rickreptile
Member
Well the grass in the model where the Lion King area is supposed to be built does have a very specific shape, very obvious something will be placed there if you ask me.
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Transformative Multi-Year Expansion Announced for WDS Paris
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mrflo
Well-Known Member
I read it the same way. Especially the Lion King area has some unusual outlines/shapes towards that backstage road behind the Frozen restaurant building. Why to put in those shapes or roads if it is not the placeholder for something that is planned to go there.
Btw, I did not make and publish screenshots of the video on the previous page. But there are further details of the model but also behind-the-scene footage of some of the set pieces for the new Studio 1, the lake restaurant and Frozen. You can also see on the model that the signage of Earffel Tower will change to the new park name and Studio 1 seems to keep its "1" above the entrance.
cjkeating
Well-Known Member
Let's not forgot this models primary use is master planning by WDI so it's more than probable the Lion King model was there before it was shipped over from France and who knows... maybe the LK model was left in France.
nickys
Premium Member
I think the LK model will be placed into it at D23 tomorrow, to a soundtrack of Circle of Life.
This will follow the grand announcement of Adventure Park with every cliche possible - and a few extra for good measure!
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It’s not a theme park. There’s no central thesis. It’s a branded amusement park with stuff that’s just sort of there.
If anything it’s becoming less cohesive than it was in 2002.
I dunno I def think it's starting to trend in the right direction and getting better.
New studio one entrance/exit I'm into it, see how the food is
AC looks way better than the what the area was. Paving looks great, seems to have a lot of meet n greets and I love the eye on iron man coaster facade
The central area with all the new trees and greenery and paving look great and much better.
the massive lake and almost quasi epcot like infrastructure with IP pavilions going around it will certainly set up for nice future expansions
Lake show will prob be great and even pathway through gardens looks like it will be gorgeous with a few small attractions on each side.
The new Alice show looks fun imo
The new toystory entrance with a meet and greet is a welcome plussing of that area imo
These points illustrate the issues. Everything is being done in little pieces, which does not create any cohesive purpose of the park. Even if we forget the idea of any theme, then the next issue is that everything they build, is just average. It isn't Disney's best, and you can find better elsewhere. The park has no headline standout attraction that isn't bested elsewhere. The park needs a unique, fully built out, headline land. Failing that, at least clone some of the best from elsewhere - Cars Land, Galaxy's Edge, or Pandora. There is no reason to visit the park, unless you happen to already be at Disneyland nextdoor. It shouldn't be like that.
In 2002 there was a clear theme, but the park was really ugly, the theme was very cheap and the park was tiny. Now the park is becoming much larger and beautiful with lots of gardens, beautiful buildings, water features and places to stop and enjoy the views. It needs more attractions of course, but they will come in time. Throughout the history of the park the original theme was getting lost little by little. Now we are getting a much more generic theme, just different worlds where Disney adventures happen. But to be honest, what is the theme of the Disneyland Park? We are so used to it that we take it for granted, but when I think of it, the theme of the original park is also quite generic and vague. Tokyo DisneySea also had a very strong theme, but Fantasy Springs watered it a little in my opinion. And the theme of Epic Universe is also different worlds where we can live an adventure. So this seem a trend in parks worldwide: having different highly immersive worlds with a very simple connection between them.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Yes to all of the above!
It's very strange. They don't seem to have ever sat down and developed some kind of masterplan for the park where they thought through its issues and came up with solutions in a systematic manner.
When it first opened, they set about adding small 'fixes' such as some extra vegetation, more colourful paint, and some relatively cheap additions like Toy Story Land to make the park feel less depressing while working within a very tight budget. They don't seem to have ever really moved beyond that approach, even as the budgets increased. It feels like they just add things they think will be nice in a more or less random fashion: a lake would be a nice addition, here are some pleasant gardens, art nouveau for the new structures could be pretty, perhaps put in another flat ride to give people something to do, and why not put in a scaled down Frozenland? It looks like we'll also soon have 'Lion King was popular, why don't we do a land based on that?'
The fact that this will have the most bland name of any Disney theme park is very fitting as the theme now is just generic Disney theme park. Now Hollywood and studio themed areas are more things that are just there with no real rhyme or reason.
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This is part of the problem though, nothing at WDSP is a highly immersive world. There are hints of worlds, and bits and pieces, but nothing that is on the scale of Epic. If they are going down the line of just a collection of worlds, then they need to really go with that and build it big.
nickys
Premium Member
Crush?
And for many people from Europe, DLP is their only realistic Disney park option. Florida is just too expensive for the majority. Anecdotally kids and parents at school talk of going to “Disneyland” whereas a few years ago it was “Disneyland Paris”. It’s no longer a stepping stone but the destination.
Not forgetting that having Marvel in the park is a huge boost for families with young boys in particular. And the girls will have the Frozen princesses.
Crush is a fun coaster, but as with everything at the park, it is just plopped in there and has no sense of place. The ride is low capacity with a terrible queue. Now if it were part of a larger Nemo land, then great. But as a standalone, it isn't enough.
Bingo.
It was and it was. Now it’s going down the road of lipstick on a pig.
It’s currently being tarmacced like a BOH area
mrflo
Well-Known Member
That's the part that particularly surprises and worries me. Looking at all that construction going on, it is not like money can be the root cause or excuse any longer. They are literally turning every stone and wall in that park without actually achieving much.
Bob Iger pushing the Turbo Charge button on the Parks reminds me a lot when he asked for multiplying the content output for the Disney+ launch. Despite huge budgets and a few initial successes, the outcome was pretty mediocre and damaging to brands like Marvel. I hope were not seeing the same for the Parks.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
This is where it comes across as not having actually sat down and diagnosed the problem then come up with concrete solutions. I just can't believe whoever is in charge of approving these budgets didn't also look at what they came up with for this park and told them to try again. Perhaps its another sign of management that doesn't really have a feel for the parks so they don't really know what they're looking at.
I don't remember where, but I read that the space is needed to fit a crane in case an evacuation of the parachute ride is needed. I guess from the inside of the land it wouldn't be possible to enter a crane because of the lights crossing the area. Not sure if this is true though.