News Round Up

[Josh Hendy]

I don't believe its been canned indefinitely but again like you said put on hold until a good enough plan comes along. Lens main source is Jim Hill and that info is pretty much what he has said recently. Other sources say disney will open this in 2021 and coin it as their big thing for the 50th.m

I guess that's a case of "some news is better than no news" ... but geez ... 6 years?

That's 3 times slower than what Orlando theme park fans consider to be the norm, using the yardstick established by Universal. Not to mention SeaWorld and Busch Garden's track record for announcing and completing coasters.

A lot of attractions (and entire new parks) could be built by the competition in 6 years, and who knows how much mindspace and market share might be lost. Can Avatar (in 2 years), wrist bands and FP+ really sustain WDW's image and popularity that long?

 

[rteetz]

I guess that's a case of "some news is better than no news" ... but geez ... 6 years?

That's 3 times slower than what Orlando theme park fans consider to be the norm, using the yardstick established by Universal. Not to mention SeaWorld and Busch Garden's track record for announcing and completing coasters.

A lot of attractions (and entire new parks) could be built by the competition in 6 years, and who knows how much mindspace and market share might be lost. Can Avatar (in 2 years), wrist bands and FP+ really sustain WDW's image and popularity that long?

Well if you think about it. They don't start construction until 2016. Then you have it most likely open in phases with the last grand opening in 2021.

Don't forget about frozen in epcot....

 

[rteetz]

MyMagic+ service center is going to be temporarily unavailable at epcot

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/06/mymagic-service-center-temporarily.html

 

[luisov]

Ok, first we heard that the board wasn't impressed with Star Wars land because it had loads of rock work and it wasn't good enough. Now we hear that they rejected Star Wars land 2.0 because it was too expensive. What's the veredict? Am I getting it wrong?

As for the time frame, Disney can build fast if they want to. If DHS can't afford to wait until 2023, then measures will be taken. Remember that Disney already went through that phase back in the 90's. They built pretty much the entire complex in one decade. Universal is barely there.

Well that's infuriating if true. I guess I can officially give up hope for Disney every trying to do anything anywhere nearly as impressive as Universal did with WWOHP.

They have. It just wasn't built in Orlando.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Well if you think about it. They don't start construction until 2016. Then you have it most likely open in phases with the last grand opening in 2021.

Don't forget about frozen in epcot....

Yeah the frozen ride will be a good bump, followed (?) by Avatar, and it's quite possible they can push things along with other modest upgrades year by year until 2021.

But can they really close 2 more attractions at DHS as rumored and replace them with nothing more than a 50% capacity increase at Midway Mania and a slight revision of Great Movie Ride? Until 2021, or until the first (hypothetical) phase of new Star Wars attractions rolls out in 3 years or so? Seems like they're digging themselves a pretty deep hole over there.

And even if they do a phased Star Wars land, that's pretty hard to pull off. Once you decide it's OK to take 5 years to completely build something, that's a h_ll of a long time to have shut down attractions (Indiana Jones and/or Muppets 3D) and huge construction fences and cranes in everyone's faces.

Universal only took maybe 2 years to do Hogwarts/Hogsmeade and although they had fences and scaffolds, I believe they kept both existing coasters operating almost the entire time. That meant regular non-FL visitors experienced the construction fences maybe once. A five-year turtle-speed Star Wars construction project will subject people to perhaps 2 visits worth of missing attractions and plywood fences. They might be able to keep things ticking along in the resort as a whole until 2021 but at DHS it's hard to see how they can stretch it out for 6 years.

 

[rteetz]

Yeah the frozen ride will be a good bump, followed (?) by Avatar, and it's quite possible they can push things along with other modest upgrades year by year until 2021.

But can they really close 2 more attractions at DHS as rumored and replace them with nothing more than a 50% capacity increase at Midway Mania and a slight revision of Great Movie Ride? Until 2021, or until the first (hypothetical) phase of new Star Wars attractions rolls out in 3 years or so? Seems like they're digging themselves a pretty deep hole over there.

And even if they do a phased Star Wars land, that's pretty hard to pull off. Once you decide it's OK to take 5 years to completely build something, that's a h_ll of a long time to have shut down attractions (Indiana Jones and/or Muppets 3D) and huge construction fences and cranes in everyone's faces.

Universal only took maybe 2 years to do Hogwarts/Hogsmeade and although they had fences and scaffolds, I believe they kept both existing coasters operating almost the entire time. That meant regular non-FL visitors experienced the construction fences maybe once. A five-year turtle-speed Star Wars construction project will subject people to perhaps 2 visits worth of missing attractions and plywood fences. They might be able to keep things ticking along in the resort as a whole until 2021 but at DHS it's hard to see how they can stretch it out for 6 years.

I agree. There is still the rumored Pixar expansion that will bring in kiddie rides. That's rumored for like 2018. So I'm sure that would be what they would use to tie people over. For a phased Star Wars expansion I see them opening the cantina first along with maybe an x wing spinner or something along those lines and then your e ticket would be last.

 

[101disneyfan]

Going back to Len Testa and Jim Hill's Twitter/podcast updates, this may be outdated as plans have obviously changed, but according to one iteration of the Hollywood Studios redo and where it was on track last fall, the plan supposedly was
2015: Site prep, closures, demolition
2016: Vertical construction
2017: Phased openings

And before anyone brings up Avatar/ New Fantasyland and how long they took, let's remember how Avatar was announced to always begin construction in 2013-14, and that the 7DMT was a late in the game addition to New Fantasyland when Staggs and Rasulo swapped positions.

 

[rteetz]

Going back to Len Testa and Jim Hill's Twitter/podcast updates, this may be outdated as plans have obviously changed, but according to one iteration of the Hollywood Studios redo and where it was on track last fall, the plan supposedly was
2015: Site prep, closures, demolition
2016: Vertical construction
2017: Phased openings

And before anyone brings up Avatar/ New Fantasyland and how long they took, let's remember how Avatar was announced to always begin construction in 2013-14, and that the 7DMT was a late in the game addition to New Fantasyland when Staggs and Rasulo swapped positions.

Correct but even then Star Wars wasn't supposed to be fully completed until 2019-20.

 

[DDLand]

Well that's infuriating if true. I guess I can officially give up hope for Disney every trying to do anything anywhere nearly as impressive as Universal did with WWOHP.

Disagree, the whole point of the cancellation (of course from JH) was to make it amazing. It may take time, but it should be amazing.

It also may be a while before we see it...

 

[Lee Matthews]

Personally i think Disney should be going for Star Wars land to be similar in size to WWOHP but i cant see that happening, especially at Hollywood Studios

 

[rteetz]

Lots progress happening at DTD

http://savepleasureisland.blogspot.com/2015/06/pi-update-wc-complex-razed.html?m=1

 

[Goofy1976]

So sad to see what used to be Pleasure Island long gone.

 

[rteetz]

So sad to see what used to be Pleasure Island long gone.

Well the landing will have a good amount of night life like pleasure island had.

 

[rteetz]

Disneyland diamond celebration continues

http://micechat.com/104238-diamond-celebration-continues/

 

[rteetz]

Vivoli Gelateria is opening Wednesday supposedly

http://www.wdwmagic.com/dining/vivo...ria-as-it-nears-opening-at-disney-springs.htm

 

[mcd2745]

Well the landing will have a good amount of night life like pleasure island had.

It may have a goood amount of nightlife...but it will not be like Please Island had.

 

[rteetz]

It may have a goood amount of nightlife...but it will not be like Please Island had.

I don't think we will ever see disney do something like that again. Disney just isn't into having clubs or bars open to wee hours of the morning. Disney is more worried about appealing to that family of four.

 

[Goofy2015]

Man, I was only old enough to enjoy Pleasure Island once, it was pretty fun. However, if they come up with a bunch of cool themed bars to replace it, I could be fine with it. I will miss The Adventures Club that place was awesome.

 

[nkosiek]

I don't think we will ever see disney do something like that again. Disney just isn't into having clubs or bars open to wee hours of the morning. Disney is more worried about appealing to that family of four.

I agree but herein lies the question, with people having less kids/no kids, at what point do you cater to the people who can afford a trip to WDW but want some adult options that don't close at midnight? With the advent of MM+ and FP+, the ability to book my FP+ for the afternoon or even evening allows me to go out for a nice long night but there aren't a lot of places to do it, perhaps I won't go there or I start split-staying at Universal.

 

[Goofy2015]

I can't wait to hear what they have to come up with. Hopefully, Star Wars Land.