Walt Disney Studios Park: Fixing Eisner's Folly

Sam Magic

Sam Magic

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


WDSP Project Cover.png

Building A Better Studios Park
or How to Fix Eisner's Folly​

First opened in 1989, Disney-MGM Studios Park at Disney World was an ambitious attempt to merge the magic of movie-making and Disney theme parks into one single experience. Tremendously popular from opening onwards, Disney's studio marked a new chapter in the company's history--a chapter that would contain Michael Eisner's rise and fall, the Disney Renaissance, and the attempted birth of a Disney decade. Interestingly, if Disney-MGM Studios represents the beginning of a new chapter, Walt Disney Studios Park (WDSP) in Paris in many ways represents its conclusion.

Opened in 2002, WDSP was a paltry addition to Disneyland Paris. Lacking depth, attractions, and basic Disney magic, WDSP was unpopular with guests and symbolized how far Disney had fallen since Frank Wells' death in 1994. Shortly after WDSP's opening, Michael Eisner was pushed out as President and CEO. Eisner was replaced by Bob Iger, who then set out to correct Eisner's mistakes; rebuilding Disney California Adventure Park, acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox, and building Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Eisner's only folly that escaped Iger's magic wand was WDSP.

In this project, I want to fix Eisner's folly while also reinventing the traditional studio park model. In recent years, at Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM), Universal Studios, and the announced additions to WDSP, it seems the Studio Park theme is being abandoned altogether. I think this is shortsighted and lacks creativity. Operating on a thesis that Studio Parks's issue was their poor planning and lackluster investment, and using WDSP as a model, I'll explain my vision for a better studios park. Can I get a Hooray for Hollywood?




--- C O N T E N T S ---

WDSP Project Table of Content.png


Part I | Part II | Part III​
 
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D

DisneyFan32

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Are you gonna do Roger Rabbit's Hollywood which has couple attractions:
Rides:
1) Toontown Transit *a simulator ride*
2) Toon Coaster *based on RollerCoaster Rabbit short*
3) Baby Herman's Runaway Baby Buggy Ride *based on Tummy Trouble short*
4) Toontown Tower Hotel *a parody of TOT starring Droopy as bell hopper*
5) Benny the Cab Ride aka Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin *not a clone but a different version*
6) A EMV dark ride based Eddie Valiant

Gift Shops:
1) ACME Gag Warehouse
2) Toon Joke Shop
3) Maroon Studio Lot
4) Hotel N' Shop
5) Weasels Hideout

Restaurants:
1) The Ink & Paint Club
2) Terminal Bar & Grill
3) Toon Cafe
4) Clarabelle Cow's Ice Cream
5) Daisy's Diner

Meet & Greets:
1) Eddie Valiant
2) Roger Rabbit
3) Jessica Rabbit
4) Toon Patrol
5) Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, etc...
6) Dolores
7) Baby Herman
8) Judge Doom
9) Benny the Cab

Shows:
1) Judge Doom's Revenge
2) Eddie Valiant, the Toon Detective
3) Roger Rabbit's Toontown Hour
 
Sam Magic

Sam Magic

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyFan32 said:
Are you gonna do Roger Rabbit's Hollywood which has couple attractions:
Rides:
1) Toontown Transit *a simulator ride*
2) Toon Coaster *based on RollerCoaster Rabbit short*
3) Baby Herman's Runaway Baby Buggy Ride *based on Tummy Trouble short*
4) Toontown Tower Hotel *a parody of TOT starring Droopy as bell hopper*
5) Benny the Cab Ride aka Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin *not a clone but a different version*
6) A EMV dark ride based Eddie Valiant

Gift Shops:
1) ACME Gag Warehouse
2) Toon Joke Shop
3) Maroon Studio Lot
4) Hotel N' Shop
5) Weasels Hideout

Restaurants:
1) The Ink & Paint Club
2) Terminal Bar & Grill
3) Toon Cafe
4) Clarabelle Cow's Ice Cream
5) Daisy's Diner

Meet & Greets:
1) Eddie Valiant
2) Roger Rabbit
3) Jessica Rabbit
4) Toon Patrol
5) Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, etc...
6) Dolores
7) Baby Herman
8) Judge Doom
9) Benny the Cab

Shows:
1) Judge Doom's Revenge
2) Eddie Valiant, the Toon Detective
3) Roger Rabbit's Toontown Hour
Click to expand...
No.
 
Sam Magic

Sam Magic

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyManOne said:
I hate to be pedantic, but the current expansion plan for WDSP (Galaxy's Edge, Arendelle, Marvel) was developed under Iger's watch, and from what I understand, it's finally going to make WDSP a worthy place to visit.

disneyland-paris-marvel-star-wars-frozen-walt-disney-studios-park-expansion-900x426.jpg
Click to expand...
I was waiting for someone to point this out.

However, the reality with this proposed plan is that it's just as lazy as Eisner's original plan for the park. Every single one of the proposed lands is a carbon copy of lands they've built first elsewhere:
  1. Avengers Campus (DCA)
  2. Galaxy's Edge (DL and DHS)
  3. Frozen (DisneySEA)
  4. Toy Story (HKDL and SDL)
One way of reading this is that it's Iger's own version of Eisner's burnout. The creativity is gone. The ambition to create something truly new and unique is gone. Certainly, more money is willing to be spent. Still, that money is being spent on copy-paste additions and fails to fix the underlying issues of WDSP, namely, that it lacks its own unique identity and aesthetic.

Perhaps WDSP is where all Disney CEO's creativity goes to die.
 
Suchomimus

Suchomimus

Well-Known Member
Sam Magic said:
I was waiting for someone to point this out.

However, the reality with this proposed plan is that it's just as lazy as Eisner's original plan for the park. Every single one of the proposed lands is a carbon copy of lands they've built first elsewhere:
  1. Avengers Campus (DCA)
  2. Galaxy's Edge (DL and DHS)
  3. Frozen (DisneySEA)
  4. Toy Story (HKDL and SDL)
One way of reading this is that it's Iger's own version of Eisner's burnout. The creativity is gone. The ambition to create something truly new and unique is gone. Certainly, more money is willing to be spent. Still, that money is being spent on copy-paste additions and fails to fix the underlying issues of WDSP, namely, that it lacks its own unique identity and aesthetic.

Perhaps WDSP is where all Disney CEO's creativity goes to die.
Click to expand...
So will all of your offerings be unique?
 
DisneyManOne

DisneyManOne

Well-Known Member
Sam Magic said:
I was waiting for someone to point this out.

However, the reality with this proposed plan is that it's just as lazy as Eisner's original plan for the park. Every single one of the proposed lands is a carbon copy of lands they've built first elsewhere:
  1. Avengers Campus (DCA)
  2. Galaxy's Edge (DL and DHS)
  3. Frozen (DisneySEA)
  4. Toy Story (HKDL and SDL)
One way of reading this is that it's Iger's own version of Eisner's burnout. The creativity is gone. The ambition to create something truly new and unique is gone. Certainly, more money is willing to be spent. Still, that money is being spent on copy-paste additions and fails to fix the underlying issues of WDSP, namely, that it lacks its own unique identity and aesthetic.

Perhaps WDSP is where all Disney CEO's creativity goes to die.
Click to expand...
Fair point.

I was actually wondering if the Floridian Studios have undergone a similar creative drought (given that the mid-2000s was when the park well and truly was a dead zone), but I cast such thoughts aside when I realized that there are a few things that separate Florida's Studios from Paris' Studios, IMO. One, Galaxy's Edge, as you pointed out, was always intended to go into both DL and DHS from the get-go, so to those parks, it truly was unique. And although TSL existed in HKDL and SDL and WDSP, as you said before, the attractions built for DHS' TSL were all unique. Slinky Dog was represented not as a Caterpillar ride, but as a roller-coaster. The only "clone" DHS has from any other TSL is Alien Swirling Saucers, which serves as a counterpart to Shanghai's Woody's Roundup. Plus, it's the only TSL of all four to work the famous Toy Story Midway Mania! into the area.

Second, Disney-MGM Studios' own creative drought was mainly brought about thanks to the shutdown of actual media production at the Studios. Paris never even had production done there, as far as I know. And even then, Florida still had plenty of signature attractions to make sure people kept coming -- Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Muppet*Vision, Star Tours, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasmic!, etc. Paris only had Tower, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Crush's Coaster, Ratatouille and CineMagique before it closed, and that was it.
 
Sam Magic

Sam Magic

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyManOne said:
Fair point.

I was actually wondering if the Floridian Studios have undergone a similar creative drought (given that the mid-2000s was when the park well and truly was a dead zone), but I cast such thoughts aside when I realized that there are a few things that separate Florida's Studios from Paris' Studios, IMO. One, Galaxy's Edge, as you pointed out, was always intended to go into both DL and DHS from the get-go, so to those parks, it truly was unique. And although TSL existed in HKDL and SDL and WDSP, as you said before, the attractions built for DHS' TSL were all unique. Slinky Dog was represented not as a Caterpillar ride, but as a roller-coaster. The only "clone" DHS has from any other TSL is Alien Swirling Saucers, which serves as a counterpart to Shanghai's Woody's Roundup. Plus, it's the only TSL of all four to work the famous Toy Story Midway Mania! into the area.

Second, Disney-MGM Studios' own creative drought was mainly brought about thanks to the shutdown of actual media production at the Studios. Paris never even had production done there, as far as I know. And even then, Florida still had plenty of signature attractions to make sure people kept coming -- Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Muppet*Vision, Star Tours, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasmic!, etc. Paris only had Tower, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Crush's Coaster, Ratatouille and CineMagique before it closed, and that was it.
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right!

I had similar concerns about DHS, but as you point out, GE and TSL were both unique either for the moment they opened (GE) or contained enough unique additions to give it a markedly different character from similar lands in other parks. Even the Runaway Train attraction was a unique addition that is now being cloned in Anaheim.

I think you're also completely right that the working-studio aspect's failure caused DMGMS's identity crisis/creative drought. I'd even argue that Eisner's inability to perform after Frank Wells' death as he had before made DMGMS's position direr. I think this is why I'm even more befuddled by WDSP's horribly outdated design, cheap construction, and repetition of the failures from DMGMS.

All this being said, I still feel that Disney is unsure what exactly to do with the studio parks. Though they are relatively improving, I can't help but feel they still lack a unified theme and mission as Disney's Magic Kingdoms and other additional gates have. The only late-Eisner park (aside from DAK and Sea) that seemed to be given a truly new lease on life and purpose was DCA. My vision for WDSP will be similar in terms of scope and scale.
 
Twilight_Roxas

Twilight_Roxas

Well-Known Member
Don’t forget Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway since I think all the Disney parks like WDSP needs their first Mickey Mouse attraction.
 
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comics101

comics101

Well-Known Member
Sam Magic said:
I was waiting for someone to point this out.

However, the reality with this proposed plan is that it's just as lazy as Eisner's original plan for the park. Every single one of the proposed lands is a carbon copy of lands they've built first elsewhere:
  1. Avengers Campus (DCA)
  2. Galaxy's Edge (DL and DHS)
  3. Frozen (DisneySEA)
  4. Toy Story (HKDL and SDL)
One way of reading this is that it's Iger's own version of Eisner's burnout. The creativity is gone. The ambition to create something truly new and unique is gone. Certainly, more money is willing to be spent. Still, that money is being spent on copy-paste additions and fails to fix the underlying issues of WDSP, namely, that it lacks its own unique identity and aesthetic.

Perhaps WDSP is where all Disney CEO's creativity goes to die.
Click to expand...
Completely agree. It's a shame, really, because the original Disney MGM Studios concept was unique and strong--so strong, in fact, the park itself could have been a story for guests to explore. How do I mean?

Imagine a Disney MGM Studios where guests are considered the "stars" set to go on their own Hollywood journey. First up: Coming to Hollywood. Finding yourself in the city of dreams hoping for your own Hollywood debut. You explore the Hollywood that never was but always will be before heading under the Studio Archway and into a Hollywood studio where you play whatever role you want to! Have desires to be an animator? Great! Want to take a walk on the backlot? Wonderful! Ready to meet and co-star with some of your favorite DIsney characters, such as Mickey Mouse, C3PO or Buzz Lightyear? They're there, waiting for you! Wanting to become a director and create your own movie? Why couldn't that have been the concept for some sort of attraction? The skies the limit! And at the end of the day, the fireworks could have been presented as guests' attending their very own red carpet movie premiere.

The template was there, but unfortunately it was abandoned so that Disney's Hollywood Studios would become little more than a second MK-style castle park, with a theatre at the center instead of a castle.
 
H

HomeImagineer

Well-Known Member
Sam Magic said:
Hey. Yes!

Sorry for the delay, all. I've been busy with finals and the ramping up of summer courses these past three weeks.
Click to expand...
Okay that's great, while you do that, i had creating my Parallel Disney-MGM Studios if you want to check it out, its in the link down below.

Parallel Disney-MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios

Welcome to the First & Ever Parallel Projects of Parallel Disney-MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios. In this project i'm going to show you some ideas for this Third Gate Theme Park & the First ever Working Studios area at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. (Concept Art of...
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com
 

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