Walt Disney World slowing down
Walt Disney World: Disney world getting behind the other Disney parks.
Is it just me or is WDW not the central focus for the Walt Disney CO. anymore? It seems like there more concerned with Disneyland and other Disney Parks around the world? I always thought WDW was supposed to be the cream of the crop.
Is New Fantasyland not enough for you? The expansion (including the redesigned Toon Town) probably represents more than $500 million of investment. The Seven Dwarves Mine Coaster probably is near $200 million in investment.
Yes, I realize new fantasyland is being added and cant wait for the mine train to open, but other than that it just seems as if WDW has been kind of slow to add new attractions... don't get me wrong.. I still love Disney world, I just wish there were some new e-ticket like attractions to go on... especially at Animal Kingdom. Hopefully Star wars land turns out to be awesome and Avatar land!
Mine Train, Cars and Star Wars expansions, Avatar, room renovations at Grand Floridian, Disney Springs expansion in Lake Buena Vista, Flamingo Crossing, Disney NextGen, Festival of Fantasy parade, Poly Resort Cabanas .... What do you mean by "not the central focus?"
From Cory R
Posted September 1, 2013 at 8:47 PM
Which resort is the "central focus" of Disney in terms of new attractions is constantly switching back and forth. When Disneyland celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005, all it got was some updates to rides like Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion, while Disney World got Soarin, Expedition Everest, Lights Motors Action, and the Cinderella castle show, all in a two year period. After that, focus shifted to Disneyland with Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Toy Story Mania, World of Color, Little Mermaid, and Cars Land. Now the focus is definitely shifting back to Disney World, with MyMagic+ and New Fantasyland already here, and Disney Springs, Star Wars Land, Avatar Land, and maybe even Cars Land East and/or Monstropolis, all in development. Nothing new is on the horizon at Disneyland (other than Soarin over the Horizon, no pun intended).
Meanwhile, WDI is very busy building Shanghai Disneyland and improving Hong Kong Disneyland, which is probably why the WDW projects are taking longer than expected to really get rolling. WDI may be big, but they can only work on so many projects at once. I'm sure once all the work in China and then WDW is done, the focus will shift back to Disneyland Resort yet again.
From Phil B.
Posted September 2, 2013 at 7:53 AM
Keep in mind too, that each individual resort operates on its own budgetary schedule as far as adding attractions to the parks are concerned, although all funding comes from the same Parks and Resorts budget. Carsland and the huge investment to bring CA up to Disney standards yielded it's collateral affects on the ability to build large scale E-tickets over in WDW. Now that CA has been reinvigorated you'll see more of a focus shift back to WDW, which is already happening with Avatar, Star Wars and some form of Pixar attraction. Part of the problem with the WDW resort is that it is so massive, that it would be incredibly easy to go hog wild and drop E-tickets all over the place, but that would cripple the Attractions and Entertainment budget set in place by the Accountanteers. It's an unpopular way to go about things, but it's a necessary evil if you want to run things the proper way. There's a lot of juggling that goes on trying to plan out and implement new attractions and shows into the parks over the span of a several year plan. Things get cut, moved up, pushed back and tweaked all the time. It's not fun if your a Disney fan and you see Universal building attractions like the end of the world is about to hit, but a huge capital investment in 2 parks is going to seem like massive expansion every time. Take that same money and spread it out over WDW's 4 parks, 2 water parks, Downtown Disney and 26 on property resort hotels and suddenly that Universal budget that seems so massive for 2 parks, 1 water park a much smaller Downtown District and 4 resort hotels gets swallowed up by the enormous size of the WDW complex. The good news is that things seem to be picking up speed, and WDW is on the cusp of an incredible amount of construction, especially where we all like to see it most, in the parks in the form of new attractions and entertainment offerings. I can be as impatient as the next person, but within the next 5 years there will be no shortage of new offerings in WDW.
I think WDW didn't need as much work as the other parks. They are staying up to date, but remember that rides that are closed down equal lower revenue (see Disco Yeti)
From Cory R
Posted September 2, 2013 at 4:16 PM
Speaking of Disco Yeti, I think we'll finally see that get fixed once Avatar opens. Like Anthony was saying, closed down attractions mean a loss of revenue. With the way that Everest was built, the Yeti AA, the mountain, and the coaster track being 3 separate entities, all intertwined into one, and the complex nature of the Yeti himself, the only way to fix the Yeti would be to close the ride for an extended period of time, to be able to pull out the Yeti and the very large base he sits on. Animal Kingdom is short on rides as it is, and Everest is definitely the most popular. Everest being closed for a while would likely lead some people to postpone their trips to Disney World altogether until it reopens, or at least only visit the other three parks and skip Animal Kingdom. Either way, a loss of revenue from the park in terms of ticket sales, food, merchandise etc. That is why Disney has been so hesitant to fix Disco Yeti.
However, when Avatar opens, people will be flocking to Animal Kingdom to check it out, and Everest will take a back seat. The majority of people will not care that Everest is closed, since they are visiting specifically for Avatar. Plus, the addition of one or two E-Ticket rides that will come with Avatarland will lesson the need to have Everest operational. Currently, including Everest, there are only 3 must-do rides at the park.
From Phil B.
Posted September 2, 2013 at 10:47 PM
I've been saying this for years now. Without another E-Ticket to absorb traffic and capacity into, Everest had a Tibetan's snowball chance in hell to be closed down for an extended refurb to fix the Yeti. Avatar comes online and will help to alleviate those issues and allow EE to get the TLC it rightfully deserves without impeding on overall park attendance.
And isn't that a shame? I feel that for as limited in attrations that Animal Kingdom has, they really make it count. The two animal trails are better than some zoos, the Lion King, Nemo, and Flights of Wonder are some of Disney's best show work, and Kilmanjaro Safaris and Dinosaur are classics. AK has turned into a great park!
Yay working yeti!! As for Disney slowing down, that's not gonna happen for the next coming years. They are backed up on planned projects and projects we don't even know about!
Why does it seem like Disney World always gets the second hand version of rides like POTC and Space Mountain for example. Wdw should get the better versions since it is supposed to be the best Disney park.
From Phil B.
Posted September 11, 2013 at 10:32 PM
WDW's Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain are better versions than their West Coast counterparts.
From Jay R.
Posted September 12, 2013 at 1:53 PM
I think both Disneyland & Magic Kingdom both have their share of attractions that are considered "better" at each prospective park.
And I don't think Magic Kingdom is necessarily supposed to be the "best park" (That would imply that all the other MK parks get secondhand versions of attractions)
Now MK is the most popular (being part of WDW, obviously the best "resort" when it comes to theme park resorts), but Disneyland is also the original, so debates could easily be made for that park.
Yeah I guess that's true, I hope they get started soon on avatar land and star wars land.. and maybe monstropolis or whatever was being thought of! Disney World needs these new areas!
From O T
Posted September 15, 2013 at 9:32 AM
Why would Disney fix the Yeti? It's won't generate more revenue for the company. It's the same with the tree of life, why fix it when you can build nets over walkways.
Yes Frank, Disney has slowed down. The mini mine train is on a slow motion track to be able to open it against Harry Potter 2.0. The fact (some folks are stating) the whole new fantasyland costs 500 million doesn't say anything about how attractive or fun or how much quality it has. A sigh already costs about $1000! With it's hug zones, restaurants and shops it leaves us with another spinner, 2 playgrouds, a C ride and a small coaster/darkride hybrid (not an e-ticket ride). Non of these offerings are family rides but focus tested projects to pinch money from "good" fathers to give their "princesses" makeovers and tiara's.
I for one am not exited to visit the castle of the beast to find out some company came down with the restarted idea to gut the place and start a restaurant there. And when the exterior of a ride, and it's queue are more impressive then it's ride it's nice for the photo's the guests make but not for the mediocre experience they leave with.
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