What is Next for Disney for 2013-2019?

djkidkaz

djkidkaz

Well-Known Member
Im just tired of waiting. I am getting so impatient waiting for any of these rumors to come to fruition. Monsters Inc coaster, CarsLand, expansion of Frontierland, Tron Coaster in Tomorrowland, Downtown Disney major expansion, etc. etc....

Even Avatar has been announced and there is little to no information about it. I keep seeing folks say "it shouldn't be much longer" in regards to an announcement, and I wait and wait and.....nothing.

Just give me SOMETHING already Disney! Avatar concept art and ground breaking date. Downtown Disney expansion announcement with confirmed details. Announce CarsLand officially coming to WDW.

Just anything at this point. Im a pretty patient person, but this is truly getting ridiculous.
 
JEANYLASER

JEANYLASER

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
Im just tired of waiting. I am getting so impatient waiting for any of these rumors to come to fruition. Monsters Inc coaster, CarsLand, expansion of Frontierland, Tron Coaster in Tomorrowland, Downtown Disney major expansion, etc. etc....

Even Avatar has been announced and there is little to no information about it. I keep seeing folks say "it shouldn't be much longer" in regards to an announcement, and I wait and wait and.....nothing.

Just give me SOMETHING already Disney! Avatar concept art and ground breaking date. Downtown Disney expansion announcement with confirmed details. Announce CarsLand officially coming to WDW.

Just anything at this point. Im a pretty patient person, but this is truly getting ridiculous.
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Yeah me too! I will wait for the announcement also!
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
Im just tired of waiting. I am getting so impatient waiting for any of these rumors to come to fruition. Monsters Inc coaster, CarsLand, expansion of Frontierland, Tron Coaster in Tomorrowland, Downtown Disney major expansion, etc. etc....

Even Avatar has been announced and there is little to no information about it. I keep seeing folks say "it shouldn't be much longer" in regards to an announcement, and I wait and wait and.....nothing.

Just give me SOMETHING already Disney! Avatar concept art and ground breaking date. Downtown Disney expansion announcement with confirmed details. Announce CarsLand officially coming to WDW.

Just anything at this point. Im a pretty patient person, but this is truly getting ridiculous.
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Agreed. It's well beyond the time for WDW to announce a new project. And something more than annoucning Avatar but without any specific plans or renderings.
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
The real question is does management really want to increase attendance that much? The current infrastructure is stretched to breaking. Transportation and parking are a mess. Nextgen shows a clear trend not to try to increase attendance, but to milk more cash out of each guest coming through the door. New attractions cost initial money to build but maybe more important money to operate and maintain. With increased attendance comes increased revenue, but also increased costs. DCA and IOA both desperately needed to draw more guests. MK, not so much.
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As @WDW1974 eloquently stated above, there are three theme parks at WDW that could use a major attendance boost, especially in the face of erosion to UOR/SW. If TDO thinks DHS attendance will remain flat once USF opens Potter 2.0, they've got another thing coming. Epcot, DHS and DAK all pull in between 9 - 11 million per year, while MK does 17.

Any sane business person would say, golly, wouldn't it be thuper-thwell if EP/DHS/DAK could pull in 13 - 16 million per year instead? What would that entail exactly?

It would mean converting millions of one-day MK visitors to resort guests. People who visit four parks instead of one spend more on tickets, food and merch - they're there longer. They have an inherent interest in staying on property, and WDW has rooms to fill.

How do you convert one day guests into multi-day guests? Give them an overwhelmingly compelling reason to visit the other parks. This means a Potter-style expansion in each of the other three parks, and capacity additions at MK.

Magic Band wristbands (worn on the wrist, as the blog goes on to tell us), AVATAR (at least as they've envisioned it - the material would allow for mind-blowing attractions the kind of which we've never seen, but that's not what they would build), DVC, FLE - none of these things are compelling. Potter is compelling. Antarctica is compelling. A major Star Wars expansion is compelling. An Incredibles E-ticket is compelling. Cars Land is compelling, though I'm a believer in brand identity and not homogenization.

After all, if I can upgrade a one day MK guest to a weeklong resort guest, who's to say I can't upgrade them to a DLR trip with the Cars Land carrot dangling? I don't find it prudent to just copy everything between the resorts.

Infrastructure is a real problem for WDW. They've trumpeted their semi-EPCOT status for some time as a sort of city of the future, but it's been left to crumble. More buses are not the answer. There needs to be a real forward-thinker involved in a reimagining of the resort as a whole, with transport being a major focus.

WDW is not a mature business and there is substantial room for growth, but it will require major reinvestment as they've DCA'ed themselves into a corner.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
How do you convert one day guests into multi-day guests? Give them an overwhelmingly compelling reason to visit the other parks. This means a Potter-style expansion in each of the other three parks, and capacity additions at MK.
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It can't just be about expansion. The reason people think the other parks are worth skipping is because there is an ever increasing lack of differentiation between the parks. Hell, the one guy in the world who should be able to wax poetic about their differences (Eric Jacobson who is the creative head of first three and could end up with all four) can barely being to articulate such differences. This is why I am not fond of Cars Land / Pixar Place discussions, I think it's just more of the same that's could/would get plopped down anywhere else in Walt Disney World. It doesn't matter how well each individual component is decorated and ornamented if it is devoid of a strong contextual relationship, the space in which the themescape and parkscape in a theme park are established.
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
It can't just be about expansion. The reason people think the other parks are worth skipping is because there is an ever increasing lack of differentiation between the parks. Hell, the one guy in the world who should be able to wax poetic about their differences (Eric Jacobson who is the creative head of first three and could end up with all four) can barely being to articulate such differences. This is why I am not fond of Cars Land / Pixar Place discussions, I think it's just more of the same that's could/would get plopped down anywhere else in Walt Disney World. It doesn't matter how well each individual component is decorated and ornamented if it is devoid of a strong contextual relationship, the space in which the themescape and parkscape in a theme park are established.
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I agree. Jacobson's gaffe was unbelievable and demonstrates the stunning lack of vision that cripples WDW.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
As @WDW1974 eloquently stated above, there are three theme parks at WDW that could use a major attendance boost, especially in the face of erosion to UOR/SW. If TDO thinks DHS attendance will remain flat once USF opens Potter 2.0, they've got another thing coming. Epcot, DHS and DAK all pull in between 9 - 11 million per year, while MK does 17.

Any sane business person would say, golly, wouldn't it be thuper-thwell if EP/DHS/DAK could pull in 13 - 16 million per year instead? What would that entail exactly?

It would mean converting millions of one-day MK visitors to resort guests. People who visit four parks instead of one spend more on tickets, food and merch - they're there longer. They have an inherent interest in staying on property, and WDW has rooms to fill.

How do you convert one day guests into multi-day guests? Give them an overwhelmingly compelling reason to visit the other parks. This means a Potter-style expansion in each of the other three parks, and capacity additions at MK.

Magic Band wristbands (worn on the wrist, as the blog goes on to tell us), AVATAR (at least as they've envisioned it - the material would allow for mind-blowing attractions the kind of which we've never seen, but that's not what they would build), DVC, FLE - none of these things are compelling. Potter is compelling. Antarctica is compelling. A major Star Wars expansion is compelling. An Incredibles E-ticket is compelling. Cars Land is compelling, though I'm a believer in brand identity and not homogenization.

After all, if I can upgrade a one day MK guest to a weeklong resort guest, who's to say I can't upgrade them to a DLR trip with the Cars Land carrot dangling? I don't find it prudent to just copy everything between the resorts.

Infrastructure is a real problem for WDW. They've trumpeted their semi-EPCOT status for some time as a sort of city of the future, but it's been left to crumble. More buses are not the answer. There needs to be a real forward-thinker involved in a reimagining of the resort as a whole, with transport being a major focus.

WDW is not a mature business and there is substantial room for growth, but it will require major reinvestment as they've DCA'ed themselves into a corner.
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I agree that expansions would increase attendance at the other 3 parks. As a fan I would love to see it happen. For TWDC they have to look at how much it would cost and what the return on investment would be. A billion dollar+ expansion at each park plus another billion for transportation and infrastructure would require up to $5 Billion in investment. Would increasing attendance by 30%, 40% or even 50% at the other 3 parks result in enough additional revenue to make the desired ROI numbers? With multiday passes who knows. Adding an extra day or 2 to a pass is negligible. If everyone bought day passes it would be easy to quantify.
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
I agree that expansions would increase attendance at the other 3 parks. As a fan I would love to see it happen. For TWDC they have to look at how much it would cost and what the return on investment would be. A billion dollar+ expansion at each park plus another billion for transportation and infrastructure would require up to $5 Billion in investment. Would increasing attendance by 30%, 40% or even 50% at the other 3 parks result in enough additional revenue to make the desired ROI numbers? With multiday passes who knows. Adding an extra day or 2 to a pass is negligible. If everyone bought day passes it would be easy to quantify.
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As armchair CEOs it's hard to guess at numbers with so many variables. The problem in my view becomes how short-term are they looking? Can UOR really put a number on the ROI from Potter? It will rake in profits for decades. Big expansions at WDW would bring in the numbers in the short-term, but would continue to attract for decades, just like the parks have since 1955. Sleeping Beauty Castle is still the most popular photo op in Disneyland, and it's been standing for almost 60 years.

I fear that the short-term shareholder thinking that plagues WDW is what will result in its undoing. They've built themselves a fabulous insular product - with DME, thousands of hotel rooms, merchandising, award winning restaurants and soon, Disney Springs (eye roll), the channels for revenue streams are ready and waiting for throngs of people. The key is filling those rooms and setting the money trap. ;)
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
As armchair CEOs it's hard to guess at numbers with so many variables. The problem in my view becomes how short-term are they looking? Can UOR really put a number on the ROI from Potter? It will rake in profits for decades. Big expansions at WDW would bring in the numbers in the short-term, but would continue to attract for decades, just like the parks have since 1955. Sleeping Beauty Castle is still the most popular photo op in Disneyland, and it's been standing for almost 60 years.

I fear that the short-term shareholder thinking that plagues WDW is what will result in its undoing. They've built themselves a fabulous insular product - with DME, thousands of hotel rooms, merchandising, award winning restaurants and soon, Disney Springs (eye roll), the channels for revenue streams are ready and waiting for throngs of people. The key is filling those rooms and setting the money trap. ;)
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Agreed. Corporate America is way too focused on short term results. As an arm chair CEO it's really tempting to spend a billion on a cruise ship, new DVC resorts or even parks in China over spending it at WDW since the returns are more certain. If I were CEO the first billion I would spend at WDW would not be on anything new, I would fix what's already there. We all know the list. After the parks are restored to where they should be then I would look into expansion. It makes no sense to keep building new stuff if you don't take care of what is there.
 
C

COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
AimYourBrent said:
Am I the only person in the world, or at least on these forums, who could not care less about Harry Potter?
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lazyboy97o said:
I'm guessing you have not experienced The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. No fondness for the franchise is needed.
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I have no interest in the Harry Potter franchise itself. I have seen snippets of the movies and never read the books. But experiencing Harry Potter world at IoA was just unbelievable. The level of detail, theming and effort put into its headliner attraction and the entire land is just incredible.

It is exactly what Disney used to do, but decided to stop doing. And even the "once in a lifetimers" who some argue don't care about details, immersive environments, or quality can tell the difference too.
 
cheezbat

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
I've visited both Epcot and Animal Kingdom this year, and it's just so sad seeing the lack of energy in the parks compared to Sea World and the Uni parks. The expansions and new additions really keep those parks moving full steam ahead...while WDW just sort of seems to be running on fumes.

The bigwigs in TDO need to see what happened at DLR last year...the two parks attendance numbers were much closer, there was a massive increase of guests and guest spending, and things are really moving forward there.
Here in Florida, we have one park that's still bringing them in and three that are starting to decline. Something needs to be done. All three other parks need multiple additions ASAP.
 
yeti

yeti

Well-Known Member
I find it ironic that the two parks that still feel the most tired (MK and DHS) are the ones that have been receiving the most enhancements as of late. Even after New Fantasyland, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania; they're the two that are perpetually the most boring. Since this thread is already bordering on imagineering, I'm just gonna throw this out there: they are lacking vivid, expan(expen)sive atmospheric additions that you can get absorbed in, get lost in, and spend more time in than you anticipated. You know, like World Showcase or almost all of Animal Kingdom. FLE is the right idea, albeit too small. Hollywood Studios is a collection of billboards, naked concrete, and half-baked "studio" elements that are collecting dust. I'd put the big money here and there first before even considering Avatar or DtD.
 
Jose

Jose

Well-Known Member
WAIT!! You have so many attractions and so much to offer to your guests!!
Just look at Disneyland Paris, they need more improvement than WDW, and needs lots of attractions! So I don't know why you are complaining about this all the time while you have so many things! :confused:
 
jensenrick

jensenrick

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
This is the big problem or dilemma for WDW. IOA is still a day trip. People don't go to Orlando for a week and only visit the Universal parks. They have lots of day visitors.
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That's just not true anymore. I have been to Orlando for 5 days, parked my car on arrival at Royal Pacific, and never got in my car again until it was time to go home. And I had a MAGICal time, that my family wants to repeat.
 

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