RUMOR : WDW 5th Theme Park - "Disney's Night Kingdom"

[SteveInBrooklyn]

I'm not going to pay $300 dollars to be mauled by a hippo. Sorry.

 

[MouseEarsForLife]

So... an interactive nocturnal zoo? I hate saying 'zoo' when I describe a Disney experience, but I can't help but call it that with no real attractions. Trust me, I'm all for loving the part of Disney that isn't attractions, but this doesn't even sound creative. This doesn't really appeal to me as a new park. Perhaps an addition to Animal Kingdom. I'd really rather see them take on the challenge of Beastly Kingdom before Night Kingdom. Eh.

 

[ChrisFL]

Why can't they just add a section to Animal Kingdom and make a Discover Cove type area where you pay extra. I don't understand making a whole new Park for this. Oh well it will be yet another park we don't go to.

It's possible they could be doing this, nothing is 100% confirmed.

 

[CanadianGuy]

They're going to build 2 new hotels to go along w/this new theme park yet they can't complete POP's Golden Years?

I'd bet the Castle, The Jungle Cruise and the Mouse that started it all.... that Pop Century : Legendary Years will be completed AND I'll have stayed there twice before this idea ever sees the light of day or has it's first guest.



Knox

 

[GoHerd1028]

I am not impressed with this idea. Maybe this will just make the other parks less crowded in the evenings for the rest of us to enjoy

 

[cabanafrau]

I'm thinking WALT put in MECHANICAL Hippos, that's What Walt Would Do, thank you very much!

Thank goodness! I was starting to get a little worried that I might actually have to start answering questions about fireworks viewing, transportation routes & show schedules from the recesses of my own mind I'm scared of the dark -- & there's some type of strange echo in there!

 

[BigMike10]

I want a park full of thrills!! It would be like the chaces and attacks of all the disney movies. I think I would call it Disney's Be the Movie. They coul dfind a way to put the Finding Nemo Rollercoaster in their like in Disney World Europe and it would be a little different from the original parks.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Forgive me if someone else has already done this (I haven't read all 10 pages of posts yet), but...

Let's look at the dollars for this...

2000 people @ $300 each = $600,000 in the door

Less pay for 4000 staff people x $10 per hour (I don't know what Disney pays, but I have heard that it isn't that much) from 5 - 12p.m. (7 hours) = $280,000.00

Less high-end meals for 2000 people at Disney cost ($15 each?) $30,000

That leaves $290,000 per day for Disney.... if they have NO other expenses.
I'm not a financial genious, but that doesn't seem like enough to me to cover the cost of this new project with the $512M building budget?

What do you all think?

 

[BabaGanoush]

Forgive me if someone else has already done this (I haven't read all 10 pages of posts yet), but...

Let's look at the dollars for this...

2000 people @ $300 each = $600,000 in the door

Less pay for 4000 staff people x $10 per hour (I don't know what Disney pays, but I have heard that it isn't that much) from 5 - 12p.m. (7 hours) = $280,000.00

Less high-end meals for 2000 people at Disney cost ($15 each?) $30,000

That leaves $290,000 per day for Disney.... if they have NO other expenses.
I'm not a financial genious, but that doesn't seem like enough to me to cover the cost of this new project with the $512M building budget?

What do you all think?

Well that is cuz Jim Hill is simply wrong when it comes to number of cast members this project would need to run the show. DAK employs about 4000 cast members and that is a full size park... not a little boutique. 4000 is simply overkill for a park like this unless they plan on feeding some of these cast members to the animals (that would be a show).

I would highly doubt that something like this would get off the ground with anything more than 1500 cast members. And that would be trumping the number that Discovery Cove employs by many.

 

[CarolA]

Umm...

This might provide some additional detail.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2008/02/jim-hill-wdw-5t.html


Note the informaton on remarks by the President that there will NOT be Fifth gate at Orlando anytime soon. (And 2011 would be soon to build a park LOL!) Note that the paper (which has some REALLY good sources that are MORE reliable the Jim "lets just post to post" )doesnt' have any facts.


Jim probably got something that someone put forward. That means nothing....Remember Beastly Kingdom, The original Epcot, the Roller coaster in the Germany Pavilion, the Eagle Pines Resort... (and that last one actually got a press release LOL!)


Jim might be right, but my money is on "wrong again" LOL! Jim rarely gets an "exclusive" anymore!

 

[newcomer52]

It smacks of those corporate retreats where everyone from the office has to fall backwards into each others arms, slide down a zip-rope, let out a primal scream and then sing Cumbya..

I'm with you.

 

[Blue Skies]

From 1/31 Motley Fool:


http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/01/31/disney-in-2010.aspx

Out in Florida, Disney finally announced plans for a fifth theme park within Walt Disney World. It won't open for several more years, but the company finally dusted off the plans for the villains-themed amusement park that has been part of cyberspace chatter for ages.

So it looks like this rumor is more wide spread tham Jim Hill... but the Motley Fool makes it sound like it's going to be the villans park.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

From 1/31 Motley Fool:


http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/01/31/disney-in-2010.aspx

You might want to look at the bottom of that article:

Rick is taking a tour of several companies from his fictional 2010 vantage point.

What the author wrote was pure speculation and whimsy (Disney has NOT bought a Canadian theme park) about what might occur within the next two years.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Forgive me if someone else has already done this (I haven't read all 10 pages of posts yet), but...

Let's look at the dollars for this...

2000 people @ $300 each = $600,000 in the door

Less pay for 4000 staff people x $10 per hour (I don't know what Disney pays, but I have heard that it isn't that much) from 5 - 12p.m. (7 hours) = $280,000.00

Less high-end meals for 2000 people at Disney cost ($15 each?) $30,000

That leaves $290,000 per day for Disney.... if they have NO other expenses.
I'm not a financial genious, but that doesn't seem like enough to me to cover the cost of this new project with the $512M building budget?

What do you all think?

I'm not sure on your numbers.. but presuming you're close on those numbers and presuming they sell out most nights.. that's over a hundred million in profit a year. That pays for the capital costs in a little over 6 or 8 years with interest and then more profit after that... (You gotta factor in payroll taxes and benefits on your salary numbers..)

Not bad..

And if the cast member count is lower.. then everything happens faster and pure profit arrives sooner.

Knox

 

[serendipity]

Am I the only person who thinks this sounds AMAZING?

Yes, it's expensive but if I need to save up to have an experience of a lifetime, I think it's well worth it!

Take me on a one of a kind safari, and don't throw me in the dangers of Africa and I'm sold!

And as said before, my husband would pay 300 dollars just to play with a hippo!

For the record though, hippos are one of the number one killers for people in Africa...no wonder they need two cast members for every person. Uh oh...Homer the Hippo looks hungry tonight..back off people!

 

[DLBDS]

DNK is not for me. I haven't read any replies here but....is it wise to have wild animals entertaining humans after dark? How many of these animals are nocturnal anyway? Naw, at that price, I won't be interested.

 

[ChrisFL]

Forgive me if someone else has already done this (I haven't read all 10 pages of posts yet), but...

Let's look at the dollars for this...

2000 people @ $300 each = $600,000 in the door

Less pay for 4000 staff people x $10 per hour (I don't know what Disney pays, but I have heard that it isn't that much) from 5 - 12p.m. (7 hours) = $280,000.00

Less high-end meals for 2000 people at Disney cost ($15 each?) $30,000

That leaves $290,000 per day for Disney.... if they have NO other expenses.
I'm not a financial genious, but that doesn't seem like enough to me to cover the cost of this new project with the $512M building budget?

What do you all think?

$10/hour?? oh I wish!! try slightly above minimum wage

 

[JenSop]

i'm actually very interested in the beastly kingdom idea. that would be so cool! i love dragons and unicorns and such! i'd really like to see some new thrill rides to go along with it - in disney style of course. DH and i love roller coasters, but especially love how disney makes it something more - they put a whole story or theme to it - it's not just a metal track suspended over barren concrete. i want more of those rides!

 

[WeatherbySwann]

300 bucks?!?!?! I'm sorry, but this thing is going to have to be REALLY incredible if I'm paying that much to spend 6-7 hours in a theme park.

The idea sounds somewhat neat to me, but I'm not exactly sold yet. Like others said, I'm not exactly willing to pay a fortune to be attacked by a hippo and eaten by crocodiles in an open savannah on a hot Florida night in my super cool 3D night goggles.

Jeez, I'm still recovering from the shock I overcame when they announced AI was coming to the World - If this supposed fifth "park" thing really is true, I'm not sure how much more of new WDW announcements I can take!

BTW, where is this thing supposedly going to be located?

 

[Goofey Drool]

Where else will the next generation see animals like the panther which used to inhabit Florida in abundance. Florida is being diced up for condos, strip malls , fast food, and those beloved theme parks. Heck they are even leveling orange groves and other food sources north of Orlando to accomodate more crap.... sounds like they are foreward thinkers in them there boardrooms.