Why is Disney sooooooo slow to build?

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Given all the problems already with Journey of the Little Mermaid, you don't even have to go back to 2006's Yeti. WDW seems to have problems with its 2012 attractions.

Luckily, I took my son down for his 10th birthday in 2006 so he got to see the Yeti working in A Mode while it was still in soft opening. Sadly it's 7 years later and most WDW guests have never seen the Yeti working.
Shocking, since it's a nearly direct clone of the attraction at DLC (which I didn't think was all that great)...
 

Turtle

Well-Known Member
NFL being complete vs Diagon Alley being complete. Are they going to take the same amount of time of time to build? The projects are about the same in scope and size.
lol funny. Diagon Alley has 2 ground-breaking e-tickets, a fine dining restaurant, and multiple shops. New Fantasyland has a d-ticket, a c-ticket, a fine dining restaurant, and two shops.

I like New Fantasyland but it is NOWHERE close to what Universal is doing with Harry Potter
 

luv

Well-Known Member
lol funny. Diagon Alley has 2 ground-breaking e-tickets, a fine dining restaurant, and multiple shops. New Fantasyland has a d-ticket, a c-ticket, a fine dining restaurant, and two shops.

I like New Fantasyland but it is NOWHERE close to what Universal is doing with Harry Potter
...or already did, lol...

I like the FLE very much, for what it is. It's pretty and the LM ride is really great. It's not ground-breaking, amazing or a cool ride...but for what it is, it's a great little ride. I'm very happy with it.

The FLE wasn't supposed to be a big deal, though, I don't think. Just a little add-on. And as a little add-on, it's nice.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
The focus just isn't on WDW...which used to be the crown jewel of the Disney theme park empire even 15 years ago.

With the success of DCL, and overseas parks, there's much more focus on those properties. That being said, FLE was far from "minor"...it was an overhaul of 1/3 of the MK property, most of which hadn't been in use since 20k Leagues closed. It is a MAJOR overhaul, and one that was done in a manner that I really can't criticize.

The fact is MGM and AK need a lot more love, as does Futureworld at EPCOT. MK doesn't need any more "plussing"...

The LAST thing Disney needs to do is open another park in Florida. They need to continue to improve upon the infrastructure they already have built, rather than buy into another expense. Adding 3 new rides to Animal Kingdom, for example, may mean a manpower increase of what...15 - 20 employees tops? AK already has maintenance staff, it already has infrastructure to tie into, and it already has a guest base.

Compare that to opening a new park?

Anyhow, that's my opinion.
 

luv

Well-Known Member
Ugh.

Like FLE; don't like FLE; think it's only so-so. It just an opinion. Think whatever you like.

But stop calling FLE "just a little add-on". With a rumored budget of $400M, it's a major capex even for a company like Disney. It's another cruise ship. It's another Avengers movie. It's big money for Disney. They take investing their company's capital extremely seriously. Iger obsesses over it, which is why the that 8 years under him have been probably the worst 8 years for investment at WDW. WDW used to add major theme parks every 8-to-10 years (1971, 1982, 1989, 1998). Now WDW is floundering because the powers that be can't figure out a WDW investment strategy with a satisfactory ROI. TWDC is expecting FLE to return big money. It's not just a little add-on.
I think people expected way too much from the FLE. If you compare it to Harry Potter, it fails miserably.

If you think of it as just a little add-on with a dark omnimover ride and a pretty restaurant, you can say, "Yes, this is great." I am extremely happy with the LM ride! It's great! ...for what it is.

It's not an e-ticket ride. The FLE is not going to transport you to another world.

$400,000,000.00 is a crazy amount of money, but if it were 400 billion, it wouldn't change what we have, which is (IMO, anyway) a little add-on. An expansion of Fantasyland, with one new dark ride...and, eventually (at some point), a kiddie coaster.

I don't think Disney thought that a dark ride and a kiddie coaster would cause people to flock to Florida. Oh, and another Dumbo spinner. I forgot that. Still, I don't think anyone at Disney thought that this would be a huge deal.

I am becoming aware of how much money Disney wastes, but that doesn't change what we experience.

If you go into the FLE expecting big, amazing things, you'll likely be disappointed. If you go in expecting to see something new and ride an Ariel dark ride, you'll likely be very happy. I am very happy with that ride and think it gets dumped on for no good reason other than people were expecting more.

That's MHO. :)
 

Prock3

Member
The focus just isn't on WDW...which used to be the crown jewel of the Disney theme park empire even 15 years ago.

With the success of DCL, and overseas parks, there's much more focus on those properties. That being said, FLE was far from "minor"...it was an overhaul of 1/3 of the MK property, most of which hadn't been in use since 20k Leagues closed. It is a MAJOR overhaul, and one that was done in a manner that I really can't criticize.

The fact is MGM and AK need a lot more love, as does Futureworld at EPCOT. MK doesn't need any more "plussing"...

The LAST thing Disney needs to do is open another park in Florida. They need to continue to improve upon the infrastructure they already have built, rather than buy into another expense. Adding 3 new rides to Animal Kingdom, for example, may mean a manpower increase of what...15 - 20 employees tops? AK already has maintenance staff, it already has infrastructure to tie into, and it already has a guest base.

Compare that to opening a new park?

Anyhow, that's my opinion.
Depending on the attraction it could take 10 maybe more to keep a single attraction running, and usually there are about 1.5 to 2 times the number of people needed working at any moment. But there's no reason for staffing to stop them from building attractions. And whenever you build a new attraction you need to hire more maintenance, that dept is stretched wayyyy to thin already.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Depending on the attraction it could take 10 maybe more to keep a single attraction running, and usually there are about 1.5 to 2 times the number of people needed working at any moment. But there's no reason for staffing to stop them from building attractions. And whenever you build a new attraction you need to hire more maintenance, that dept is stretched wayyyy to thin already.

Much easier to send a maintenance guy on rounds when the ride is 200 feet away, than the ride in another park. Plus, there is support staff that wouldn't need to change. Gate staff, for example. It makes far more sense to expand / improve current parks than create a whole new gate.
 

Prock3

Member
Much easier to send a maintenance guy on rounds when the ride is 200 feet away, than the ride in another park. Plus, there is support staff that wouldn't need to change. Gate staff, for example. It makes far more sense to expand / improve current parks than create a whole new gate.
I agree entirely, no additional transportation costs as well. They have more than a 5th gates price tag's worth of work needed for the current parks.
 

DVC4bestvacations

Well-Known Member
I always thought Disney’s long construction times were a marketing strategy. Make the guests plan another vacation so they can ride the ride that was under construction on their last visit. They are like billboards advertizing for the guest’s future vacations.
 

ImagineerDude

Well-Known Member
Because 17 million people will still visit Magic Kingdom even though the last E Ticket (Splash) was 20 years ago. I don't get why they take forever, but when it's done it is usually spectacular.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
The rock work on the Hogwarts Castle is VASTLY superior to Everest. Hogwarts rock work was done by legendary rock work artist Zsolt Hormay. WDI was so impressed with it that they had Hormay (a former Imagineer) come back and do the rock work for Cars Land and Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid in the FLE. Although, I am not sure whether he worked on BOG. Potter and Cars Land are the 2 best examples of rock work on the planet.

Hormay didn't work on Everest. And the snow on Everest has no sparkle like the snow on Hogsmeade.
 

ThemeParks4Life

Well-Known Member
The rock work on the Hogwarts Castle is VASTLY superior to Everest. Hogwarts rock work was done by legendary rock work artist Zsolt Hormay. WDI was so impressed with it that they had Hormay (a former Imagineer) come back and do the rock work for Cars Land and Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid in the FLE. Although, I am not sure whether he worked on BOG. Potter and Cars Land are the 2 best examples of rock work on the planet.

Hormay didn't work on Everest. And the snow on Everest has no sparkle like the snow on Hogsmeade.
I'd say their equal to each other, but I'd give the edge to Everest.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Rock work. Hogwarts doesn't have snow.
Well then I will have to disagree with you. I think Everest's rock work is horrible. It looks good from a distance but up close it's just BAD. Check it out the next time you are stopped where the bird on a stick is. It really is not very well done.

And this isn't a Disney vs Uni. thing as the rock work on Ariel's is also amazing.
 

C&D

Well-Known Member
In the words of John Winger (and with 'same' sentiment in relation to the original question), "I'm pacing myself sergeant" :D But seriously, 'slow' is a relative term; if you want things right (then do it right), plus there are other considerations: cost, availability of materials, availability of talent to complete the 'art' of construction, etc., etc. (when you watch that "pot boil", well, you know).
 

luv

Well-Known Member
Maybe themed to a specific franchise, I have to give DAK the winner for best overall theming though.
I adore the AK. It's my favorite Disney park and the best themed park in Orlando, bar none. It's also the prettiest.

But for one area, I have to give it up to Harry Potter. My first time through, I really felt like I was visiting a new place...not just a place with great theming, but an actual place. Everything is so well done. And I'm not even a big HP fan!

I love that anyone would pick an AK land over HP, but I have to go with the boy wizard on this one. :)
 

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