Cinema City to open an Israeli park with Disney rides

[FLIPDUDE]

Here in Israel there is a chain of mega-cinemas called CInema-Cities, which are basically a combinatoion betwen a movie theater and a mall, with a lot of theming and flare. And I just read an article that says the following (translated form Yediot Aharonot newspaper):

 

"Cinema City complex to be constructed in Haifa: Will include giant amusement park"

Now, let's ignore for a second that I knew "giant" was a gross overstatement before I even read the article, because the average amusement park around here is the size of someone's backyard, and move on to the fact I am already VERY excited because there are only two "magor" parks(I.E. the size of a US fairfround) in Israel and both of which are curently beying boycotted by me for having horrible service. So this means a park I can actually go to.

 

The article says (with the irrelevant parts cut out):

"Cinema City, the largest entertainment and leisure complex in the north, will open in Haifa in the year 2013. The opening of the new complex((including the main, cinema area))... ...will be invested 600 million shekels (approximately 170 million USD) and it will be located at the exit form the Carmel tunnels towards the checkpost. The complex will spread across 80 Dunam (80,000 square meters) and will include 25 movie theaters and 4 preformance theaters, which will offer 6,000 seats, and a commerce floor which will include an array of restaurants, coffee shops and stores. In addition, a giant amusement park will be constructed outside the complex, 30,000 meters in size (Like I said, "giant" is an overstatement).

As Leon Adri says, "We are talking to Disney about the possibility to get rides from them, but there is no certainty the park will operate under the Disney franchise".

Adri... ...Added that the new center, which is in advanced planning stages, will provide 1,000 workplaces for the area residents. "Seeing the massive success of the centers in Hertzeliya nad Rishon Letzion, we 've decided to apply the innoventive entertainment concept we've developed in Haifa as well. We've proven that the people of Israel thirst for cinema and are looking for an experience and cultural abundance."

In addition to Cinema Cities in Israel, Neo Lineo Cinema owns 5 entertainment complexes in Portugal, launched in 2007-2008, and this month it is expected to open a first complex in Barcelona under investment of 40 million Euros. In developing it's actions in Europe, the company is expected to invest 100 million Euros more by 2012.

 

Usually I would not get this excited about any park this small being announced (okay, I would, but not justifiably so), but anyone who's ever been to Cinema City in RIshon knows how extravagant it is, and the fact that unlike most projects in Israel who never make it past the concept stage, Cinema Cities actually get BUILT. Also, since it's in addition to an eisting complex which will have heavy foot traffic, the small size does not necessarily indicate a lack of extreme rides, especially if it will end up being indoors.

 

I got word from a local waterpark manager saying he's planning to build a small amusement park section in the distant future as well, but that is still in the concept stage.

 

Anyhow, I'm excited!

[Airtime&Gravity]

While small, 30000 square meters is bigger than Nick Universe, so there is plenty of room for a god amount of rides and attractions. Although "giant" is still an overstatement.

 

It's nice to see a park planed for Israel actually have a chance of getting built, but I have doubts that they'll be able to get any Disney rides. They might be able to build Disney-esque rides, but I doubt Disney will have anything to do with the rides at this park. This park might receive some planning help from Disney on how to operate, but other than that, I don't see Disney helping this park. The ability to get some Disney rides seems a little over ambitious to me, and I'm wondering why they said there is no certinity that it will be a branded Disney Park. Did the owners think there was a chance, is it poor writing/translation, or am I interpreting it wrong?

 

Great news, and hopefully this park ends up getting built as Israel has a pretty poor amusement park selection despite a good size market.

[Hilltopper39]

Ive often wondered my self why Disney doest try to "sell" some of their rides to other parks in the world. Take a technology like Toy Story Mania. Disney spends a ton of money developing it, and then can only build 4 of them. Why not try to sell a dumbed down version of Toy story mania with a different theming and design and what not to a park like this one in Israel or even somewhere in America. A crappy version of Toy Story mania would probably still be better than some of the Scooby Do style rides out there. Or the ride system in Tower of Terror. Incredibly expensive to develop and build (so Ive heard), yet Imagineering can only capitalize on the design at 4 locations in the world. I'm sure Disney could have sold a less cool version of the ride system to a park like Busch Gardens Williamsburg for a decent amount of money. Then the new Busch Gardens drop ride would be better than the generic free fall the'yre getting, but still not as good as Disney's Tower of Terror. Seems like there is plenty of potential for profit to me, but hey who knows.

[FLIPDUDE]

^Mostly for exclusivity. That's also part of the reason Disney likes to design it's own rides whenever possible rather than rely on outside manufacturers. Ande ven when they do rely on outside manufacturers they try to amp up the theming to make sure rides elsewhere don't come near it.

[Hilltopper39]

^^ I completly understand that but I still think that they could sell less impressive versions of their popular attractions to other parks and make some decent money doing it. I'm just talking about the ride systems that are exclusive and proprietary to Disney property like Soarin, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Buzz Light year, not the rides like Everest or Kali River rapids of Crush's Coaster where they amp up the theming on a ride built by an outside vendor.

I just think from a business standpoint its a shame that they invest so much money in development of they're ride systems but can only ultimately build them at 5 locations. Take Tower of Terror for example, its a great ride still very unique and Disney has versions in Cali, Orlando, Tokyo, and Paris. But the ride system/concept is also 16 years old. I think if Disney sold the same ride system maybe not as tall not as fast not as nice much less theming and no pre-show to a park like Dollywood or Cedar Point or Busch gardens or even Alton Towers or Eftling those parks could get a very nice attraction and Disney could get a lot of Money for selling a design that they have perfected. A design that is basically sitting on a shelf and wont ever get used again after they build one in Hong Kong.

As far as exclusivity goes I mean a ride system that is 16years old and everyone in the world has been on isn't all that exclusive anymore anyways. Theres a huge difference between Big Thunder Mountain and The Runaway Mine Train at any old Six Flags Park. Not that the Mine Train at Six Flags is a bad ride but its just not as good as Thunder Mountain. I think if done properly they same thing could go for a non Disney version of Tower of Terror , or non Disney version of Soarin, or non Disney version of Test Track. They would be great additions to a park but still not as good the real full versions at Disney.

 

Think about Darkastle at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, pretty similar to Spiderman, not anywhere near as good but still a great attraction for that park. I doubt anyone ever rides Darkastle and says well hey no need to ever go try spiderman now that Ive been on this version of the ride system here. I think the exact same results could be achieved if Disney sold some of their ride systems, and I think they could make a TON of money doing it.

[Airtime&Gravity]

Okay, I take back what I said about the developers dreams of getting Disney rides back, as Disney appears to be much more involved than I thought.

 

The city of Haifa is already on the tourist map of Israel, but now it's likely to get an even bigger chunk of the market with its new Disney-style theme park.

 

The Walt Disney Company investment arm Shamrock Holdings and the Israeli New Lineo cinema chain have announced plans to build a $168 million amusement park and a multiplex movie center in the port city.

 

The entertainment complex is said to open in 2013. It will include a 30,000 square meter amusement park and a 50,000 square meter compound with shops, 25 movie houses, and four theater auditoriums.

 

"The project, which is still in its development stages, reflects our goal of providing quality entertainment for the people of Israel," Avi Edery, Deputy CEO of New Lineo Cinema, told a news conference.

 

"This plan expresses confidence in our plans to turn Haifa Bay in a thriving business area," said Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav.

 

According to the Israeli press, New Lineo owners are now in talks with the world's biggest entertainment conglomerate about using the Disney name in its amusement park.

 

If things go as planned, Haifa's landmark sites such as the Bahai Temple or the Carmelite cable car could soon be replaced by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and friends.

 

Link

 

So this is now starting to sound similar to Tokyo Disney but, obviously, on a much smaller scale.

[mightbeawannabe]

^Since when does Disney get more than one ride or so out of $168 million? This seems like a more lazy (read economical) approach to something dealing with Disney. We might end up with something, here.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Does this sound like a Disney Quest on steroids to anyone?

[FLIPDUDE]

^^^That article was pretty much a direct translate on any of the multitude of hebrew articles spread aorund the Israeli web. The phrase "Are in talks with" is key to udnerstanding that this could very well be a mistake on one interviewer's behalf (as someone who's been interviewed or read interviews of people he knows I know how often this happens), so it's not any more reliable now than it was before. Going by the phrasing of many of these articles it would seem they're all coming from one source since they all seem to feature exactly the same information.

 

I still remember that when they planned a huge park for Eilat, the newspapers immediatly jumped on the Disney train and said stuff about Mickey Mouse and whatever coming to Israel even though the park ended up having nothing to do with Disney besides the level of theming it had planned.

 

On the other hand, however, Disney does occasionaly have smaller complexes that are not an enitre Disneyland park. I was at a Disney play area in LA, it was official, it looked nothing like anything super-themed that Disney would make, and it was pretty small, but it existed.

 

Either way, the relations to Disney will probably end up being very minor. I wouldn't go digging out your old mouse ear hats just yet.

I gotta say, I'm kinda HOPING there won't be any connection to Disney, that way we might have a chance of getting some extreme thrill rides!

[rosscoe]

Was something like this not talked about during that D23 thing Disney did a year or so ago? I thought I read somewhere that Disney was looking at bringing there name to smaller parks across the world.

 

Somewhere that would be a half to full day park only, nothing like the multi day resorts of Orlando, LA, Paris or Toyko. Disney only have to add there name and than watch the money roll in, while still controlling everything that happens with in the park.

[FLIPDUDE]

Disney said in an interview that they are in no way opening a park in Israel. As I suspected, the reporter simply blew "Trying to buy some rides off of Disney" way out of proportion and other places that picked up the article did the same.

 

In other news, my awful home park of Luna Park Tel Aviv is building a little kidie coaster, apparantly. Right in time for Passover, which is when they open new rides each year, which leads me to wonder if Superland is building anything and if so, what, seeing as they are sister parks and usually get new rides at the same time.