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Why Hollywood Studios is being rebuilt
- Thread starter pheneix
- Start date
yellowrocket
Active Member
Yep. At the same time Animal Kingdom was being designed and built, the Studios was getting Sunset Blvd., Magic Kingdom was getting a new Tomorrowland (with Alien Encounter, Timekeeper, and updates to COP, GrandPrix, & Astro Orbiter), and Epcot was getting Test Track and the Millennium events.
Contrast that to now - with the opening of 7DMT and all we got going in is Avatarland (with just one Soarin' type attraction coming - if MiceAge's latest report can believed, which I do not).
Contrast that to now - with the opening of 7DMT and all we got going in is Avatarland (with just one Soarin' type attraction coming - if MiceAge's latest report can believed, which I do not).
CentralFLlife
Well-Known Member
If you don't believe the report then why do you give it credibility by mentioning it?
Right now they are fixing Downtown Disney, more than likely adding a specific off ramp from I4, upgrading (or more modernizing) transportation, a major user convince system/ data system (yeah yeah I don't want to book FP in advance but its nice to be able to do it from a phone, use your band to open your room, charge to your account, enter the parks with it, etc), new laundry facilities, redoing west clock/ possible 2nd entrance, and they are renovating the oldest resort. Hardly like anything isn't happening.
I know its not exciting stuff with the exception of Disney Springs, but its not like they aren't doing anything. They are doing the things that need to be done, its the sort of things regional parks accomplish when they are closed but Disney doesn't have that luxury.
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NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
Checked in this evening and immediately regretted bumping this thread.
To some new posters - try brevity. Get to your point and use the enter key. No one is going to read a 3000 word essay without paragraphs.
*Beats head on table.* The reason we can't have nice things in Florida has been illustrated in the past 32 posts.
To some new posters - try brevity. Get to your point and use the enter key. No one is going to read a 3000 word essay without paragraphs.
*Beats head on table.* The reason we can't have nice things in Florida has been illustrated in the past 32 posts.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
The explanation for the reduction in park investment lies far more within The Walt Disney Company than it does with external factors. Park attendance remains solid (though there are issues outside the Magic Kingdom) and while there are serious economic factors at play in this nation, tourism is hardly circling the drain. Indeed, major investment is exactly what you want to lure people into the parks and resorts - except Disney realized the extent to which they could rest on their laurels, and get away with doing little or nothing (except price increases. One of WDW's biggest current problems is simply pricing people out of the resort market). It is easier (and cheaper), or so the thinking apparently goes, to milk more money out of guests who are coming anyway than to even try to attract new visitors.
That's why we get Mouse Arrest Bands instead of Carsland or Star Wars.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure why you're suddenly talking about current developments when we were discussing the reasons for the reduction in Disney's capital investment in the parks since Animal Kingdom opened.
My point is that Disney's investments in expanding their Florida parks dropped off sharply after and because of the decline in American travel and tourism following the September 11th attacks.
It wasn't because anyone was preoccupied with Animal Kingdom.
OFTEric has compiled some attendance data here that you may find useful: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...c0FiMDFpazlBdjNYUVRlM3dWX2c&usp=sharing#gid=0
CDavid
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the link.
My related point was (supposed to be, anyway) that park investment continued past the debut of Animal Kingdom, and also after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. They weren't making nearly sufficient investment to support four parks, to be sure, but it was more recent that development of new attractions almost completely stopped for several years.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
This is part of why I am still not optimistic despite what is and may be happening at the other Resorts. There are/were external factors that, to me, were far more influential in spurring strong development than Disney itself.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
They are spending money at WDW... Gobs of it. Just not in the right places.
DisneyGentleman
Well-Known Member
From the department of redundancy department...
They are spending money in absolutely the right places to align with their revised objectives.
In ancient times, the goal of WDW was to excite, amaze, inspire, and generate a unique emotional response in each and every guest. All of WDI and WDW was aligned with that goal, and the experience was constantly tweaked to keep it magical.
Today the goal is to extract as much money from as many guests as possible, and they are doing this very well. It doesn't have to magical as long as it generates revenue. There is no emotional attachment to the latest dance party. Heck, it doesn't even have to work at all - just throw in a few strobes and it's good enough.
We keep wringing our collective hands because we long for those ancient times. We have an emotional attachment to what WDW once was. But those days are gone like wisps of paper in the wind. Time to bring out your wallet and spend in hopes of experiencing the feelings of the past.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
But how long can that strategy remain effective?
englanddg
One Little Spark...
As long as people keep paying.
Thrill
Well-Known Member
The goal was always to make money. You can't be a public company and have a first priority that isn't money.
The difference is in money-making strategies. One says that people will naturally spend money on products built around high-quality, and another says that people will spend money on a product built around data-mining. Both work, I just think one works better for both parties in the long run.
Netflix does a combination of both. The pitch for House of Cards was literally spit out by a computer algorithm. Then Netflix brought in the talent necessary to make a great show, and funded it appropriately. One can only hope that the long-term results of MDE brings us to a point like this. People really like dark rides, but Hollywood Studios lacks them? We'll build a really nice family dark ride.
DisneyGentleman
Well-Known Member
Of course their goal was always to make money. But as I said, "Today the goal is to extract as much money from as many guests as possible." That is a change from the past.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I'm loving the conversation here, but I've seen this Catastrophe Canyon = Cars Land concept mentioned in the past and I just have to jump in.
Catastrophe Canyon will never be able to be used for anything Cars Land related. I get it that they are both made of desert rock environments, but their scale and scope and purpose are radically different.
Catastrophe Canyon is a 25 year old set designed for a tram drive-by stop. The rockwork there is only about 40 feet tall at most, it's rather narrow and compact, and it's shape and size is only meant to play to an audience stretched out along a tram length, viewed from the side.
Compared to the Cadillac Range and Ornament Valley sections of Cars Land, which encompasses about six acres of walk-around rockwork that soars to a height of 125 feet and features caves and tunnels and waterfalls and giant rock features, plus a whole lot of live cactus, plants and trees. It's a massive, sprawling feature that anchors a big 12 acre land, but the Cars Land "rockwork" is really the 6 acre outdoor portion of a 7 minute long indoor/outdoor E Ticket attraction.
There's just no way anything involving the small Catastrophe Canyon tram stop will ever be useful to anything related to a 12 acre Cars Land development at DHS.
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Thrill
Well-Known Member
Then I misspoke.
The priority has always been to make as much money as possible. They're just doing that with a short-term focus now (i.e. manipulate guests to spend money now while not expanding the parks) as opposed to the long-term focus of past times (i.e. expand the parks so guests will spend more money down the line).
Totally different philosophies, and unless you're either a short-term stockholder or a current company executive, long-term is clearly superior.
dhall
Well-Known Member
If you're on a 3 year contract, do you really care?
DisneyGentleman
Well-Known Member
If they couldn't reuse the wonderful place that was Horizons, I doubt they will reuse Catastrophe Canyon.
All that CC and Radiator Springs have in common is that they have some concrete painted to look like rocks.
For that matter, with all the water they toss around, they could add some colored lights try to pass it off as World of Color.