Does WDW need another shopping area???

[Bob O]

DO you think WDW needs another shopping area?? Or could this area be used for better ideas??
http://miceage.com/kevinyee/ky110706a.htm

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

Can I just pat myself on the back for telling you all this, ohh I don't know.. MONTHS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never doubt the man known around the world as TINK'S TORMENTOR!!!!!

 

[dbm20th]

It is WAY too early to decide this. It all depends on what it is. I'll tell you this, however, as a DVC member I will be real happy if there is a grocery store.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

...as it is presented. More clutter and unimaginative nonsense with only profit as its final goal. I hate tourits traps like Gatlinberg (as I remember it) or the 192 corridor ... So sad. It was one thing to want the guests to stay in your unique hotels and eat in your restaurants but it's quite another to want them to buy cheap, made in China trinkets from you as well. How can this be magical? It what form? How can this exceed anyones expectation?

Especially when there are so many other ways they could proceed. How about an on site Disney themed bowling alley and ice rink at Pop Century for example? They can charge a mint and make a fortune while just maximizing something they've already done (good or bad).

Or how about making PI & DD more user friendly? Although many Disneyphiles revile the idea, I think a large parking garage (out of sight) with imaginative transportation to PI & DD could make the area more viable and palatable...Heck maybe some of the current parking could be used for expansion (maybe some of those cheapo shops they seem so keen on building).

Looks to me like Igernazation is in full swing.

 

[BRERALEX]

I don't think they need another shopping area. Think they need to improve upon what they have now. Improve that and attendance will increase. Then go for yet another lodging area.

 

[AmyBWV99]

So depressing. Sucking a little more of the magic out of WDW for profit's sake. WDW is a shadow of what it once was. If you want to read a great article (one I agree with, BTW) about DW going downhill, click here:

http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al110306a.htm

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Thanks Amy...I agree that I pretty much agree (with the article) as well...But did he say M:S was the premiere attraction at WDW???

 

[Luv2Roam]

Sure, another theme park would always be great. But I don't see this as a minus. How many times when I was a tourist that I wanted to go to the outlets? And to do so was time consuming, stressful and expensive (taxi, shuttle, car rental).
The value resorts are popular and always fill up fast. We have seen Disney increase their sports events. And sports guests often stay at value resorts, much to the chagrin of other guests . Even on a regular basis value resorts often seem to be the resorts that book up the fastest. That must be where the highest need is.
Guests are always clamoring for a less expensive WDW vacation.
DTD is over crowded and parking there has become a headache. It is like Christmas year around.
If what the article predicts happens, I see it as a plus.
Maybe some competition between the two will be favorable too for guests.

 

[raidermatt]

Ugh.

What? Minimum message length is 5 characters?

Ok. Ugh, ugh.

 

[MJMcBride]

why don't they just up and Sears and get it over with

 

[2Xited4Disney]

Well I guess is the announcement us "Rumors" board people have been waiting for


Who was it this summer that said "WDW will be getting something it already has". We (including myself) said turned this person away... well if you are reading this... you may have the last laugh now



EDIT: I guess I should have read the entire thread before I posted... Good call on that one TT

 

[Bob O]

Disney has more than enough shopping options on there property as it is right now, and dont need to add anymore. I think this is a major waste of land and should be set aside for something much more important than cheap hotels and discount shopping venue's!!

 

[crazy4wdw]

Web site says Disney World to develop land on west side
The resort is planning retail, dining, hotel and time-share projects, MiceAge.com reports.

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 8, 2006

Walt Disney World's plans for its newly opened western entrance may go beyond just bringing in tourist traffic and could include a large new retail and hotel development area on the resort's west side, according to a report Tuesday on a Web site.

Disney is not acknowledging any such plans. And a spokeswoman declined to respond to the report, posted on an independent Web site that features Disney news and discussions. The account details plans for a large retail and hotel zone near the new interchange of State Road 429 and Western Way.

Prospects for such a project surprise few who follow development at Disney or in southwestern Orange County. The roads and the interchange on Disney's west side are new. The utility lines are installed. And development and steady traffic growth are expected up and down the S.R. 429 corridor over the next couple of decades.

"It's a logical site. It makes great sense for development," said retail specialist John Crossman of Crossman & Co.

The Web site MiceAge.com reported Tuesday that it had obtained details of a plan Disney calls the "Western Beltway Development Project."

It calls for shopping, dining, hotel and time-share projects in Walt Disney World's largely undeveloped west side, near the S.R. 429 interchange. The area could rival Downtown Disney in size and scope, the Web site reports, but is several years away.

The timetable makes sense to C. Ray Maxwell, administrator of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government district that oversees Walt Disney World. Maxwell said he has not seen or heard of specific plans for the area and is not aware that any exist. But he said development is likely there over time.

When Western Way was built last year, Reedy Creek extended utility lines along the road to prepare for development on Disney's west side.

"I do know they are looking at options of what they can do with that property," Maxwell said. "It's all zoned commercial so they could put some hotels or time shares or just about anything they wanted. But there's nothing imminent there at all."

Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs, whose district includes Disney World, said she also has heard of no specific plans for that part of Disney; but she, too, would not be surprised to see it develop.

Andrea Finger, spokeswoman for Walt Disney Imagineering, the Disney group that would plan such a development, said, "We've always looked at this area as an additional gateway to the property. At this time we have nothing to announce."

S.R. 429, also known as the Western Beltway, opened through the area in December. Western Way, Disney's new road connecting a Western Beltway interchange to Disney World's road network, opened in March.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.

 

[raidermatt]

By the way, nice to see you posting around here again, Mr. Bob O.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I could see this if its done like resorts in South Carolina. A central yet tasteful shopping area where you can accomplish all the shopping you might do on a destination vacation (souvenier, groceries, restaurants, miniature golf) structured in such a way you can easily access the area on foot. Add in a big DVC unit to support the grocery store...yields a built in word of mouth around the other DVC's. Perhaps restricted grocery delivery from that store to on property locations.

The only thing that doesn't make sense is yet another value resort. Moderate I could see. Of course limited service could mean moderate. The other problem is without a theme park nearby there wouldn't be any difference between this location and 192 except bus service and early entry.

 

[2Xited4Disney]

If anyone has a map of the property, could they highlight where this would possibly be? I am having a hard time picturing it

 

[ztbz]

At one time in the 1990's Disney planned to build a Shopping Mall, so maybe they are putting those plans to uses.

 

[vonpluto]

If anyone has a map of the property, could they highlight where this would possibly be? I am having a hard time picturing it

In the general area just above the Legend box on the map below.

 

[vonpluto]

At one time in the 1990's Disney planned to build a Shopping Mall, so maybe they are putting those plans to uses.

There was the rumored "Mickey Mall" south of 192, in the general area of Celebration.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

Andrea Finger, spokeswoman for Walt Disney Imagineering, the Disney group that would plan such a development, said, "We've always looked at this area as an additional gateway to the property. At this time we have nothing to announce."

Why couldn't they have kept WDI to designing rides/attractions/etc. and left land development to a whatever group that used to do land development?

Ugh and Weak.....