Earful Tower to be Removed from Studios

[JimmyV]

Shutting down the park would cost jobs and money. This is no different than the DCA redo.

Jobs, yes. But many jobs are going away (or being suspended) as it is. The LMA workers are going to get laid off whether or not they close down the park. Same for the IJ stunt people. Same for the tour guides who ran the BLT. And on and on.

Money? Not a chance. There is no way that shutting down the park would cost money. It would save money. The faster they can complete the job, the more money they save. No one is buying a $100 one day pass to DHS right now, so you can't argue that that revenue would be lost. At best, people are paying $10 extra on their multi-day pass to make sure that they have enough days to go to all 4 parks. Some people would shrink their park passes down a day, and yes, that would cost Disney $10. But many others would still buy the same number of days and simply reallocate their time amongst the remaining parks. And any loss of park pass revenue would be more than made up for in the cost savings of getting the construction equipment off the site faster. A single day's crane rental dwarfs the lost revenue from a person buying a 5 day pass instead of a 6 day pass.

And yes, this makeover will be much like the makeover at DCA. However, two things are worth noting. DCA is configured differently, so the makeover hardly impacted many areas of the park. Paradise Pier was largely unaffected. The makeover of DHS will impact every area of the park. Second, during the time that DCA was being made over, it was not a very pleasant place to visit, and I said the same thing then as I am saying now. It would have been better for them to simply close for some period of time, like a half a year during the slower season, to give the construction teams a boost. They could do that at DHS as well. They don't have to close from now until ribbon cutting. But there are going to be some periods of time where efficiency could be improved by not having to worry about walls separating guests from construction.

 

[AngiTN]

Just saw this response on the Blog announcement.
I guess this is flat out wrong since there are now other closures announced.

 

[AngiTN]

Sad about the Tower. I made sure to take pictures of it the last time I was on backlot. I only saw it during runDisney events so I saw it then. I think with all these massive closures they won't really need to shut down the entire park. They'll be able to start pretty quickly after park close and continue until park opening most days. Also since DHS isn't as "themed" as the other parks day time construction doesn't seem like it would be out of the question either. There won't be as much issues getting things in and out either. I remember the issue with Seven Dwarfs was the fact it was smack in the middle of NFL which had already opened to the public.

Actually, for a working Movie Set, visible construction could actually fit right in

 

[AngiTN]

Jobs, yes. But many jobs are going away (or being suspended) as it is. The LMA workers are going to get laid off whether or not they close down the park. Same for the IJ stunt people. Same for the tour guides who ran the BLT. And on and on.

Money? Not a chance. There is no way that shutting down the park would cost money. It would save money. The faster they can complete the job, the more money they save. No one is buying a $100 one day pass to DHS right now, so you can't argue that that revenue would be lost. At best, people are paying $10 extra on their multi-day pass to make sure that they have enough days to go to all 4 parks. Some people would shrink their park passes down a day, and yes, that would cost Disney $10. But many others would still buy the same number of days and simply reallocate their time amongst the remaining parks. And any loss of park pass revenue would be more than made up for in the cost savings of getting the construction equipment off the site faster. A single day's crane rental dwarfs the lost revenue from a person buying a 5 day pass instead of a 6 day pass.

And yes, this makeover will be much like the makeover at DCA. However, two things are worth noting. DCA is configured differently, so the makeover hardly impacted many areas of the park. Paradise Pier was largely unaffected. The makeover of DHS will impact every area of the park. Second, during the time that DCA was being made over, it was not a very pleasant place to visit, and I said the same thing then as I am saying now. It would have been better for them to simply close for some period of time, like a half a year during the slower season, to give the construction teams a boost. They could do that at DHS as well. They don't have to close from now until ribbon cutting. But there are going to be some periods of time where efficiency could be improved by not having to worry about walls separating guests from construction.

Closing of IJ is announced?

 

[wilkeliza]

Actually, for a working Movie Set, visible construction could actually fit right in

Yep. It could fit right in. The theme actually fits for construction so I don't think Disney would care as much about the noise as much as MK, Epcot, or AK.

 

[rteetz]

Just saw this response on the Blog announcement.
I guess this is flat out wrong since there are now other closures announced.

The blog has been wrong before. Being that the tower is backstage and isn't an attraction it really doesn't "close". If the sentinel says it I think it's on good authority to believe it.

 

[rteetz]

Closing of IJ is announced?

No

 

[rteetz]

Jobs, yes. But many jobs are going away (or being suspended) as it is. The LMA workers are going to get laid off whether or not they close down the park. Same for the IJ stunt people. Same for the tour guides who ran the BLT. And on and on.

Money? Not a chance. There is no way that shutting down the park would cost money. It would save money. The faster they can complete the job, the more money they save. No one is buying a $100 one day pass to DHS right now, so you can't argue that that revenue would be lost. At best, people are paying $10 extra on their multi-day pass to make sure that they have enough days to go to all 4 parks. Some people would shrink their park passes down a day, and yes, that would cost Disney $10. But many others would still buy the same number of days and simply reallocate their time amongst the remaining parks. And any loss of park pass revenue would be more than made up for in the cost savings of getting the construction equipment off the site faster. A single day's crane rental dwarfs the lost revenue from a person buying a 5 day pass instead of a 6 day pass.

And yes, this makeover will be much like the makeover at DCA. However, two things are worth noting. DCA is configured differently, so the makeover hardly impacted many areas of the park. Paradise Pier was largely unaffected. The makeover of DHS will impact every area of the park. Second, during the time that DCA was being made over, it was not a very pleasant place to visit, and I said the same thing then as I am saying now. It would have been better for them to simply close for some period of time, like a half a year during the slower season, to give the construction teams a boost. They could do that at DHS as well. They don't have to close from now until ribbon cutting. But there are going to be some periods of time where efficiency could be improved by not having to worry about walls separating guests from construction.

Part of this DHS makeover is help configure the park better because it is such an awkward set up.

Also yes they would be losing out on money because if they keep it open they can be making money on park tickets and merchandise. Closing the park may cut people's park days down and they would lose out on merchandise sales. While you would think no one is buying single day tickets to DHS I'm sure some people are not knowing what value they are going to get out of that. While it may seem good to close the park I don't think Disney has even considered it.

 

[JimmyV]

Closing of IJ is announced?

No. But changes are going to have to be made. However, I expect this to be among the very last changes to come about because of the crowd eating issue. DHS was a tough park for crowding when everything was open. But if they were to remove the BLT, LMA and Indy all at the same time, they would be flooding the rest of the park, (or, at least what is left of the park) with way more people than it could handle.

Now...if they brought back the Hunchback Show, that might eat some of the crowd!

 

[JimmyV]

While it may seem good to close the park I don't think Disney has even considered it.

Oh, I'm sure they have. They have to have. They just come out on the side of: "Let's not give people any greater incentive to go to Universal or Sea World for a day." There is no way that a company as big and sophisticated as Disney has not looked at the books and compared the cost of construction crews and equipment rental for 36 months vs 18 months and not put pen to paper to see what the difference would be. I would agree that they probably have never for a minute leaned that way. But they have to explored it as an option.

 

[heyitsmejosh]

Disney should lower the price to hs.. Or give a free hopper because it's insane to expect people to pay that much to visit a construction site

 

[AngiTN]

The blog has been wrong before. Being that the tower is backstage and isn't an attraction it really doesn't "close". If the sentinel says it I think it's on good authority to believe it.

Oh, I believe the items listed will close without a doubt. I don't believe the blog at all. Just found it rather amazing he made that statement and posted it

No. But changes are going to have to be made. However, I expect this to be among the very last changes to come about because of the crowd eating issue. DHS was a tough park for crowding when everything was open. But if they were to remove the BLT, LMA and Indy all at the same time, they would be flooding the rest of the park, (or, at least what is left of the park) with way more people than it could handle.

Now...if they brought back the Hunchback Show, that might eat some of the crowd!

I actually sort of think IJ is safe. At least safest of all the things on that side of the park.
Because I don't think Star Tours is moving I think they'll leave it, and everything towards the front alone.
Now, maybe they'll re-theme it to Han Solo show or something, with a new movie for him that is feasible.
And it fits in with Star Wars to some degree

 

[JimmyV]

Now, maybe they'll re-theme it to Han Solo show or something, with a new movie for him that is feasible.
And it fits in with Star Wars to some degree

I could absolutely see them keeping the theater and re-purposing it. But that, in and of itself, would entail a closure of at least half a year.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

They are also reporting that CMs have been informed that they are closing
Wattos Grotto
Studio Catering Co
Honey I Shunk the Kids
Monster's Meet and Greet
Youse Guys Merch

all makes sense but still makes me sad - we love seeing Mike and Sulley each trip and Studio Catering has become our go to CS for DHS

Luckily we're there next week so we can see it all at least one more time (hopefully they won't close any of it that fast). DH would love to get a great shot of the earful tower - any suggestions on where to position him?

 

[rteetz]

Disney should lower the price to hs.. Or give a free hopper because it's insane to expect people to pay that much to visit a construction site

But they won't because people are still going to pay regular prices.

 

[snoopy two]

But they won't because people are still going to pay regular prices.

 

[snoopy two]

Remember when they used to put a Santa hat on the earful tower? Ahhhh.... memories.

 

[Meriweather]

Sad about the tower....like it, like the name. Makes me smile.

 

[JReneeW]

They are also reporting that CMs have been informed that they are closing
Wattos Grotto
Studio Catering Co
Honey I Shunk the Kids
Monster's Meet and Greet
Youse Guys Merch

Can we even guess when they might be closing these things?

 

[mmackeymouse]

I am very bummed about this.

But I guess what I am wondering is....why scrap it completely? Disney is (supposedly) all about nostalgia. So, why can't they disassemble it and put it up somewhere else in the park, or even just somewhere else on property. It just seems odd to me that they would get rid of a HUGE part of Disney World history without a second thought.

I understand that things have to close and attractions have to come down...but I still don't get why they don't try to save the really important stuff.