Will There Every Be a 5th Major Park?

[Disday]

I'm sure there are even more ideas beyond the obvious - DisneySea, Disney's America, Villains (Dark Kingdom), and Marvel. Over the years I've also heard rumors about a park with different time periods, one with the different sections or states of the U.S., and an indoor theme park featuring the different cities around the world. Screamscape once told the rumor of a Sci-Fi themed park. Blue Sky Disney said there were at least 3 different park concepts for WDW on the walls of Imagineering.

 

[cheezbat]

I'm sure there are even more ideas beyond the obvious - DisneySea, Disney's America, Villains (Dark Kingdom), and Marvel. Over the years I've also heard rumors about a park with different time periods, one with the different sections or states of the U.S., and an indoor theme park featuring the different cities around the world. Screamscape once told the rumor of a Sci-Fi themed park. Blue Sky Disney said there were at least 3 different park concepts for WDW on the walls of Imagineering.

I'd really like to see exactly what Imagineering has been throwing around as ideas for WDW.

 

[roadtripper]

The reason I say Atlantic City or anywhere along the I-95 corridor is for sheer numbers of people living within a 250 mile radius. Plane tickets cost a whole lot less for shorter trips and driving 5 or 6 hours max. is much nicer than an 18 hour road trip. I've done it 4 times in two years. Round trip from Philly to Orlando is approx. $1000 for 5 people. Add in the cost of 7 days of tickets plus food and lodging and costs go to approx. $4000- $5000. If you build something cool up North you will get the traffic. Disney Quest was a total let down. Giant arcades do not entice adults to spend more than a day there at a time.
AC is a s---hole currently, but they have realized that with all the competition from upstart casinos they need to change. Many of the mob-like characters have been weeded out and the current governor does not play around with them. AC needs a major player to come in and save them, probably using much state money as well as casino owner's money. Jobs and revenue depend on AC mattering in the gambling world..and there is a beach, multi-purpose trip. If only we could swim on Disney beaches!
I'm up for many concepts but an historically based park is not one. Busch Gardens in Virginia already has that with the realistic settlement town near a park. Kids don't care about that kind of stuff these days. They want cool rides based on current heroes and things they use every day. Put Splash Mtn. next to a giant I pad, my kids will go to the Ipad first. I hope any new park will be extremely cutting edge, like the Ferrari roller coaster and Manta in Sea World.

 

[juniorthomas]

The reason I say Atlantic City or anywhere along the I-95 corridor is for sheer numbers of people living within a 250 mile radius. Plane tickets cost a whole lot less for shorter trips and driving 5 or 6 hours max. is much nicer than an 18 hour road trip. I've done it 4 times in two years. Round trip from Philly to Orlando is approx. $1000 for 5 people. Add in the cost of 7 days of tickets plus food and lodging and costs go to approx. $4000- $5000. If you build something cool up North you will get the traffic. Disney Quest was a total let down. Giant arcades do not entice adults to spend more than a day there at a time.
AC is a s---hole currently, but they have realized that with all the competition from upstart casinos they need to change. Many of the mob-like characters have been weeded out and the current governor does not play around with them. AC needs a major player to come in and save them, probably using much state money as well as casino owner's money. Jobs and revenue depend on AC mattering in the gambling world..and there is a beach, multi-purpose trip. If only we could swim on Disney beaches!
I'm up for many concepts but an historically based park is not one. Busch Gardens in Virginia already has that with the realistic settlement town near a park. Kids don't care about that kind of stuff these days. They want cool rides based on current heroes and things they use every day. Put Splash Mtn. next to a giant I pad, my kids will go to the Ipad first. I hope any new park will be extremely cutting edge, like the Ferrari roller coaster and Manta in Sea World.

But throwing Disney properties across the map dilutes the power of DL and WDW. If you had a Disney closer to you, you wouldn't need to check out the other ones nearly as often. Making them distant (for most) increases their appeal. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

 

[roadtripper]

I can go to many beaches in under an hour, but for some reason I prefer Ocala beach in FL. Cleaner beaches, nicer water, not as silty, etc. If done well it could further enhance your desire to go to WDW. It wouldn't ruin the experience, simply be a different Disney experience. Heck, if they wanted they wouldn't even have to include Disney at all, simply market it as a Marvel park or whatever they decide. That way people would still crave WDW while making Disney money.
You can get their money once every few years or you can get it every few months for years. Isn't that the idea behind the Disney stores in malls and licensing agreements with clothing manufacturers? If they can't buy it at Disney let's take it to them. People will spend their money somewhere. I've spent over $500 on season passes for the last two years to go to two different theme parks that are only open for 4 -5 months. They are packed for these months. Why wouldn't Disney want that money? WDW will always be the mecca for vacations, but some people can't afford to put out that much money every year. A few hundred dollars is all they are willing to spend so Disney is put on the back burner.
Doubt it will ever happen but it makes sense to me.

 

[NoChesterHester]

But throwing Disney properties across the map dilutes the power of DL and WDW. If you had a Disney closer to you, you wouldn't need to check out the other ones nearly as often. Making them distant (for most) increases their appeal. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

Couldn't agree more.

Honestly for those of us in the southeast the proximity to WDW makes it harder to revel across country to go to Disneyland. It isn't that Disneyland isn't very unique and utterly awesome, but even to this day we are still regionally based.

Same thing happened when Disney Stores opened up at every mall in the country over the 1990's... The product got less "special" and more easily attainable.

 

[juniorthomas]

Couldn't agree more.

Honestly for those of us in the southeast the proximity to WDW makes it harder to revel across country to go to Disneyland. It isn't that Disneyland isn't very unique and utterly awesome, but even to this day we are still regionally based.

Same thing happened when Disney Stores opened up at every mall in the country over the 1990's... The product got less "special" and more easily attainable.

And we all know how well the Disney Stores are doing...

 

[RSoxNo1]

Couldn't agree more.

Honestly for those of us in the southeast the proximity to WDW makes it harder to revel across country to go to Disneyland. It isn't that Disneyland isn't very unique and utterly awesome, but even to this day we are still regionally based.

Same thing happened when Disney Stores opened up at every mall in the country over the 1990's... The product got less "special" and more easily attainable.

At times it's cheaper for me to fly from Boston to LA than Boston to Florida. The price difference isn't that substantial otherwise, and I've been splitting my time between the two locations because in recent years the uptick in quality has been in Disneyland.

 

[flavious27]

And we all know how well the Disney Stores are doing...

Well disney is trying to fix the mistake of selling the stores to the children's place.

 

[flavious27]

Couldn't agree more.

Honestly for those of us in the southeast the proximity to WDW makes it harder to revel across country to go to Disneyland. It isn't that Disneyland isn't very unique and utterly awesome, but even to this day we are still regionally based.

Same thing happened when Disney Stores opened up at every mall in the country over the 1990's... The product got less "special" and more easily attainable.

Well to me and my wife, we like wdw more than dl because there is more to do and more choices on property for accommodations. A regional park that we would visit for a day or stay the night for a second day would not delay any trip to wdw.

 

[juniorthomas]

Well disney is trying to fix the mistake of selling the stores to the children's place.

And I commend them on that. But we can all agree that the Disney Stores of the past ten years haven't been much to be proud of.

 

[cheezbat]

At times it's cheaper for me to fly from Boston to LA than Boston to Florida. The price difference isn't that substantial otherwise, and I've been splitting my time between the two locations because in recent years the uptick in quality has been in Disneyland.

I totally agree with you. While there are more parks and resorts at WDW, I will continually take a 4 or 5 day vacation at DL over WDW. The quality is far stronger over in California than what we have over here in Orlando.

 

[Disday]

It's easier to manage two parks and a few hotels at Disneyland than an area that is twice the size of Manhattan with four parks, two water parks, a sports center, and thousands of hotel rooms etc. People always try to compare the quality of the 2 parks and criticize Team Orlando. I wonder if Team Anaheim were given the responsibility of WDW if they would be equally praised. I'll take WDW over any Disney resort in the world - there's no comparison (to me).

 

[juniorthomas]

It's easier to manage two parks and a few hotels at Disneyland than an area that is twice the size of Manhattan with four parks, two water parks, a sports center, and thousands of hotel rooms etc. People always try to compare the quality of the 2 parks and criticize Team Orlando. I wonder if Team Anaheim were given the responsibility of WDW if they would be equally praised. I'll take WDW over any Disney resort in the world - there's no comparison (to me).

Good call. TDO is in a completely different ballpark than TDA.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

It's easier to manage two parks and a few hotels at Disneyland than an area that is twice the size of Manhattan with four parks, two water parks, a sports center, and thousands of hotel rooms etc.

And an area 4 times the size of Manhattan with 8 theme parks would be even harder to manage.

Seriously...I don't think the size of WDW means it should be graded "on a curve" when it comes to quality. They chose to make it that big after all.

 

[_Scar]

And I commend them on that. But we can all agree that the Disney Stores of the past ten years haven't been much to be proud of.

The new Disney stores are actually really, really nice with 'interactive' features that I've heard make the stores slammed. And that's just recent, they're opening more and more each year now.

 

[cheezbat]

It's easier to manage two parks and a few hotels at Disneyland than an area that is twice the size of Manhattan with four parks, two water parks, a sports center, and thousands of hotel rooms etc. People always try to compare the quality of the 2 parks and criticize Team Orlando. I wonder if Team Anaheim were given the responsibility of WDW if they would be equally praised. I'll take WDW over any Disney resort in the world - there's no comparison (to me).

As long as it was in California, I guarantee you the quality would still be there. Why? Because the HEAD HONCHOS are based just a few towns away. Not to mention all the local AP'ers would be up in arms if things weren't kept to a T. They're all about keeping them coming back out there! :animwink:
Here, while the resort is huge, theres tens of thousands of people working there, as well as tons and tons of managers. They're just huge penny pushers down here. Heck, look at how they didn't even want to spend the money to upgrade Star Tours...that had to be FORCED on them by the boys in Burbank!

 

[wm49rs]

The new Disney stores are actually really, really nice with 'interactive' features that I've heard make the stores slammed. And that's just recent, they're opening more and more each year now.

The store in Times Square was insanly busy when we visited, albeit right before New Years.....

 

[juniorthomas]

The new Disney stores are actually really, really nice with 'interactive' features that I've heard make the stores slammed. And that's just recent, they're opening more and more each year now.

You'd have to go back and follow the thread. Wasn't talking about the new stores.

 

[flavious27]

And I commend them on that. But we can all agree that the Disney Stores of the past ten years haven't been much to be proud of.

Agreed, selling the stores to a 3rd party was just a bad decision that stems from the business philosophy that outsourcing and taking licensing fees is better than having a direct oversight.

I do like that pins and some park merch is available on-line, it is smart and will not cannibalize park merch sales though some floriday ebay sellers will be upset.