Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

[Nrthwnd]

Both hot dogs look nice and messy, heh.

[bostonlva]

“@CBSLA: California Screamin at @Disneyland had to be stopped after a rider pulled out a selfie stick: http://t.co/cHncn2YFSP”

[dylanreich]

“@CBSLA: California Screamin at @Disneyland had to be stopped after a rider pulled out a selfie stick: http://t.co/cHncn2YFSP”

Must be a slow news day.

[CedarFlags]

Just my 2 cents.... I've been sick of projections ever since they replaced the bride in Haunted Mansion. I'll always choose a practical effect over a projection, and I think the move toward more and more projections is diminishing the "disney magic".

[CedarFlags]

Wait Hold Up!

 

Disney doesn't want to invest much money into their Fat Cash Cow Disneyland???!......What a surprise.

Disney hasn't added a brand new E-Ticket attraction to Disneyland for 20+ years! (Milk that bloated cow for all its worth, and then some!)

But with Universal Hollywood investing $$$ in a Harry Potter Land, we can only hope that Disneyland will step up! (with a major ride, and not just a 'pathetic' movie promotion tie-in.... Frozen Etc.) They have lots of room to build, we can only hope the imagineers will succeed!

 

Clearly you have no idea how much money it costs to keep a ride like Indiana Jones and all its effects working up to Disney's show standards. There comes a point when it just doesn't make sense to keep filling the money pit.

 

Well it's not like Disneyland doesn't make literally BILLIONS of dollars per year. Seriously... what percentage of the park's net income would it take to keep the practical effects up and running?

[Jew]

^Disneyland itself probably doesn't make billions on its own. While I agree the practical FX would be better, an important thing to remember is the effects on Indy were designed in the early 90's---it's probably not as simple as just "maintaining" them. They likely would have to re-engineer them, so I'm guessing (as I said earlier) that the creative direction the resort is headed with projection likely dictated going that direction.

[dylanreich]

If I'm every filthy rich I'm just going to offer Disneyland whatever money it takes to bring back/maintain the moving door effect.

[DBJ]

If I was, I would insist on the Peoplemover being brought back to life, removed altogether, or alter the shade providing sections of it into something resembling Fremont Street in Vegas.

 

Great photos of the hot dogs btw!

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-668511-city-anaheim.html

 

The Walt Disney Co. is seriously considering a $1 billion expansion of the Disneyland Resort with new attractions, a 5,000-slot parking structure and improvements to streets surrounding the massive theme park complex.

 

Disney officials said Thursday they don’t know whether the expansion would be an addition to Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, or perhaps both parks. But they said there are no plans for a third theme park in Anaheim.

 

In exchange for the major investment, Disney wants the city of Anaheim to not levy taxes on admission tickets at the theme parks for another 30 years, according to a public notice released Thursday by the city.

 

On July 7, the City Council will hold a public hearing to consider extending the current entertainment tax exemption for Disney that started in 1996 and expires June 30, 2016.

 

“Anaheim has been an economic success story thanks to its policies and initiatives that allow businesses to invest and thrive,” said Michael Colglazier, president of Disneyland Resort.

 

“We are asking city leaders to continue with a policy set two decades ago that has driven unprecedented job creation, growth, and prosperity, and enabled the city to invest in vital services that benefit every Anaheim resident.”

 

At least one Anaheim City Council member supports Disney’s expansion plans and withholding a ticket tax for the theme partk giant.

 

“History has shown us that a $1 billion investment by Disney will create thousands of new jobs in Anaheim, and millions in new revenue for our neighborhoods and vital city services, all without increasing taxes for our residents or creating costs for the city,” said Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray said Thursday.

 

Disney officials said they don’t know potential rides, themed lands and other details yet, but said construction would begin no later than the of 2017. But the company now owns the Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar franchises and has plenty of new options.

 

If the ticket-tax exemption is approved, Disney officials said they could announce their intentions for the new project by December. Earlier this year, Disney Chairman Bob Iger told shareholders that the company plans to expand the Disneyland Resort.

 

In other shareholder calls, Iger previously had mentioned that Disney Imagineers are working on “Star Wars” attractions for Disney theme parks.

 

The expansion of Disney California Adventure, completed in 2012, cost $1 billion-plus.

 

Negotiations on how to frame a proposed theme park expansion began last month, said Anaheim Interim Assistant City Manager Kristine Ridge.

 

The city’s tax-pact dates back to when California Adventure was on the drawing board. As a condition to get that park built, the City Council in 1996 unanimously agreed to pay up to $546 million for a new parking garage on Disney property, repaved streets, landscaping and renovated utilities.

 

At the time, city officials also agreed not to levy an entertainment tax on tickets sold at either of the Disney theme parks for 20 years.

 

Charging admission taxes to Disneyland has been debated for decades.

 

A proposed 5 percent tax on Anaheim’s entertainment venues gained momentum in 1975, but the City Council changed course after facing heavy opposition from Disneyland and the Angels.

 

The idea came up again in 1991, when Anaheim officials suggested that revenue generated by an admissions tax could help pay for building Disney’s second theme park. At the time, Disney officials threatened to kill the project if a tax was imposed.

 

No Disney park in the world currently has an admission’s tax.

 

“We’ve had a 60-year partnership with Disney, and I was very excited when they shared that they were contemplating this type of investment,” Ridge said. “Disney is a global company and can choose any of their five locations to make this type of capital enhancement, so we’re feeling lucky.”

[dylanreich]

So can we now speculate what Star Wars rides are coming? And where? What about using the Toontown spot and enclosing it, allowing them to shoot fireworks off of the roof.

[DBJ]

Very glad to see them investing into the CA parks on such a large scale. If construction is no later than 2017, then we might see something mentioned at D23 in 2016.

 

Entertainment wise, the both parks seem to be pretty solid with the new WOC and night time DL parade/ fireworks. And they will ride that 60th anniversary merchandising train for awhile, with Pan opening in a few weeks and the Flying Tires in DCA maybe late fall or early 2016.

 

As far as completely new rides, I would most likely look to what else is being built at the other parks. My wish list would be to place the Frozen mini-land (from TDS) on top of Autopia and the Subs, expanding Fantasyland. Be great to see a much longer version of 7 dwarves style coaster zipping about.

 

For Tomorrowland, focus more on the heroes of the Disney Marvel brand. I would like to see T-land gain the Iron Man attraction from Hong Kong for example in the Innovations building. Or relocate Star Tours to the rumored expansion, and drop in Iron Man there and use Innovations for another dark ride experience. The Magic Eye theater gain a new ride /film, not just semi-static seats. Universal's Despicable Me I think has a good way to present these kind of film attractions. Space Mountain could easily take on interior remodel. I don't consider that ship in the station to be iconic in any way, although I am not a Disney-never-change-walt's-vision kind of guy, but no reason it has to remain a generic ship. There was a rumor about a flat ride going on top of Space Mt., plenty of space there for something new (Jet Pack flat ride from Shanghai?) between that and the starcade. Of course, do something with People Mover.

 

For Star Wars land, assuming it is indeed on top of ToonTown. Next time you are there, imagine Tattoine overlay on the existing buildings, the height of what is currently there kind of works. Relocate Star Tours to new venue, change out theme to Gadget and R. Rabbit. Although with Rabbit, expand the loading area and the vehicles size to accommodate more guests. Looking overseas, the Tron Coaster could possibly be a good choice for the big "Star Wars" attraction. But so could a variation on R. Races from DCA, swap out land speeders or speeder bikes for Cars. Pretty easy to see it when you walk down the street and think about Flo's being replaced by Mos Eisley Cantina, and there certainly is enough merchandise from Star Wars to fill all the various gift shops.

[Jew]

Pretty sure this expansion was going to happen regardless of whether or not the tickets get taxed.

[cfc]

^I think that's a reasonable assumption.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

No Disney park in the world currently has an admission’s tax.

 

I think Walt Disney World needs to have a word with the OC Register.

[better_by_design]

Pretty sure this expansion was going to happen regardless of whether or not the tickets get taxed.

 

Probably so, as the business case won't be so tight as this to make a difference.

 

Also, hold your horses recreational Imagineers - as a betting man, I suspect that the initial phases of whatever this investment may be, is entirely likely to be boring infrastructure stuff like a new parking garage. Which is pretty darn necessary, but major dollars.

[DJeXeL]

We all saw this coming. Great news.

 

Selfie Sticks to Be Banned From Disneyland, Disney World

 

Disney has officially added the selfie stick to the list of items not permitted inside its U.S. theme parks, the company confirmed on Friday.

 

Earlier this year, Disney announced selfie sticks were not allowed on rides. The new policy extends the ban to the front gate, where guests will be stopped at security if they attempt to bring a selfie stick into the park.

 

The new policy goes into effect on June 30 at both Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

 

The California Screamin’ roller coaster at Disney California Adventure Park was temporarily halted on Wednesday after a passenger pulled out a selfie stick mid-ride

 

“We strive to provide the great experience for the entire family and unfortunately selfie sticks have become a growing safety concern for both our guests and our cast,” Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty said in a statement.

 

Theme park guest relations will tag any selfie sticks at the front gate for storage during the day, and guests will be given a claim ticket to pickup their item when leaving the park.

 

Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland will join the policy starting July 1.

 

Some of the other items banned inside Disney theme parks include wagons, folding chairs, glass containers, inline skates, skateboards, shoes with build-in wheels, suitcases and other items.

 

Clarification: A Disney World spokeswoman was initially misquoted in the Orlando Sentinel article used. The story has been updated with the correct statement.

Article

[dylanreich]

Got stuck on Indiana Jones last night right under the boulder on the last car of the night... FML. I guess it was cool hearing the "BOOM" at it's loudest point... But not really. They might as well just re-engineer the whole dang ride.

[gisco]

Disney is playing hardball with Anaheim over the tax. We will see who blinks. Disney is going to expand regardless of the tax. They just may take a little longer to do it. My guess is the city will agree to not taxing the tickets. After all Disney has done a lot for Anaheim by being there and the more people they can cram into the park, the more they will spend in the area.

[dylanreich]

Disney is playing hardball with Anaheim over the tax. We will see who blinks. Disney is going to expand regardless of the tax. They just may take a little longer to do it. My guess is the city will agree to not taxing the tickets. After all Disney has done a lot for Anaheim by being there and the more people they can cram into the park, the more they will spend in the area.

Honestly I don't know why they'd vote to not tax them. Do they think Disney's going to pack up and leave? The mayor who's against the tax break knows Disney's going to expand anyway... But as I heard from someone, don't bite the hand that feeds you... Anaheim IS Disney.

[larrygator]

And there is no reason for copyright protection to keep changing everything the Mickey Mouse copyright is up, but Disney money talks.

 

I don't expect amusement tax exemptions to be removed

[DBJ]

So there is a rumor going around that the Innoventions building may become an exhibit for Star Wars. Certainly is more than enough legacy material to make an amazing museum and promotional vehicle for the new batch of films. Wonder what condition the original Star Tours movie is in? It would be a good bit of nostalgia to see that again.

 

No doubt that Disney wins on the tax issue.

[jray21]

I would love to see a dark ride put into that building, but it will be interesting to see what they do with it. They could turn it into a death star type place where there are different rooms and stores.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

And there is no reason for copyright protection to keep changing everything the Mickey Mouse copyright is up, but Disney money talks.

 

I don't expect amusement tax exemptions to be removed

 

I agree. Disney will do what they did last time and make a deal. The city of Anaheim doesn't walk away from this with nothing. Disney will pay for street improvements, or city facilities, or even help fun the stupid street car (that just needs to die). The city will simply say "If not a 5% tax, then what else do you have to offer that is of equal valve?"

 

Last time this happened, the Resort District was created. Who knows what the city will get this time around.

 

 

Also, I believe the time line mentioned in the article is incorrect. Every one expects a massive announcement this year at D23, and rumors are that work has already started on property (infrastructure and such) So I bet the time line is going to start in 2016. This is just my opinion though.

 

I would love to see a dark ride put into that building, but it will be interesting to see what they do with it. They could turn it into a death star type place where there are different rooms and stores.

 

AHHHHH! NO!! Its such a poorly designed building for anything other then a round theater. A new building, that uses all available space is a much better idea. Circles waste so much more space then a square!

[gisco]

^ Agreed. Tear the building down for a new dark ride unless they will put Carousel of Progress back!

[cfc]

^ Agreed. Tear the building down for a new dark ride unless they will put Carousel of Progress back!

 

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow/Shining at the end of every day!"

Edited July 1, 2015 by cfc