Bob Iger approves MAJOR overhaul of DCA

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

Thinkwell have worked on some interesting projects. The Snow Park in Dubai is top notch. We got to take a tour when they were building it and I was very impressed.

However, this Ice Age ride is not great. The ride is almost exactly the same as the Loony Tunes Ride (remember, this was a 6 Flags park, now sold), and the Never Ending Story before it. The Animatronics are of a quality found at the Rain Forest Cafe. No European attractions have Disney quality AA's other than Disney.

The Korean International Destination resort looks like the new MGM studios planned for Korea (no Disney involvement)

The Templo del Fuego at Port Adventura is excellent however, and impressed me. I actually thought it was a Universal Production until I read this site.

Outsourcing could be good, but when it comes to AA's, I am still yet to find anyone that does it as well as Disney.

 

Originally Posted By wangaroa

Interestingly, the same company built most of the Monsters figures and all of the Ice Age ones. The quality on the Ice Age is excellent, although most move very little. The Monsters are excellent quality figures with very little movement.

In truth, outsourcing at WDI is nothing new. In fact, there hasn't been a "Disney only" job ever--that is ever. Ride systems, electrical systems, hydraulic systems, etc, are always subbed out. Disney stopped doing propping and figures solo during the EPCOT/TDL era.

 

Originally Posted By gadzuux

>> If they closed down the road behind the Pier alone, they would be able to add something huge back there, possibly even another land. <<

I know nothing. That stated, I'm thinking they want to keep that access road as part of the park infrastructure - like forever. If that means that they have to use bridges and tunnels to make it work, then that's what they'll do.

As they expand into timon, I would expect that they'll find ways of maintaining the 'backstage' area as a sort of spine that runs through the center of the park.

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

wangaroa, you're saying that the same company built the AA figures for both 'Monsters, Inc.' and 'Ice Age'?

 

Originally Posted By idleBrain

<<Is the 'Monsters, Inc.' attraction worth 10 TIMES the cost of 'Ice Age'?>>

Didn't you just answer your own question?


Imagine how the Ice Age makeover might have turned out if Thinkwell was given $10 million?

Imagine what Thinkwell could have done with Monsters for $15 million?


This is why WDI must reinvent themselves. One very small core group to guide the projects. Outsource everything else.

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

<<Is the 'Monsters, Inc.' attraction worth 10 TIMES the cost of 'Ice Age'?>>

<Didn't you just answer your own question?>

Sorry IdleBrain -- more rhetoric.

 

Originally Posted By nemopoppins

I would love a new "DCA" (maybe it will have a new name too), but I hope Disneyland doesn't get neglected because of it.

 

Originally Posted By wangaroa

Jim, that's true. The same group built both sets of figures. (Don't look for the name anywhere on official stuff, although the name is mentioned on a prop in Haunted Mansion Holiday, which the company also built all sets and figures for).

 

Originally Posted By idleBrain

<<Sorry IdleBrain -- more rhetoric. >>

No need for you to apologize for my lack of cognitive adroitness. 8^D

 

Originally Posted By Butters

As long as the new DCA Revamping doesn't have the park being painted all blue and baige with red trim, like that terrible Hollywood Studios Revamp, then I am ok with it!

 

Originally Posted By bean

""People may think maliboomer is tasteless and garish, but almost nothing else would fit in its location within screamin's helix."

But people would say the same thing about the space where the Haunted Mansion facade is, where Splash Mountain's Chicapin Hill is, where Indy's queue starts, the spot where Alice in Wonderland is, the area where small world sits, and even the loading area from the PeopleMover and Rocket Rods. One of my big problems with the recent developments in Disney parks is that they don't seem to use space well at all. Just because it looks like a small area, doens't mean that it can't access another place. I believe there is some room (enough, but not a lot) behing Screamin' right next to the Maliboomer, before reaching the parking lot road. The entrance to an attraction could be where the Maliboomer is now, and then the attraction could actually be on the other side of the tracks, similar to how the train works at DL. If there isn't enough room to really build anything big back there, because of the parade route or something, they could build an attraction that is multiple levels. Not many people would have thought that there was enough room for something the scale of Pirates where it sits, but they managed to make it work. They could even have the attraction go underground, passing under the backstage parade area, and have a show building on the other side.

At this point, I believe that a huge part of DCA's expansion issues deal with the Timon lot and the roads that access it. If they closed down the road behind the Pier alone, they would be able to add something huge back there, possibly even another land. I think that they also need to be creative with the use of space, with multiple attractions sharing one building (like Fantasyland and parts of Tomorrowland) and save space. The one huge issue with the DLR is that it isn't huge. They really need to plan for the future when they build now, because eventually they will hit the city roads and have nowhere to go. This is the problem that DL has had recently, and they are not really doing anything to solve it."


I have actually done some work re-arranging DCA's backstage property and you are right. There is actually plenty of room for a good size show building and even a small land.

Basically by turning the exit road for the timon lot into a backstage ascces road and connecting it to the existing road that goes between the old original parade building and the maintenance building you clear up a good chunk of land. The part of the exit road that runs south to north with the large loop which creates the hidden mickey sidewalk (by the way it use to be visible by air but now that the trees have grown and the landscaping in the area is taking shape the hidden Mickey is no longer visibe) could be straignten out and ran close to the boundaries of the property fence and connected to the backstage road that runs behind Pizza Oom Mow MOw and to the exit behind Burger invasion.

Now this whole area is cleared up for expansion. The parade exit gates could be removed and the road continued south and ended in a newly installed gate closer to the new backstage road.

This whole new area could easily house two very large themed buildings on either side of the road. One of them could have the entrance to the attraction where Maliboomer is. (the building could be on the east side of the road and could also house restroom facilities for that area)
On the west side of the road you would have a large plot of land that could be turned used for expansion which could easily continue the Pizza Oom Mow Mow theming or better yet be turned into a whimsical land with a sea theming. In this land you could relocate the Jumping Jelly fish and small waterplay area and include either a clone of the little mermaid show from TDS or better yet a clone of Disneyland Paris new darkride/coaster

 

Originally Posted By believe

>>>>><<Is the 'Monsters, Inc.' attraction worth 10 TIMES the cost of 'Ice Age'?>>

<Didn't you just answer your own question?>

Sorry IdleBrain -- more rhetoric. <<<<<<

Let me ask you this, is a ROLLS ROYCE worth 10 TIMES the cost of CHEVY? Both take you from location A to B, both can hold five people, both drive on the same streets.

Or, why does it cost a lot more to build Tower of Tower then, say, the Maliboomer - both go up and down...

 

Originally Posted By believe

Outsourcing isn't bad. When in-house becomes bloated, you switch to outsource. Then, when they figure out that outsourcing costs to much, they'll go back in-house.

You watch, Disney recently outsourced their entire IT dept because it was bloated and overspending. In 10 years, they'll come back to in-house IT because outsourcing costs too much. It's a vicious cycle, but that's how you clean house...

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

<Let me ask you this, is a ROLLS ROYCE worth 10 TIMES the cost of CHEVY? Both take you from location A to B, both can hold five people, both drive on the same streets.>

I'll be more direct here.

When it comes to Theme Park dark rides 'Monsters, Inc.' is certainly no ROLLS ROYCE no matter what it's being compared to.

 

Originally Posted By Park Hopper

Yeah, it's more like a Nisan Centra.

 

Originally Posted By wangaroa

What's Peter Pan? A Geo Metro? Come on, Ice Age is great, but it's absolutley not a Disney quality ride. Monster's is nicer than any dark ride of that scale and scope outside the Disney realm.

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

All that's being suggested is that when it comes to designing and building a dark ride where the infrastructure is staying in place -- perhaps there's a sweet spot somewhere between spending $3million and $30million.

 

Originally Posted By TP2000

">>All that's being suggested is that when it comes to designing and building a dark ride where the infrastructure is staying in place -- perhaps there's a sweet spot somewhere between spending $3million and $30million."<<

Exactly, Jim! Exactly!

 

Originally Posted By disneywatcher

>> I've heard that Matt was in favor of this, and Bob was 'enthusiastic' ... but I also heard someone else with considerable clout didn't agree. <<

I know miceage.com claimed several months ago that at least one person in the DisCo believes that improving the quality of the existing placemaking in DCA isn't all that important or even necessary. And, just as there are various, conflicting opinions found in the world of Disney fandom, I'm sure there remains a group of people at Disney, beyond the person described above, who continues to think DCA is a perfectly fine park.

The choices that someone like Bob Iger will or will not select in the future would be easier to predict if we knew for certain how successful or unsuccessful DCA is in terms of its economics.

How much money exactly is being generated by attendance and in-park sales? What do current financial trends suggest will happen to DCA in 1 year, in 2 years, in 3 years, etc?

If financial aspects of DCA really are quite weak or getting worse, I'm not sure if that would make DisCo executives act faster and more ambitiously or do just the opposite.

Some of them may see the park as being a money pit not deserving of much more time, dollars and attention. I can envision them scratching their heads and groaning: "We've added Tower of Terror, Bugs Land and Monsters Inc fercrisakes!! What more can we do?! What more does the public want!!?"

 

Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror

>>>What's Peter Pan? A Geo Metro? Come on, Ice Age is great, but it's absolutley not a Disney quality ride. Monster's is nicer than any dark ride of that scale and scope outside the Disney realm.<<<

Have you never ridden the Seuss Dark Ride at Islands of Adventure? It actually is more satisfying (to many, and to me) than DCA's MONSTERS ride, and I like DCA's ride quite a bit.