Will a fifth gate ever be built at WDW?

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I believe if Disney had it to do over again they wouldn't build AK but instead do major expansions to the other 3. Less staffing, busses, etc. A 5th will never happen.

This is 100% true…though if they had gone that route they probably would view no animals as “missed opportunity”

But the reality is they have never gotten the return projected on that park or the support areas…and it’s a huge overhead you can’t really reduce the outlay on

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

This is 100% true…though if they had gone that route they probably would view no animals as “missed opportunity”

But the reality is they have never gotten the return projected on that park or the support areas…and it’s a huge overhead you can’t really reduce the outlay on

I can't imagine the overhead at AK due to live animals.
Also, AK is a little more difficult to do after hours events which seems to be the new norm. I understand the have them, but they're a bit scaled back.

 

[Andrew25]

I can't imagine the overhead at AK due to live animals.
Also, AK is a little more difficult to do after hours events which seems to be the new norm. I understand the have them, but they're a bit scaled back.

The reason why After Hour events don't work at DAK is due to the low amount of attractions and how spread out they are. After Hours at DAK has 4 major rides open... that's it lol

That walk from Everest to Avatar is a good 15 minutes at a decent pace. Flight of aAssage takes forever to enter/exit, so the value just isn't there.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

The reason why After Hour events don't work at DAK is due to the low amount of attractions and how spread out they are. After Hours at DAK has 4 major rides open... that's it lol

That walk from Everest to Avatar is a good 15 minutes at a decent pace. Flight of aAssage takes forever to enter/exit, so the value just isn't there.

Yep. And party goers expect some sort of entertainment whether it be a parade or fireworks which is difficult at AK.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

this will all implode in itself, the parks are so miserable at times mostly Magic Kingdom that I haven’t been back since 2020 and have no desire to. I can’t be the only one and yes I spend allot less time in the parks and many people will catch on to this too. They’re becoming boring and miserable and less desirable to go to.

 

[Willmark]

Same thing I've said before...

MK 1971
EP 1982
HS 1989
AK 1998

I'd say we're overdue!

Do they have the land? Yes.
Would people go? Yes.
Would it make money? Yes.

What's the problem again?

Other than the fact that all of the parks have way to few rides for attendance?

Nothing.

 

[Andrew25]

Biggest "capacity" issues at each WDW park:

Magic Kingdom

• Main Street, too small nowadays to accommodate modern crowds. I'm in favor of a permanent bypass (preferably sheltered), and moving Casey's back to where the original plans for the theater were with expanded service capacity and seating. Essentially allowing them to remove Tomorrowland Terrace in the future for increased firework viewing capacity. Expand Emporium into Casey's, maybe allows them to provide a cleaner cut through the store for less crowding
• Tomorrowland, fill in Stitch space, figure out a way to make CoP popular with the general public
• Fantasyland, Peter Pan needs to be relocated and improved capacity by making vehicles larger, Shanghai-esque
• I'll get heat over this, but HoP is a massive theater that goes underutilized in a prime location. Find something the general public would love more.

Epcot

• Capacity is fine, but a lot of it goes underutilized (Figment, Imagination Theater, Awesome Planet, Living with the Land, Mission Space, Wonders of Life). Maybe they don't need WoL, but they desperately need to reinvigorate the Imagination Pavilion.
• Find permanent locations for festival booths that don't block guest pathways (which does appear that they've started with the area by Port of Entry and using Odyssey.)
• I hate myself for saying this, but possibly replace China/Canada 360 with something that can draw general public... (maybe pull an Impressions and run the normal shows first/last two hours of the day)
• World Showcase needs an omnimover somewhere

Hollywood Studios

• Add attractions with high-capacity, simple ride systems to reduce downtime impacts
• Once those new attractions are in, figure out how to properly maintain current attractions to reduce downtime

Animal Kingdom

• Park's foundation is fine, just needs more attractions and nighttime show to convince people to stay later

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Same thing I've said before...

MK 1971
EP 1982
HS 1989
AK 1998

I'd say we're overdue!

Do they have the land? Yes.
Would people go? Yes.
Would it make money? Yes.

What's the problem again?

I think it’s an opportunity cost, another park in Orlando will cost billions and cannibalise attendance from the other parks, it’ll also put more strain on an already stretched labor market, or you could spend that same money in a new market which should result in a bigger attendance increase and take advantage of a new lower wage labor market.

I also think it makes more sense to spend money in Florida improving the 3 non castle parks that only get half the attendance of MK.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Biggest "capacity" issues at each WDW park:

I hate that they don't make new high capacity attractions. How do they not see the importance of these?

Universe of Energy is a great example. Yes, it was showing its' age but it was a high capacity experience that was what, 45 minutes long? On the busiest day at Epcot it was something to do that didn't involve waiting 90 minutes for a brief thrill ride.

But gotta save a few bucks by not building a new show building for Guardians.

 

[Laketravis]

I hate that they don't make new high capacity attractions. How do they not see the importance of these?

Universe of Energy is a great example. Yes, it was showing its' age but it was a high capacity experience that was what, 45 minutes long? On the busiest day at Epcot it was something to do that didn't involve waiting 90 minutes for a brief thrill ride.

But gotta save a few bucks by not building a new show building for Guardians.

That's exactly what they need in each park - several high capacity, extended duration attractions that keep large amounts of people occupied for longer periods of time. As opposed to, say, Tron which is ridiculously short in duration with limited capacity.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

this will all implode in itself, the parks are so miserable at times mostly Magic Kingdom that I haven’t been back since 2020 and have no desire to. I can’t be the only one and yes I spend allot less time in the parks and many people will catch on to this too. They’re becoming boring and miserable and less desirable to go to.

There is actually a lot of things that still work in parks

But for someone like me that can walk around them blindfolded and has eaten everything 10x over

I have low expectations and can meet those

As far as who they think they can draw? A much tougher task:

1. Ride enthusiasts? No…they’re now decades behind due to lack of investment/expansion.
2. One time travelers? No…because if they’re not “Disney people”…then the value isn’t there. What made Disney people is the fact they could go repeatedly as opposed to their local scream park and get a really high quality, inclusive time for a good price comparison. That’s gone. You can no longer justify the price gap and my suspicion is it’s one of the main reasons Orlando is losing attendees.
3. Whales? Nope. The quality isn’t there. You want someone to drop $10,000 for a week on a suite and then have to fight the rabble to get on lines or into Biergarten? Shirley ye jest.

My conclusion - even though I can withstand it longer than most - is they’ve backed themselves into a corner with their potential customers. Terrible planning. And it all comes back to one guy - BS aside

 

[DisAl]

Maybe, but nobody but the 10 richest people in the world will be able to afford it.

 

[John park hopper]

Maybe, but nobody but the 10 richest people in the world will be able to afford it.

Iger is one of them and he never goes to the parks otherwise he would see what a mess they are

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I hate that they don't make new high capacity attractions. How do they not see the importance of these?

Universe of Energy is a great example. Yes, it was showing its' age but it was a high capacity experience that was what, 45 minutes long? On the busiest day at Epcot it was something to do that didn't involve waiting 90 minutes for a brief thrill ride.

But gotta save a few bucks by not building a new show building for Guardians.

Replacements over additions is now costing them potential revenues

Which was always gonna be the case.

The current management inherited 40 years of a “how to run our parks” playbook. They chose to ignore it…and worse than that…they then started to pick the bones apart looking for “lost revenue”

They never ever understood…it just took along time with the leash they had for it to become apparent.

Now we’re here

 

[mattpeto]

I think if they ever felt like the maxed out of space from the other 4 parks, they would consider it just to spread out the capacity. But this is not something that will be an issue for decades.

4 parks seem like the perfect number for a full week at WDW.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Uni is certainly putting in the pressure for Disney to keep stepping it up.

https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/universal-orlando-resort-first-look-new-theme-park-universal-epic-universe?utm_medium=social-p&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=corp-alwayson_fb%2Fig-feed_phl_n%2Fa_none_phlinf_UniversalEpicUniverse-Webcard-1x1&utm_campaign=ever&fbclid=IwAR0uujQAZ2J74czWrONLYynGoNl_1Zit79D68MLbrPwlnoGvyx8_bjaGxjU_aem_AX6U8tL2U3jf4OafFKQ8FhtQiJ1KFoJtXOWT72bK3banOHlwm8mBXPqzLB8KWLebCKBAvz5S1o8rzg-gAlCpy_8s

 

[WaltWiz1901]

• Fantasyland, Peter Pan needs to be relocated and improved capacity by making vehicles larger, Shanghai-esque

This would be possible to do even without having to move the ride; the Parisian version is a near-clone of the 1983 Disneyland version and still manages to fit in larger two-row ships

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I guess I am the rare one that says perhaps in the 2020s it is built. The reason being is that Disney has got to be a little worried about Universal now. Epic Universe is going to be....................well, epic, when it opens in 2025. Disney always has an answer for things Universal does. Universal opened in 1990 in Orlando, and in 1989 Hollywood Studios opened. Was that a coincidence? Nope. They were trying to get ahead of it all. I think a 5th park could be built if they wanted to do it. They have the space. They have to bring in some new blood, like some old school blood, ones that had imagination and creativity. The old Disney way. This new modern way of cheapening current rides like Splash and such is going in the opposite direction. Honestly, when Disney says it wants to "re-imagine" a ride it just makes me cringe. Because you know it is only going to be inferior to an already great ride. So they need to change their mindset with this. Universal is literally even with Disney in park attendance when you take away Magic Kingdom. Seriously, at this point there are as many people going to Universal per park as Disney. Only Magic Kingdom separates it all as no one reaches their attendance. That's a slim lead.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I guess I am the rare one that says perhaps in the 2020s it is built. The reason being is that Disney has got to be a little worried about Universal now. Epic Universe is going to be....................well, epic, when it opens in 2025. Disney always has an answer for things Universal does. Universal opened in 1990 in Orlando, and in 1989 Hollywood Studios opened. Was that a coincidence? Nope. They were trying to get ahead of it all. I think a 5th park could be built if they wanted to do it. They have the space. They have to bring in some new blood, like some old school blood, ones that had imagination and creativity. The old Disney way. This new modern way of cheapening current rides like Splash and such is going in the opposite direction. Honestly, when Disney says it wants to "re-imagine" a ride it just makes me cringe. Because you know it is only going to be inferior to an already great ride. So they need to change their mindset with this. Universal is literally even with Disney in park attendance when you take away Magic Kingdom. Seriously, at this point there are as many people going to Universal per park as Disney. Only Magic Kingdom separates it all as no one reaches their attendance. That's a slim lead.

If they build a new park…it will just shave days off the old ones

It makes no sense

 

[Phicinfan]

I guess I am the rare one that says perhaps in the 2020s it is built. The reason being is that Disney has got to be a little worried about Universal now. Epic Universe is going to be....................well, epic, when it opens in 2025. Disney always has an answer for things Universal does. Universal opened in 1990 in Orlando, and in 1989 Hollywood Studios opened. Was that a coincidence? Nope. They were trying to get ahead of it all. I think a 5th park could be built if they wanted to do it. They have the space. They have to bring in some new blood, like some old school blood, ones that had imagination and creativity. The old Disney way. This new modern way of cheapening current rides like Splash and such is going in the opposite direction. Honestly, when Disney says it wants to "re-imagine" a ride it just makes me cringe. Because you know it is only going to be inferior to an already great ride. So they need to change their mindset with this. Universal is literally even with Disney in park attendance when you take away Magic Kingdom. Seriously, at this point there are as many people going to Universal per park as Disney. Only Magic Kingdom separates it all as no one reaches their attendance. That's a slim lead.

My issue with this argument is the fact we are ignoring the Universal is playing catch up, not Disney. Disney has 4 theme parks in FL, Universal is working on its 3rd. To open a 5th gate by Disney is panic and cost. Disney's reaction should be fill out existing parks to maintain the draw they already lead, not expand to what consumers can't use. All you do is deflate one of the existing parks you already have.