPs around the lagoon these days. IOA’s popularity has caused a lot of damage to theme park trends. That doesn’t mean I dislike IOA, quite far from it. But it has had perhaps the biggest influence on both companies. From IP lands, anemic themes… I’m just hoping neither company feels its hours or dearth of entertainment (going exclusively in on big ticket rides) are the solution either.

At least DAW has always, even in its worst former days, had entertainment. But its goal is clearly to capture what the public loves about IOA.

I do agree and mostly avoid commenting too much on the Universal threads as I figure if people enjoy those parks more than Disney's, all the power to them. Still, I am not convinced by the frequent claims that Universal is now out-Disneying Disney, even with Epic Universe. A lot of things people talk about being a new level of themed entertainment involve the same kind of single-IP lands and even more reliance on applying a thin veneer of theming over rollercoasters that provoke so much criticism of Disney's more recent options. Disney really doesn't need to be more like current Universal, it needs to be more like it used to be.

As for WDSP/DAW, this is all giving me the same impression as the refurbishment of Disney Village. Perhaps it comes from a lack of budget, but in both cases they just seem to be applying patchwork fixes without any overarching vision. It feels like they're just prettying up what's already there with some new facades and gardens and, in the case of the park, adding some new things to do. Without any overall theme, they could just as easily slot in a Pandora as a Lion King or a Star Wars land depending on their budget and mood. Maybe also throw in a flat ride based on Tangled, Little Mermaid, or perhaps Moana depending on where they have space and which proposal takes their fancy. The front half will be sort of studio themed just because, and for some reason there will always be a decrepit old hotel in the middle of park. It just seems like they've given up trying to have it all cohere in any meaningful way.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

and for some reason there will always be a decrepit old hotel in the middle of park.

This is what DisneySea got right. The hotel's exterior isn't run down, it's the interior that's spooky.

Like Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.