'Expansion' is the Wrong Term for What's Happening at HS

[rteetz]

Disney doesn't usually tease with a little and add more. They generally try to get as much big press out there as possible and scale back. Hype first, deal with reality later. So, I am not really counting on more announcements - unless there is another uproar and they are forced to go back to the drawing board and add something else like Mine Train. Or Shanghai where they are trying to not repeat the error of DCA.

I hope so.

Have you seen the concept art? That's defintely not completed that's very early work. Design work is not entirely completed. Yes the land will have two rides but designs of rides and things are not final hence why we saw little and know very little details. Shanghai is a whole different ball game.

 

[rteetz]

How funny! I read the title of this thread and thought it was going to be saying "Expansion" doesn't do it justice, it should be called a complete rebuild, a new park, or something like that. Just goes to show two ppl can look at the same thing and draw completely opposite conclusions. Really when you think about it, this overhaul is so major that when it's done, around 2/3 of the relevant park (to me) will be in the rebuild, and only about 1/3 of the park original. That's essentially a new park but with taking RnR and ToT over. I'm pretty excited for this Expansion / rebuild / new park, or even redecorating or whatever the dissatisfied crowd wants to call it.

Lots of infrastructure work will be happening to make this park better as well.

 

[rteetz]

Another way to think of it - DHS had and has only FIVE rides. (Before TSMM it was only 4.The Backlot tour was never really a "ride" per se, it was a guided tour on a tram - so am not counting it.)

Current Rides are:
Toy Story Midway Mania
Great Movie Ride
Star Tours
Rock N Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror

They are adding at least 4 more rides with the expansion.
The Claw/Alien Spin
Slinky Dog Coaster
Millenium Falcon ride
Star Wars Ride #2.
(There may be more unannounced rides as well with further "lands".)

The other major part of the park are the shows. There are currently NINE shows at DHS:
Beauty and The Beast
The Muppets
Indiana Jones
Jedi Training Academy
Lights Motor Action
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Fantasmic
Disney Junior on Stage
Frozen Sing-Along

There are RUMORS around them closing just about ALL of these shows. (Fantasmic and Disney Junior are the only ones I haven't read rumors about, and of course Jedi Training Academy will be changed/moved.) However, NONE of them have been officially said to be closing. It is quite unlikely that they would remove SIX shows (or even FOUR shows) and not replace at least SOME of them. Certainly if both stunt shows go, we will get at least one new one.

You have to remember what was said about DHS at D23 and expect to continue to hear it said - "we are moving from a park that's about the making of movies to a park that let's you become PART of the movie." So, right now the stuff that's definitely going to stay (RnRC, ToT, GMR, Theatre of the Stars, Sunset Boulevard...Fantasmic) will likely become part of a "Hollywoodland" themed area. Then you have a Toy Story Theme area, then a Star Wars theme area. Does anyone really think a park like this will only have THREE themed areas? I think you are likely to see something like "Islands of Adventure" eventually take over the park. Where there will be probably 4-6 different themed areas, each one devoted to an immersive theme. The master plan has yet to be announced, that doesn't mean there isn't one.

Well said Pete. We defintely have not heard the last of announcements for DHS over the next five years.

 

[DDLand]

Or Shanghai where they are trying to not repeat the error of DCA.

They're trying to avoid the errors of DCA... Of Euro Disneyland... Of DAK... Of WDS Paris... Of HKDL...

So far they seem to be doing all the right things!

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Like what? Nothing that's getting axed so far really matters to me. We enjoy HS the least (and particularly my DW would be content to skip it)... You've got TSMM, TOT, RNR, and ST. And we go for the Star Wars Experience. Building a lightsaber, JTA, etc.

The relevant and current movie content is what is going to make or break this park. With the acquisition of Pixar and Lucas, and given that Star Wars will be the top movie of all time, and TS4 will be the top animated of all time, I really think they're going down the right path here.

IJ show we've done a couple times so that's not big to us.
LMA show we've done as well, so kill it.
SOA section is such a waste of space.
Backlot Tour we did plenty of times. It was okay but not all that.

Taking the current Star Wars ride and Toy Story ride and turning these into themed lands is going to change the whole feel of this park. It's really pretty unthemed right now with vast swathes of hot, empty concrete. This is just going to change so much of the feel of this park.

Attraction capacity? How can you argue with upping the capacity on TSMM and ading a SW coaster and TS coaster. (plus supporting rides, dining, and shops) The capacity will be greatly increased on the top-tier rides that people are trying to get FP's to. They'll find a way to re-inject shows to hold some of the people. When we went the LMA stadium was mostly empty anyways so the demand for that show is definitely not there.

You and I may not be visiting these attractions, but you can't argue that they hold lots of people. It will be interesting to see how these new areas will handle the crowds.

The SOA may not normally be busy, but the Osborne Lights pulls in lots of people. While ultimately the SW area may pull in more people, DHS will be hurting for the years it takes to get this done.

 

[nabby]

This trip will probably be our last to DHS. With two little girls--and no adult interest in Star Wars--the expansion does nothing for us. Ading a slinky dog ride doesn't justify the cost of a ticket. I just hope Voyage of Little Mermaid and Beauty and Beast are still there in March.

<sarcasm filter on>

I know. Heaven forbid my five year old girl ever got into Star Wars or sci-fi. I'll make sure she's riding Voyage of the Little Mermaid and similar things when she's 15, 25, 35 or whatever. She's a girl and should be kept away from exciting space adventures.

Oh, but we're here at DHS right now and she wants to go on ToT again having ridden it for the first time ever this morning. What should I do????

<sarcasm filter off>

 

[skier_pete]

<sarcasm filter on>

I know. Heaven forbid my five year old girl ever got into Star Wars or sci-fi. I'll make sure she's riding Voyage of the Little Mermaid and similar things when she's 15, 25, 35 or whatever. She's a girl and should be kept away from exciting space adventures.

Oh, but we're here at DHS right now and she wants to go on ToT again having ridden it for the first time ever this morning. What should I do????

<sarcasm filter off>

Well said. Our DD12 loves Star Wars and is only disappointed that it will take so long so build. She so much wants to go to Star Wars weekends, but our school year here goes to late June and there's just no way.

Not every single thing appeals to every single child. Their tastes also change over years. A well built park appeals to everyone, which is why MK is so popular.

 

[OKW Lover]

This should have been the fifth gate.

They're letting the bean counters run the show again, led by the Chief Weatherman in Charge...

OK Larry, I'll rise to the bait. And just to be clear, I'm a recovering bean counter.

It doesn't make economic sense to build a 5th gate when all the newly announced attractions can easily be accommodated in the existing 4 parks. Adding a 5th gate would be much more expensive than putting these new attractions into the current parks.

A 5th gate would require lots of new infrastructure and layers of management. Infrastructure such as new roads, parking lots, buses, water/sewer/gas lines to get to the new park. Layers of management because a new park would have its own hierarchy of managers to oversee the front line CM's there. More management than is needed if you were to add these attractions to existing parks.

 

[larryz]

OK Larry, I'll rise to the bait. And just to be clear, I'm a recovering bean counter.

It doesn't make economic sense to build a 5th gate when all the newly announced attractions can easily be accommodated in the existing 4 parks. Adding a 5th gate would be much more expensive than putting these new attractions into the current parks.

A 5th gate would require lots of new infrastructure and layers of management. Infrastructure such as new roads, parking lots, buses, water/sewer/gas lines to get to the new park. Layers of management because a new park would have its own hierarchy of managers to oversee the front line CM's there. More management than is needed if you were to add these attractions to existing parks.

I wasn't baiting. I understand a new park's logistics would be $$$. But it's not like Disney is hurting for cash right now.

A fifth gate would have, IMNSHO, been the perfect opportunity to exploit their Lucas acquisition using five or so of the Star Wars worlds as themed lands and a central core with a hemispherical "Death Star" castle...

But I guess imagination is just too expensive these days.