A Disneyland future themed resort in Texas?

[Douglas Dubh]

You're the CEO of Disney, you find yourself with the ability to finance something that could cost $10 billion. Do you invest that in new land, infrastructure, hotels, restaurants, AND a theme park in Texas or do you just build a new park in Orlando (with all the land, infrastructure, etc. already in place).

It depends. If you build another park in Florida, can you find enough people to staff it? Will it attract new visitors or will it just take away visitors from the other parks there? Will construction costs be significantly higher because you have to expand existing infrastructure rather than just build new?

To me, Southern Texas seems like an expanding market with a lot of potential growth. There’s a fairly large population but not much there as far as theme parks. I think it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Q-man]

You're the CEO of Disney, you find yourself with the ability to finance something that could cost $10 billion. Do you invest that in new land, infrastructure, hotels, restaurants, AND a theme park in Texas or do you just build a new park in Orlando (with all the land, infrastructure, etc. already in place).

Look I live in Houston. There is an enormous amount of money and people in Texas for this sort of thing. But it's just not practicable.

You build another DL/Magic Kingdom with a second park that is a Marvel Universe centric park heavy on the thrill rides thus offering something completely different from DL and WDW and fill the thrill ride niche for Disney.

As mentioned above WDW is having issues finding enough staff as it is.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

You build another DL/Magic Kingdom with a second park that is a Marvel Universe centric park heavy on the thrill rides thus offering something completely different from DL and WDW and fill the thrill ride niche for Disney.

I would think you could start with one park with a mix of themes and attraction types. Either another castle park with a Stark Expo in Tomorrowland and a Wakanda in Adventureland or you could do a Westcot type design where various countries surround a superhero/future tech area in the middle.

 

[Chuck S]

It's not happening...but if it were, near San Antonio would be the logical choice with Six Flags, the River Walk and Sea World already in the city, and already a popular tourism destination. Houston no longer has AstroWorld (shame on Six Flags) and doesn't have the leisure tourist draw that San Antonio already has. Plus New Braunfels has Schlitterbahn water park, deemed by many to be the world's best, and Natural Bridge Caverns between New Braunfels and San Antonio. Plus there are a lot of historical nearby day trips, like New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. And downtown has the Alamo, Ripley's Believe it or Not, the San Antonio Zoo, and other attractions to fill up a week.

 

[tcufrog]

I was born in Texas and have lived here all my life. I've never heard this rumor. If I was going to place it somewhere, San Antonio makes the most sense since it already is a great tourist draw and is already very tourist friendly. That being said, San Antonio still isn't a great choice because I don't think there's enough water and it's hot as Hades there during the summer. Houston would be an awful choice. It's horribly humid, the traffic is ridiculous already and the air pollution is awful. There are also real problems with flooding even if there's no hurricane.

 

[Q-man]

I was born in Texas and have lived here all my life. I've never heard this rumor. If I was going to place it somewhere, San Antonio makes the most sense since it already is a great tourist draw and is already very tourist friendly. That being said, San Antonio still isn't a great choice because I don't think there's enough water and it's hot as Hades there during the summer. Houston would be an awful choice. It's horribly humid, the traffic is ridiculous already and the air pollution is awful. There are also real problems with flooding even if there's no hurricane.

The rumor has been around since the late 70s/early 80s. Lake Travis in Austin and SA were the two back then.

Houston would be North of the city out by either of the two reservoirs on the two rivers and thus 30-50 miles from the refineries and flood prone areas.

Houston humidity is no different than Orlando humidity.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I was born in Texas and have lived here all my life. I've never heard this rumor. If I was going to place it somewhere, San Antonio makes the most sense since it already is a great tourist draw and is already very tourist friendly. That being said, San Antonio still isn't a great choice because I don't think there's enough water and it's hot as Hades there during the summer. Houston would be an awful choice. It's horribly humid, the traffic is ridiculous already and the air pollution is awful. There are also real problems with flooding even if there's no hurricane.

Well, I’m not saying they should build it in Houston. I’m thinking more like an hour west on I-10.

 

[tcufrog]

I find it interesting that neither of you addressed my other primary concerns with having it in or near Houston. Still unconvinced.

 

[okilydokily]

Why are so many people convinced WDW will get a 5th gate? I don't see that happening. At least not in any foreseeable future.

 

[Q-man]

I find it interesting that neither of you addressed my other primary concerns with having it in or near Houston. Still unconvinced.

Flooding, traffic, and air pollution are all addressed by having it out by Conroe or Katy. Traffic is the only one of those I didn't previously address. No one is saying in the center of Houston is an appropriate location. BTW- DL did not close up and move with all the smog in the Valley.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Disney already has plenty of land in florida, hotel infrastructure built to accommodate an additional gate (assuming that not all guests stay onsite) Control of local ordinances with Reedy Creek, an airport shuttle service, onsite transit, an outdoor shopping Mecca and dozens of massively expensive building projects underway. Gate 5 isn't likely anytime soon (At least not until the 2030's) but its still astronomically more likely than a park in Texas.

 

[middlechild]

If Disney had the ability to fund a new investment, compare the rate of return of the different options. Would the return off a fifth gate be greater or less than the rate of return of a Texas park? Would the rate of return be greater with new sports TV contracts? How about versus buying Netflix, or a different video provider? Whatever the answer, and this is why Bob Iger gets the big bucks, I am pretty sure a fifth gate OR a Texas park would not return any type of profit like shoring up ABC, ESPN or movie content.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Disney already has plenty of land in florida, hotel infrastructure built to accommodate an additional gate (assuming that not all guests stay onsite) Control of local ordinances with Reedy Creek, an airport shuttle service, onsite transit, an outdoor shopping Mecca and dozens of massively expensive building projects underway. Gate 5 isn't likely anytime soon (At least not until the 2030's) but its still astronomically more likely than a park in Texas.

Yes, Disney still has a lot of land in Florida, but a lot of it is not developable because of wet land considerations. Disney has been buying more land around the resort as mitigation so they can develop other areas of WDW. Would they need to buy more in order to build a 5th gate? Is the land around WDW now more expensive than what they would pay to develop a resort in Texas? I don’t pretend to know but it seems like it’s possible and so I don’t dismiss the chance they could build in Texas before they would build a 5th gate in Florida.

 

[DLgal]

No one goes to Texas for vacation. Florida was chosen because it was ALREADY a popular tourist destination. You build vacation kingdoms where people go on vacation. Hawaii would make more sense than Texas.

 

[Chuck S]

No one goes to Texas for vacation. Florida was chosen because it was ALREADY a popular tourist destination. You build vacation kingdoms where people go on vacation. Hawaii would make more sense than Texas.

Actually, they do. San Antonio is a pretty popular vacation spot. Lots to do there. And prior to Disneyland, Orange County, CA, wasn't a big vacation destination. It was orange groves.

 

[Chuck S]

If Disney had the ability to fund a new investment, compare the rate of return of the different options. Would the return off a fifth gate be greater or less than the rate of return of a Texas park? Would the rate of return be greater with new sports TV contracts? How about versus buying Netflix, or a different video provider? Whatever the answer, and this is why Bob Iger gets the big bucks, I am pretty sure a fifth gate OR a Texas park would not return any type of profit like shoring up ABC, ESPN or movie content.

Why would they need Netflix, they already have controlling interest in Hulu, with a right to buy them out in the future, as well as launching their own DIsney specific streaming site soon.

 

[Sandiz08]

Its been rumor for reasons noted and for a very long time. It probably came about from something. Bob Iger was in Houston last month to unveil the first Disney Tech Children's Hospital at Texas Children's. He says Disney chose Texas Childrens Hospital because it's the largest children's hospital in the nation and due to amount of children it services. The hospital now has magic bands, storyboards, etc. If Disney were to seek out another park in the U.S., Texas would most likely be at the top of their list.

 

[DLgal]

Actually, they do. San Antonio is a pretty popular vacation spot. Lots to do there. And prior to Disneyland, Orange County, CA, wasn't a big vacation destination. It was orange groves.

Disneyland was different...it was chosen for its proximity to the Disney studio. But people in the 50s absolutely were vacationing in Los Angeles and San Diego before Disneyland was built.

I have never considered San Antonio as a vacation destination nor have I ever known anyone who has vacationed there. That's not to say people don't go there in large numbers, but I don't think it has a huge draw for people outside the midwest.

 

[cdoc29]

If Universal unveils plans for a park in Texas you can bet Disney will too, short of that..........

 

[Q-man]

No one goes to Texas for vacation. Florida was chosen because it was ALREADY a popular tourist destination. You build vacation kingdoms where people go on vacation. Hawaii would make more sense than Texas.

Texas is #5 in the US for tourism then add over 21 million people live there. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/top-10-states-for-tourism/ar-AAcVMdS#page=7