Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Ok, Al Lutz put up a new article about Matt Ouimett's leaving and Ed Grier's coming on. Well, there were some interesting tidbits of info about TDR's future in there. Here is the part about the negotiations and future plans. "During Grier's tenure there, he got OLC to approve the construction of a lavish new Disneyland Hotel located near the parks main entrance, fast tracked several new E Ticket attractions currently in the pipeline for both DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland, and began initial planning on a third massive theme park to be built on landfill adjacent to the DisneySea park. Prior to Grier's arrival in Tokyo, the OLC owners were happy to continue their business model for the property that was still stuck in the early 1980's, with Tokyo Disneyland ringed by a half dozen huge hotels operated by outside companies like Hilton and Sheraton. Meanwhile, Tokyo's Disney-branded hotel market was terribly underserved by just two modestly-sized hotels built on the other side of the property. In addition to his hotel push with OLC, Grier worked on getting them to acknowledge that Tokyo Disneyland was aging ungracefully in spots, particularly the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland sections, and that a multi-year plan to upgrade existing attractions, while simultaneously building new ones, was needed to assure growth through the beginning of the next decade. The Japanese executives from the OLC were in Anaheim just this last week to inspect some of the concepts already added to Anaheim that Grier wanted for Tokyo; the revamped Pirates and Space Mountain were on the tour, plus the famous interactive and two-story dark rides at Disneyland that are inspiration for the expensive new Monsters Inc. dark ride going in Tokyo's Tomorrowland. The OLC execs were also scheduled to tour the Soarin' facility and the Hyperion Theater over at DCA, two more concepts being thrown around for Tokyo expansion." Ok, so, where will this landfill area be next to TDS? Is it an area that still needs to be reclaimed? Or is it already there? From all shots I've seen, that area is pretty cramped and I can't possibly see where a new "massive" park would go. It's exciting to think about though. Also, it's good to hear about Tomorrowland and Fantasyland getting updated heavily. I wonder if this means Fantasyland will take on the European village look of DL and DLP? Also, talk of upgrading existing attractions sounds good too. It will be very interesting to see how all of this pans out though, even if some is still in approval stages.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 This is the first I've heard about a third park in Tokyo for a long time ... would wonder if that's such a wise course of action right now. More gates doesn't equal a better product as WDW has proven.
Originally Posted By mstaft But Tokyo Resort has shown it can do second parks excellently- and bring in the crowds. I say "go for it"!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Grier worked on getting them to acknowledge that Tokyo Disneyland was aging ungracefully in spots, particularly the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland sections<< HAHAHAHAHA!!! That is laughable. Everyone who has been to TDL can not deny that Fantasyland there is rather in much better and upgraded conditions over the one at WDW's MK. And while Tomorrowland could use a refresher and updated look to get it out of the 70's, TDL's Tomorrow is still better kept and birghter than that in Orlando. Two things for a fan's perspective. Seems that Mr. Greer will try to do the impossible to see how much he can get OLC to spend on TDL, or else he is an idiot for trying to tell OLC how to run their parks concidering the obvious: OLC does a better job at entertaining and maintaining their property. Who the heck are these Disney officials who feel a sense of entitlement on this issue?
Originally Posted By jrriddle "Everyone who has been to TDL can not deny that Fantasyland there is rather in much better and upgraded conditions over the one at WDW's MK." No argument, but I took it the same way you took the TL comment. More of an update to the look of Fantasyland, rather than the overall condition. Sort of like what they did to Disneyland in California.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Grier likely was just trying to SELL the OLC on expensive projects, new attractions and the like. That was his job there. Unlike in the USA, Disney wants to keep adding in Tokyo, especially expensive E-Tickets and resorts. Because WDI gets to make all that $$$ in developing, selling and installing the products and Disney gets its royalties after that in perpetuity. So there's no desire to go cheap. I'm really surprised Al chose to make Ed look so good. And it was a choice.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN The funny thing is (and scary as well) is that Grier is a product of WDW where I believe he started. You know how bad that could be for the rest of the company in terms of quality. Yet, we can only hope for the best at this time. Also, I am surprised how quickly this person has come front...as I recall well.. not even Leemac knew who that black guy presiding over the TDS 5th anniversary opening ceremonry really was... Oh well.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Grier is a product of WDW where I believe he started. You know how bad that could be for the rest of the company in terms of quality.>> Ouimet was a product of WDW too, so while Grier could be bad, he could be good as well.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Unlike in the USA, Disney wants to keep adding in Tokyo, especially expensive E-Tickets and resorts. Because WDI gets to make all that $$$ in developing, selling and installing the products and Disney gets its royalties after that in perpetuity.>> Are you saying that's a bad thing? If the quality doesn't suffer, how is expansion bad? I don't think TDR would have the staffing problems like they do at WDW either. For one thing, the Japanese have a different outlook on service to begin with, and another is that TDR is in the middle of a 15 million population megalopolis... finding people shouldn't be a problem.
Originally Posted By tonyanton It's funny...the more time goes by, the more the '70s style TL in Tokyo kind of becomes a theme of it's own, like the '30s look for WDW in 1994. IMO they should keep the current look in Tokyo, but maybe add something like the Peoplemover or Rocket Rods to add some motion and connect the stand-alone buildings that make up the land. TDLFAN... I agree with your views on Fantasyland, between Pooh, the Queens of Hearts Banquet Hall, and the Tea Cups redo, the land looks much better than it did originally. If only they could update Dumbo and separate it a bit from the Haunted Mansion, maybe with a row of high hedges between the two, to separate them visually a bit more.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>It's funny...the more time goes by, the more the '70s style TL in Tokyo kind of becomes a theme of it's own, like the '30s look for WDW in 1994. IMO they should keep the current look in Tokyo<< I agree. I have never had an issue with TDL's Tomorrowland since it reminds me of the original WDW Tomorrowland, which TDL copied. >>...but maybe add something like the Peoplemover or Rocket Rods to add some motion and connect the stand-alone buildings that make up the land.<< The problem with that is the fact that just outside TDL, a myriad of trains, monorails and people movers of all kind are found across Japan. So what's the point of having these at TDL when they are a normal part of daily living in Japan? I mean..what's more futuristic than traveling the Bullet Train away from Tokyo? >>If only they could update Dumbo and separate it a bit from the Haunted Mansion, maybe with a row of high hedges between the two, to separate them visually a bit more.<< Sore point with me.. I still do not understand why TDL's Dumbo remains the same original ride assembly we had at WDW in 1971, and this Dumbo has constant lines there, so they could most definitely use the upgraded version, which is found at all parks. Mind you I would hate it if TDL got the cheaper version of it (WDW's) without the fountain base. Still... OLC needs to improve that. As for trees separating the HM from Dumbo and the rest of Fantasyland, it's doubtfull because they just took out a garden in that area to make up room for more people to watch the parade. I was not happy to see that happen.
Originally Posted By tonyanton I agree about the transportation available just outside the park...however, they could make it more of a dark ride while inside the buildings, or if possible, more of a coaster-type of ride. Sorry to hear about the removal of the garden...I guess the huge crowds there warranted it.
Originally Posted By FoxHound Just had to chime in about the lack of the fountain at WDW's Dumbo ride----this is addressed in the Imagineering Guide to the Magic Kingdom. The book explains that the fountain would have been too heavy (since the utility tunnels go underneath it). This could be a cop-out, but they could have just not mentioned the fountain at all.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I have known that since back then. Still, I like the fountain versions better. As always... WDW gets the cheaper deal. Furthermore... I don't buy that "fountain is too heavy" argument. Buildings have full size pools on upper floors now a days. If they had wanted, they could have built Dumbo with the fountain. Sounds to me they didn't want to spend to add support for the extra weight over the tunnel.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros And from looking at construction photos from HKDL, where Dumbo was assembeled off site, there is probably at least one story of mechanics under it, which means that the Utilidor would have to be moved out from under it any way, or moved down quite significantly. I'm not sure how far down the original went, but I think it was quite a ways as well. And, TDLFAN, the Dumbo in TDL isn't just the same as the WDW '71 version, but it is more precisely a copy of the DL '56 version. Just be glad it wasn't the '55 version, that required a mechanic on hand all day to change the oil between each run. : )
Originally Posted By TP2000 I remember being struck by how unattractive the Dumbo was in Tokyo. And it only has 10 arms and 10 Dumbo's. Disneyland has 16 arms. I would have thought that with the bigger crowds in Tokyo they would have replaced that 1970's Dumbo with only 10 ride vehicles years ago. Why are they holding on to such a dinosaur? It's well maintained and freshly painted, but it's certainly not very attractive to look at. And it's operating at two thirds the capacity of the Anaheim version. Odd.
