World Of Color in WDW?

[menamechris]

That said, the record of the two American properties prior to the DCA Extreme Makeover that got started in '09 shows the two properties on the same different path they are still on today. TDA focuses on new rides and new major entertainment and big-budget refreshes of existing attractions, while TDO focuses on DVC and

Well said. I think it is fair to say that the heads of WDW have forgotten that they are ultimately in the business of entertainment. For almost ten years now, we have had people at the top would are focused on just making the "quick buck". Geez, even the Fantasyland expansion is primarily for increasing capacity. It's not as if we are getting any HUGE entertainment additions with it. Two extra kiddie rides for the largest expansion in MK history? Really?

 

[jt04]

I think you really can't use the 1.2 Billion dollar Extreme Makeover of DCA Circa 2009-12 as an argument there. What is happening at DCA now is a total anomaly, and completely unprecedented in the history of Disney theme parks, if not the history of all theme parks. When, for gosh sakes, has any theme park operator gone in and torn out a perfectly good main entrance complex and rebuilt it just 10 years after the place opened, just because they wanted to make it look prettier? Never. DCA's Extreme Makeover can't be used as a compare/contrast to any other operating Disney theme park, it's just too weird to try and compare.

That said, the record of the two American properties prior to the DCA Extreme Makeover that got started in '09 shows the two properties on the same different path they are still on today. TDA focuses on new rides and new major entertainment and big-budget refreshes of existing attractions, while TDO focuses on DVC and hotels and third-party development on leased Disney land.

If something changes with that same basic pattern after Cars Land opens next summer, it seems it would need to be triggered by some major personnel changes in the TDO executive offices.



Oh, jt my good man, please tell me you didn't just bust out a smog joke? Lemme check, it is the 21st century, right?... Yeah, it is.

I think the last time smog jokes were relevant was when Johnny Carson used them in his monologues, circa 1975. I know you haven't visited SoCal yet, but the air quality is dramatically improved and the phrase "smog" isn't something kids today even know about. I still remember it, and remember the Smog Alert days of the 1970's and 80's.

But really jt, you might as well drag out the bell bottoms and 8-track tapes if you are going to try using smog in an argument about Southern California.

A couple points. If not for WDW's DVC program it is unlikely TWDC would have had the nerve to invest as they are at DCA. Oh, and the sucess of said DVCs is why DLR will be offering as many as they can. That tiny expansion pad yall have will more likely turn into a DVC resort than a third gate. Meanwhile WDW can buid and build and build. And now that DLR is likely done milking the WDW cash cow, I predict that is exactly what will happen. Even WDW74 has said big projects are in the works. Oh wait, perhaps that is not a good indicator.

Also, they are not moving the main entrance to make it "prettier" although it will. They are moving the main gate to create more retail space to sell more plush. Again, copying the WDW business plan.

And sorry, while the air has improved in lala land, it is nowhere near as clean as Florida's continually refreshed by coastal breezes air.

I know you make it a point to come across as uninformed and oblivious to reality in as many of your posts as possible, but have you ever actually (physically) set foot in Disneyland or Disney California Adventure?*

(Please note: this is a yes or no question, calling for a one-word answer, not a cryptic string of BS or some vague reference to your marvelous posting history.)

Actually the only way to answer this is yes and no. :lol:

 

[misterID]

A reliable "insider" on another website board I frequent posted the info quoted below late Wednesday night about a section of DCA's Paradise Pier that they purposely haven't touched in the big remodel because it's widely rumored to be the site of a future dark ride. Here's their scoop on what's coming to that untouched corner of DCA.



And who knows, this ride may be coming to WDW too! That wouldn't surprise me. But I don't think jt's idea that Burbank executives will somehow shift all money away from Anaheim and towards Orlando beginning Labor Day Weekend, 2012 is quite accurate.

There's apparently already a pretty strong concept for DCA's new dark ride, coming sooner rather than later. :lol:

*pulls hair out*

 

[TP2000]

A couple points. If not for WDW's DVC program it is unlikely TWDC would have had the nerve to invest as they are at DCA. Oh, and the sucess of said DVCs is why DLR will be offering as many as they can. That tiny expansion pad yall have will more likely turn into a DVC resort than a third gate.

The business of DVC is fascinating, I have to admit. It would likely make for a great business book someday. DLR opened its first DVC complex in a new wing of the Grand Californian, planned and approved in pre-crash 2006-07. And after all the hoopla, the new wing added 200 regular rooms to the Grand Californian, and 50 (Fifty) DVC units. Talk about dipping your toe in the water!

There are lots of hotel expansion pads around the existing hotels in the form of 40+ year old sprawling surface parking lots. That's where any DLR hotel expansion would go, not the Fujishige farm south of Katella that Disney has made veiled references to as the site for a third park (sometime around our nation's Tricentenial in 2076, I imagine).

Blue = Surface Parking Lots Adjacent To Existing Disney Hotels Along Disneyland Drive And Disney Way
Red = Fujishige Land (Now Disney Owned) Surrounded by Blue Theme Park Parking and Light Blue CM Parking Lots

A closer look at one of several large surface parking lots, this one directly behind Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel...

Also, they are not moving the main entrance to make it "prettier" although it will. They are moving the main gate to create more retail space to sell more plush. Again, copying the WDW business plan.

That one, I would have to strongly disagree with you on. There is absolutely no indication that any additional square footage of any meaningful size is being added to the DCA entrance complex with Buena Vista Street. The existing stores and restaurants from 2001 are being reskinned as new buildings and renamed with their new late 1920's theme. No new retail space is being added to the existing retail footprint.

And the only real "movement" of any existing structure is the pushing out of the turnstiles by about 20 yards, creating a larger open courtyard in the entry way and a place for the Red Car Trolley to park at its new station. This actually just creates more open space, not more retail space. It also gives them a spot to put up a flagpole, which I personally love because DCA was sadly without an American flag from 2001 to 2011, which is probably why the place was cursed! :animwink:

The one new structure in the Buena Vista Street project is the Carthay Circle Theater, and it does replace a cash-register free void of trees and that stupid sun fountain hubcap thing. But the strong rumors are that the Carthay Circle Theater will house a small Walt Disney Story type exhibit on the ground floor, and an upscale private membership club and restaurant on the top floor, a DCA version of Disneyland's popular Club 33. There's money to be made from the membership club on the second floor, to be sure, but it's not exactly a Plush Palace N' T-Shirt Shop. It's a small attraction and private food service space.

Buena Vista Street is truly fascinating because never in the history of theme parks can I find evidence of such a massive makeover project on an entry complex, and certainly not just 10 years after the place was planned and designed by the masters of theme park design. I'm as excited for Mermaid and Cars Land as the next Disney geek, but the huge makeover of DCA's entire entrance complex and opening act is the most interesting to me from a cultural standpoint. They really want to change how the park behaves and presents itself to its paying customers. Fascinating! And expensive. And a huge construction headache for an existing theme park trying to get 7 Million people per year in and out of the park through that entrance.

If you haven't already jt, you absolutely MUST go over and check out the huge and very detailed Dueling Blueprints of the old DCA entrance overlayed on to the new Buena Vista Street blueprints. You'll be able to see that they aren't adding any meaningful square footage to the facility, but the changes are really neat to pour over via the blueprints. The large Dueling Blueprint file is located here, with the old DCA blueprint in pink and the new Buena Vista Street blueprint in black... http://www.mouseinfo.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=39530&original=1 Enjoy!

And sorry, while the air has improved in lala land, it is nowhere near as clean as Florida's continually refreshed by coastal breezes air.

Again, while your lack of understanding of SoCal geography is understandable because you haven't been to Disneyland yet, the air quality in all of SoCal, and particularly the coastal plain of Orange County, is dramatically improved over the 1940's-70's. Disneyland USA, in fact, sits about nine (9) miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies. That's why us West Coasters are constantly reminding East Coasters on the Disneyland board here to bring a sweatshirt or light jacket with them when they go to Disneyland in summer, because the beach fog and breeze rolls in to Anaheim every evening and it can get chilly (especially the ladies).

You can actually see the ocean and Catalina Island from the top floors of the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. It's just 9 miles to the surf from Disneyland. They didn't call Anaheim's major thoroughfare Harbor Boulevard by mistake, you know. It actually leads to the.... harbor.

And, you don't get views like this by letting 20 Million motorists miss their annual appointment to get their car's Smog Certificate from their local Air Quality Management District. :lol:

Southern California Mountains: Big Thunder, Matterhorn, Space... and the San Gabriels!

 

[TP2000]

*pulls hair out*

Oh, dear.

Now to be clear, there is no official confirmation that the Ratatouille trackless dark ride has gotten the green light for either DCA or Paris. And I'm sure if it does, the Ratatouille ride will also be considered for the next WDW ride too.

It would be a good dark ride for DHS, I would think. Although it could also work in the back of the France pavilion at World Showcase. There are several places they could put it in WDW, really.

But the point was that John Lasseter obviously has some ideas he is moving through the design and approval phase for DCA after Cars Land opens in 2012. And that one corner of Paradise Pier where it is to go is the one remaining section of that land that they haven't touched in all the remodeling the rest of the Pier got during 2009-11. There appears to be a plan brewing.

 

[jt04]

The business of DVC is fascinating, I have to admit. It would likely make for a great business book someday. DLR opened its first DVC complex in a new wing of the Grand Californian, planned and approved in pre-crash 2006-07. And after all the hoopla, the new wing added 200 regular rooms to the Grand Californian, and 50 (Fifty) DVC units. Talk about dipping your toe in the water!

There are lots of hotel expansion pads around the existing hotels in the form of 40+ year old sprawling surface parking lots. That's where any DLR hotel expansion would go, not the Fujishige farm south of Katella that Disney has made veiled references to as the site for a third park (sometime around our nation's Tricentenial in 2076, I imagine).

Blue = Surface Parking Lots Adjacent To Existing Disney Hotels Along Disneyland Drive And Disney Way
Red = Fujishige Land (Now Disney Owned) Surrounded by Blue Theme Park Parking and Light Blue CM Parking Lots

A closer look at one of several large surface parking lots, this one directly behind Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel...

That one, I would have to strongly disagree with you on. There is absolutely no indication that any additional square footage of any meaningful size is being added to the DCA entrance complex with Buena Vista Street. The existing stores and restaurants from 2001 are being reskinned as new buildings and renamed with their new late 1920's theme. No new retail space is being added to the existing retail footprint.

And the only real "movement" of any existing structure is the pushing out of the turnstiles by about 20 yards, creating a larger open courtyard in the entry way and a place for the Red Car Trolley to park at its new station. This actually just creates more open space, not more retail space. It also gives them a spot to put up a flagpole, which I personally love because DCA was sadly without an American flag from 2001 to 2011, which is probably why the place was cursed! :animwink:

The one new structure in the Buena Vista Street project is the Carthay Circle Theater, and it does replace a cash-register free void of trees and that stupid sun fountain hubcap thing. But the strong rumors are that the Carthay Circle Theater will house a small Walt Disney Story type exhibit on the ground floor, and an upscale private membership club and restaurant on the top floor, a DCA version of Disneyland's popular Club 33. There's money to be made from the membership club on the second floor, to be sure, but it's not exactly a Plush Palace N' T-Shirt Shop. It's a small attraction and private food service space.

Buena Vista Street is truly fascinating because never in the history of theme parks can I find evidence of such a massive makeover project on an entry complex, and certainly not just 10 years after the place was planned and designed by the masters of theme park design. I'm as excited for Mermaid and Cars Land as the next Disney geek, but the huge makeover of DCA's entire entrance complex and opening act is the most interesting to me from a cultural standpoint. They really want to change how the park behaves and presents itself to its paying customers. Fascinating! And expensive. And a huge construction headache for an existing theme park trying to get 7 Million people per year in and out of the park through that entrance.

If you haven't already jt, you absolutely MUST go over and check out the huge and very detailed Dueling Blueprints of the old DCA entrance overlayed on to the new Buena Vista Street blueprints. You'll be able to see that they aren't adding any meaningful square footage to the facility, but the changes are really neat to pour over via the blueprints. The large Dueling Blueprint file is located here, with the old DCA blueprint in pink and the new Buena Vista Street blueprint in black... http://www.mouseinfo.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=39530&original=1 Enjoy!




Again, while your lack of understanding of SoCal geography is understandable because you haven't been to Disneyland yet, the air quality in all of SoCal, and particularly the coastal plain of Orange County, is dramatically improved over the 1940's-70's. Disneyland USA, in fact, sits about nine (9) miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies. That's why us West Coasters are constantly reminding East Coasters on the Disneyland board here to bring a sweatshirt or light jacket with them when they go to Disneyland in summer, because the beach fog and breeze rolls in to Anaheim every evening and it can get chilly (especially the ladies).

You can actually see the ocean and Catalina Island from the top floors of the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. It's just 9 miles to the surf from Disneyland. They didn't call Anaheim's major thoroughfare Harbor Boulevard by mistake, you know. It actually leads to the.... harbor.

And, you don't get views like this by letting 20 Million motorists miss their annual appointment to get their car's Smog Certificate from their local Air Quality Management District. :lol:

Southern California Mountains: Big Thunder, Matterhorn, Space... and the San Gabriels!

Informative stuff. And to be clear I have been to DL but not DCA as it didn't exist which explains my answer above.

I agree that the reconfiguration of DCA is amazing and I am relieved they did not allow accounting to strip the soul out of Imagineerigs creation. I fear that is what happened to the FLE but time will tell.

I have commented on this before but it is worth repeating. The retro monorail is key to the new DCA entrance 'show'. Because it reflects Walts vision of the future when he first arrived in California. Whereas the train at DL reflects Walt's past and looking back nostalgically.

Now maybe this was all coincidence but I tend to think this was inspired from some brilliant Imagineers mind.

And just to be contrary (heh), all that extra space at the front of the park will make plenty of room for merchandise carts at day's end. Selling plush.