Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2014/10/27/two-new-dinning-experiences-announced-for-disney-springs/" target="_blank"><b>10/27/14: Two New Dinning Experiences Announced For Disney Springs</b></a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think Morimoto is a great addition! Hopefully he'll be able to keep the quality up while still appealing to enough tourists to stay in business; with all the simplified menus around WDW, it makes me wonder a little I'm not sure that the Boathouse concept sounds all that exciting to me, but it sounds like it will be a solid choice for somewhere fun but not too over the top. And I'm sure the amphicars will be a nice kinetic addition to the area Now that the Backlot tour is closed, I've heard some wonderings/rumors that Walt's plane might be relocated to the Boathouse, since it's a large space and quasi-aviation themed. I'm not sure how they'd physically get it over there, but it seems like it could be a good fit
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Now that the Backlot tour is closed, I've heard some wonderings/rumors that Walt's plane might be relocated to the Boathouse, since it's a large space and quasi-aviation themed. I'm not sure how they'd physically get it over there, but it seems like it could be a good fit>> ??? The press release from Schussler Creative indicates that it will be pretty heavily boating themed. Not sure how on old airplane would fit in.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros My mistake! There's another restaurant that's roughly the same size and also on the water, which will be called The Hangar and themed to aviation. That's where people have speculated that the plane will go. It will be interesting to see multiple large-ish restaurants themed to modes of transportation
Originally Posted By magic0214 I am so ready for the Boathouse to open strictly for the Amphicars. That is the best thing ever.
Originally Posted By dagobert The Japanese restaurant sounds like an interesting addition, while the Boathouse seems to be another American restaurant like many others around WDW. I find it interesting that Disney brings in another creative company to design restaurants. As far as I understand, Schussler Creative doesn't operate these restaurants. They just design it for other companies. It's even more interesting that they were responsible for an in-park restaurant at WDW.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I find it interesting that Disney brings in another creative company to design restaurants. As far as I understand, Schussler Creative doesn't operate these restaurants. They just design it for other companies. It's even more interesting that they were responsible for an in-park restaurant at WDW.>> Disney rarely design restaurants - virtually every one is designed by outside vendors from resort restaurants to even the DCL. Ultimately WDI was never able to scale up to deliver the specialist design skills required to design restaurants. Landry's is the partner for T-Rex, the Rainforest Cafe, Yak & Yeti and The Boathouse. The latter is an existing brand for Landry's.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^I agree. I don't remember the details on the Yak & Yeti design/operation, but I've always thought it was strange that it was the only one done by an outsider. I also think it's odd how there's a Rainforest Café sitting right outside the gates of DAK, but there's nothing else around; would putting it in the park really have discouraged people from going there? At that point, they've already trekked all the way out there, so they're probably going to the park too I know that some of the World Showcase restaurants are operated by outsiders, but I think that Disney did the designs for them. Among them are San Angel Inn, Tutto Italia, Via Napoli, everything in Japan, Monsieur Paul (formerly Chefs de Paris), and possibly Bistro de Paris and others. I could understand if they wanted a similarly authentic experience for Y&Y, but it doesn't seem like the company that owns it has much experience with Indian food so it's an odd combination
Originally Posted By leemac <<I think Morimoto is a great addition! >> It is a tremendous shame that no other specialty restaurant group is prepared to enter the WDW market. Patina Group already dominate DTD Anaheim and were the obvious choice. WDW Co. has always struggled to attract restaurant partners - Levy Restaurants used to dominate WDW Village but don't seem to be competing for new slots. Levy operate Portobello, Wolfgang Puck (both locations) and the Crab House.
Originally Posted By dagobert I know that many restaurants at WDW are operated by outside companies, but I always thought that all restaurants in the parks and hotels were designed by WDI.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I know that some of the World Showcase restaurants are operated by outsiders, but I think that Disney did the designs for them.>> Nope - virtually all of them were designed by external folks. Check out Rockwell Group - David's team are the go-to folks for restaurant design for Disney and most major operators.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^Very interesting! I'd always assumed that Disney had control of nearly everything that went into their parks. From the Rockwell website, it looks like they specialize in hyper-pretentious spaces, so it's interesting that they also moonlight at lowly amusement parks. The only Disney project that they admit to is the WDW Cirque theater, though I could understand if there are contractual agreements that require them to keep quiet about some of their other work. They also don't list any work prior to 1996, which I'd think they might want to show simply to prove they're a long-established firm; my firm loves to showcase projects from the 20's and 30's even though they're horribly dated by modern standards (but we're simple engineers, so what do we know) Interestingly, they also did the design for the Academy Awards that I performed in (their website even includes a photo of our number!). I remember people talking about how avant garde the set design was, especially the shape of the stage that juts out into the audience, but in reality it was much like any other awards show. For the purposes of our performance, the set wasn't big enough for the full impact of our huge group, and it wasn't flexible enough to do a proper reveal. There were also some tech problems, but I assume that was on the lighting and sound people rather than the architects
Originally Posted By leemac <<The only Disney project that they admit to is the WDW Cirque theater, though I could understand if there are contractual agreements that require them to keep quiet about some of their other work. >> That's weird as David's team has done a lot of work - California Grill and Animator's Palette for example. They also did the Walt Disney Family Museum. I'm a big fan of David - he is an excellent collaborator. I've used him a lot for many of my projects. He is also an incredible scenic designer for plays and musicals - he has won a lot of awards for his scenic design. He also did the interiors for the Dolby Theater.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Do you know if he was involved with the stage/backstage areas of Dolby? Although we were there for a special event rather than a regularly-scheduled performance, the backstage infrastructure (other than dressing rooms; we were given space in the Chinese Theater lobby) didn't seem to have any issues accommodating roughly 100 performers and tons of equipment and techs for a single production number in a much larger show. Considering that it was probably the peak traffic load that they'd ever had (and possibly will ever have), it was surprisingly smooth
Originally Posted By leemac <<Do you know if he was involved with the stage/backstage areas of Dolby?>> Rockwell did the whole theatre with a specialist theatre contractor (TPC).
