Why does Disney take so long to build everything?

[comcastlover33]

Just curious about it, as they built Animal Kingdom in 2-3yrs I think

 

[SeilerBird]

You would not ask that question if you ever worked in construction. Everything takes a lot longer to build than you would ever imagine.

 

[Oswin]

Just curious about it, as they built Animal Kingdom in 2-3yrs I think

When Animal Kingdom was built, they could work as loudly and as much as they wanted in the daytime. They didn't have a park full of guests there to be considerate of. There were no worries about breaking the magic for guests so they could do whatever sort of work needed to be done at any time of the day. With construction everywhere right now, including the resorts like Poly, there ARE guests they have to worry about. They have limited construction hours to work behind the walls, and have to be mindful of not breaking the magic for guests that are on stage.

 

[comcastlover33]

You would not ask that question if you ever worked in construction. Everything takes a lot longer to build than you would ever imagine.

Yes, I can understand that any construction in general takes a looong time. But, Universal had WWOHP open three years after it was announced. For comparison, Avatar Land was announced in 2011. Thats three years to build Hogsmeade, and a planned six years for Avatar Land.

 

[jtwibih]

I would say partly because of the number of people in the park at any given time as well as the fact that Disney is in no hurry. They really don't have to go after market share because they are already at the top of that mountain like Universal. They do what they want, when they want.

 

[Ambear]

I wonder if the difference between universal and disney is the fact that universal doesnt care as much if guests see and know that there is construction going on. Disney tries to hide it and make it seem like it isn't there. They are also usually more guarded about what people know about their new stuff. That could lead to longer construction...

 

[supersnoop]

Measure twice, cut once.

They're doing a LOT of planning to make everything exactly right. You'd be amazed at the types of variables they consider when they build something.

 

[Jennasis]

Mostly to annoy me.

And because they want to. If they wanted things built faster they could absolutely 100% do it. They choose not to.

 

[illinidp]

The Harry Potter movies are done, so it made sense for Universal to open those attractions as soon as possible. James Cameron keeps pushing back the release dates for the Avatar sequels by years so there's no sense of urgency to pay overtime to get those attractions open. It still took about four years to build Harry Potter island and Avatar is on a similar construction timeframe.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

Noise I agree.

 

[DisneyFive]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they need their work to last decades. These are pretty permanent changes they make each time they do it.

Having said that, I agree that the construction still seems to take longer than it should!

Dan

 

[PantherPete]

When Animal Kingdom was built, they could work as loudly and as much as they wanted in the daytime. They didn't have a park full of guests there to be considerate of. ... They have limited construction hours to work behind the walls, and have to be mindful of not breaking the magic for guests that are on stage.

Isn't Avatar land in the old Camp Mickey section? That area is pretty secluded. No reason they can't work in a similar manner to what they did when they built the park. I think the answer is that they are putting a ton of time into the details and also want to time it so that it opens when Avatar is relevant. If they opened today, I can't see that many people, other than Disney fanatics, getting all lathered up about it. But time it to the release of the next movie and you have a buzz created, especially if the movie meets or exceeds expectations.

 

[hsmamato2]

IDK.... Universal had the HP stuff up and running way faster than Disney managed a childs coaster ride in Fantasyland..... plus they added Transformers and Simpsons Land....all excellent quality detailed stuff that is likely to last over time (No one can deny they are hitting the mark on their new stuff) so the holdup with Disney? Who knows? It took forever to get that hat out of studios,and that was quite an eyesore.... they have construction walls up all over the place, with lots of noise and impacted touring for years, and don't seem to care much. I am looking forward to some Universal stuff in the next year or two,and kind of surprised at the lack of forward movement at Disney to match it.

 

[mom2rtk]

If they built things faster, people would then be asking "what are you building next". Slow walking their projects means they always have something to talk about as "coming soon" without having to actually plan and build something every few years.

 

[MrKnight]

I believe there a couple of reasons, here are a few:

1) As stated by a PP, Disney is very passionate and mindful about "preserving the magic" for current guests, this means they avoid major construction work during park operating hours (that guests could hear) and have a limited space to work in behind tall construction walls to avoid the sight of construction ruining the "magic" for current guests..

2) Disney is a GIGANTIC company with many layers of management and red tape, something as simple as changing the color of a wall in a themed area of a park requires layers of approvals from different divisions and executives. All this red tape tends to slow down major projects at Disney. Once again this goes back to Disney being very particular about "preserving the magic" and ensuring that any major decision that is made is well thought out from both a strategic business perspective as well as creative perspective ensuring that it fits in with the themes and "magic" of Disney Parks.

3) Disney is already the most successful theme park operator in the world and has proved itself as the biggest player in the industry on a global scale, this means that there is no sense of urgency from WDW executives to draw more market share when people are already coming in droves into existing WDW parks and resorts. New attractions, lands, and resorts are added bonuses to bring even MORE people, but it is far from a critical necessity.. Other competitor parks such as Universal have a greater sense of urgency as a project such as WWOHP WILL bring in NEEDED increased attendance numbers for those parks and make a MAJOR difference on their bottom line.

5) In regards to AVATARland, I believe there is also a strategic business-driven reason behind the delay involving the release of the new sequel movie. As stated by PP, timing the opening of AVATARland with the new movie would be a smart course of action to use buzz from the new movie as fuel for the new land.

 

[Grumpy92]

In the past I would have agreed with the preserving the magic reasoning. But after the way DTD has been handled I totally disagree. We just got rid of the crane from New Fantasyland and it is up again in the same area.

Reedy Creek allows Disney to skirt alot of the hoops others including US have to jump thru when it comes to permits and construction. One of the reason WDW was built in Fla was they recieved special powers in Reedy Creek. THe Reedy Creek district is Disney and in the past construction was not done as publicly nor took as long. Almost 2 years to build a parking garage while caring little for the guest experince at DTD is a reality. I watched EC go up and it took less time then Avatar. They also used to care about the view and convenience to guest. That is not the case anymore.

 

[supersnoop]

Don't forget that they have to be mindful of the animals when they work construction at Animal Kingdom.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We were walking by the new Universal Kong attraction last week and it was buzzing with workers. I'd much rather see that then look at a seemingly empty, abandoned construction zone during the day (new Adventureland restaurant, I'm looking at you). However, I'm too jaded to think that they're really doing it for the guest experience...I think that their engineering/construction focus right now is on Shanghai and once that park is complete next year, the work on Avatarland will proceed more quickly. I don't think they can commit to too many capital projects at once, so the majority of those dollars are being funneled where they'll pay off the most and in the quickest amount of time (Shanghai) rather than at AK.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

They're putting $$ into infrastructure and renovation instead of new attractions (widening the hub at MK, renovating DTD, adding Starbucks, renovated hotels, new restaurants, more DVC), while a lot of Disney fans are antsy for new attractions and keeping an eye on what Universal is doing.

 

[Moonwolf]

My opinion on why Disney seems to take forever to build something while Universal seems to have things up practically overnight is everything that everyone else has mentioned plus one other detail. From what I've observed in the 2-3 years that I've actually been following theme park news is that Disney will announce something while it's still in concept stage while Universal waits until construction has already started before making their official announcements. An example of this is Avatarland, announced as soon pretty much as soon as they signed the contract with Cameron with only vague concept done. Versus Diagon Alley, no official announcement until construction has already started. This makes Disney seem like they take forever since anticipation builds up through all the internal design phases where to a normal guest nothing seems to be happening. Where as with Universal while there may be rumors of something but without an announcement people aren't 'expecting it' and by the time they announce it it's already partially done so the wait isn't as long.