I'm totally stoked about Universal's new resort in Orlando, and am going to have a tough time getting through the next four years! Nintendo! Fantastic Beasts! Maybe Classic Monsters! These are some great IPs to build a new park around!
And then some people wonder if Universal's third park in Orlando will prompt Disney to build a fifth theme park in WDW. And I go totally numb with disinterest. I'm having trouble thinking of a single IP that Disney has that would get me excited. Maybe if they took the training wheels off, built some serious themed coasters, limited park admission, and capped the number of strollers allowed in the park to zero, I'd be there, but right now any mention of Disney's fifth theme park makes me feel like Buzz Killington just walked into my party.
Should I feel this way?
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I feel the exact opposite, Disney has a lot great IP's and Universal doesn't have any that interest me (although I will admit I am pretty much IP fatigued in general).
IMO Orlando doesn't need any more parks i'd like to see the parks we currently have be substantially expanded. Both USF and IOA are small parks that could use major expansions and the Disney Parks need to add more major attractions. I think more than anything Disney has to do something...anything...to get the lines under control. Lowering the cap on park admissions isn't a feasible solution because the demand is so great that the parks are very crowded pretty much every day, all that would do is make people not come because they can't get in on the days off that they have approved from work/school. People can't plan their life around theme parks it has to be the other way around.
Also regarding Disney building a 5th park as a reaction to Universal, Disney has been zoning and planning to build another park for over a decade, even before Universal. They know exactly where its going to be and a rough timeframe for when it should be built (I don't think it will be that soon, but it definitely will get built at some point). I think they are building up the economics to make it work by building more and more rooms over the past couple decades and when the numbers make sense will pull the trigger.
I don’t see WDW getting another gate, ever.
As I understand it, you Americans tend to get about 2 weeks or so annual leave/vacation a year. When you take a week out for family events, that leaves one week for trips.
WDW already has 4 fully fledged theme parks, 2 water parks, and resort pools, plus whatever’s at Disney Springs - if we exclude arrival and departure day, that’s more than 5 days worth of places to go. In short, they already have enough attractions to saturate the entire time someone from the primary market might spend there.
I can see em replacing stuff to suck In crowds better, but there’s no point building an extra “day”. If you want another park, campaign for European style leave allowances - about 5 weeks a year.
@Rob mentioned DisneySEA. My god, I'd do anything for that to happen.
But seriously, Disney has enough space to expand their already existent parks. And they need to, specially to be able to disperse crowds and create a better guest experience. An example is how Animal Kingdom lacks attractions, leading to those kilometric lines at Avatar.
Disney has a lot of stuff to do before even considering a 5th gate.
If Disney put in a park like Tokyo DisneySea, my attitude would do a 180. My visit there a few years ago was probably the best theme park experience I've had in years.
Chad, many Americans do get more than 2 weeks of vacation time every year, so that shouldn't be a limiting factor on any decision by Disney to expand in Orlando.
There also seems to be some kind of unwritten rule at Disney and Universal that other than the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, the number of rides and attractions at any park is capped at about 25, and once they get to that point they either replace or close an existing ride before they build a new attraction. If that trend continues, I don't see any major expansions at the existing parks beyond what we're already seeing, and new rides are going to come in the form of new parks like the third Universal park in Orlando.
If Disney decides to build another gate, it will take so long that it will be irrelevant to us. Although Avatar is enjoyable, does anyone REALLY care about that IP? And, as Tim said in his original post -- what do they have that would build out a new park? Maybe they will convince people to sponsor the attractions as they have in the past, too lazy to pay for their own park, just like the sham licensed Disney parks all over the world (although Disneysea is better than anything in Orlando).
Universal can easily do another gate, and another after that. They have several under-utilized popular IPs, and they will license a few more. It will be awesome all around, and great for the industry. And, Universal will write the checks.
"Should I feel this way?"
Feelings are valid.
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The way Disney continues to homogenize the offerings in their parks makes me less and less interested in what they build UNLESS they were to create a clone of Tokyo DisneySea - and that ain't ever going to happen.