new blog: Analysis: A Fifth Theme Park at Walt Disney World

[LeahZ]

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/11/17/analysis-a-fifth-theme-park-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[dpic]

Good article, but just so everyone knows--this is a think piece, there is no park announced.

I think it will be interesting to see how things shake out when the new FantasyLand opens--how will that affect crowds? But, I think more attractions is better than a whole new park. As mentioned, a new park means a huge increase in ticket prices. Also, there's plenty of space to plunk down new attractions. Plus, there's probably some that need to go and at least have serious rehab. Is it time to say good-bye to Indiana Jones?

I love dark rides, and there aren't nearly enough of those. Hopefully, the new Avatar land will imploy a dark ride featuring the awesome night scenes of Pandora. Also, what about a Pinocchio ride? I think there's so much from Disney history that lays untapped that could keep a troop on imagineers busy for years.

One thing they could do--ala the redo of California in Disneyland, is to retheme Disney Studios as PixarLand. That way they get the best of both worlds--a new park, and a much needed retooling of an existing property.

 

[twob4him]

Boy I thought there would be a lot more posts on this. I loved the article and looked over the Land Use document for a bit. Very cool. Truthfully, I have been thinking "new park" but actually, expanding the current parks is probably a much better way to go. And maybe redoing unused locations, as suggested. I am interested in hearing ideas!!!

 

[kermit116]

Interesting article. I do hope Disney will put in a new theme park at some point, but I imagine it won't happen for several years. I'd assume it's more financially beneficial to them to have the parks and resorts packed full of people than to invest in a new park and create a better guest experience. But it's always fun to speculate! And I do agree with the assessment that there a lots of "dead spaces" in the existing parks. It would be nice if Disney would add some more rides and attractions in these areas. It could be fun to have a new attraction added every year or two, and could make things more interesting for repeat Disney visitors. The opening of the new expanded Fantasyland and Avatar land will be interesting and fun, but some smaller changes every year or two could bring some new life to the parks.

 

[kaligal]

I'd honestly rather see them put back a bunch of the stuff they've taken away over the years.

An amazing time in 4 parks is better than a good time in 5.

 

[DCTooTall]

Personally from a cost standpoint... I can't see the logic in opening a 5th gate right now.

With a new park, you already end up with overhead due to the need to staff the turnstiles, guest services, ticket booths, and the parking lot. You also end up with the need to run additional Disney Transportation routes from each onsite resort to the new park. that's a lot of reoccurring costs before you even start factoring in attractions, dining, and merch within the park.

I honestly believe both AK and MGM (er.. DHS) could use some real love before they open a new park. Currently at AK you have 7 rides (Safari, the train to the Conservation Station, Kali, Everest, Primeval whirl, triceratops spin, Dinosaur), and at MGM you have only 6. (Tower of terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, Toy Story mania, Star Tours, Backstage Tour, Great movie Ride.). There are also several shows in each park (and AK has the walk thru attractions) which help give you more to do... but there is a large subsection of guests who just look at "ride" counts and don't care about shows beyond the nightly fireworks.

If you remove attractions with height limits, the numbers are even worse. AK has only 3 rides (Safari, Train to Conservation Station, Triceratops Spin), and MGM has only 3 (Toy Story mania, Backstage Tour, Great Movie Ride).


So ultimately, bang for the $$... MGM and AK could afford to be enlarged before they start adding another gate. Increasing the attraction count at both parks would go a LONG way towards improving existing wait times. Especially at MGM, If they added some fun attractions that younger/smaller guests could experience, I'm betting we would see a dramatic decrease in the crowds for Toy Story Mania.